Volkswagen’s SEAT has been a bit luckless recently. The victim of the Mediterranean malaise seeks to improve its odds by exporting cars to China. Lacking new models to introduce, Seat showcases a new culinary delight: Blondes on a stick. (Read More…)

When it comes to car blogging, China has long bypassed the rest of the world.  Even much larger sites than TTAC look like midgets compared to the Chinese giants. Nothing shows that more drastically than the Beijing Auto Show. (Read More…)

Toyota will launch a domestically produced plug-in hybrid in China before the year is over and will follow with EVs once certification is completed, said Dong Changzheng, executive vice president of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., to a small group of reporters at the Beijing Auto Show. The cars will be marketed under a yet to be announced “Chinese” brand. (Read More…)

The first fruits of a large scale joint venture of a leading U.S. supplier and a consortium of Chinese automakers will debut in FAW’s Hongqi (Red Flag) luxury sedan. BorgWarner United Transmission Systems (BWUTS) will supply DualTronic control modules and clutch modules for a seven-speed wet dual-clutch transmission (DCT) that goes into FAW’s Hongqi in late 2013. (Read More…)

Sometimes, journalists are in the pockets of people. This time, people are in the pockets of journalists: More than 40 theft cases were reported in the first hours of the 2012 Beijing Auto Show. (Read More…)

Also in Beijing, there are product specialists who explain technical features of each car. They will do that in Chinese, or, if they are blond, in Russian. Here is a comprehensive pictorial of the most capable product specialists of the Beijing Auto Show.

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And now: Can you spot the car? (Read More…)

So today The Tycho,  proprietor of Carnewschina and expert on Mao-era-revival cars, intercepts me at the show and says: “You did it all wrong! You talked about the H7, but showed the L7!”

“I beg your pardon?”

It turns out he was right as usual. In my piece on the Red Flag car, the wrong pictures were added to the wrong text. Corrected. As a make-good, here the ultimate L7/H7 pictorial. (Read More…)

We met at the Volkswagen booth. Ready for take-off. (Read More…)

Audi’s baby-SUV Q3, in “Jinlong Yufeng” dress. Which means “Golden Dragon in the Wind,” or so I am told. (Read More…)

Revival of the venerable “Red Flag”: The Hongqi L7. (Read More…)

The Jeep was the first American car made in China through a joint venture. Somewhere along the way, Jeep lost it. Jeep is trying to get its moxie back with the “Dragon” design concept. (Read More…)

This time truly imported from Detroit: The Chrysler 300 Ruyi. A 300C, adapted to Chinese tastes. Still called a concept.

Not only does the Volkswagen Group dominate China by market share, it also has its own hall at the Beijing Auto Show. (Read More…)

So they finally took the wraps off the long anticipated and already much hated Urus, the SUV concept from Lamborghini. (Read More…)

First media day at the Beijing Auto Show. Accredited working press only. Half of Beijing must be accredited, and the other half must be on their way to China International Exhibition Center (New Venue) – that’s what it’s called, no joke – in order to finagle one of those hard to get press passes. (Read More…)