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Great Wall, Spyker, In Talks Regarding Saab
With the apparent collapse of the deal between Hawtai and Spyker, the Dutch parent company of Saab is now courting Chinese automaker Great Wall in an apparent bid to find a partner for the ailing Saab brand. Hawtai was apparently unable to get the necessary approval to complete a transaction with Saab worth 150 million…
Volkswagen To Launch New Brand Dubbed Kaili In Partnership With FAW, EV Coming
Volkswagen will partner with Chinese automaker FAW to launch a new brand, which will build and sell electric cars for Chinese consumers. Plans were submitted to the Chinese government, although details of the vehicle weren’t publicly disclosed. Honda, Nissan and General Motors have recently expanded into creating their own Chinese market brands in partnership with…
Saab Could Sell Chinese Built Cars In America, Priced At $10,000
Saab’s partnership with Chinese automaker Hawtai could see the ill-fated Swedish luxury brand use its dealer network to sell cheap Chinese cars in America, with some priced at the magic $10,000 mark. “We laughed when the Japanese came,” Victor Muller, Saab’s chairman, told Automotive News. “We laughed when the Koreans came. But we will not…
MG Anticipating Benefits From Partnership With General Motors, SAIC
MG Rover may have been able to retain much of its British character after being acquired by Chinese automaker SAIC, the company’s tie-in with General Motors may see the next generation MG Rover products use GM technologies, including platforms. The Roewe 750 sedan, formerly based on the Rover 75, may be based on the Epsilon…
Volvo Spending 11 Billion On Vehicles And Facilities Over The Next Five Years
Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group spent $1.7 billion last year to acquire Volvo from Ford Motor Co.,and now plans to spend as much as $11 billion on Volvo products and facilities over the next five years. Doug Speck, CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, says a growth strategy for the United States will…
Volkswagen China Gets Four Different Passats, Including Long Wheelbase Version
Volkswagen could barely sell one generation of the Passat here in the United States, but over in China, VW is selling no less than 4 different Passats, from the mid-1990’s B5 chassis car to the all-new, “Made for America” Passat that will be sold here. The New Passat, as the current car is dubbed, will…
Saab Going On Tour To Promote Resurgent Company, Chinese Partnership
Saab is hitting the road in an effort to promote its new financial backers, but the road show will have to wait for approval from several authorities who must approve Saab’s transactions with China’s Hawtai Motor Group and Russian financier Vladimir Antonov. CEO Victor Muller will target major media events and car shows in an…
Saab Revived By $222 Million Investment From China’s Hawtai Motor Group
Saab has been rescued from near-collapse yet again after an agreement was signed with China’s Hawtai Motor Group. The agreement will form a joint venture for manufacturing, distribution and technology between Saab owner Spyker and Hawtai. It will also provide $222 million in funding for Saab, ending the Swedish automaker’s halt in production caused by…
Half of All New Cars Will be Sold in China by 2020 Say Industry Experts
Last year China surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest car market, but that was only the beginning say industry experts. Selling 18.06 million units in China in 2010, that number could rise to 40 million in just the next 10 years. That, at least, is the prediction of Byeong Jin Lee, Hankook…
Chinese Automaker SAIC Considering Expanding into U.S. Market
China’s largest carmaker, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), is among a bunch of Chinese automakers looking to expand into the American market. Before they can form more concrete plans, however, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official David Strickland visited China to explain U.S. safety standards, and touring the SAIC plant. Despite the reputation Chinese automakers currently have…
BMW And Brilliance Create 5-Series Plug-In Hybrid
BMW and Chinese automaker Brilliance have joined forces to create a plug-in hybrid version of the 5-Series long wheelbase sedan sold in the Chinese market. Set to be revealed at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, the 5-Series plug-in will back an unspecified displacement turbocharged engine making 215 horsepower and a 94 horsepower electric motor….
