Despite the worse than lackluster uptake of EVs in China, and disappointing sales of hybrids in the Middle Kingdom, companies and the government are still convinced that electric cars are the wave of the future. Toyota will join the fray and will introduce an electric vehicle in China, Vice Chairman Katsuaki Watanabe told The Nikkei [sub]. While announcing that Toyota will enter the electric vehicle market in 2012, Watanabe said, “we’re favorably considering a move into China as well.” It’s not that the market is screaming for plug-ins, or even hybrids. Read More >

After testing the Brazilian waters with imported models, and after having received a passing (-by) grade from our man in Brazil, China’s Chery decided to go whole hog and build Cherys in the land of  Samba.  Chery has signed an agreement with the municipality of Jacareí, a city in the interior of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, to set up a car assembly factory in Brazil, reports Macauhub. Read More >

4x4s are popular in China, carry no social stigma, and are especially popular in China’s affluent east. Imported Land Rovers have made heavy inroads into China. In comes as no surprise that Chinese car manufacturers are lining up to for a joint venture to make Land Rovers in China. Read More >

When Geely bought Volvo from Ford, the feel-good story was that production will remain ind Sweden, with maybe another Chinese factory for Chinese consumption.  So much for that. Geely may build three Volvo plants in China, a Geely spokesman told Reuters today. Read More >

Now that Geely has bought Volvo, their founder and chairman Li Shufu is seeking a new challenge. He’s going virtual.

Geely plans to sell cars specially designed for Internet sales at Alibaba, China’s biggest online marketplace, reports state news agency Xinhua. Read More >

Everybody is afraid of China swamping the world with low cost cars, but it hasn’t happened. As a matter of fact, Chinese car exports are downright horrendous. In the first seven months of this year, China exported 288,900 units. China imports far more cars than it exports. For the next year, more than 1m of imports are expected. This doesn’t keep Chinese car manufacturers from trying their luck abroad.

Great Wall Motor plans to make a sales push into Europe, the US and Africa despite potential obstacles to market entry, said Shi Qingke, deputy general manager of Great Wall’s international department to The Global Times, the English version of People’s Daily. Read More >

PSA Peugeot, and their joint venture with China’s Dongfeng, are planning to export cars made in China to Russia, said Gregoire Olivier, Peugeot-Citroen’s recently appointed head of Asian operations,  to The Beijing News via Gasgoo.

PSA wants to sell cars made at the Chinese JV in other regions of Asia and Russia as early as next year, said Olivier. The only thing that’s keeping them from doing it right now is the lack of a logistics platform. But they are building that in Shanghai as we speak, and it should be up and running next year.

Because Olivier was recently appointed, he may have missed various memos, and will be forgiven. Here a quick update: Read More >

While Japanese automakers are digging in for the big sales drop at home, caused by the evaporating government stimulus money, all eyes are across the China Sea. A large share of this year’s profits will come from China, says The Nikkei [sub]. Read More >

I had a beer and a pizza yesterday night with Ash Sutcliffe of China Car Times (us expat car bloggers need to stick together) and he swore on a stack of bibles that he had seen the resurrection of the  Chrysler Sebring over at Beijing Auto. But it won’t be a Sebring. Read More >

Close your eyes and think of China. I bet many of you still see seas of people with straw hats riding bicycles. J.P. Morgan and J.D. Power see a sea of luxury cars. Millions of them. Read More >

Throwing caution of top government officials in the wind, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) expects car production in China to reach 30 million by 2015, with 5 million units earmarked for exports, China’s Global Times reports.

The CAAM calls the estimate “conservative.” China’s 21st Century Business Herald cited sources that are betting on 34 million annually in five years. The surprising part is not the total. 25m sold domestically by 2015 is lowballed. At the rate the world’s second largest economy is growing, anywhere between 30 to 40m units annually is doable.

What is surprising is the export number they have in  mind. Read More >

China has a dizzying array of car brands. Nobody is quite sure how many car manufacturers there are. Number of car brands in China? Anybody’s guess. Well, there will be a new one. Nissan created a new brand exclusively for China. They call it the Venucia. Solid Chinese name … Read More >

What would intellectual property lawyers do without China’s Chery? In 2005, a legal dispute between Chery and GM was settled after Chery swore that they would never sell a Chery car in the U.S. – GM took the position that Chery was dangerously close to Chevy. Attorneys, start your accordion file folders, here we go again: Read More >

DNA India reports that Tata is making a concerted effort to source parts for Jaguar and Land Rover from low cost countries like China, India (duh!) and Poland. DNA’s source for this claim said: “Earlier, Ford used to procure 17 percent from low-cost countries like Poland, China and India, whereas Tata Motors is planning to increase it to 35 percent.” Tata has buys more than just cheap parts. They outsourced low-end design and development work to lower-wage countries. But before you start the “If you thought JLR reliability was bad now…” don’t get too carried away. Read More >

BYD hasn’t been doing so well for months. BYD’s August sales dropped 5.9 percent from previous month and 19 percent from a year earlier, Reuters says.  Just a few days ago, BYD blamed force majeure for its misfortunes: Seasonal factors, floods and mudslides had impacted sales, they said. Read More >