GM China has made good on its threat to sell Made in China GMs abroad. According to The Nikkei [sub], Shanghai General Motors Co. has begun exporting the Chevrolet New Sail from China to Chile. Some of the B&B opined that this is nothing new. However, the Nikkei says that “this is the first time a world-class automaker will export from China a model it developed in the country.” A few weeks ago, Terry Johnsson, Shanghai GM vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing, said that this is “the first locally developed and manufactured passenger car from an international brand to be exported.” Read More >
U.S. car sales had peaked in 2000 at 17.4m, and it’s been downhill from there. Especially lately. This year, we might see between 11 and 12 million in the U.S. But wait, we might see the +17m again this year. In China.
“Industry experts are now saying China is on path to surpass that record,” reports Gasgoo. And that’s just the beginning. Read More >
Nobody knows for sure how many automakers China has. The guesses were somewhere between 60 and 120. Now we have it official: It’s “more than 130 big and small companies in 27 provinces,” writes China Daily. But it looks like a lot of them need to seek other employment. After having made consolidation noises for more than a year, the Chinese government is about to bring their car companies down to a manageable number. Read More >
Ever heard of a Chinese city by the name of Ordos? Neither have I, and it’s my sixth year in China by now. Google maps says it is in Inner Mongolia, China, halfway between the buzzing cities of Hohot and Yinchuan. Ordos just started its 2010 International Auto Show, going from September 30 to October 4. And what do they sell there, you ask, ox carts?
China’s going nutty over the next-generation of Buick GL8 minivans, which recently strutted its Buick Business Concept-derived styling in downtown Shanghai. We’ve heard rumors of a Buick MPV coming stateside for some time, with each successive rumor placing the “Baby Enclave” on a different platform, first Delta then Gamma. Though the latest intel seems to indicate that the US will get a Buick-badged version of the suicide-doored Opel Meriva, wouldn’t an Epsilon-based full minivan be a more natural fit for the US market? Sure, it might cannibalize the Enclave some, but that hasn’t stopped Buick from offering no fewer than three mid-sized sedans. Could Buick be the next brand to re-hip the minivan? Should it be?
Since I’ve been writing for TTAC, I have kept my eyes on exports from China, which according to popular wisdom, will take over the world. The truth about Chinese car exports is that they aren’t happening in the grand scheme of things. Keep that in mind when you will hear reports about skyrocketing Chinese exports. Read More >
Rumors of Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) establishing production in China have been around for a while. With good reason, Jaguars and especially Land Rovers enjoy (fairly) brisk sales in China. Now, these rumors move into the realm of the definitive. Read More >
Daimler wants to drastically increase Chinese production, at the expense of their booming imports. Dr. Z. told China’s National Business Daily (via Gasgoo) that their joint venture with BAIC, Beijing Benz Automotive Co, will expand its production capacity to 200,000 units a year. What won’t make people back home happy: Daimler wants to reduce the proportion of imported Mercedes-Benz models in the Chinese market to 30 percent from 70 percent. Read More >
About a year Editor-in Chief, Ed Niedermeyer, reported that GM and SAIC were discussions about co-operating in the Indian market. Then, in May, our overseas editor, Bertel Schmitt, reported how GM China was going to raid their Chinese line up and sell it in India. I dismissed the developments as the first step in GM being “China-centric”. But today Automotive World reports that Zhang Baolin, President of Chongqing Changan Automobile is having talks with Ford (their western partner in China) about extending their partnership from China to, you guessed it, India. “We have discuss with Ford to use their network to expand overseas, but have not yet come to an agreement yet,” said Zhang Baolin, via Bloomberg News. On the topics’ list are things like whose brand to use and what vehicles will be sold in India.
It’s been some time since since we had a “Trade War Watch” on mounting trade tensions in the auto industry, and thank goodness for that. In this economic climate of cuts, currency swings and bankruptcies, what we need are things which will make the situation worse, right? In May I reported about how the EU put a 20.6 percent tariff on aluminium wheels from China. The EU did this in response to complaints from domestic manufacturers. Naturally, this left a sour taste in China’s mouth. Well, over 5 months later, you’d think that the EU would have calmed down and this nasty business would be swept under the carpet, right? Erm, not quite….
While we are all waiting for Ed’s report on the Volt, let me waste some of your time by mentioning that GM will introduce the thing in China some time in the second half of 2011. They already concede that it will be a flop. Read More >
Ever since the China Automotive Technology & Research Center, a government agency that “assists the government in such activities as auto standard and technical regulation formulating, product certification testing, quality system certification, industry planning and policy research, information service and common technology research” started issuing monthly car sales numbers, we had our issues with them.
Month after month, they came out with data early, received headlines all over the world, and when the official CAAM numbers came out, they were totally different. There were attempts to explain that CATRC reports registrations, whereas CAAM reports deliveries to dealers. But the numbers were too far apart. In August, we yelped “Come on, guys. China is the world’s largest auto market. Why do we have to endure this rigmarole every month?” When we reported the September numbers, the CATRC was conspicuously absent. Now, we know why. Read More >
The feared takeover of the world by Chinese cars so far was a non-starter. We’ve always said that cars built at Chinese joint ventures with Western (or Japanese) companies would be best suited to break that spell. But so far, the Western (or Japanese) joint venture partners wouldn’t play ball. Why invite a Chinese joint venture abroad where it competes in your markets? Now the first international brand will export a low-end car it developed for China to Latin America. For starters. Guess who? Read More >
Next year, the UK will get back a long lost son, who has found adoptive parents in China: The MG. Gasgoo reports that the MG6 Saloon will enter the British market in 2011. That was announced by Chen Zhixin, Executive Vice President of SAIC Motor and General Manager of SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Co., at the UK Pavilion of Shanghai Expo, while Ms. Carma Elliot, Consul General of the United Kingdom (UK) in Shanghai, was watching. Just Auto thinks the Chinese car with a British name will be shown to the UK public at the Top Gear Live MPH motor show at London’s Earls Court, on 4 November. Read More >
New Volvo (and former VWoA) CEO Stefan Jacoby is (once again) targeting his former employer’s best selling Golf with an upcoming entry-level Volvo due in 2012. Autocar.uk reports that Jacoby has initiated a major reshuffling of Volvo’s future product line and brand positioning, which will now be (once again) based on the theme “functionality and Scandinavian elegance” and further away from sportiness. It appears this direction will also de-emphasize large CUVs, since developing a replacement for the elderly XC90 will give way (for now, at least) to the priority of a compact hatchback, which Volvo has not built since the (non-US) 1990 340 (above).
The upcoming Golf-competitor will presumably be based on the current C30, and not a new platform. But it will debut a new “face” for Volvo. Once again.
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