Hyundai saw its Chinese sales grow by 26% in April 2013 according to results released by the Korean company. Hyundai operates its joint venture with Beijing Auto and has introduced a wide range of models over the past few months, the latest generation of Hyundai Sante Fe has proven to be a popular model since its introduction at the Beijing-Hyundai…
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Jeep returning to China was one of the key topics of the Shanghai Auto Show, the iconic American brand aired their latest incarnation of the Jeep Cherokee which grabbed headlines across the Chinese automotive and mainstream media. The Cherokee is popular in China owing to it being the first vehicle to be produced in the Chinese market, VW’s Santana…
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GM’s flagship brand, Cadillac, will gain a new production facility in the Pudong district of Shanghai later this year according to recent Chinese media reports.
The Chinese daily newspaper, First Financial Daily, is reporting that the new factory will be based in the Jinqiao area of Pudong, Shanghai, close to GM’s Asia-Pacific Headquarters with…
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The Suzuki Authentics Concept Sedan is coming to the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show according to a press release from Suzuki. Suzuki have struggled to break their mold as a small car manufacturer in the Chinese market over the past few years, the 2005 introduction of the Suzuki Swift at the Chang’an-Suzuki joint venture has seen them perform quite well and…
Read More →Perpetually smiling guitar salesmen and media mogul Ian Burns spotted this devout 5-Series on the mean streets of Beijing. Religion was put aside in China from the 50′s to the 90′s, but now that China is more open than ever more people…
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According to Chinese media reports and reports from Bloomberg, GM are apparently looking to buy into struggling Chinese auto manufacturers. By 2015 GM is expected to lift its China sales by 75% to roughly 5 million units per year, and by buying a Chinese brand they will be able to increase capacity relatively easy.
Despite joining the World Trade…
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The mk2 Jetta is a stalwart of the Chinese automotive industry,…
January 2012 was host to the Chinese New Year which sees 1.3 billion people head home for a once per year two week (or longer) break, that translates into less sales times for car sellers during the CNY period but strong sales ahead of it. With the New Year falling in February this year, almost all car brands are recording record sales (we say almost…
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Chevrolet may have a new compact low cost MPV up its sleeve for the Chinese market if these spy shots of the Chevrolet Spin are anything to go by. The Spin is a Brazilian produced car for the South American market motor and is aimed at the lower end of the market, does that sort of market fit in with China’s current Chevrolet line up at all?
Over the last 100 years, Alfa Romeo have established themselves as a brand with real integrity when…
Xi Jin Ping is the new boss in China and he’s grappling with corruption. Fighting corruption appears to be Xi’s main goal at the moment with many a official being sent off to prison for his misgivings, Xi has also ordered the military and government organs to cut back on the big dinners and booze spending and to remember the Party’s roots to represent…
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Earlier this month and in late December there was plenty of rumors that Beijing Auto and Daimler would create a new alliance to cement ties in China and Globally, facts were thin but rumors were strong. There is no smoke without fire, and preliminary investigation showed that there was a plan in the pipeline to create a partnership similar to Renault…
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On January 1st Chinese drivers came to face with the toughest rules to date, those that went through a yellow light were given automatic 6 point deductions from their license and red light jumpers faced the same punishment. The rule was enforced for a couple of days to set an example, some police forces said they wouldn’t immediately fine road users…
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Last year I posted some photos of the faux London Tower Bridge a few kilometers…
The first generation X-Terra has been on the market for a decade under the Paladin name, the second generation never made it to China but Nissan passed it onto joint venture partner Zhengzhou Dongfeng who make commercial vehicles on behalf Nissan, where the Paladin became the AoTing.
What’s the best way to road test your facelift car without it getting noticed by the general public who are armed with high quality cellphone cameras? Obviously not covering your car in eye catching camo is one method. The facelift Grand Cherokee has been spotted road testing in China ahead of a launch in March-April this year.
Beijing Hyundai are apparently working on a new sedan:
The Chinese media are pushing around various stories regarding the forthcoming third generation of Land Rover Freelander. The Freelander is expected to be one of the first vehicles to be made in China under the new joint venture arangement between Chery and JLR, the two companies are expected to carry out considerable amounts of R&D together to…
Read More →Opening the curtains in the morning to check on the days weather has become a fruitless task, the weather largely stays the same: “Gray, with a hint of gray” This is not smog central Beijing, this is Qingdao – reportedly one of the cleanest cities in China and a long time member of the “Top Ten Most Livable Chinese Cities” lists that come out…
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Jeeps are popular vehicles in the Chinese market, however some consumers are put off due to the imported status…
From 2008 onwards, Ford finally found the accelerator pedal in the Chinese market, it may have had some unusual policy ideas, such as neglecting to introduce a 1.6L Focus during the massive sub 1.6L displacement car boom from 2008-2010, but the company is moving to understand the Chinese consumer. Previous Ford models launched in China were European…
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Qoros launches in the next few months at the Geneva Motor Show, for those that are not in the know, Qoros is the latest and greatest automotive brand. Qoros is a joint venture between Chery and Israeli Corp, the plan is to create a Chinese brand capable of taking over the world. On one hand you have Israeli venture capital and on the other hand you…
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The Lavida has been a hit for VW China, the car was designed specifically by SH-VW whilst FAW-VW produced a new Bora to give consumers a choice below the Golf/Sagitar line up. The Lavida came with 2.0L, 1.8L, 1.6L and 1.4TSI engines but that crowd was later thinned to 1.6L or 1.4TSI models with automatic or manual gearboxes. The Lavida was an instant…
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Some car companies are clearly doing better than others, but other car companies might surprise you with their ranking on this list. The VAG group of brands continue to dominate the Chinese market, and clearly if it wasn’t for the powerhouse that is WuLing then GM would have been in the second or third spot a long time ago. Please note that these figures…
Read More →The simple answer being of course, Federal Crash Standards. In a seemingly eternal battle of cat and mouse, as soon as Chinese manufacturers meet Euro 5 emissions or build a car that has NCAP 4 stars or better, a new range of standards and guidelines appear that take it to the next level for their already stretched R&D budget.
