China’s vice-president Xi Jinping (above) is packing his bags for a state visit to Sweden, where he and his entourage will arrive this Saturday. He doesn’t go there to watch pretty blondes. (He doesn’t fancy blondes, see picture below.) Xi Jinping wants to come back to Beijing with a Swedish souvenir: A signed contract between Ford and Geely that will seal the sale of Volvo. Read More >
Despite having their hands full with recalls, class action suits, Prius hoaxers and gold diggers, Toyota is not falling into deep depression. To the contrary, they think demand in 2010 will be higher than originally planned. And they ramp up their production to meet the demand. Read More >
Japan’s auto industry is slowly putting its toes back into the Iraqi quicksand. Their stalking horse is Sumitomo, which established the first office of a Japanese company in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, The Nikkei [sub] reports. The office is in the business center at Baghdad’s international airport, surrounded by American military facilities. They’ll build the world’s most heavily guarded workshop. Read More >
Even in the darkest days of double nickel, the U.S. of A. had been Porsche’s largest market. In Zuffenhausen, they had tried to get to the bottom of a phenomenon that defied German logic: Why buy a Porsche if you can only crawl along at 55 mph? Ever so thankful for the unexpected sales, Porsche abandoned the search for the unknown.
Now, Porsche is looking eastwards for growth. Read More >
Talk about unfortunate timing of a product launch: Just as Google is getting ready to pack up and leave China, SAIC is making last preparations to launch their Google Android powered homegrown luxo-barge Roewe 350 at Beijing’s Auto Show (April 25 -May 2, 2010, I’ll be there.) The Rover Roewe will be added to the growing list of Google Android-based devices just as the spat between Google and China is turning into a full-fledged brawl. Read More >
This morning, Beijing woke up in a massive yellow cloud. Motorists found their cars covered by thick layers of yellow grit. Air filters were quickly overwhelmed. What happened? Read More >
We’re ready to seal the deal. If the deal fails, the problem is not on our side. We have not violated any part of the agreement. The situation is changing constantly…and the process of the negotiation is very tough. We will put as much effort as we can. I hope the deal can be done
Geely Zhejiang Chairman Li Shufu is sounding defensive in today’s Wall Street Journal, as his firm’s deal to buy Volvo from Ford drags on. And he won’t say what’s holding things up on Ford’s end either. After all, the money is there, and Ford (allegedly) isn’t sweating the IP details… so where’s the beef? Ford spokesfolks say the Blue Oval’s
position hasn’t changed since 23 December last year. As Ford and Geely said at the time—and as we’ve continued to say—we expect to sign a sale agreement in the first quarter.
That gives the Volvo-Geely deal two more weeks, not long considering the deal has been over a year in the making. So why is Li Shufu getting so antsy? Is this end-of-deal nerves, or is the Geely-Volvo deal going the way of HUMMER-Tengzhong?
China’s Geely and Ford say they are on track to sign a deal on Volvo, says Reuters after checking back with the players. Spokesmen for Ford and Geely said their companies still plan to sign on the dotted line by the end of the month. Then, the deal would close sometime in summer.
Doubts were raised by China Daily, China’s government-owned and English speaking newspaper. They speculated that “financing and technology issues could delay Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the parent of Geely Automobile, in its plan to acquire the Volvo brand from US automaker Ford Motor Co,” after talking to “sources familiar with the matter.” The same sources said that “the chances of a short-term deal now looks bleak, unless the two sides make major concessions.” At first glance, this smells like some last minute arm-wrestling, not too foreign to anybody living in China. However, China Daily sees two problems, far beyond the usual haggling: Read More >
Mercedes-Benz continues its long march forward in China. In February, “Benz” (as the locals call the brand here) racked in a 160 percent growth. 7,200 additional Benzes graced China’s roads by end of February.
With more than 15,300 units sold in the first two months of the year, up 155 percent, Mercedes-Benz calls itself the fastest-growing luxury brand in China, Gasgoo reports.
Imports of the S-Class grew by 115 percent in February, cementing China as the world’s biggest S-Class market. The new generation S-Class is extremely popular amongst China’s well-to-do. Read More >
When China’s Chery announced last December that they would be will be the first ever Chinese brand to enter the venerable Dakar Rally, a lot of people said: “Yeah, sure. Chinese cars, in the Dakar? Don’t they fall apart when they leave the lot?”
Previous-gen Kia Sorento or Mercedes ML? Well, which is it gonna be, HuangHai Landscape? [via Autobild.de]
Wonder how a formerly little known company called BYD can turn into a major player in the auto business and turn a record profit? Here is one of the reasons: BYD “has scrapped its highly publicized plan to mass-produce pure electric cars on the mainland by the middle of this year,” writes Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.
All they’ll make will be 100 E6 electric cars to be used as taxis in the city of Shenzhen, where BYD is based. Further development of the vehicles will depend on how that test fleet will be doing. Now that is one way to delay production. Read More >
From Jim Sikes (he only wants a new car), and Orange County ( no idea what they really want), to class action lawyers (they want billions), everybody wants to cash in on Toyota. Chinese Zhejiang Province’s doesn’t want to stand behind. Their commerce bureau and consumer protection committee called on Toyota to compensate drivers for costs stemming from its recall of faulty vehicles, reports The Nikkei [sub]. Read More >
China has become a world automobile producing and consuming power, but it should also be noted that the industry still lacks core technology and has weak innovative capabilities… This creates hidden dangers for public safety
The closest thing Toyota has given to an explicit accounting of its unintended acceleration woes is the admission that rapid growth detracted from the company’s previously unquestioned commitment to quality. With the Chinese auto market growing even faster than Toyota was, the Chinese Central government is anxious to prevent such nasty side-effects of rapid volume growth from manifesting themselves in the domestic auto industry. And well it should be: with Chinese automakers like BYD poised to launch overseas sales campaigns, the Chinese auto industry is at a crucial stage in developing its international image. China’s Ministry of Information and Technology has released a statement [via DetNews] urging its domestic automakers to heed Toyota’s example, and adopt “new technology, new techniques, new equipment and new materials” to master the balance between profit and quality. And hopefully move past the image of hand-assembled batteries and carbon-copy design while they’re at it. Meanwhile, Toyota is feeling the hurt. Stung by calls by the government to compensate Chinese drivers, Toyota-FAW fell from China’s top ten sales list. Toyota China reported a 30 percent rise in sales in February, but at 45,400 units the firm was still way down from its 72,000 unit January performance.
Chinese battery maker and aspiring automaker BYD earned $215m in the fourth quarter of 2009, bringing its net profit for last year to $555.2m, reports Automotive News [sub]. BYD’s performance outstripped analyst estimates, which projected fourth quarter profits of $130.5m, and full-year profits of $473.2m. Though the Chinese auto market grew 46 percent to 1.6m vehicles, 47 percent of BYD’s 2009 sales came from the firm’s cell phone battery business, which is expected to give back recent gains as the global economic crisis takes its toll. Not so with BYD’s auto business: the firm has raised its 2010 car sales projections 14 percent, with sales of 800k foreseen. And as China’s car market takes off, BYD, which has one of the nation’s best-selling cars in its F3 compact, is expected to keep growing. Says one JP Morgan analyst:
BYD is a company that can’t be underestimated. If the Chinese vehicle market expands 10 percent this year BYD’s sales will grow at least 40 percent — 50 or even 60 percent is also a possibility.
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