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Englon SC6-RV rendered ahead of production
When we first heard of Geely’s plans for a multi brand line up we have to admit we were incredibly skeptical, how could a small privately owned company pull off a multi-brand strategy when their core...
View ArticleInfiniti chasing Audi and Lexus in China
Good luck Infiniti, you are going to need it: From Bloomberg: Nissan Motor Co. plans to quadruple Infiniti’s share of the Chinese luxury-auto market within five years as it rushes to make up a...
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Besturn B90 sighted with plenty of camo
The Besturn B90 will be FAW’s largest sedan under the Besturn brand and will compete with the likes of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in the mid size sedan segment. However, it should be noted that...
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Geely eager to enter the UK market
Geely Emgrand EC8 Whilst other Chinese manufacturers are busy entering developing markets, only SAIC have been able to grab the bull by the horns and enter a mature Western market with its products....
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Hong Qi’s HQE/C131 not consigned to the scrap heap just yet
Obama has his Beast and Chairman Hu has his HQE which he used to review the troops in Beijing in late 2009. The HQE was designed to reflect the past and the future, the HQE’s front end took on a...
View ArticleAmericans are not ready to buy Indian or Chinese cars
According to this report from India’s Economic Times, American consumers are not entirely ready for an influx of low cost motors from China or India, although it appears that the younger generations...
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Volvo announces new ‘Design Around You’ brand strategy
Volvo based on Ren. Volvo top brass, including Li Shu Fu, were on hand in Beijing yesterday to announce Volvo’s new brand strategy for the next few years. Volvo did of course become part of the Geely...
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FAW-VW’s Kaili sub brand to be introduced in 2013
FAW-VW’s Kai Li brand will be launched in early 2013 according to media reports, the brand’s first vehicle will be a pure electric vehicle that has been named 88EV. Details on the car are still in thin...
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FAW’s OuLai brand to satisfy economy market with economy sedan
First Automobile Works owns multiple brands, at the top end they have the flagship Hong Qi (Red Flag), then in the middle they have Besturn, then Xiali in the economy section, and now they are planning...
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Kia’s ‘Dian Yue’ brand to focus on EV’s
We may forgive Kia for introducing their older Cerato model under a new brand, we initially thought it was a half hearted attempt at selling their older cars under a new brand but it appears that the...
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Seat launches Leon in China
Seat held its official launch for the Leon hatchback in China last week, the Spanish brand has shown off its wares at various Chinese auto shows over the past 12 months including multiple rounds at the...
View ArticleJapanese Brands Hurting in China
Prior to World War Two as Westerners know it, Imperial Japan was busy taking hold of land in Asia, Modern Day Okinawa, Korea, Taiwan and the surrounding islands to Taiwan. Fast Forward to 1945, Japan...
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2012 China Festival of Speed Coverage
The China Festival of Speed promised so much, at least on paper. A few tell tale signs that the event wouldn’t be up to expectations came via their official website, parts of it were still under...
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Daihatsu Back to China? Spy Shots Say Maybe Yes
Daihatsu is one of those car manufacturers that made massive early gains in the Chinese market only to proverbially piss it all into the wind just as the market began to really open. The Japanese...
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ZX Auto’s TUV Shows Updated Interior and Snazzy Badge
ZX Auto ruled the Libyan desert last year when freedom fighters stole them from Gadaffi’s parking lots and used them against his army. ZX Auto used the pictures from Libya as part of a major marketing...
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Buick Encore Launches, Chevrolet Trax on its Way
The Buick Encore launched yesterday in the Chinese market, the small SUV will likely be at the forefront of the Chinese SUV sales in the next few months. The Encore is priced considerably well with the...
View ArticleGeneral Motors Shows Best Ever September 2012
Is the Chinese market down or up? Clearly for manufacturers such as Ford and GM there is no such thing as a poor market, both companies have put forward their best Septembers on record this year. GM...
View ArticleVolkswagen China Keeps Up Strong Sales Momentum
VW China is continuing with its strong sales in the Chinese market, the group saw total sales of 2 million in the first 9 months of the year and continues to see strong growth despite the Chinese...
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Introducing Mr. Ferrari
Imagine owning a Ferrari, only its 1992 and its the first Ferrari in China. Mr. Li Xiao Hua was the first Ferrari owner in China after Ferrari brought a show model to China to showcase China’s bid for...
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Besturn SUV Reveals its Face
FAW’s Besturn brand suddenly burst into life with the creation of the Besturn B50 in 2008, before that they created the B70 and recently the B80 midsize sedan, all of which use the Mazda 6 platform....
View ArticleOn China, and the World.
This piece was written by long term China Car Times commentator August Schwartz who has been following the Chinese auto industry closely and from affair for the past decade. The last week or so I have...
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Red Flag H7 Coming Soon, Estimated Prices from 250,000RMB to 450,000RMB
FAW really don’t know what to do with their brands, on one hand they invented Besturn as a mid range brand and kept Red Flag as a high level premium and the Xiali brand as a low cost brand, but the FAW...
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On the Chinese Import Car Market
Chinese car imports in 2011 (Data: Sinomach 2012) The Chinese car import market grew from about 42,000 imported cars in the year 2000 to over one million imported cars per year (CAAM 2012). With the...
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And On This Day, October 30th 2012, A New Santana Was Born
China loves the Santana. The car was first introduced in 1984 and claims the title as the first passenger car made in China, of course the Jeep Cherokee made it a few months earlier but claimed the...
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Beijing C70G to Launch in December, Three Engines on Offer Including 250BHP...