BYD’s CEO and one of China’s richest men, in a recent interview with China’s Securities Report put forth his belief that BYD are in the progress of catching their second breath in the Chinese market owing to their improved technology, quality and green technology.
At the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show BYD are expected to launch a new generation of green…
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According to Bloomberg, Jeeps are going to see Chinese production soon:
Chrysler signed an agreement today with a Chinese automaker to build Jeeps in that country, part of worldwide expansion plans for the iconic American brand.
Fiat – the Italian manufacturer that controls Chrysler – signed the deal with China’s…
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From the Financial Express
Zhongsheng Group Holdings Ltd , a large Chinese auto dealership group, said consumer financing is fast gaining acceptance in China, which will help boost the market as well as encourage younger…
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Previously cars on the Chinese mainland had a worryingly short life span, small taxi vehicles were limited to 8 years, mid size rental vehicles were limited to 10 years…
Last week the China Daily reported that one of BMW China’s more senior leaders at the BMW-Brilliance Joint Venture was preparing to leave his post. Today another report indicates that the Vice President, Mr. Lu Yi is preparing to move to the new Chery-JLR joint venture as the new CEO.
From China Daily:
BMW Brilliance Senior Vice-President…
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From Market Watch:
The China Banking Regulatory Commission has approved Banco Santander SA (NYSE:SAN) and Chinese automobile manufacturer Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. to operate a joint auto-financing…
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This article takes a look at the issues at the heart of the Chinese export economy, namely rising salaries and a shrinking labor pool which were once the biggest asset for China’s factories. The article was written by Read More →
One of the major topics in 2011 and 2012 for vehicle makers in China was the era of ‘slow growth’. Manufacturers had grown used to a decade of 30% year on year growth but that stopped in 2011 with the onset of the global economy which led to slower export sales but was also partly influenced by rising inflation in China and rising worker salaries as…
Read More →China is the top investment destination for global automakers due to significant domestic demand and export opportunities, according to KPMG’s fourteenth annual Global Automotive Executive Survey.
The survey, titled Managing a Multidimensional Business Model, interviewed 200 automotive executives across 31 countries. It found that…
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China has a traffic problem, the ongoing love affair with the automobile has turned into a binge consumption spree that has obviously spilled out onto the roads. In previous years red lights were seen as ‘sort of optional’ when it came to stopping to allow other cars passed, especially if there weren’t any cameras overhead monitoring…
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Renault have long been out of the Chinese market, Renault initially had a joint venture with SanJiang where the Renault Traffic was made. The JV was not successful but SanJiang was taken over the larger Dongfeng, meaning that Renault and Dongfeng can go ahead with producing cars in China thanks to the original agreement with Sanjiang, nonetheless Dongfeng…
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Nissan strong sales in China have come to an abrupt halt thanks to the diplomatic spat between China and Japan over the Diao Yu Islands. Toyota have also suffered a similar fate as Chinese consumers stayed away from Japanese brands, either out of patriotic duty or due to Japanese cars being destroyed in riots. Japanese car sales fell back in October…
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Ford’s Chinese sale grew by an impressive 21% over the course of 2012 according to a press release issued by the Shanghai based company earlier today, total sales for the course of the year reached 626,616 units. December sales soared to 70,510, an increase of 43% over December 2011.
