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…)

When I was a young whippersnapper and did advertising for Volkswagen, we had a rule of thumb: “Over the lifetime of the car, you’ll spend the purchase price again.” In gas, oil, taxes, insurance, repairs, parts, you name it. We kept that rule to ourselves. We didn‘t want to shock the prospective buyer. Now, Volkswagen changed their mind. They are going for full disclosure. (Read More…)

The things you find on the Internet. FFOG (ever heard of them?) reports that the Iran has an electric vehicle that goes 300 kilometers (186 miles), “with the recharging battery in only six minutes.“ (Read More…)

Yesterday, The Nikkei [sub] had it on good authority that Mitsubishi and PSA will co-develop a compact commercial electric vehicle for the European market. Now, Mitsubishi says it’s a product of fantasy in overdrive. Mitsubishi told Dow Jones Newswire that the story is not true. The funny thing is, the Nikkei wire is dead silent on the issue. Even funnier: After saying that it’s not true, the Dow Jones rehashes the allegedly false Nikkei story in great detail.

After 13 months of rising car sales, Japan is looking into a deep, dark abyss. A government subsidy program will end any minute. Officially, the program runs through the end of September, but the funds have dried up. As of Monday, around 10.2 billion yen ($122m) were in the kitty. That’s about a day’s worth of subsidies. (Read More…)

When Volkswagen bought a 19.9 percent share in Suzuki, everybody in the know knew that a much bigger trade was going down. A trade of subcontinents. Suzuki owns nearly half of the market in India, where Volkswagen is a relative nobody. Suzuki is dabbling in China, where Volkswagen rules the roost. (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…)

The current mantra at General Motors: Everybody and everything look sharp and attractive for the coming IPO. During the sprucing-up operations, there are times when someone at RenCen sighs: “Maybe we should have gotten rid of Opel after all.” (Read More…)

It’s no secret that I’m a bit doubtful about the runaway success of the all-electric vehicle. The infrastructure obstacles are just too great. There is one market where plug-ins make sense: Light delivery vehicles. Never cruise too far from the warehouse. Can be charged while van is being loaded. Lots of regenerative braking. Mitsubishi and PSA think the same. They will co-develop a compact commercial electric vehicle for the European market. Production will begin by 2012, says The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)

Hyundai plans to raise its worldwide production capacity (including Kia) to 6.5 million a year by 2012, company sources told The Nikkei [sub]. To put that into perspective: In 2009, the Hyundai/Kia chaebol sold 4,645,776  cars. To put it further into perspective: GM sold 6.5m cars worldwide in 2009. Here is the expansion blueprint: (Read More…)

Opel’s German dealer association left the Zentralverband des Kraftfahrzeuggewerbes (ZDK) in a huff, says Automobilwoche [sub] First, what’s a ZDK? It’s Germany’s umbrella organization of the car business. You need to be an industry organization to be a member. Next to the manufacturer organization VDA, the ZDK is the most powerful lobbying group of the car business. And what made the Opel dealers to hand in their membership cards and leave?

ZDK President Robert “Robby” Rademacher had strong words for Opel’s Lifetime Guarantee: “If the Wettbewerbszentrale  would not have taken the case, the ZDK would have taken Opel to court.” (Read More…)

It used to be that joint ventures with Chinese manufacturers were strictly for Chinese consumption. The Chinese would like nothing more than to expand to other markets with their foreign branded products. Strict joint venture contracts typically forbid just that. Sure, sometimes there are some small scale exportation tests. But usually, what is made in China, stays in China. Contracts can be changed or amended. More and more Chinese automakers seek to expand their relationship with joint venturers beyond China’s borders. (Read More…)

If you think China’s auto growth is scary, then you find yourself in rare agreement with China’s central government. China’s 30 (!) major (!) auto makers had a production capacity of 13.59m vehicles by the end of 2009. Chinese bought 13.64m units. This year, it will be much more. By July, Chinese had already made and Chinese had already bought more than 10m units, according to data released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Chinese buy more than just cars. They have bought (well, leased) enough land, buildings and machinery in order to more than double car output by 2015. With the current expansion and investment plans exercised, China will have production capacity for a mind-blowing 31.24m units by the end of 2015. That according to Chen Bin, head of industrial coordination at the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s economic regulation agency.That’s more than six (!) times the U.S. production in 2009, and three times the U.S. auto production in the heydays of 2007. You are not the only one to get worried now. Even China’s NDRC thinks that might be a bit much. (Read More…)

Suzuki is to India what Volkswagen was to China. Earliest foreign entry into a huge an untapped car market. Like Volkswagen in China, Suzuki built a dominant position in India early on. Suzuki owns half of the Indian market. Unlike Volkswagen, two-thirds of Suzuki’s operating profit is estimated to come from India. Volkswagen lost their commanding share of China (and made it up with volume) when the market exploded, attracted competition, and overwhelmed VW’s capacities. A mistake Suzuki seeks to avoid. (Read More…)

The ever rising yen makes Japanese manufacturers flirt with the idea of abandoning the land of the rising sun and to shift production abroad. Toyota President Akio Toyoda told Asahi Shimbun that Toyota wants to keep building cars in Japan — for domestic sales. Even that is up for discussion. (Read More…)