After a rash of crashes involving pricey supercars in China, a bus company in Jinghua, China, is taking action. It teaches its bus drivers:
a.) How to spot a super car
b.) How much that super car costs.
Not in order to raise brand awareness amongst its bus drivers. (Read More…)
From the Times of India to Jalopnik, all have the harrowing story that the Chinese government did “ban the word “Ferrari” from online searches.” According to the reports, a young man was killed on Sunday after his Ferrari 458 was split in two in Beijing. The reports say he was the son of senior Communist party official. According to the reports, that caused the word “Ferrari” to vanish from Internet searches in China. The Daily Mail wrote yesterday: “All references to the Italian supercar company were mysteriously removed from China’s online search engines in the early hours this morning.“ Jalopnik explains in its trademark shallow detail “why Chinese censors banned ‘Ferrari’ from internet search.”
I happened to be in China since Sunday. I volunteer life, limb, and personal freedom to put the story to the test.
(Read More…)
After years and years and years of rumors and premature announcements, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has finally, honestly, cross your heart and swear to fry, “finalized a joint venture agreement with Chery Automobile Co to manufacture and sell vehicles in China,” Reuters reports. (Read More…)
China has been the engine under record earnings at German automakers such as Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. China helped GM offset its heavy losses at Opel, and provided more than 2 million cars that earned GM the (some say undeserved) title of world’s largest automaker. All of them have invested heavily into added capacity in China. All of them have reason to be worried. (Read More…)
Allegedly, China’s enthusiasm for new cars has waned. Don’t tell that to a Shanghainese. In Shanghai, exuberant carbuying has been dampened by limiting the amount of license plates, which are auctioned off. In March, prices of new license plates hit a record high. The average bid for a license plate was 58,625 yuan (9,380 U.S. dollars), Xinhua reports. (Read More…)
Geely has chosen their battery technology partner for their new plug-in hybrid vehicle, and their supplier, A123 Systems Inc., may not be a familiar name to everyone, but their wares have been used by other vehicles like the Fisker Karma.
Chinese media has written for a while that Volkswagen and its Shanghai joint venture with SAIC will do a new “Chinese” brand called “Tianyue” by the Chinese, or “Tantus” by the longnoses. Only Carnewschina did some research and tells us what those names really mean. Careful, do not read on if you are offended by “mature” content, or could be fired for reading such. (Read More…)
China has become famous for its golden and pink cars. Now, there is some kind of a backlash. Or maybe word of Jack Baruth’s lime green Audi S5 has reached China? Can’t possibly drive an Audi S5 in gold, pink, or lime green in China after Jack’s frog-colored Audi was flogged on eBay. Even China has some standards. Instead of Audis in garish colors, there now are black and white Audis. “So what?” you say. I said black and white Audis. (Read More…)
A report from Britain’s “WHATCAR?” magazine suggests Bentley will go back to the drawing board before their EXP 9 F SUV hits the market in 2015. I, for one, am not so sure this is a good idea.
China has a new star. It’s the police force of Qionglai, a small city near Chengdu, Sichuan. Qionglai’s finest perform some kind of a reverse gangsta rap.
Want more? Mei wen ti! No problem. (Read More…)
Western media widely reported (and still reports) that the Chinese government will only allow Chinese cars to be bought by its functionaries.
Not so. The rule exists in draft form only,and has been published to elicit public feedback.However, in a disturbing development, China Daily reports that “nearly 90 percent of respondents in a survey are in favor of China’s domestic independent-brand automobiles for governmental use.” It’s not that 90 percent said so. It’s the ominous fact that it is being published in a government-owned paper.
If the survey is correct, then Chinese citizens want to look down on the car choices of their rulers. The Chinese themselves are widely in favor of foreign cars. 70 percent of all cars bought in China are foreign branded. The appetite for foreign branded cars remains high,as the following tables show. (Read More…)
China’s February new car sales are in, and they are whatever you want them to be. They are up a lot if you look at February alone. They are down if you look at the first two months of the year. They are confused for those who don’t know where to look. (Read More…)
The Chinese auto press now routinely whacks the innovation by replication that is still prevalent in the Chinese car industry. An egregious case: Zoyte copied the Suzuki Alto nearly 1:1 for the Zoyte Z100, which is expected to debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April. Nevertheless, an unrepentant Zoyte was caught by Carnewschina testing the new Z100 side-by-side with the Alto (top. The cars are not being tested on ice. It is an attempt to obscure the location where the pictures were taken.) (Read More…)
Global sales of Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz car brand rose a whopping 20.3 percent in February compared to February 2011, Reuters says. A lot of this growth comes from a country already pronounced a basket case by some: China. (Read More…)
Every country and culture seems to have to go through its fads and fashions. China does it at breakneck speed. Last year, it was gold. Now, the Bling Dynasty is succeeded by The King. Elvis-style pink cars suddenly are all the rage, and who else than Carnewschina to keep track of them? Don’t fancy Chinese and The King? There you go: Suddenly, cars are pinkos in Red China. (Read More…)
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