China Wants OEMs To Introduce Low Cost Brands Made Locally
When dealing with an authoritarian state that exercises substantial government control of the economy, you generally know whose rules you’re playing by – and everyone from automakers to tech companies are happy to capitulate to the demands of the Chinese government, with car companies establishing joint ventures with local automakers for the sake of being…
BYD Establishes Office In California
BYD, China’s 4th largest automaker, has finally established a location in Southern California, although the digs are modest to say the least. BYD’s new home in America is an office within a used car dealership in Glendale, a Los Angeles suburb. According to reports, the dealership is being used to train BYD technicians, and BYD…
WikiLeaks Notes Illegal, Dangerous Practices by BYD Putting Buffett’s Investment in Doubt
Of all the Chinese automakers, BYD (or Build Your Dreams) has been pegged for several years now as the one to bet on. A battery company turned car manufacturer, BYD was the first from China to display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, holding a press conference and making claims that have…
Geneva 2011: Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid Heralds The Return Of An Icon
While Volvo was apparently set to discontinue North American sales of all station wagons – arguably the vehicle they built their reputation on – in favor of crossovers. But that looks like it will change starting in 2012, with the launch of their V60 plug-in hybrid. Unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show, the V60 Plug-In…
Ford To Focus On Rural China With New Sedan
Speaking to Autocar Magazine, Ford‘s European design chief Martin Smith said “Our marketing people are telling us there’s demand for an affordable family saloon,” and Ford appears to be moving in that direction for the Chinese market. The Blue Oval will prepare a concept for the Beijing Auto Show, but rather than target the wealthy…
Volkswagen To Create Sub-Brand For China
Following the lead of General Motors, Honda and Nissan, Volkswagen is looking into creating a sub-brand for the Chinese market, which would sell ultra-affordable compact cars in the world’s biggest auto market. “A local brand is our opportunity to participate in segments where Volkswagen is not represented yet,” said Volkswagen China’s CEO Wolfgang Neumann, in…
Porsche Looking To Double Sales Via Factories In North America, China
With Porsche sales having recovered on par with pre-recession levels in the United States, Porsche’s CEO Matthias Mueller said that the brand is looking at adding production facilities in the United States or China so that the brand can meet its target of 200,000 sales by 2018. “We will consider this year whether to start…
Volvo Says China To Be “Second Home Market”
Although Volvo is traditionally associated with all things Swedish, but Volvo’s new chairman is hoping to put down serious roots in China as well. “We are looking at a strategy of making China a second home market. Today we mainly only have one home market, in Sweden,” Volvo Cars China Chairman Freeman Shen said, in…
Excess Production In Emerging Markets Could Torpedo Automakers Yet Again
We’ll spare you the awful cliches about failing to learn from the past and get right to the point. “Emerging markets” like China and India are all the rage right now for profit-hungry car makers, but the same problems of too much supply and weakened demand could spell doom for OEMs if a similar situation…
New MG Cars Debut In China
You may have never heard of Guangzhou, China, but with nearly 12 million people, the industrial metropolis is a major player in the Chinese auto market. Making its debut at the show is one of China’s most anticipated new cars, the MG3 hatchback and MG6 sedan. Although Chinese cars are a laughing stock in much…
China’s BAIC in Bid to Buy Pininfarina
BAIC currently owns the tooling, intellectual property and powertrain technology from the current Saab 9-3, which it purchased from General Motors and is already working on several new cars based on this platform, a new Pininfarina styled 9-3 could be one of them.
Honda Launches New Entry Level Li Nian S1 Model In China
The importance of the Chinese market for car companies is growing at an astounding rate. Hoping to capitalize on this growth, Honda has launched a new sub-compact car at the 2010 China International Automobile Exhibition. The new model is called the S1 and is launched under the Chinese market only brand of Li Nian, a…
BYD B6 Electric Car To Debut In 2011
BYD, the Chinese automaker backed by American investment magnate Warren Buffet, has delayed plans to bring their B6 electric car to America to better engineer the car for American tastes. The Wall Street Journal, having spoken to a BYD representative, claims that, “the holdup was caused by BYD’s efforts to make the car roomier, especially…
