Recent Articles
GM’s final no to Saab’s Restructuring Plan Kills Saab, Pangda pulls out, GM to guarantee warranties on GM era cars
Saab’s life as a car maker was finally extinguished on Monday afternoon in a Swedish courtroom where the judge presiding over the case removed bankruptcy protection for the Swedish car maker which ended with Saab’s creditors forcing the company into bankruptcy. Saab is likely to be liquidated in early 2012 with the majority of its [...]
BYD Auto Reveals New Compact Car, Plug in Hybrid Version Coming
BYD’s apparent replacement for their venerable F3 was revealed to the world for the first time today. This photo, though its validity is not 100 percent assured, appears to show BYD’s 5A prototype, the long-rumored vehicle intended to replace its Toyota Corolla clone…the F3. The BYD (F5?) will likely come in just above the L3 [...]
National brands: the horn to win back
Recently in a Chery high-end brand Riich G3 release conference, Yin Tongyue, the chairman of Chery said, “China will re-define National Brand, which refers to a brand with completely independent intellectual property.” aka Sub Brands. This statement directly targeted to the joint venture brands, and Yin’s words marked a signal of National Brands’ counterattack. According [...]
Kia to set up new sub brand in 2012 for Chinese market
In a recent interview with Autohome.com.cn Dongfeng Kia’s General Manager Mr. Su Nan Yong revealed that Dongfeng and Kia are already working on the development of a sub brand for Kia in China. Mr. Su was quoted as saying “R&D on the first model from Kia’s self developed brand has already finished, we have now [...]
Ricardo’s Gary Tan: Chinese car manufacturers will catch up with the competition
Ricardo is probably just as famous a name as any car manufacturer in automotive circles, the engineering consultancy that was founded by Harry Ricardo in 1915 has grown from being a small consultancy working on early diesel engines into being a worldwide multi industry consultancy for anything that requires engineering, technology, project innovation and strategy. [...]
Chang-an’s new SUV out testing
Chang’an unveiled their SUV concepts at the Shanghai Auto Show in 2009, the wild gull winged doored compact SUC morphed into the more sales friendly CUV at the Frankfurt Auto Show this year, now that concept car is out testing according to these recent spy pictures that show Chang-an’s new SUV out undergoing early road [...]
Bentley Zagato to launch in China with limited edition car
Italian style automotive style masters, Zagato, are making just nine Bentley Zagato’s of which 7 have already beensold in Europe and the USA and two have been singled out for Asian markets making the Bentley Zagto one of the rarest cars in this area of the world. When developing the car Zagato worked closely with [...]
GM wont support Saab reorganizing in new plan
Saab’s days as a non car making car maker are looking considerably bleaker by the day, GM has denied a second plan submitted to it by Saab that would allow the Chinese partners of Youngman and Pangda take over the company. Later today a Swedish court in Vänersborg will decide Saab’s fate, the court will [...]
Audi A4L to get a facelift for 2012 onwards
The Audi A4L has been a big seller in the Chinese market and took Audi’s German rivals by surprise, other manufacturers have struggled to keep up with the march of the A4L into the business, government and family use market over the past 18 months the car has been on the market. For 2012 Audi [...]
Next generation of Jetta to hit the production lines in October 2012
The Jetta as we know it in China, aka the 1982 Mark 2 Jetta, will be seeing the end of its long life in the next few months as the new JettaNF takes the center stage. The Jetta became known as the ultimate work horse as a taxi and fleet vehicle as well as low [...]
Next generation Audi A6L to launch with 12 powertrain options in China
Audi’s biggest market in China, and one of the best selling models in the Chinese market is the A6. Who buys the A6? Nearly always its government buyers but also many business users that like to be chauffeured around in the back end of the car. The current A6 is favored owing to its bland [...]
Guangzhou Fiat: performance price ration win the market
With China’s auto market cooling down, the domestically produced cars are under greater pressure. How does the joint venture between Fiat and Guangzhou Automobile (Hereinafter refer to as Guangzhou Fiat) respond to the competition, a reporter from the Shanghai Securities interviewed Jiang Ping, the vice president of Guangzhou Fiat. Reporters: Guangzhou Fiat will launch its [...]
FAW’s Besturn SUV Sighted Out Testing
At this years Shanghai Auto Show FAW brought out its big gun concept cars one of which was the FAW SUV. On stage the SUV concept appeared to be a mid size offering and is expected to be priced between 140,000rmb and 200,000rmb when finally launched in mid to late 2012. The Besturn SUV will [...]
Old Tiida becomes the Venucia D50 in China
At this years Guangzhou Auto Show Nissan showed off its new Venucia D50 on stage, although journalists were somewhat forbidden from getting too close to the D50 in case they realized it was a warmed over last generation Tiida. The Venucia brand in 2010 when the sub brand craze was just starting to kick off [...]
Geely to launch Emgrand EC7 in the UK
The UK has become the target landing ramp for several Chinese automotive manufacturers, MG was of course the first to land in the UK, but Greatwall and now Geely are poised to enter the British marketplace with the Emgrand EC7 leading the charge. The Emgrand EC7 was recently awarded a 4 star Euro NCAP crash [...]
First look at the Seventh Generation Golf Preparing for Production in China
The sixth generation Golf has been a hit for VW in China, the compact hatch is produced via the FAW-VW joint venture in Changchun although for the next generation that factory location is expected to become Foshan in Southern China where a new factory is being built to satisfy the local market in Guangdong. The [...]
A sales boost in Beijing, depsite decreased license plates
A December 14th report from NetEase Finance said that despite the adverse effect of Lottery Number of Purchasing Vehicles policy, Beijing’s new car sales in November fell greatly on year-on-year comparison, but still hit a new high compared to last month. Reporters were informed from Beijing Beichen Asian Games Village Automobile Exchange Market that the [...]
School bus regulation becoming widespread but looser
Last month, China Car Times reported on a terrible school bus accident in Gansu Province, which killed 21 children. This event shocked the whole nation. On 28th November, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao ordered the corresponding department must enact a safety regulation within one month. Legislative Affaire Office of the State Council has published the [...]
VW to Possibly Establish a Joint Venture Partnership with Great Wall
Chinese automotive outlets are reporting that VW and Great Wall are possibly working on the development of a new joint venture, Auto.163.com are carrying reports that VW have visited Great Wall’s Baoding headquarters on several occasions with a view to setting up a new relationship. One insider close to the deal was quoted as saying [...]
China to Impose Retalitory Duties on US Made Cars from This Year
Friction between China and the USA has always been high, but now the Chinese government has decided to impose new taxes on American made vehicles that have a displacement of 2.5L and above. The new tax comes as both countries accuse one another of introducing new taxes and laws to protect their domestic market and [...]
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