Stefan Jacoby, CEO of bought-by-Geely Volvo needs to bring down the cost of Volvo’s European-made cars.

So where will the new Volvo factories be? You have two tries.

China? Check. Volvo might actually open three factories in China, Stefan Jacoby said recently in Stockholm. Details should be forthcoming within the next weeks.

Ok, now for another country … (Read More…)

Xiang Dong “Mike” Yu, 49, of Beijing, pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit to two counts of theft of trade secrets. He will be sentenced in February 23, 2011. He’s looking at anywhere between 5 and 6 years in the slammer. He will also have to pay a fine of $150,000. After serving his sentence, he will be deported from the United States. That’s a lenient sentence, only reached through a plea bargain.

In case you ever want to spy on your employer, here is what not to do: (Read More…)

Establishing R&D centers in China by foreign automakers is a huge trend. Of course, the trend was led by GM, which already has an alphabet soup of tech centers (PATAC, CAERC, and CATC) in the Shanghai area. Now, Toyota follows with their own. Following prevailing fashion, it will be called TMEC. (Read More…)

Some say the future of the car business is in China… and for certain employees of Jaguar Land Rover, the maxim seems to apply awfully literally. The Telegraph reports:

Des Thurlby, human resources (HR) director at [JLR], said he had held “pointed” discussions with up to five of the company’s best employees urging them to consider moving “out of leafy Warwickshire” to China to help the company capitalise on emerging markets. Those who refused had less chance of being shortlisted for a future top job at the company…

Mr Thurlby said: “We’re getting to the point where we’re having some quite pointed conversations with people, where we’re saying, ‘listen matey, if you want to go to the top you’re going to have to go to China, Russia or the US. We’re an international business, we’re 70pc overseas. It’s critical you move out of leafy Warwickshire.'”

Oh dear… this is what happens when you stop designing your interiors like a 19th Century club room, isn’t it?

Nick Taylor’s layman’s observations of American cars in China are a great first impression view.  But first impressions can be deceiving. It is true that the Chinese auto market is very much similar to the U.S. market. They love 3 box “real cars” (trend recently shifting a bit), they love SUVs, they love big cars if they can afford them.  “American” cars, mostly Buicks, Chevys and a smattering of Fords on Chinese roads are mostly made in China.  Just like the “German” or “Japanese” cars that are made mostly in China.

China as an export market for U.S. cars is a whole other matter. China has a 25 percent tariff on imported cars. That pretty much limits car imports to segments where price doesn’t matter, or where a high price acts as a differentiator from the riff-raff: Luxury cars. And this is where Europe reigns supreme. (Read More…)

Observers who followed China’s SAIC coveting of shares in the upcoming GM IPO (only 3 days to go!), and who hoped/feared that SAIC would buy a big chunk of GM, will be disappointed/relieved to hear that SAIC is content with a more or less symbolical 1 percent share in the General.

Reuters has it on good authority (“four people familiar with the matter”) that SAIC and GM have reached an agreement in principle that cements the 1 percent deal. The deal is contingent on Chinese government approval, but this is expected to be fast tracked and should happen today before the U.S. even gets up.

So the big Chinese buy-in is just a lot of hot air? Wait until you hear what SAIC received as a deal sweetener. (Read More…)

Ur-Turn is your weekly opportunity to contribute to TTAC. Every Weekend we select a piece submitted to our contact form, and publish it as a showcase for the diverse perspectives of TTAC’s readers.  Today’s contribution comes from Nick Naylor, who explores the street-level reality of American cars in Asia, and the prospects of American exports to Asia.

