Forget the rice paddies and straw hats. Think Autobahn, and a testosterone-driven car on your tail, with his (it’s always a he) brights on. China is Bimmer country. The robust sales of BMW in China over the first nine months of the year made the Middle Kingdom the fourth-largest market for the Bavarian maker, Bloomberg reports.
Yesterday, China’s auto production officially exceeded the 10m mark. You’ve seen nothing yet, opined Dongfeng Motor Co. vice president Ren Yong at the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show (which had been mostly shunned by foreign makers.) Peak oil theorists, take a Valium before reading further.+
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The Chinese car maker Great Wall Motor, a Hong Kong-listed Chinese car company, is suing Fiat in China for industrial espionage. According to the Financial Times, this in “an apparent response to an Italian court ruling that Great Wall copied a Fiat car model.”
Last year, Fiat sued Great Wall both in Italy and in China for copying the Fiat Panda, which Great Wall sells as the Peri.
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The deal to sell Volvo to Geely may be falling apart after 10 months of heavy petting. Everybody from Bloomberg to the DetN has lapped up the leak that it’s all about intellectual property that may be misappropriated in the Middle Kingdom. The true crime: A massive insult to the intelligence of the dear reader is being perpetrated. If there are concerns about stealing trade secrets, why did they come up now and not earlier, while Ford and Geely were progressing from first to second base in a cloud of steam? Did they fall asleep in the drive-in? Whatta we gonna tell your mama? Whatta we gonna tell your pa? “We say it’s about trade secrets.” “Great idea. Works all the time.”
The Financial Times found a more likely cause for the sudden interuptus:
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Chinese automaker Geely has been pursuing Volvo for 10 months now, and it’s beginning to look like the chase was in vain. Bloomberg reports that disagreements over Volvo’s intellectual property are about to scuttle the deal, the same reasons GM gave for rejecting Beijing Automotive’s bid for Opel in July. The problem, it seems, hinges on product integration. Volvo’s vehicles are all based on Ford platforms, so giving Geely access to current and in-development Volvo models means trusting them with the special sauce. And Ford is even less likely to do that, after a former Ford employee was arrested last week for attempting to pass some 4,000 secret documents to SAIC and Beijing Auto.
China’s capital Beijing officially has 17m people. Unofficially, it’s guesstimated to be closer to 20m. By the beginning of next year, Beijing will be host to more than 4m automobiles, China Daily reports. Back in 1997, Beijing barely had 1m cars. Now, one in 4 Beijingers has a car.
Every day, more than 1000 cars are being registered in Beijing. After the October holidays, 10,000 needed to be registered and caused a giant traffic jam around the Beijing version of the DMV.
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Some of the speculation surrounding GM Daewoo’s woes centers around the possibility of GM’s Chinese partners buying The General’s Korean division. Whether those rumors hold up remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt that GM’s largest Chinese partner, SAIC, is looking into taking a larger ownership in GM’s Asian operations. Automotive News [sub] reports that GM is in talks with SAIC on cooperation in the Indian market. One possible outcome could be SAIC taking a stake in GM India. “GM’s discussions with SAIC include business opportunities in India, but no final decision has been made on how they will cooperate,” say GM spokesfolks. But we can guess that it will involve SAIC taking a bigger ownership stake. The Shanghai-based firm has seen sales rise 47 percent, and net profit rise 70 percent in 2009 to-date. GM, in partnership with SAIC, has become one of the top automakers in China. Could that success be replicated in India, or is SAIC simply outgrowing its partner?
After MG, Rover, and the iconic London taxi maker Mangenese Bronze, one of the last remnants of the British auto industry was bought by a Chinese. By a Chinese woman, to be exact. Dr. Qu Li, owner of Eco Concept Ltd., agreed Thursday to buy for an undisclosed amount LDV, a Birmingham-based van-manufacturing company that went “into administration” in June. The lady has a history.
