Amid Volvo’s announcement of a plug-in hybrid for markets besides diesel-loving Europe came another tidbit about the lone Swedish brand’s future direction. Rather than 5, 6 or 8 cylinder engines like years past, Volvo will be downsizing, much like BMW – and using modular engines to boot, much like their Bavarian rivals.
Shanghai GM sold 1.23 million cars in 2011, up 18.5 percent from a year earlier, Reuters reports. This on account of 645,537 Buicks sold in China in 2011, up 17.4 percent. Annual sales of Chevrolet models are reported up 17.9 percent to 555,991 units, Cadillac sales are said to be up 72.8 percent to 30,008 units. But waitaminute – didn’t GM China sell more than 2 million units the year before? Where are they? (Read More…)
In what kind of limo did Chou En-Lai and the Great Helmsman ride during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution? The “Red Flag” CA770, of course! (Read More…)
Our friends at Carnewschina always keep an eye on the latest developments when it comes to bling in China. Today, they bring you a chrome covered Buick Regal. The car in question is owned by a member of the of the Beijing Buick Regal club. Yes, they have a Buick Regal club. (Read More…)
China has 1.4 billion people, and despite rumors to the contrary, it has some 200 million children that have to be ferried to school every day. Since there were no rules for this sort of transport, local schools used whatever vehicles they could find to bring children to class without paying any attention to safety. Because of that, things went wrong now and then, especially in the messy countryside.
Since it was usually about small numbers, one or two children dead, nobody really cared. Recently, three big school bus accidents happened where altogether more than 30 children died. China suddenly woke up and the central government belatedly announced strict rules for school-buses. Sure enough, car companies jumped at the opportunity to earn some good old government money. They came up with brand-new ‘super-safe buses-’In this article, we take a look at three of them. (Read More…)
While on holiday in the great city of Nandaihe in Hebei province, I took a few pictures of a tired, old tricycle. Back home in Beijing, I completely forgot about it until I went through my holiday pictures a few days ago, actually looking for a car completely different. The old tricycle caught my attention again, and this time I decided to research the damn thing. Well, I found this oldie was an old neighbor … (Read More…)
Hongqi is the most famous brand in China when it comes to parade cars. In 2008 however, Chery tried to change that with help from the Chinese army and some astronauts. The Eastar parade car debuted in April 2008 and was used for a very special military parade. Or more like a parade of parades. (Read More…)
If you are a car manufacturer, and you haven’t yet lined up your Chinese joint venture, don’t even bother to apply.
This is the message the Chinese government sends to the world in its new Foreign Direct Investment Industry Guidelines, which were released yesterday. These guidelines open more sectors of the Chinese industry to foreign investment, but they effectively close the door to foreigners who want to play in the increasingly overcrowded Chinese car industry.
Automakers have been removed from the list of industries the Chinese government “encourages foreign companies to invest in,” China Daily reports. (Read More…)
Christmas resulted in a lot of toys under a lot of trees. That’s good. If they are Chinese, I will buy them a generation from now. If you keep them in their original box, I will pay you more. I am a fanatic collector of Chinese tin toys. I will show you around in my collection. Today, part 1. (Read More…)
Christmas is over so we go back to war. This is the newest kill-machine of the Chinese army. It is a 4×4 armored vehicle based on the Dongfeng EQ2050 (thank you America!). The new car seems designed as a hit-and-run fast attack vehicle with a big turret on the roof for a big fat machine gun or rocket-propelled grenade launcher. (Read More…)
If you are worried that you may have to live without daily episodes of the Saab Soap, now that the company is bankrupt, worry no more. Or in the words of Saabsunited: “never ever give up!” The show will go on.
Today, Automotive news China [sub] reports:
“Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. says it has purchased Saab Automobile’s Phoenix architecture despite its failure to acquire the automaker itself. Youngman already has set up a company in Sweden to develop new models based on the architecture, said Rachel Pang, Youngman’s spokeswoman and daughter of Youngman President Pang Qingnian.”
The trouble is, nobody in Sweden or elsewhere has heard about it. (Read More…)
A while ago, we showed you a video of an angry Shanghainese woman, towing a tow-truck away. Alas, the video was staged. This time, it’s serious. Or so they swear over at Carnewschina, and at the TV station in Liaoning Province that showed on the evening news what happened when the police wanted to tow a Buick Excelle. The Buick’s driver, a resolute woman, had different ideas. (Read More…)
Germany’s luxobarge makers aren’t just happy selling their luxobarges to China. Now they want Chinese money straight up. Daimler is flirting with the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC), which may want to buy 5 or 10 percent of Daimler. (Read More…)
Carnewschina has another indicator that the Chinese bubble must be bursting somewhere, somehow. I mean, didn’t we just got used to a Bling Dynasty, where any self-respecting supercar owner had his Lamborghini Gallardo covered in gold? If Chinese must economize, then they choose a gold-plated Infiniti G37?
Those heady days appear to be coming to an end. Instead of gold-plated Gallardos, now there are – silver-plated Ferrari 458 Italias. (Read More…)
If, a few years ago, I would have suggested that the Chinese would buy more Mercedes, BMW and Audi than the Autobahn-addicted Germans, you would have suggested an increase in dosage. But the condition is incurable. China may overtake Germany as the world’s second-largest market for luxury cars, says Bloomberg. The largest market for upscale units remains the U.S. — until further notice. (Read More…)
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