“Record 2012 sales highlight the positive response our customers…
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After an evening of stuffing my face with spicy hotpot meat and drinking cold Qingdao beers I staggered came out of a fine establishment smelling like a…
India is large potential market for car markers, hence GM’s interest in the low cost market. India, like China, has a large appetite for low cost cars…
Following on from the Five Foreign Brands article, we also need to take a look at Chinese brands that look set to excel in 2013. Chinese manufacturers have undergone a spiritual awakening in the past four years, many have realized that they cannot rely on the Chinese market if they are going to become automotive giants, at worse they will be snapped…
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Foreign auto brands have had their run of the Chinese market since they first came in 1984, the popularity of foreign autos has sky rocketed over the past few years with Chinese brands struggling to maintain their market share. Although foreign brands own the lions share of the market, some brands have only just entered or are going through a period…
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The pu-tong (regular) Sagitar has been on the market for a few months already and seems to be holding its ground in the sales figures as per usual for a VW vehicle in the PRC. Powered by the choice of 1.6L or 1.4TSI engines mated to DSI or manual transmissions the new Sagitar is a regular sight on Chinese roads, alongside the current Golf which…
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China’s BYD is going out an all out assault on the world EV market, the Shenzhen based company has already spread its fingers out into several key markets but…
The BYD Su Rui Sedan seems to be BYD’s game changing vehicle, the Su Rui was unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year and launched shortly afterwards with pricing starting at 80,000RMB and topping out at around 120,000RMB. The Su Rui has now become known as the BYD G5 for overseas markets and will soon be exported out of China. In the meantime,…
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According to the SMCP, some Chinese car dealers are ready to drop their Chinese brands and move over to other ‘safe brands’, but what exactly is a safe brand in China? With mob mentality at an all time high its easy for Korean, French, German or American brands to ‘Upset the feelings of the Chinese peoples‘. French supermarket chain, Carrefour,…
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GM’s sales have jumped to 260,018 vehicles in November bringing the total of car sales in China to 2.593 million in the first 11 months of the year, up slightly over the first 11 months of 2011 where 2.547 million GM vehicles were sold.
Shanghai GM sold 136,444 vehicles in November as demand jumped 20% on a year on year basis. Wuling vehicles fell…
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The Baojun brand is made up of two vehicles, the 630…
The diplomatic fall out and consumer backlash against Japanese products continued into November with Honda announcing that sales were down in China 29% in year on year figures.
Although the figures are down, it seems that the situation is slowly improving as October’s sales were down nearly 50% in October.In November 2012 Honda sold 41,205 cars in…
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Toyota’s China sales are continuining with their downward trend according to reports from the South China Morning Post. The SCMP reports that Toyota sold just 60,000 cars in November in the Chinese market across its two joint venture partners, whilst November 2011 saw sales of over 80,000 units.
The violent protests that erupted in September over…
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BAIC may have seen the
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Chinese drivers like jumping red lights according to this report from Xinhua. In my own experience, with at least a decade on Chinese roads, Chinese drivers are jumping red lights because others are busy jumping…
Read More →So long time China Car Times reader and comment box user, Gerald, sent me a message over Weibo on Saturday evening asking what car you would buy if you had a hypothetical 1 million RMB lying around doing nothing. Gerald pointed out that the 1 million RMB (circa 160,000USD) was to be used only for the car purchases and any running costs or maintenance…
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Luxury car maker Fisker are pushing back their plans for a China launch until 2013 according to Reuters reporter Nichola Groom who managed to corner Fisker’s Roger Ormisher on the floor of the LA Auto Show which opened this week.
Fisker said earlier it would launch in China by the end of this year. But the company encountered a slight delay…
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FAW-VW have announced the extension of the joint venture between the two companies ahead of time. The original agreement was due to expire in 2016 but as a show of confidence in the joint venture both Volkswagen and First Automobile Works hammered out a new deal at the recent FAW-Volkswagen advisory board meeting in Foshan, China.
The talks also…
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The Peugeot 3008 was originally imported into China, but cost a small…
Peugeot have been a little slow in China, but they are catching…
The Youngman-Proton tie up is producing some interesting cars, not interesting in a ‘wow‘ factor but more interesting in the ‘What were they thinking?‘ aspect. Youngman bases its cars off the Proton RCR, a car that was originally sold in China but has since given away to two self developed models from Youngman, neither products are…
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The Guangzhou Auto Show gave us a chance to get up close with the new Santana. Volkswagen is using its tried and tested “Same sausage, different lengths” throughout its China models, from the Passat (US Passat) to the Magotan (Euro Passat) to the Sagitar (US Jetta) to the New Bora (China Bora), to the VW Lavida (China only) to the all new Jetta…
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The VW Golf has been a major hit in the Chinese market, VW followed it up with the introduction of the GTI as a locally made model and also imported the wagon, crossover and R Series models to satisfy Chinese appetite for the hatchback model. The 7th generation Golf has been a headline inducing topic for the past few months, questions about when it…
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The three way…
Volkswagen announced today that is expecting to expand its own dealership to 3000 dealers in the next 3 years, by 2015 the VAG group aims to expand its line up of Audi, VW and Skoda dealerships by over 50%. Currently VAG Group has 1,120 VW dealerships, 230 Audi dealerships and 240 Skoda dealers covering 30 Chinese provinces, territories and autonomous…
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SPRINGO, or rather Springo for those that don’t like to be shouted out is the new brand/model name for the Chevrolet Sail EV. The Sail was designed and developed in China for the Chinese market and other developing markets, South American markets have already been on the receiving end of the gasoline variant for several months now. The pure electric…
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