The Denza shows its stripes

So Denza, the odd couple joint venture between Daimler and BYD, lifted the veil of its upcoming all-electric SUV. A car in heavy camouflage rolled on stage here at the Shanghai Motor Show. The car looked, well, like the old B-Class from which it is derived. (Read More…)

BYD, the company we visited in yesterday’s story might ditch  conventional gasoline-powered cars and focus on electrics, Reuters says in an exclusive story, (Read More…)

At the Shanghai Auto Show, which opens to the public on April 21, and to tens of thousands of alleged members of the media the day before, the child of one of the auto industry’s oddest couples will be shown – at least in prototype form. It is the Denza EV, the product of a mésalliance between the world’s oldest and proudest automaker, Daimler, and a company that entered the annals of contemporary automotive history as the most brazen rip-off artist.

Of course we are talking of BYD, the Shenzhen, China, based maker of half the world’s cellphone batteries and a dwindling number of cars. A while ago, I visited an intrepid team of German engineers, shacked up at BYD, to jointly develop an electric car. They were friendly, hospitable, and as forthcoming as possible under the strange circumstances. For months, I could not bring it over me to put my fellow countrymen and expats in the dim light this story would project. Their job is tough enough. But in the interest of timeliness and journalistic duty, here it goes.
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As the owner of a geriatric, but otherwise well maintained car, you know that getting parts can be a bitch. Depending on company policy, ex-factory supply of parts can cease after 12, or, if you are the lucky customer of a more dedicated maker, 15 years after the end of regular production.  BMW now goes against that trend and offers parts for a car that went out of style 73 years ago. (Read More…)

Opel’s Supervisory Board, with half of its members delegates of the labor union, decided today the first closure of a German car factory in decades. According to Reuters, “Opel will end producing Zafira MPVs at its 50-year old Bochum plant by the end of next year, a move that has triggered a rare and public split within union ranks following months of tough negotiations.”

The closure will lead to the loss of 3,000 jobs in Bochum, as part of Opel’s attempt to put an end to 15 straight years of losses in Europe. It will be a while. (Read More…)

If anyone is hoping for a bottom in the European car market, then it’s nowhere to be seen. In the contrary, the decline appears to be accelerating. European passenger car registrations were down 10.2 percent in March, data published by the European manufacturers association ACEA show. That would be a decline for the 18^th consecutive month. (Read More…)

GM published global sales numbers for the first quarter of 2013, and media from The Detroit News to Bloomberg considered it headline material that GM edged out Volkswagen – barely. Who would have thought that the scrappy maker of cars that – if the blogs are to be believed – can’t keep their wires from crossing is breathing down the neck of the formerly mighty General? (Read More…)

Now that the U.S. and Japan have agreed on a watered-down version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations (America will keep its beloved chicken tax for at least another decade, Japan will protect its rice farmers from the evils of cheap American rice,) negotiations between  the EU and Japan about a trade pact are getting underway, with considerably less drama. (Read More…)

Ford has big plans for the Chinese market. It wants to double its share to 6 percent of the Chinese passenger vehicle market over the next three years, Asia chief Dave Schoch told Reuters reporter Bernie Woodall in Shanghai. (Read More…)

For years, Bruce Lubin and his wife Jenny collected tips to save time and money, published  on their whoknewtips.com website and their  Who Knew? book. Here are some good ones for your car:    (Read More…)

Red alert for armchair marketing strategists: Daimler plans what surely will be branded as an inexcusable watering down of its brand equity: The Mercedes brand is working on a series of very small (under 4 meters) and affordably priced (17,000 to 20,000 Euro) cars. (Read More…)

Developing cars and pieces thereof is getting increasingly costly, and that’s why even the fiercest rivals band together to share the mounting financial burden. GM and cross-town rival Ford agreed to jointly develop a new line of nine- and ten-speed automatic transmissions, Reuters says.   (Read More…)

Nissan workers will get a pay raise without the help of the Union. Or maybe they get a pay raise to help keep the union out.  (Read More…)

“Japan effectively sealed its participation in Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations Friday after reaching an agreement with the U.S. over its entry into the talks for the emerging regional free trade pact,” says The Nikkei [sub] . (Read More…)

15 percent of traffic fines issued in Dubai every day are for driving at speeds in excess of 130 m.p.h.. That’s why Dubai’s police now has a Lamborghini Aventador that can do 216 m.p.h. (Read More…)