The Truth About Cars » China

What’s Wrong With This Picture: That’s Riich Edition

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:32:25 +0000

We got a good giggle (and several excellent limericks) out of Chery’s Bentley-aping Riich brand logo back in March, so we thought we’d show off a peek at what qualifies as upmarket for Chery. Priced at about $8,165, the Riich X1 makes do with an 84 hp, 1.3 liter engine which motivates the tiny crossover [...]

Wild-Ass Rumor Of The Day: Brilliance Buying Dealers, Saturn Brand For US Launch?

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:40:03 +0000

The long-rumored Chinese invasion may be coming sooner than we expected. Automotive World reports that Chinese automaker Brilliance has signed letters of intent with 36 US dealers in preparation for a US market launch. According to the report, Brilliance intends to launch products in the US as soon as it acquires 100 dealers. Apparently Brilliance’s [...]

SAIC Readies MG6

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:37:48 +0000

China’s SAIC, which had bought Britain’s MG and Rover in a roundabout way, is expected to unveil a production version of the MG 6 at the upcoming 2009 Guangzhou auto show next week, Gasgoo writes. The five-door MG6 was shown as a concept at the 2009 Shanghai auto show in April. Production versions, complete with fake [...]

Geely Keeps Volvo Unions Guessing On Money Issue

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:46:36 +0000

Sweden’s unions are on a hot trail. They think that –ohmygod- the Chinese government could be pulling the strings with Geely and Volvo. China’s Geely won’t say where they get the money for buying Volvo from Ford. Geely says its backers include Chinese banks. Sweden’s union leaders are concerned that the Chinese government may ultimately [...]

Multinationals Move R&D To China

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:55:28 +0000

On Wednesday, German German tire and car parts maker Continental AG joined the long line of multinationals who opened a R&D facility in China. The multinationals are way ahead of popular wisdom that technology is developed in the West and ripped off in the East. In reality, development has long left the building and has [...]

Auto Stylists Search For Inspiration… In China?

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:21:27 +0000

China is the perfect place to think about the future shape of mobility. It’s my job here to push my staff to push the envelope and think about the global automotive future from Beijing Mercedes designer Olivier Boulay, explains his inspiration migration from Japan’s chauffeur-car culture to the streets of Beijing. The Wall Street Journal puts [...]

China to Develop Networked Car

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:46:00 +0000

China has barely received wireless 3G service (a little later than the US, much later than Europe and Japan.) China has three competing 3G technologies, one based on the globally accepted WDCMA (UMTS) standard, the other two homegrown. That, and the fact that coverage is still spotty, doesn’t stop them from networking their cars. Chinese [...]

Trade War Watch 8: China Probes US Bailout

Bertel Schmitt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:40:21 +0000

As U.S. President Barack Obama landed in Shanghai for a weeklong visit to his largest creditor, China, the news awaited him that China’s Ministry of Commerce will investigate the U.S. government’s financing and rescue plans for the American auto industry, Shanghai Daily reports. The move is part of China’s probe into possible dumping and subsidies on [...]

Freep Has An Epiphany: “China Surpasses U.S. As Top Vehicle Market”

Bertel Schmitt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:11:39 +0000

In January 2009, China surpassed the USA as the world’s largest car market. Since then, the gap had widened month after month. While China is clocking in near triple digit growth rates, US sales are still down. Even GM’s Henderson believes that China will stay ahead of the USA for quite some times. “It’s not [...]

Volkswagen To China: Have A SEAT

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:59:04 +0000

When we reported Chinese rumors that Veedub might open a factory in Southern China to make up for its lack of exposure and market share down south, we wondered “which of their two Chinese joint venture partners will get the new plant.” If the latest rumors are true, all options are wide open. It might [...]

Korea Accuses China Of Spying, Arrests Koreans

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:56:31 +0000

A very strange spy scandal is brewing between (South) Korea and China. Acting on a tip of the (South) Korean National Intelligence Service (the Korean equivalent of the CIA and FBI rolled into one,) Korean state prosecutors accused China’s SAIC of stealing sensitive state secrets from Korea. Then, they indicted seven senior Korean engineers at Korea’s [...]

BMW Has Big Plans for China

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:19:49 +0000

“China is a global driver of growth in the automotive market,” said Friedrich Eichiner, CFO of the BMW Group. “China will play a major role in the global automotive business, in the development of future technologies.” Then he signed off on a major expansion project. Together with joint venture partner Brilliance, BMW will be able [...]

China’s Automotive Industry Receives New Orders: Export, March!

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:08:09 +0000

China may be the world’s largest auto market until further notice. Its much feared auto exports however are nothing to write home about. In fact, China’s already measly car exports have declined for 14 consecutive months since August 2008. For the first half of this year, China exported only 191,000 units. This in a market [...]

