Although VW’s southern factory is at least three years away from building its first car, it seems that VW’s southern strategy is already having an effect on the southern provinces, although GM and Hyundai have also seen sales increases in the area.
The southern provinces, especially Guangdong, have been the traditional markets of the Japanese three, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, however the pressure on the Japanese three grows larger by the day.
In the first half of the year, sales stats indicated that changes are underway in Guangdong, although the Japanese three …

C-NCAP, the body responsible for crash testing cars in China has yet again treated us by smashing up several different cars and sharing the results with us. For those who believe that CNCAP is likely to be ‘bought’ by auto manufacturers will be upset to hear that in this round of crash tests neither Chinese nor Foreign auto maker faired terribly well, with all cars scoring three stars.
In total, C-NCAP used 6 car models and 18 cars in total to test these cars and spent just over 1.16 million RMB …

Dongfeng-Nissan have been on a sales roll for the past few years and have gone from strength to strength on the back of strong sales thanks to low tax on sub 1.6L cars and a wide range of vehicles, Dongfeng-Nissan sold 500,000 cars in 2009 and are planning to sell 600,000 in 2010, in addition they are getting ready to produce their two millionth car together.
Now Dongfeng-Nissan are planning to capitalize on their success and start their own jointly developed brand for the Chinese market, originally Dongfeng-Nissan’s CEO, Mr. Song …

From Reuters:
The European Union wants to impose duties of 22.3 percent on imports of Chinese car wheels that could be valid for five years, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, wants duties to defend EU producers against Chinese vehicle wheels made of aluminiun that it says exporters are dumping on the EU market at illegally low prices.
“In the light of the level of the injury caused to the Union industry, it is considered necessary that (a duty) be definitively collected,” the document says.
If …

The Chinese government is planning to unify the electric car industry with a set of 15 new electric car standards which will cover manufacturing specifics in a bid to consolidate the electric car industry into one standard within China.
China is planning to become one of the big ‘electric car states’ in the next few years as its plans to lower its dependency on foreign oil, yet continue with rapid car sales at the same time. The different standards will cover 15 different areas of electric car standards and will cover …

From Reuters:
The Chinese company eHi Car Rental said Monday that a consortium led by Goldman Sachs has agreed to make a $70 million investment.
Existing shareholders of eHi Car Rental are also part of the group, including Qiming Venture Partners, CDH Ventures, Ignition Capital, JAFCO Asia and New Access Capital.
The deal is expected to close soon.
Based in Shanghai, eHi Car Rental has a fleet of 4,000 vehicles and operates in 34 cities.

Whilst the government is eager to promote cars to the rural areas, there has been a large amount of luxury car buying in the second and third tier cities, which seems to be growing on the back of high real estate prices.
The consultancy firm Mckinsey indicated that 30% of China’s rich life in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, but by 2015 75% of China’s wealthy will be living in second and third tier cities along China’s east coast.
In a survey of China’s wealthy over 40% indicated that they …

Opel are actually still in China, but currently selling the last generation of Astra and Antara, but plans to come back to China with a stronger line up:
From TTAC:
Opel now received the o.k. to expand into markets outside of Europe. You probably can guess which markets they have in mind.
“We will begin distribution in China this year” said Opel’s Nick Reilly to Automobilwoche [sub]. Opel will also compete with Holden in Australia. Opel will be sold in another country in Asia and two markets in South America. Their identities are …

Lifan’s sales company CEO Mr. Liao Xiong Hui confirmed the rumors that Subaru are in talks with Lifan regarding the establishment of a new joint venture in the Chinese market.
Mr. Liao remarked “This issue has already been raised with our CEO, Lifan really wants to work with Subaru on this project, and we also have the support of the local government”
However, Mr. Liao never mentioned from which angle Lifan and Subaru plan to work on, if it is to be a true joint venture between Subaru and Lifan, or if …

Sixteen of the largest state owned Chinese auto makers are set to form an alliance that will push for the development of electric vehicles in China, and will be a major linchpin in the governments plans to push the electric car industry in the right direction and have a lesser dependency on fossil fuels.
The alliance was formally created late last week and will have a war chest of 100 billion Yuan (14.7 billion USD) to spend on the development of electric vehicles by 2012 according to Chinese media reports. The …

From Reuters:
Shanghai resident Jiang Qinxia is just the kind of guy that global automakers like General Motors hope will jumpstart their foray into China’s fledgling and potentially lucrative consumer auto financing business.
As an upwardly mobile junior manager, Jiang, 26, recently drove home a new 105,000 yuan ($15,500) Buick Excelle after taking out 50,000 yuan loan from GMAC-SAIC, a three-way tie between Ally Financial, a SAIC Motor (600104.SS) affiliate and GM’s car venture with SAIC.
“I don’t mind paying a little bit more to get …

According to China Daily:
Jin Dong, a 25-year-old marketing executive, has just taken delivery of his new car – without stepping into a dealership.
Instead, Jin bought his 120,000 yuan ($17,720) Focus hatchback, made by Ford Motor Co’s joint venture with Changan Motor Corp, through the Internet.
“I prefer online shopping. It saved both time and energy,” said Jin, who ordered the car on one of China’s many automotive websites, cheshi.com.
“I didn’t even have to pay a deposit, just the full price when I took delivery five days later.”
While …

