http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_rRkEjTMWw

Chery have excelled themselves.

Mayor Johnson got behind the wheel of a TX4 to show how excellent it is to be a London cabby, and kickstarted the Invest in London campaign. In the last picture, the Mayor was pictured with Michael Charlton of Think London John Russell CEO of CEO of Manganese Bronze Holdings, London Mayor Boris Johnson, Li Shu Fu of Geely (TX4 manufacturer), and an unknown gent on the far right.

Fiat entered into partnership with NAC in 1999, and sold over 24,000 cars in the first year of production, a sales number that is not at all bad for a company with previously no presance in China. Fiat introduced the Perla into China in 2006, with the hope of boosting Fiats yearly sales figures to the 40,000 marker. The Perla did not reach expectations, as the 2006 yearly sales were just over 37,000 over the combined Fiat range, although it was a year on year sales improvement of over 37%.

Fiat eventually broke off its joint venture with Nanjing Automobile for lack of sales, figure pointing from both sides blamed each other for the JV breakdown. Fiat said that Nanjing were taking away the brightest of Nanjing to work on the MG projects, Nanjing said that Fiat werent giving out any new models, and it was their own fault for falling sales.  Fiat has been shopping around in China since, and has signed deals with various automakers in the PRC. Zotye was on the receiving end of a deal to receive the rights to the Fiat Multipla, as well as various Lancia models, Chery were targetted to build the Alfra Range, and Guangzhou Autos were targetted recently for a technological exchange.

Fiats top man, Sergio Marchionne, has said that he wants to raise Fiats annual sales in China to 300,000 vehicles per year by 2010. Considering that in 2008, Fiat has only sold a handfull of vehicles, probably the last of the lines from the Nanjing Fiat JV, Fiat-China now has a massive task on its hand. But can they do it? The estimate from China Car Times is an optimistic one, Fiat can do it, but they need to bring the excitement of their Euro models into the PRC, otherwise the 300,000 cars per year figure is nothing but fantasy.

China has long been an automotive penal colony for Western car manufacturers, any model that was past its sell by date in Euroland ended up in production in China, although many models were embraced by the Chinese (Like the Santana, and the Jetta) other models were cast out like lepers, the Pegeuot 504 being one example. For Fiat to gain such a turn around by 2010, they need to introduce their full range of autos into China, with the same specification packages that are offered to European customers. Once full production is up and running in China, the Fiat range may not cost as much as the Euro range, but products specs should be left alone.

Fiats commitment to the Chinese market is commendable, although perhaps their re-entry into the Chinese market is more about offsetting sluggish Euro sales with a boost from the Chinese side. Hopefully with a true range of cars, rather than the ‘developing market’ cars that they were offering earlier on this decade, Fiat can truly suceed in China. By the time that domestic production of the recently introduced Fiat import line up, many of the original Fiat buyers may well be in the market for another Fiat, could brand loyalty still be big for Fiat after an absense from the market?

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.

The 750i has the letter M on the C-pillar, M standing for ‘Master’, of course. Further editions to the 750i include the ‘Master’ being stitched into the leather of the seats.

In addition, Roewe will also give away pens that are used by the snooker world masters themselves to each lucky buyer. For the Masters promotion, Roewe will also collect and deliver your car for each service within a 50km radius, two yearly full valets are included within the first year of ownership.

We hope for Dongfeng’s future that they dont launch the car shown in the above picture, their previous model, the Joyear MPV, was not quite a stunning looker was appealing in various lights, and did show that the company were on the right track engineering wise, but still need help with certain design elements. Dongfeng also negotiated with SAIC to use SAIC’s K-Series 1.8T engine (Which SAIC obtained from MG-Rover), wheather or not the 1.8T will make its way into the BF is currently unknown.

NEW DELHI/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Italian automaker Fiat (FIA.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it is struggling to meet its China sales target and is in talks with potential new partners as it tries to offset sluggish European sales.

Fiat’s problems in China come as data showed a sharp slowdown in the world’s second largest auto market last month due to the Beijing Olympics and sliding consumer confidence.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Machionne told Reuters the company’s goal of selling 300,000 units in China by 2010 was under threat.

“We have had a number of issues.. we have to firm up other partners, so we may push the timing, ” Marchionne said on the sidelines of an auto conference in New Delhi.

Fiat had an initial agreement with Chery Automobile Co, China’s fourth largest car maker, to set up a joint venture in the world’s second-largest car market, which was scheduled to start production in 2009.

Asked if Fiat was talking to Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Co, the state parent of Denway Motors (0203.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Marchionne said it may be one of a number of potential partners the company was in discussions with.

Last month, Fiat’s chief of China operations was quoted as saying they had discussed technical cooperation with Guangzhou Automobile.

Sales in other emerging sales were strong, Marchionne said.

The A318 will be using the 4G series engines from Mitsubishi, which is set to be a 1.3l model producing 93bhp and reaching Euro 5 emission standards.

