Category: Chinese manufacturers

Beijing to be stricter with pollution

Beijing which will organise the next Olympic Games this summer has announced a new emission regulation called “China IV”, inspired from the “Euro IV”.
Pollution is a major problem in Beijing. It it’s difficult to solve such a complex matter, there is one figure to help prioritizing the actions: there are 3.1 million motor vehicles in Beijing and about 1,000to 1,200 vehicles are adding to Beijing’s roads every day.
“All the new light petro vehicles that are on sale in the Beijing market shall have to meet the new China IV standards from the beginning of next month,” said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau.
The new standard for Beijing cars is estimated to bring emission of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides further down by 48,000 tons, 5,300 tons, and 4,100 tons this year.
The new emission standards equivalent to Euro IV will start from March 1 and requires that gasoline and diesel sold at all outlets in the capital city must meet the new China IV standards.
February 19, 2008
Shuanghuan CEO lands in Greece

The Shuanghuan CEO has gone on sale in Greece. The SUV is well known for its inspired design that takes its styling cues from the Toyota Land Cruiser, the BMW X5 and the Honda CRV.

This automotive compilation will be powered by a 147bhp 2.4-litre petrol engine initially developed by Mitsubishi. Some techincal equipments are derived from the previous Mitsubishi L200.
The CEO comes with an ABS, a mp3/CD player, heated seats and is sold at a competitive price tag of €22,900/£17,000.
February 14, 2008
New pictures of the new Ssangyong Chairman W

After the teaser, Ssangyong has released the first official pictures of the exterior and the interior of the new Chairman W.

With this new generation, Ssangyong wants the Chairman to move upmarket. The new executive saloon will feature a serious exterior styling although a little tame and will send the current to the forgotten pages in the automotive history books. On the inside, the Chairman seems to offer an excessive equipment with a riot of cheap-looking wood panels.

Ssangyong hopes to sell 20,000 new Chairman W vehicles on the Korean market and 10,000 vehicles overseas, including Chinese market. “We’re fully prepared to compete with world-class luxury models, such as Lexus LS430, Audi A8, BMW 750 worldwide,” said Choi Hyung Tak, Ssangyong’s CEO. “The model will be the most expensive car in Ssangyong’s lineup.” The car will go on sale from next month.
Surprisingly, Ssangyong has sold 100,000 Chairman since the model was launched in 1997.
February 13, 2008
Great Wall Florid got the green light

The Chinese car maker has been given the green light by the Chinese government to build the Florid model which is a rip-off of the Toyota IST/scion xA model.

The Chinese car maker had unveiled a series of small cars eighteen moths ago whose particular trait was to be a faithful copy of European and Japanese models. Without the least hint of embarrassment, Great Wall executives declared the cars were their own creation, but even the Chinese government didn’t believe it and ordered the car maker to suspend the project as the government didn’t want to be sued for infringement of patent. But at the latest congress, one decided that business was a priority and Great Wall can release its Florid Model.

Due to go on sale from May this year, the Florid will be powered by a 1.5-litre petrol engine or a 1.2-litre diesel engine. The diesel engine comes as a surprise. Indeed, diesel engines are not common in China, but Great Wall has the ambitious plan to export the model to Europe. The car would be sold in Italy first and in the rest of Europe in 2009.
The Chines company is currently being sued by Fiat in China and in Europe over the design of the Peri model which is a rip-off of the current Panda. What will be the Toyota’s reaction? This is not the first time a Toyota is copied by a Chinese car maker. Indeed, Jonway cloned the RAV4 to build the UFO model. Unfortunately, Toyota did nothing because it didn’t patent the design.
February 4, 2008
Chery QQ5 to feature a turbocharged engine

The Chery QQ will soon become the first Chinese first small car to be powered by a turbocharged engine. The 0.8-litre petrol engine will have an output of 59bhp.
The new engine will be featured on the new 3 door QQ5 due to appear in mid-2008 while it hasn’t been confirmed for the 5 door variant QQ3.
It is easy to laugh at the displacement and the power of the engine, but Chery is probably the most advanced car maker among the Chinese clique. The company is expected to release a 2.0-litre four cylinder unit, and to V6 2.4-litre and 3.0 litre engines. The three engines are being developed in collaboration with Fiat and will be hooked up to either a six-sppeed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic gearbox.
January 10, 2008
Chery A1 to head to Mexico