As a frequent TTAC poster and lifelong enthusiast, some of my favorite topics and articles are the ones in which vehicles are found outside their cultural context. Paul’s classic Mustang on the streets of Paris, for example, struck me as a particularly beautiful image. “Real” American cars are of special interest to me—cars designed predominately for the North American market, built there, and exported. You don’t see too many of these outside of North America–for a myriad of reasons I need not get into here. That said, when I see a Cadillac, or an American Ford product in an Asian or European city—it invokes a similar feeling to what Paul experienced seeing the Ford and the Hummer in Paris. In this time of Obama’s pledge to double exports in 5 years, with cars being a particular sticking point with Korea, it is American made vehicles that he must be most interested in selling, not Chinese-made Chevy Sails. Is it possible?

With this on my mind, and camera in hand; I recently spent three weeks between China (Hong Kong and Guangdong province), Korea (Seoul) and Japan (Tokyo). What I observed follows below. There’s no reports, sales numbers, or data here…just observations and supporting photos.

(Read More…)

GM appears to be sick of the constant needling it receives about their Wuling joint venture in China. Here is a company that produces half of the 2 million cars GM proudly announced as theirs in China, and GM owns only 34 percent. (The 37 percent that had been bandied about apparently were also exaggerated.) 50.1 percent are owned by SAIC, the rest by Wuling. Contractually, GM is entitled to pull the wool over the heads of the world and OICA, and count the millions of diminutive Wulings as theirs. Now, GM is taking steps to redeem themselves. Or to redeem some of the IPO take. But just a little. (Read More…)

When the all new GM share starts trading on 11/18, the bulk of the new issue will most likely not be owned by widows and orphans, but by foreign governments and their proxies. One of the largest new shareholders could be Chinese. GM is in the final negotiation stage to sell a good chunk of their new stock to their old pals and Chinese joint venture partners SAIC, reports Reuters, citing the usual “two people familiar with the matter.” And don’t think they are just talking percentages, there is much more on the table. (Read More…)

I came to China first in 2004 on a job for Volkswagen. Back when, and years thereafter, the foreigners at the joint ventures agreed (latest after the third beer at Paulaner) that eventually, their days will be numbered. “Once the Chinese have learned enough, they’ll kick us out,” was the lament. That was six years ago, and no sign of an expulsion from the Chinese paradise yet. On the contrary: The Chinese might invite the foreigners in for good. They are thinking about dropping the 50:50 joint venture requirement that forces foreign automakers to team up with local manufacturers. (Read More…)

This will disappoint those who were hoping for a cooling-off of the Chinese auto market. Chinese automakers in China shipped 1.2m passenger cars to dealers in October, up 27.1 percent from a year earlier, the official China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) told Reuters today. Overall vehicle sales, which also include buses and trucks, were 1.54 million units, up 25.5 percent from a year ago. (Read More…)

It’s a done deal, says Sinocast via Trading Markets. Chen Hong, president of China’s SAIC has gone to the US. He’s not there to visit Niagara Falls and Yosemite. He’s there to negotiate how much of SAIC’s  $5.7b in cash and cash equivalents will be converted into GM stock on November 18. (Read More…)

Audi’s sales in Japan went down 20 percent in October. The macro-oriented crowd points at the fact that the domestic Japanese market was down 26.7 percent in October, and that Audi or its dealers have no reason to complain. And what are Japanese Audi dealers doing? They are complaining. They say that they have enough buyers, but not enough cars to meet the demand.

They all go to China. (Read More…)

One by one, automakers announce that China either is or will be their largest market in the world. First and foremost, there’s  GM. The General officially sells more cars in China than back home (some nitpicking caveats remain.) Volkswagen’s Audi said its China sales are expected to exceed German sales next year. If you want to sell luxury cars, you need to ship them to China. China already is the world’s largest market for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class , and China might soon outclass the Germans in all Mercedes classes. Nobody buys more Porsche Cayennes than the Chinese. With all these records by other makers, BMW can’t possibly remain on the sidelines. (Read More…)

The Freep says GM has appointed a Vice President of diversity. And they’ll need one. GM’s post-IPO ownership roster shapes up to be quite, well, diverse. China’s SAIC appears to be gung-ho for the IPO. And it’s not just the Chinese government that likes the idea of owning a little bit of America. (Read More…)