Recent Articles
VW Sales Reach New Highs in China
VW branded vehicles were the best selling vehicles in the Chinese market in December, the German based company has gone from strength to strengh over the past 27 years it has been in China, in its 28th year in the market the company has gone from relative small time to being the second biggest manufacturer [...]
Porsche Owner Stages Sit In Protest Outside Porsche dealership
One Porsche owner was clearly upset with his recent 2.7 million RMB Cayenne purchase, after owing the SUV for just two months the owner found a string of problems with the super-SUV and tried to talk things over with the dealer in Shenzhen city, without a solution being found the owner towed the Cayenne to [...]
Hafei’s electric future
What ever happened to Hafei Auto? It seems that after 2007 they disappeared from the headlines, their Saibao sedans dropped from the sales charts and only their Lobo and mini vans seem to be keeping them alive, in December 2011 they cleared sales of just 565 units, which doesn’t seem like enough to keep a [...]
10 ministries gathering to discuss New Standards for School Buses
January 5, 2012, led by the National Development and Reform Commission, 10 ministries including Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other 10 major domestic passenger car manufacturers gathered in Beijing to discuss the new standard for school buses and made suggestion. “The new standard for school buses” has caused widespread controversy. A number of [...]
Brilliance H330 Spotted Yet Again in Shenyang
Shenyang city is the home of Brilliance, so it comes as no surprise to learn that the company is out testing its new models in the city. What is a surprise is that the company are building the new H330 on top of the current FRV platform, so Brilliance will have the new H330 and [...]
Bosses under greatest pressure
A car company’s performance is determined by the product. Let me put it simple, if a car company did not launch competitive new models for years, the sales cannot be promoted. However, that is what is happening for national brands in 2012. Now let’s see who the bosses under greatest pressure are. Tian Qingjiu Deputy General Manager of FAW Mazda Motor [...]
China Auto Market Crawls at Slow Pace in 2011
The Chinese auto market saw its slowest period of growth since 1999 according to figures released yesterday, the Chinese market grew by just 2.45% over the course of 2011. Elsewhere in the world, the US market showed itself as the continued bedrock of the world auto industry with 2011′s sales rising by 10% and an [...]
MG5 naked from all corners
The MG5 is probably one of the more anticipated compact cars in 2012, the small car has already been seen a number of times on the great pages of China Car Times but this is the first time we’ve seen it in a color that actually suits the cars styling. The MG5 was reportedly designed [...]
Geely’s 2011 Sales Miss Target
Hangzhou based Geely Auto missed their 2011 sales goal due to a slow down in the Chinese auto market over the course of last year. Sales rose just 1.2% in 2011 according to a statement the company issued to the Hong Kong stock exchange earlier today. December sales for Geely stood at just 47,755 units, [...]
EV’s and Fuel Cell Vehicles To Be Tax Free Purchases in 2012
Pure electric and fuel cell vehicles are poor sellers in the Chinese market, in fact only Shanghai and Shenzhen have seen any sort of EV sales over the past 12 months but the rest of China seems to be a death ground for the development of a much lauded EV market. China has been labelled [...]
Zhengzhou Nissan to get new models in 2012
Zhengzhou Nissan’s current model line up consists of several of Nissan’s older commercial vehicle products such as the first generation X-Terra (sold under the Paladin name), pick up trucks and of course the relatively new Nissan NV200 mini van. Zhengzhou Nissan’s sales have thus been limited by the models it sells, in 2012 it seems [...]
Ford Ecosport Testing in China
The Ecosport launched in Delhi just last week, but that hasn’t stopped Ford China from delaying the road testing and test production of the micro SUV in the Chinese market. The 1.0T three cylinder SUV will likely prove to be a popular model for the Chinese market when it hits the market in mid to [...]
Hyundai’s first Shou Wang sedan is old Elantra
Concept cars are great, they show the full design capabilities of a companies internal or contracted design studio and sometimes they show where a car company is heading, be it more up market or more down with the kids. When Hyundai launched their Shou Wang brand and also the first Shou Wang sedan the Chinese [...]
Dongfeng-Renault JV to be signed soon, Chinese production of Renault’s happen in 2014-2016
French car maker Renault is apparently closer to signing a dealer with Dongfeng Auto according to Chinese news reports listed yesterday. Nissan-Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn, made several comments on the future of Nissan in China at the Detroit Auto Show, Ghosn expressed that Dongfeng would soon become a major partner to Renault in the Chinese [...]
Infiniti’s Stretched M-Series to Launch in June
Infiniti are trying their hardest to claw their way up the luxury segment sales chart, they currently fall around the bottom of the chart and only really out sell Acura products in the Chinese market, 2010 sales were just over 10,000 units whilst Audi sales in the same year were over 220,000 and in 2011 [...]
Automakers prefer the US market for profit
From Bloomberg: Three years after sales tumbled to the lowest in more than a quarter-century, the U.S. auto market may be emerging as the safest bet for predictable and profitable growth as China, India and Brazil slow. “The U.S. is now the high-growth market in the world as much as India or China,” said Xavier [...]
Encore for the Buick Encore in Detroit – and in China
This week the Chinese automotive media are on holiday, the vast majority of media outlets have sent their teams over the Pacific to the America’s mo-town to cover the Detroit Auto Show. Chinese journo’s have given the new Ford Fusion a great deal of coverage and also the new Buick Encore, a compact SUV that [...]
BAIC’s Electric MPV Sighted Ahead of Production
Beijing Auto Industry Works (BAIC) has an uphill battle on its hands, the state owned car company is relatively late in getting its own brand of vehicles to the market when compared to its rivals at FAW and SAIC, both of whom have been running their own brands for a number of years. BAIC was [...]
Morgan Motors Cars Calls Beijing Home
The Chinese auto industry only produces big figures which has enticed nearly every major car company the world, but the market isn’t only limited to the largest, the small players are also heading to China. The British car company Morgan Motor Company Limited has appointed its first dealer in Beijing, the new dealership will be [...]
Chinese Company Buys Ferrati – the Italian Boat Maker
Chinese M&A’s of foreign OEM car manufacturers may not be happening as fast as everyone predicted, but it seems that the boating and yachting industry is undergoing its own round of buyouts: From the NYT: The machinery maker Shandong Heavy Industry Group sealed a deal Tuesday to take a 75 percent stake in the debt-laden [...]
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