There used to be a time when Japan exported cars. Now, they export car factories. Nissan has been on the forefront of this movement for a while. Now comes their biggest export deal: Nissan plans to double its capacity in China by 2012, writes Reuters. That would bring their annual capacity in China to 1.2 million units. (Read More…)

As cars are becoming a commodity item, a rich Chinese (and there are a lot of them) needs something to set him apart from the riff-raff. Luxury cars are a booming business in the Middle Kingdom. In 2015, more than a million luxury cars are seen changing hands in China. The trouble is, nearly none of them are American. The Chinese luxury segment is all but exclusively dominated by German makes. China has become the world’s largest market for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans. In the first eight months of the year, BMW sold more cars in China than in all of 2009. Audi is China’s volume leader in the luxury segment. And the Americans? (Read More…)

Since I’ve been writing for TTAC, I predicted that Chinese interests will eventually go for GM, if and when price and time are right. GM already sells more cars in China than back home.  GM expects that huge business to grow by 10-15 percent next year. It stands to reason that China wants on (the) board. There has been talk about limiting the share of “foreign investors” in the GM IPO. “Foreign investors” of course are Chinese, and the true number of foreign investors interested in the GM IPO probably comes down to one: China’s SAIC, GM’s Chinese joint venture partner for 13 years now. And now it’s official. (Read More…)

Usually, people are worried about China stealing their vaunted trade secrets. Now they are shocked by the prospect that China might use less steel. Steel Guru, the go to site for the heavy metal crowd, is up in arms about a Bloomberg report that the Chinese may use less or lighter steel for their cars. (Read More…)

If you think that China’s car market (they are expecting to sell between 16 and 17m units this year) is a bubble about to burst big-time, then GM will disagree strongly with you.  “The market is still quite solid. As you know this year is going to be a strong year. We will see continued growth next year, but growing at a range between 10 to 15 percent,” said Kevin Wale of GM China to Reuters. (Read More…)

After testing the Brazilian waters with imported models, and after having received a passing (-by) grade from our man in Brazil, China’s Chery decided to go whole hog and build Cherys in the land of  Samba.  Chery has signed an agreement with the municipality of Jacareí, a city in the interior of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, to set up a car assembly factory in Brazil, reports Macauhub. (Read More…)

4x4s are popular in China, carry no social stigma, and are especially popular in China’s affluent east. Imported Land Rovers have made heavy inroads into China. In comes as no surprise that Chinese car manufacturers are lining up to for a joint venture to make Land Rovers in China. (Read More…)

When Geely bought Volvo from Ford, the feel-good story was that production will remain ind Sweden, with maybe another Chinese factory for Chinese consumption.  So much for that. Geely may build three Volvo plants in China, a Geely spokesman told Reuters today. (Read More…)

Now that Geely has bought Volvo, their founder and chairman Li Shufu is seeking a new challenge. He’s going virtual.

Geely plans to sell cars specially designed for Internet sales at Alibaba, China’s biggest online marketplace, reports state news agency Xinhua. (Read More…)

Everybody is afraid of China swamping the world with low cost cars, but it hasn’t happened. As a matter of fact, Chinese car exports are downright horrendous. In the first seven months of this year, China exported 288,900 units. China imports far more cars than it exports. For the next year, more than 1m of imports are expected. This doesn’t keep Chinese car manufacturers from trying their luck abroad.

Great Wall Motor plans to make a sales push into Europe, the US and Africa despite potential obstacles to market entry, said Shi Qingke, deputy general manager of Great Wall’s international department to The Global Times, the English version of People’s Daily. (Read More…)

PSA Peugeot, and their joint venture with China’s Dongfeng, are planning to export cars made in China to Russia, said Gregoire Olivier, Peugeot-Citroen’s recently appointed head of Asian operations,  to The Beijing News via Gasgoo.

PSA wants to sell cars made at the Chinese JV in other regions of Asia and Russia as early as next year, said Olivier. The only thing that’s keeping them from doing it right now is the lack of a logistics platform. But they are building that in Shanghai as we speak, and it should be up and running next year.

Because Olivier was recently appointed, he may have missed various memos, and will be forgiven. Here a quick update: (Read More…)

While Japanese automakers are digging in for the big sales drop at home, caused by the evaporating government stimulus money, all eyes are across the China Sea. A large share of this year’s profits will come from China, says The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)

I had a beer and a pizza yesterday night with Ash Sutcliffe of China Car Times (us expat car bloggers need to stick together) and he swore on a stack of bibles that he had seen the resurrection of the  Chrysler Sebring over at Beijing Auto. But it won’t be a Sebring. (Read More…)

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…)

Throwing caution of top government officials in the wind, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) expects car production in China to reach 30 million by 2015, with 5 million units earmarked for exports, China’s Global Times reports.

The CAAM calls the estimate “conservative.” China’s 21st Century Business Herald cited sources that are betting on 34 million annually in five years. The surprising part is not the total. 25m sold domestically by 2015 is lowballed. At the rate the world’s second largest economy is growing, anywhere between 30 to 40m units annually is doable.

What is surprising is the export number they have in  mind. (Read More…)