It’s a new Wirtschaftswunder, a new economic miracle: While sales in Germany and Europe nosedive, Volkswagen can’t make cars fast enough, and produces record results. In June, German car sales were down 28.7 percent. The European market was down 6.9 percent. That should hurt Volkswagen, by far Europe’s largest carmaker big, shouldn’t it? It should, but it didn’t. In the first half of 2010, the Volkswagen Group delivered more vehicles than they hoped in their wildest dreams. (Read More…)

“According to the Wolfsburg grapevine, the Volkswagen Group is set to increase its 19.9 percent share in Suzuki by ten percent annually over the next four to five years,” says Automobile Magazine in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And they immediately ask:  “What for?”  Right. (Read More…)

In most parts of the world, electric vehicles are treated as the second coming of Jesus. Meanwhile in Omaha, Warren Buffett is having doubts whether it was such a good idea to pay $230m for 10 percent of China’s  cellphonebattery/car/EV/appliance/house builder BYD.

BYD’s share price has fallen by more than 40 percent over the past three months, China’s First Financial Daily remarks (via Gasgoo.) Can you guess the main reason for the serious drubbing? (Read More…)

Remember how Toyota was slapped with a $16.4m fine for allegedly withholding information and delaying recalls? Remember how Toyota was served again with a subpoena for information, what many read as the prelude for another $16.4m fine? (If anyone again says that $16,4m is pocket change, please send me the pocket change.) Well, there are some people in Washington who claim that it’s the U.S.  government that might be withholding information. (Read More…)

After President Obama paid his outstanding union dues and slapped a 35 percent punitive tariff on Chinese car and light truck tires exported to the USA, we predicted two outcomes:

1.)    It will start a trade war, and China will drag the U.S.A. in front of the WTO. Sure did. The WTO accepted China’s complaint, and the trade war turned into a major conflagration.
2.)    We said that not a single new job will be created in the U.S.A., and “what the boneheaded decision does is simply shift tire production from China to other low cost producing countries.” Sure does. (Read More…)

Everybody is worried about China flooding the world with cheap cars. Just the opposite is true. The world is flooding China with expensive cars. China has become one of the prime export markets for major carmakers the world over, especially in the higher segments. For next year, a unit of the Chinese government predicts imports  to China to exceed the 1 million mark. Exports remain lacklustre. (Read More…)

Whereas other Japanese carmakers struggle a bit in keeping up with the still quite hot Chinese market, Nissan finds itself way ahead. Nissan’s China sales rose 51.4 percent in the first half to 503,077 vehicles, says The Nikkei [sub]. Reason given: strong demand from middle-class buyers.  The Chinese market as a whole rose some 30 percent in the first six months. (Read More…)

If GM wants to pull off a smashing IPO, they need smashing numbers. There are people they can learn from: Their friends and joint venture partners at China’s SAIC. China’s largest automaker (they have joint ventures with both GM and Volkswagen, can’t get any bigger), said first-half profit may have more than quadrupled from a year earlier, reports Bloomberg. And the secret to their success? (Read More…)

Ok, so we heard that BYD is moving onto the home appliance market. Now, BYD takes  development to a whole new level We hear that they will build whole homes! No drywall comments, please, these are environmentally friendly homes. China’s electric car manufacturer BYD Auto teamed up with California’s KB Home to build new energy homes in Lancaster, California. The first-phase construction of the project has recently been completed, Gasgoo says. (Read More…)

Honda is moving closer to the grid. Honda is working on on a plug-in hybrid, and an all-electric car. It will take a while until they are ready, if you want one, you need to wait until 2013. Toyota is a step and a year ahead: ToMoCo will begin mass production of plug-in hybrids and electric cars in 2012. (Read More…)

So when you thought things at Toyota are getting back to normal, what with NHTSA backpedaling on their ghost in the machine busting attempts, here comes a biggie: A federal grand jury in New York served Toyota with a subpoena, seeking information relating to defects in its steering relay rods. Fancy lawyers call that a subpoena duces tecum, and charge more. The Washington Post reckons this might  “potentially widen an investigation that began with reports of sudden unintended acceleration.” (Read More…)

Those who have an ideological beef with China should keep one thing in mind: Without China, the car industry (to name just one segment) would be dead. China’s unbridled appetite for cars keeps the whole industry humming. Two examples: (Read More…)

Today, GM broke ground for another R&D Center in China, called the GM China Advanced Technical Center. The new facility is in addition to existing R&D centers in China, including the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) in Shanghai and the China Automotive Energy Research Center (CAERC) in Beijing. (Read More…)

Shanghai Volkswagen, the joint venture between China’s SAIC and Volkswagen, lost its General Manager and three other people in a road accident  in Jiuquan, southwestern China’s Gansu province, AFP reports. (Read More…)

If you live in America or Canada, Volkswagen Lupo will tell you not much. In Europe, it will evoke an “ah, the Lupo, haven’t seen one for a while.” Well, that’s because Volkswagen had discontinued the small car in 2005. That’s not a long lifespan for a model that was introduced in 1997. All kinds of theories are floating around why VW stopped building the car. Here is the truth: lack of buyers. People looked at it, saw the price, and said: “For a little more, I get a real car. How about that Polo or Golf over there?” (If you are in Mexico, “Lupo”  might sound familiar. But it’s actually a Brazilian Fox that is sold under the Lupo name.)  Now would you believe that Volkswagen is resurrecting the ill-fated car? (Read More…)