Geely’s Grand Plans for Volvo

Thor Johnsen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:54:06 +0000

Reports in the Swedish media have Consortium Jakob AB still in the running to snatch Volvo from Geely. But hiring investment bank Morgan Stanley as collaborators must have spooked Geely — FoMoCo’s “preferred bidder” — and the Chinese automaker has upped the ante with some grand plans for Volvo. Geely is promising to sell no [...]

Infiniti Blows Off LA Auto Show for China

John Horner — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:21:12 +0000

The New York Times has an update on Infiniti’s Essence concept car. Since the sexy little thing’s March coming out party in Geneva, Essence has been on a tour of Louis Vitton stores in high-end shopping malls for VIP visitors and the commoners. “Guests were invited by the automaker and were typically loyal customers, said [...]

Chinese Command Consolidation

Bertel Schmitt — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:21:35 +0000

The Chinese government had announced earlier this year that it wants to “encourage” its more than 100 automakers (nobody is quite sure how many there really are) to consolidate. The goal: Make China’s industry more competitive with foreign rivals. Beijing wants to see four big ones and four smaller ones. Unsaid: the remaining 90-odd carmakers [...]

Volkswagen China Goes South?

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:36:06 +0000

At the upcoming 2009 Guangzhou auto show, Volkswagen China is expected to announce that they will build a plant in southern China, Gasgoo writes, citing reports in sohu.com. Not much else is revealed, not even which of their two Chinese joint venture partners will get the new plant. Volkswagen cooperates with two companies in China: FAW, [...]

Toyota Plants Big R&D Center in Shanghai

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:43:20 +0000

Intellectual property warriors, get your guns: Following GM, its arch nemesis Toyota will plant a brand new R & D center smack into the alleged intellectual property jungle called China. Toyota plans to spend between $330 and $440 million for the center. Building will commence next year. Compared to Toyota, the one GM built in [...]

Shanghai Dishes Out Free Plates to Green Drivers

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:17:36 +0000

The Chinese city of Shanghai is thinking of rewarding buyers of an eco-friendly alternative-energy car with a free license plate, Shanghai Daily reports via Gasgoo. Big deal, you say? In Shanghai, it is a big deal. The supply of new registrations is limited to around 5,000 a month, and the plates are auctioned off. Supply is [...]

China’s Car Sales Down in October—To 80 Percent Growth

Bertel Schmitt — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:19:16 +0000

So used has the MSM become to China’s red hot car growth, that Reuters headlines the October sales report “Chinese car sales dip in October, but still robust.” China’s passenger vehicle sales clocked-in a year-on-year growth of 79.6 percent in October. In September, the growth was 83.62 percent, which serves as the reason for Reuter’s [...]

Tradewar Watch 7: More Shots Fired

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:35:29 +0000

China’s Ministry of Commerce on Friday announced it would formally launch an investigation into subsidies on imports of some automobiles from the United States, Reuters reports. With all the bailout money sloshing around, China won’t have a hard time coming up with evidence. The announcement is seen as a tit-for-tat after the U.S. imposed anti-dumping duties [...]

Made in China Saab 9-5?

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:31:53 +0000

If the GM-SAAB-Koenigsegg-BAIC deal ever closes, Beijing Auto (BAIC) would be interested in taking the current generation Saab 9-5 and produce it in China once the 2010 Saab 9-5 is launched in Europe in April next year, Chinese media reports via Gasgoo. Last September, BAIC had agreed to take a minority interest in the Koenigsegg-owned Saab. [...]

Hummer To China: Same Player Shoots Again

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:07:08 +0000

With all the noise about GM’s interruptus of the Opel sale, we could forget that there is a brand GM wants to sell, badly: Hummer. Since June it had been announced that the sale of Hummer to little-known Tengzhong in China is as good as done. Except that it wasn’t. Still ain’t. A few weeks ago, China’s [...]

Death Of A Chinese Car Salesman: European Brilliance Importer Crashes

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:10:28 +0000

Did we mention that China’s Brilliance hasn’t been doing so, well, brilliantly? The joint venture partner of BMW, and maker of supposedly homegrown Ersatz-BMWs (the sight of which makes any BMW engineer reach for a bottle of Jägermeister) had racked up losses to the tune of 9b Chinese Yuan ($1.3b) in the first half of [...]

Have You Really Thought This Through Edition: Onstar To Invade China

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:43:50 +0000

Nannification makes a great leap forward: OnStar services will be activated and fully operational in China in December 2009 on some Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet vehicles, PRNewswire reports. The system will be operated by OnStar Telematics Company Limited, a joint venture between GM and SAIC. According to the blurb, “this is OnStar’s first venture outside [...]