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The Chinese equivalent of the Forbes Richest People in America is the Hurun Rich List. On top of the list, released Tuesday, is Wang Chuanfu, founder and chairman of the automobile and battery maker BYD Company. Wang Chuanfu dethroned Huang Guangyu , who was the chairman of electronics retailer GOME. Huang was jailed last year on charges of stock marked manipulation – along with several senior Communist Party and government officials suspected of involvement.
Last year, Warren Buffet’s invested $232 million into the the car and battery producer BYD. Wang, China’s richest man, moved up 102 places on the list and has an estimated worth of more than $5.1b. Since September 2008, the BYD share had risen nearly 1000 percent.
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She’s young, used to getting her way, and she wants her Regal. But what are the odds of this scene repeating itself in America?
China’s auto sales have most likely broken the 10 million unit sound barrier at the time of this typing. This according to educated estimates of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) via Gasgoo. The association expects annual sales for 2009 to surpass 12 million.
In September, China’s auto sales had soared 78 percent (compared to September of the prior year) to 1.33m units. Sales of passenger cars, including sedans, SUVs and MPVs, rose 83.6 percent to 1.02m units. September marked the seventh straight month in a row that China’s car sales exceeded one million units a month.
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Unlike a lot of car blogs, we failed to post a “that’s all folks” wrap-up on the Hummer to China deal last week. Mostly because GM’s insistence [by press release] that it had “entered into a definitive agreement that will allow Tengzhong to acquire GM’s premium all-terrain HUMMER brand,” didn’t answer the real question about the deal. Namely, whether it would fly past the Chinese officials who shot it down on the last go-round. And sure enough, Automotive News [sub] reports that Chinese officials didn’t even know there was a deal to approve.
The Ministry of Commerce has yet to receive an application concerning Tengzhong’s purchase of Hummer. Currently, the Sichuan province commerce office is preparing to report the situation to the Ministry of Commerce, and because nothing is known about the specific content of the purchase agreement, for now (the ministry) will not say any more
Sounds “definitive” alright. So, who didn’t get greased? Or was the application just lost in the mail?
A China-market exclusive, this porcelain-patina’d prancer’s look is based on a Song Dynasty vase. And costs about as much. Now it’s just a matter of time before the savvy marketers from Maranello decide to name the California’s replacement the “Guangdong.” [via AutoBild]
GM and Sichuan Tzenzhong hope to close the Hummer deal within the next few days, reports Automotive News [sub]. GM expects to receive $150m for the brand, or about $1m per dealer (pre-cull). Incidentally, GM made each of those dealers pay up to $15m for the “brand faithful” (read: garish) dealership upgrades pictured above. Not to get all Lou Dobbs about it, but GM already turned down $100m from an American bidder too. But hey, $50m is $50m. Just ask the Hummer dealers. Meanwhile, who else is ready for Hummer to become a symbol of China?
Greentech Automotive is the hybrid vehicle firm founded by the former CEO of Brilliance with plans to build a plant in Mississippi with funds raised through the EB-5 visa program. Not to be comfused with Hybrid Kinetic Motors, the hybrid vehicle firm founded by the former Chairman of Brilliance with plans to build a plant in Alabama with funds raised through the EB-5 visa program. Now that we have that clarified, we can declare Greentech the frontrunner of these two competing enigmas, for at least showing a few hecho-en-China prototypes. The DeSoto Times describes the prototype models as a hybrid coupe that can deliver 45 miles per gallon and go from zero to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, a four-door, mid-size hybrid which should deliver 50 mpg, a zero-emission electric sub-compact capable of traveling 80 miles on a three-hour charge and a high-efficiency gasoline sub-compact capable of 65 mpg. Initial factory plans call for a $1b phase-one investment, which will get the plant to 150k annual capacity and employ 1,500 workers. Eventually, Greentech hopes to employ 4,500 workers building 250k units per year, and –get this– capture one third of the US market.
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