Published by Ash September 6th, 2008
in First Automobile Works.
FAW has realized that its cheaper to keep two brands under one dealership roof at long last, and has thus begun to integrate Redflag and Besturn dealerships into one streamlined FAW dealership.
Redflag, or Hong Qi dealerships are quite rare around China, however the Besturn dealerships are currently numbering around 70 throughout China. In the first half of this year, Besturn sold around 23,000 cars in China, the hope is that the Besturn brand can pull along the Redflag sales, especially of the HQ3 model; a rebadged Toyota Crown that sells at over 390,000rmb.
Published by Ash August 31st, 2008
in First Automobile Works.
Earlier this week, Erik let us know this piece of sad new:
From Beijing I got the message that one of the three still living Hongqi
(the old state model) designers passed away in Changchun the day before yesterday. This man, Mr. Cheng Zheng, was a very aimable and intelligent person who spoke fluently English, a language he had learned himself when he was locked up in his own house during the cultural revolution and the red guards hadn’t noticed his linguaphone course. Mr. Cheng Zheng, who was in his early eighties, was even nowadays active in drawing cars, FAW had a special desk for him at the FAW Car office, he walked daily (even in the hard winter time) to this office to work there. The Chinese car designer I liked him very much, an independent spirit, with a strong believe in the development of the independent Chinese car industry. We will miss him.
Mr. Cheng Zheng will be missed by many people, his designs for the first range of Hong Qi cars were amazing for the time, and many of them have lasted well into 2008 since their handmade production decades ago. Perhaps the most saddest thing of all is the fact that Mr. Cheng Zheng only saw the begining of the independent Chinese car industry, he was born in a time of great upheavel, then lived through some very turbulent times which lead to the delay of Chinas assent to the top of the motoring world. We hope his work is continued to be honoured by those who knew him best.
FAW may well be planning to IPO later this year, and use the funds raised to buy out their smaller Shenyang rival, Brilliance Automotive.
FAW’s massive profit growth in 2007, and the first half of 2008, has given the Chinese motoring giant the funds and the confidence to start buying up smaller rivals, either domestic or foreign.
Brilliance is relatively small company when compared to the automotive giants of China, such as FAW and SAIC. Brilliance sold only 300,000 vehicles in 2007, a mixture of self developed vehicles, and BMW’s which it builds with its joint venture partner, BMW.
Despite low sales, Brilliance have invested deeply in R&D, developing turbo assisted engines, hatchbacks, saloons, and station wagons in the past few months. Brilliance have only been in the car building industry for several years, however, their devotion, and speed of development in building cars has been phenomenal.
Published by Ash August 8th, 2008
in First Automobile Works.
First Automobile Works (FAW) showed off the TFC-W concept car (above) at the 2008 Beijing Car Show, not it seems that FAW have an actual small car undergoing testing. The front end of the below concept car looks very similar to the TFC-W, but the rear end is different, quite like the last generation Ford Focus, in fact. In addition the front headlights resemble the Suzuki SX4.
Rumor has it, the above prototype car is using a 1.0l i-VCT engine and has a wheelbase of 2400mm. FAW are also rumoured to be working on a TFC-M1, a similar model but with a bigger 1.5 engine. Both cars are expected to be limited to manual transmissions only.
Published by Ash July 15th, 2008
in First Automobile Works.
The legendary Mazda RX8 has finally gone on the market, priced at a rather reasonable 380,000rmb (manual( to 390,000rmb (6 speed auto) according to media reports from earlier today.
FAW will be selling the RX8 in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou and Beijing officially very shortly, we’re not so sure about other places. In comparison, the Nissan 350Z is reportedly 580,000rmb and only managed to sell two cars in 2007, so perhaps the RX8 will fair better than the Nissan. [removed sentence until the original article can be found/located!]
Published by Ash July 9th, 2008
in First Automobile Works.
Published by Ash June 10th, 2008
in First Automobile Works.
Audi celebrated its 20th year of doing business in China on June 6th (last week). Audi have exploded in China since their arrival in 1988. Their partnership with FAW has seen a multitude of vehicles being produced over the years, both badged as Audi, and some as Hong Qi’s,
The celebration kicked off with the laying of a foundation for a new assembley hall in Changchun, which will probably be used to assemble the Audi Q5 in China. Audi plans to sell 200,000 vehicles per year in China by 2015. Audi has firmly cemented a market niche for itself in the premium market segments, especially with the domestically made Audi A4, and the A6 - including an A6 stretched version.
Audi currently has 125 dealerships across 86 Chinese cities, a far cry from the Audi-FAW joint venture which started with CKD kits of the Audi 100 being assembled in Changchun in the late 80’s, since then, Audi has sold over 500,000 vehicles in the PRC.
The Besturn sedan from FAW has found itself to be pretty popular in China, that popularity level is sure to be raised over the next coming months as the Besturn 1.6l Hybrid model hits the market later next year.
Pricing of the Besturn has yet to be announced, but we cant see it being over 150,000rmb to keep it competitive with the other hybrid models that will be launched this year from the likes of Chery.
update: Yes, it is to be launched next year and not this year. We heard that FAW are working hard to localize a lot of the parts used to make the car even cheaper.
Published by Ash May 12th, 2008
in First Automobile Works.
From the grainy pictures below, you may be able to make out a new front end on the FAW CA6480P6E SUV. We’re not sure why FAW likes to use a serial number instead of a name, after all, who can remember CA6480P6E?
The new SUV is surely inspired by the Chevrolet Colorado front end style of recent years, which Dandong ShuGuang have also borrowed for their most excellent looking pick up truck.
The two SUV’s are available in long wheel base, and short wheel base form with both diesel and gasoline engines available. The gasoline engine is a Euro 2/3 spec 2.0l engine (73.5kw/5000rpm) from Xinhua, and the diesel engine is 2.7l model (68kw at an unknown RPM)
FAW Toyota are reportedly planning to sell more than 1000 Prius cars in 2008, which is double the paltry 414 Prius they sold in 2007. 2006 was a bumper year for the Prius when it sold over 2000, but sales of the popular hybrid have taken a sharp turn in China.
Toyota will be facing stiff competition over the coming years as homegrown automakers such as Geely, Chery, Chang’an and even Toyotas partner, FAW, are working on low cost hybrid vehicles for the Chinese populace.
To increase sales, Toyota have cut the price on the Prius models. The cheapest Prius is now 259,800rmb, previously it was 282,200rmb. The higher model, the Prius with the navigation system is now 279,800rmb.
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