Saab maybe an entry in the automotive history book but the brand sort of lives on in Beijing, when Beijing Auto bought the rights to the last generation 93 and 95 as well as the engines. Although the...
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Last Gen Mazda 3 Becomes the Changa CINTURX
The Chinese market has some howler brand names, we can point at Roewe, Besturn, Venucia, Ciimo, Everus and now we can welcome CINTURX to the party. Ford and Mazda produce a wide range of vehicles with...
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Im Considering an MG3
A while back I test drove the MG3 and the Chevrolet Aveo within a few weeks of each other, it was hard to decide which car was the better model but the history behind the MG brand was hard to forget....
View ArticleJapanese Brands Feeling September Fall Out in October
China and Japan’s diplomatic spat in September looked like it was leading towards actual war at one point, both parties eventually backed down but in China where street protests turned violent,...
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China Sub Brand Sales To Date
Just How Are Sub Brands Performing in China? The sub brand seemed like a great idea at the time. The Chinese government introduced the market access for technology idea in the early 80′s to allow...
View ArticleJeeps Chinese Plans – Two New SUV’s to be Made in China
Jeep became a political over the past two weeks when former presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared in a series of television adverts that Jeep was moving all of its production to China. The Obama...
View ArticleCadillac’s Design Is Not The Issue, Its the Cadillac Package That’s All Wrong
Cadillac is far from catching up the likes of Audi and BMW in the Chinese market, but they might grow their current market share in the next few years if they play their cards right. According to a...
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Saab Based Shen Bao Confirmed For Early 2013 Launch. E-Series Hatch Already...
Beijing Auto’s Saab Shen Bao range is going to hit the market in early 2013 according to media reports filed yesterday. The Shen Bao brand is an entirely new range of cars developed by Beijing Auto...
View ArticleTop Selling Brands in China in October, Japanese Brands Drop Like Lead Rocks
For the majority of this year the top selling brands have been VW, followed by Nissan. In the wake of the Anti-Japan protests in China, Nissan has dropped from the top spot like a lead balloon. VW –...
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GM’s SPRINGO Joins the China Bucket of Brands
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...
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Chery Running Short of Cash, Plans to Kill The Kids.
Reuters automotive reports Fang Yan and Kazunori Takada have dished out the dirt on Chery and their loss making ways. The two reporters discovered that Chery is essentially being kept alive by...
View ArticleWe’re at the Guangzhou Auto Show
Expect major updates from tomorrow onwards. What we’ve seen so far: Very sweaty people – Why did the organizers choose not to turn on the AC on the first day? So many sweaty executives, PR people and...
View ArticleMG Aiming For Kia According to MG Designer Martin Ulharik
MG are aiming to copy Kia’s rise to success according to MG’s new chief designer, Martin Ulharik, the former Nissan designer was interviewed by Automotive News on MG’s plans for the future. Just ten...
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BYD Launches Si Rui Sedan in Guangzhou
BYD was the king of the Chinese auto industry prior to 2010, they managed to do nearly everything in house but poor quality reports from owners quickly put a major dent in their sales volume. BYD went...
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First Vehicle from Chang’an-Ford Sub Brand is the….
… Old Ford Focus. A sub brand from Ford in China has long been mulled over, but nothing has emerged until now. The new brand is set to be called “Jia Yue” which could be loosely translated as ‘Leaping...
View ArticleQoros Wins Qoris Name From Kia
From Auto Evolution We never though the day when a Chinese car brand would sue an automaker from another country over trademark-related business would come, but it seems that this is exactly the case...
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BYD Shoots Up Quality Scales
JD Power’s 2012 China New Automobile Quality Study SM (IQS) Report was announced earlier this week showing some surprising results, Chinese manufacturers have constantly improved their quality over...
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Nissan Leaf Becomes a Venucia
Almost all sub brands from joint venture manufacturers are expected to become eventual homes to electric vehicles, but only Nissan have so far pushed out an EV. The Nissan Leaf was imported into China...
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Geely’s Emgrand Range to Receive EV8 and EX8 in 2013
Geely’s Emgrand brand did seem like an odd decision in early 2011 when the brand was first dreamed up by company executives, how could Geely transform itself from a low cost manufacturer to a high end...
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Let’s Take a Look at Beijing Auto’s “Wrangler”
Beijing Auto’s B40 SUV has been spotted out many times, it was initially expected to launch towards the end of 2011 but was effectively delayed until the the launch of the company’s own Shen Bao brand...
View ArticleGeely and Toyota Reportedly Shopping For Aston Martin. Update: Mahindra pulls...
After buying Volvo, Geely have their sights set on another company: Aston Martin. According to reports originating from auto.sohu.com, Geely have already been deep in talks with Aston Martin regarding...
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Baojun SUV heading to China Soon
The Baojun brand is made up of two vehicles, the 630 sedan and the old Chevrolet Spark. The Spark was only recently re-branded as a Baojun, prior to its rebirth it was happy sitting in the Chevrolet...
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Facelift Nissan Livina to Launch in March 2013
Dongfeng-Nissan’s Livina has been a stalwart of the brand with it continually bringing in strong sales month after month. The Livina is basically a lower priced version of the Nissan Note that is...
View ArticleChinese Dealers Ready to Drop Japanese Brands?
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...
View ArticleBYD G5/Su Rui Sales Jump Over 10,000 Units
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...
View ArticleChery Exec to Use Old Chery Models To Start New Car Company
China Daily’s TianYang has a great round up of the news that has been befuddling China’s automotive media for the past week. Chery announced previously that it was to end production of the Riich and...
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