Over the past few years Toyota China have been very slow to react to local market conditions and have continued to produce large sedans and SUV’s, whilst the market moved towards small displacement cars that Toyota only produce several models of. The Toyota Passo is reportedly heading into China, as is the Toyota Matrix from Toyota’s North American line up but the big thing could be the Scion range. Drawings of a Scion Xb have been submitted to the Central Government, which as always leaked to the internet, and spared …

Xinhua is today reporting that corn based ethanol fuel won’t be used in the future due to China’s growing demand for the yellow vegetable:
China launched a pilot program in four regions in 2004 to promote its corn-to-ethanol projects, as part of its efforts to cut emissions and advance the development of new energy.
China has a growing appetite for energy to power its economic development and improve people’s lives. As more and more Chinese people purchased cars, the demand for fuel soared.
Zhang Yafei, an analyst with Cinda …

From Hybrid Cars.com – It seems that the turbo charged direct injection engines here are likely to be used in the forth coming Wuling JV that is expected to expand Shanghai GM’s power into the Indian market.
General Motors has signed a co-development agreement with longtime Chinese collaborator, Shanghai Automotive Industries Corporation, to design and build fuel-efficient internal combustion power trains for small cars. The technology will be initially deployed in the Chinese market, but GM hopes to eventually incorporate it into several vehicles worldwide.
The new turbocharged …

According to the new energy office and policy maker Mr. Liu Jian Hua, Shanghai city is developing its own plans to promote green cars in the city in a bid to clear up the cities automotive smog. Should a Shanghai resident buy a plugin hybrid, they will be able to receive a 20,000 subsidy, and it is expected that buyers of pure electric vehicles will be able to obtain a government subsidy of between 40,0000 and 50,000rmb. It is hoped that the planned subsidies maybe put into action before the …

Latest automotive export figures show that the world appetite for Chinese cars has once again regained its composer over the last six months. In the first part of this year, China exported over 250,000 full vehicles which is a 55.34% increase over the same period in 2009, the total value of exports reached $3.1 billion USD, which is an increase of 32.97% over the same period.
Whilst Chinese automotive manufacturers have so far stayed clear of traditional European and American markets until they have improved on quality and safety aspects, …

From AutomotivePR.com:
The media has being going wild regarding the recent slow-down in China’s automotive sales, which have been decreasing in sales month after month for three months in a row, and with it likely becoming a fourth month by the end of August, and maybe even a fifth month at the end of September.
At the start of the year, Chinese automakers were buoyant at the end of an amazing 2009 that saw car sales eclipse American car sales in monthly sales and then yearly sales, various manufacturers threw out extravagant …

China is now Lamborghini’s second largest market after selling 86 models in the first half of the year, compared to 2009 where they sold just 26 models. The combined sales revenue of the Asia Pacific Region accounts for 34% of Lamborghini’s total sales, whilst this figure was only 15.8% during the same period in 2009.
The European market remains the strongest market for Lamborghini, but due to the drop in 2009′s market Lamborghini chose to put a greater focus on the Asian market, which appears to have paid off …

China’s automotive bad boy, Yang Rong, who ran from China after being indicated in economic crimes is setting up a JV with Jianghuai to produce new energy vehicles and engines in Tianjin. With Yang being on the State’s bad boy list, its unclear as to how Jianghuai are hoping to get approval for the project, so it may be unlikely to roll forward past the opening statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Chinese carmaker Jianghuai Automobile Co (600418.SS: Quote) said on Tuesday it plans to invest about 30 billion yuan ($4.4 …

So far the Chinese auto insurance market has been controlled by the big Chinese companies such as PICC and Taiping, but smaller companies such as Da Zhong insurance are starting to enter the market. Now the game is about to change in a big way as foreign insurance companies are planning to enter the Chinese market:
China’s insurance regulator is considering opening the market for compulsory automobile insurance to foreign firms, said three people with knowledge of the matter.
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission may allow foreign firms to offer mandatory liability …

Whilst this article is not entirely automobile related, it does highlight some of the issues that Chinese automakers are facing, or will face as they act on their wishes to expand into the USA.
From Forbes, but originally written by Dan Harris of China Law Blog fame.
1. Chinese companies focus on a Chinese consumer, not an American one.
Ms. Sun’s comment: “Chinese companies would like to find out more about their target American consumers, but they mostly rely on personal-level approaches to collect business information, lacking a systematic and …

From September 1st 2010, new cars that do not meet the Chinese5 Emission standard will not be allowed to be registered within Guangdong province in a bid to clean up the air in the World’s Factory. The ban is mostly in place in the Pearl Delta Region (珠江三角洲) which covers a series of cities in Guangdong, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing.
The good news for consumers is that there is likely to be massive sale on Non Chinese5 emission vehicles in August as dealerships move …

Many media reports are indicating that the stolen IPR from GM that was taken by a Michigan couple (sometimes reported as a Detroit couple) was heading to Chery, however Chery have come out and said they do not understand why their name is being linked to the story as they do not have anything to do with it, furthermore it has emerged that the secrets taken were containing GM’s hybrid technology.
From Reuters:
China’s Chery Automobile Co said on Friday it was unaware of a U.S. case of alleged theft …

From ABC News:
In the latest in a flurry of industrial espionage cases, a Michigan couple has been accused of stealing $40 million worth of trade secrets from General Motors and selling them to a Chinese car maker.
Shashan Du, 51, and her husband Yu Qin, 49, appeared in federal court on Thursday for arraignment on charges punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment and heavy fines upon conviction.
The couple, who have been under investigation since 2006, is charged with four crimes including conspiracy to possess …