Chery will sell the A1 in Mexico next year under the Dodge label following the agreement signed by Chysler and Chery this year. The exact price remains unknown but for Chery it’s an access to the American market where the small Chinese car will be sold by 2009.
2009 is rather a wish than a definite date as the A1 will have to comply with US regulations in terms of emissions and safety. The A1 has been especially developed for export markets. At 3700mm long, 1578mm wide and 1527 high, the A1 is roomy enough for four people and offers an appealing exterior design thanks to Giugiaro. On the inside, the dashboard’s styling can match western standards, but quality looks really poor on pictures.
The car is expected to cost $10,000/£4,962 in the US. Sales in Europe is unplanned at this moment, but for £6,955 you can have a basic Fiat Panda. It’s £2,000 more expensive, but re-sale value will also be higher.
December 19, 2007
Record sales for Honda in China in November

Honda has announced it has increased its sales by 36.4% in China in November over the same period last year. This is good news for the Japanese car maker as Chinese market recorded a good month too.
Honda sales reached 46,226 cars and for the first eleven months of this year, it delivered 378,602 vehicles. Another December month like November and Honda will sell more cars than expected this year. Indeed, it planned to sell 400,000 vehicles.
Honda owns two joint ventures in China, one with Guangzhou Automobile Group and another venture with Dongfeng Motor. The former recorded a 23.4% increase to 32,400 vehicles while the latter recorded a strong 81.3% increase to 13,826 units. The larger increase recorded by the Dongfeng venture as Honda controls 55% of the joint venture. Honda is the only automotive joint-venture in China that has a majority of non-Chinese ownership.
Source: Reuters
December 19, 2007
Nanjing Auto to get a 10% stake in SAIC for MG

It might be the most interesting and worrying partnership as SAIC and Nanjing Auto might sign an agreement next according to anonymous companies’ sources. Nanjing Auto would give its MG assets in exchange of a stake in SAIC less than 10%.
In the muddle that followed MG-Rover collapse, the two car makers got a share of the pie, but not what they expected. Nanjing Auto got MG while SAIC won various rights linked to Rover cars. Since then, they have been working hard in their corner to develop a range and a brand with similar vehicles. Unhappy with the situation, the Chinese government, shareholder of the two contenders ordered them to merge.
From the two manufacturers, Nanjing Auto would benefit the most from a partnership with SAIC. Indeed, it is smaller and has cash flow problems which slows down the development of the MG brand. Furthermore its joint venture with Fiat doesn’t perform well. But this doesn’t mean that SAIC has to refuse the merger. Analysts think that Nanjing Auto assets would be very valuable for SAIC as it suffers from competing fiercely with FAW Group and Dongfeng Motors on the commercial vehicles market. in the merger, SAIC would get the Nanjing Auto’s commercial vehicles business and 50% of the Fiat joint venture.
According to insiders, SAIC and Nanjing Auto will sign an agreement before the end of the month.
December 14, 2007
2008 Citroen ZX Fukang

A previous post reported an interview given by PSA CEO Christian Streiff about the revised Fukang model and here are the latest specs. The Fukang is a compendium of ’90s technologies and design with a Gallic taste.

On the outside, the car still looks the same as it did in 1991, when it was first released in Europe, but it adopts a new paint scheme likely to be trendy in the US. On the inside, nothing has changed, even the antediluvian stereo system has joined the party, but the seats and plastics trimmings adopt like the exterior a colour that would fit in an American car.

The biggest changes concern the engines which are now compliant with the Euro 5 regulation. The Fukang is available with a choice of two petrol engines, a 1.4-litre and a 1.6-litre.

We can, of course, laugh at the idea of a 2008 Citroen ZX entirely similar to the original model launched in 1991, but for the Chinese customer, it means that Citroen had more than fifteen years to make the car reliable and unbreakable. At a time when Chinese car makers compete on prices to sell their models, reliability is not their priority. But, the threat might not come from the Chinese manufacturers but from other big players like Toyota which put two cars in the top ten for November.
December 14, 2007
November sales on the Chinese Market

Chinese market continue growing at a high pace and in November total sales reached an impressive 583,200 vehicles, a 17% increase over the previous month. The closest segments to ours are the saloon and hatchback markets. The Santana 3000 topped the chart with 19,300 vehicles being sold while Toyota performed rather well with two cars in the top ten, the Corolla and the Camry. GM proves it can be competitive with 18,500 sold Buick Excelle which is the Chinese version of the Chevrolet Lacetti
Top ten in the hatchback and saloon segments:
1. Santana 3000: 19,300
2. Buick Excelle: 18,500
3. VW Jetta: 17,300
4. Corolla: 16,500
5. Camry: 16,400
6. Xia Li: 13,700
7. Chery QQ: 11,800
8. Hyundai Elantra: 11,500
9. Haimai Familai: 10,900
10. Honda Accord: 10,900
December 13, 2007