The A318 is expected to hit the market next year. We will keep you updated!

The Zinger is essentially a crossover MPV, which takes SUV styling, MPV seating, and with some station wagon style space to make a rather unusual car. One cool thing about the Zinger is its ’self correcting stearing’, whilst we’re not entirely sure how the technology works, Chinese media reports that it aids the driver when the driver is tired (possibly making steering lighter?) and can also help to avoid accidents, and if an accident occurs, the steering rack can ‘fix itself’ to allow the driver to limp back home. Reports say the car will sell for around 130,000rmb.

We’re unsure where the Highlander will be made in China, but as the current imported Highlander is sold through Guangzhou Toyota, we can expect that it will be produced in cooperation with Guangzhou, and not the Toyota-Sichuan FAW joint venture partnership.

The F0 was renamed earlier this year due to potential licensing issues by using the F1 name, although using a Toyota Aygo inspired design appears not to have been a major issue. BYD are reportedly making less than 1000rmb on each car, making it one of the cheapest small cars on the Chinese market, although the small amount of profit may make the F0 pricing susceptible to increases in raw material costs over the coming years. BYD are reportedly producing several different versions of the F0, which will include Practical, Standard, Luxury, and VIP models, which will be split over the price brackets of 30,690rmb, 30,990rmb, 40,390rmb, and 40,690rmb.

BYD claim that the F0 has no competitors in the AOO car segment, and claim to be aiming for total sales across the BYD range of around 8000 cars per month, or 30,000 cars for this year alone. By 2010, BYD hope to be selling 80,000 cars per year.

It appears that the B Pillar of the Eastar has been removed, and the overall length of car increased, presumebly to fit the roof in and neaten up the exterior appearence. We cannot guess what time, or if, the Eastar will hit the market, it could be that the ragtop Eastar is a a skunk project, a car which Chery are just developing to see if it can be done for the sake of it.

Chery has unveiled various soft top coupes in the past, but it appears none have made it to production as of yet.

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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.

Germans can look forward to buying the BS4 from October 25th onwards. The BS4 is Brilliance’ second car since getting into the car making business several years, and the BS4 is the model that BS4 have managed to sell the most of. Since getting into a JV partnership with BMW, Brilliance have certainly learned a thing or two about car design, and more importantly car safety, especially since their disastrous start to Euro sales several years ago when they received zero in an ADAC crash test.

Brilliance are reportedly planning to introduce the base 1.6 model, as well as the 1.8 Turbo assisted model into Germany.

Photo from Edmunds.com

The Kuga follows with the ‘Kinetic’ design theme that is currently running through the Ford range, and the small city SUV will certainly find itself a market in China, especially if its priced in the right way.

The Bin Yue’s engine is of Mitsubishi stock, and meets Chinese 5 emissions standards. The engine is a 4 cylinder, 16v model sporting MIVEC technology.

The Bin Yue has twin airbags, as well as ABS and EBD, and various BOSCH supplied parts. Sales figures for the 2.0 Manual Binyue from Jan to July 2008 stand at a respectable 6500 units, with the addition of an automatic gearbox JAC are likely to appeal to an even wider audience, and we can expect the Binyue to double its sales in the next half.  Pricing of the autobox Binyue is currently unknown, but CCT can guess around the 120,000rmb marker and rising.

The 1.8l is part of a special edition SX4 that will only run for a certain amount of time. The exterior of the SX4 has pretty much continued with the same lines, however, the grill has been updated slightly which gives it a much more sporty look, it looks like the lower plastic chrome has been added around the front skirt as well.

The SX4 has had reasonable success so far in China, but with the small crossover market hotting up, the latest incarnation of the SX4 may well help it further against its nearest rivals, the Livina C-Gear, PoloCross, and the MG3 SW.

Possibly the actual car that the showed off in Beijing!

• Great Wall MPV - 30,000rmb off
• Lotus RCR - 18,000rmb off
• BYD F3 - 10,000rmb off
• MG7 1.8 - 16,000rmb off
• BMW 325i 6mt - 20,000rmb off

These are just a small selection of cars we’ve noticed with massive price cuts over the summer period, if you’re car shopping in China this August, you’d better move quick to assure yourself a bargain!

The design of the Honda City certainly looks interesting, the front grill gives us the impression that the Honda City is trying to become the ‘Baby Accord’.

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The Elantra was not the only model that received a makeover for the Chinese market, the Hyundai Sonata also received an update for the Chinese market.

Beijing Hyundai have received 5.1 billion RMB in funding for research and development from Hyundai in Korea, which will lead to Beijing Hyundai developing more and more cars for the Chinese marketplace.  Apparently, all of the intellectual property for the Chinese designed Elantra and Sonata belong to Beijing Hyundai, and if Hyundai wish to introduce these designs to the global market, then Hyundai must pay Beijing Hyundai a licensing fee for each car sold.