18 May
2012

Short news

 
  • China’s number two carmaker, Dongfeng Motor, plans to boost export sales nearly fivefold to 300,000 vehicles a year by 2016, about 10% of its targeted total production. Dongfeng has set up a new international marketing department and will diversify its range to meet the target. Dongfeng’s total production last year was 2.17 million vehicles and it exported 63,800 units.
  • Volkswagen will invest about €170 million building a new plant in Urumqi, capable of making 50,000 vehicles a year from 2015. Its two Chinese joint ventures are investing a total of €14 billion by 2016, and the German-based group has said in the past its annual production capacity in China would rise to 3 million cars as early as next year.
  • BYD posted a 90% slide in quarterly profit as a slowdown in the world’s largest car market and losses in its solar business hit the company. Shenzhen-based BYD reported a CNY27 million net profit for the first three months of 2012, down from CNY266.74 million in the previous year. BYD’s car sales fell 4% in the first quarter to 114,000 vehicles, but March sales were up 8% on the year, which outperformed the industry.
  • Volvo’s Chinese owner, Geely, offered to take a large minority stake in the Japanese maker of Subaru cars – an offer that was not accepted. Two sources said Zhejiang Geely Holding Group offered to buy a stake of about 20% in Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries late last year through an investment banking intermediary. It could have paved the way for a joint venture in China to produce Subarus, which are now imported.
  • Shanghai General Motors will recall some of its 2012 Chevrolet Aveo vehicles because of faulty brake fluid sensors, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIC) said. Shanghai GM will recall 47,415 of the cars due to a defect in the sensors. The defect could fail to alert drivers of low brake fluid levels. Shanghai GM is attempting to contact Aveo owners and will make repairs at no charge, it said.
  • Nanjing’s city government has launched an investigation into the Ferrari dealership that staged a car-driving display on the ancient city wall. Ferrari’s China representative has apologized to Nanjing residents for the incident and a government official who allowed the display to take place has been sacked.
  • Two mainland car firms may launch initial public offerings in Hong Kong as early as next month to raise a combined HKD6.24 billion, according to market sources. Shanghai-based Yongda Auto, a dealer for brands including BMW, Audi, Porsche and Toyota, plans to raise between HKD3.1 billion and HKD3.9 billion on the Hong Kong stock market, while Xinchen Group, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Brilliance Auto, seeks to raise between HKD1.56 billion and HKD2.34 billion.
  • China produced only 6,000 electric vehicles, and no more than 10 models, in 2011, only 0.03% of the year’s total output, well short of the 500,000 industry capacity it had slated to come on stream by 2015. The 16,000 charging piles built in 2011 were also far lower than the industry’s target of 400,000 units by 2015.
  • China Auto Rental, the country’s largest car-rental provider, postponed its U.S. share offering due to weak demand. It had expected to raise up to USD137.5 million. Venture capitalists and private-equity fund managers said more Chinese companies were taking a wait-and-see attitude towards U.S. IPOs amid a tighter scrutiny of accounting records and lower buying interest. China Auto would not be able to meet the requirement of three consecutive years of profits imposed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to launch an IPO in China. China Auto, founded in 2007, lost CNY151 million last year.
  • Shi Jianhua, Deputy Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), said the central government may announce plans this year to boost the incentives for the purchase of green vehicles in light of plans to raise production of the vehicles from less than 2,000 units last year to 500,000 in 2015 and 5 million by 2020. The carmakers must cover the incentive at the time the car is sold and then claim it from the government, but some said they encountered problems to get the refund.
  • Premium audio and infotainment group Harman International Industries’ business in China has grown from zero five years ago to USD260 million last year, and “we target to have USD350 million revenue for this year,” said Dinesh Paliwal, Chairman, President and CEO of the U.S. company. “We expect our annual sales in China to surge to USD1 billion by 2015, when China will be our largest market in the world,” said Paliwal. “As a company with 75% revenue from the automobile sector, the industry will definitely boost our business, especially with increasing demand for high-end vehicles,” added Paliwal.
  • Car plate prices in Shanghai set a record in the April auction, exceeding the CNY60,000 benchmark for the first time. By comparison, a new VW Polo only costs CNY77,900. The average price for a license plate rose to CNY61,626, up CNY3,001 from a month earlier. The lowest price increased CNY2,700 to CNY61,000. The city government increased the quota to 8,500 this month, 500 more than last month. The number of bidders was 22,706, down from 24,897 in March. Shanghai will auction 9,300 car license plates on May 19.
  • Nissan’s luxury car unit Infiniti will become the first Japanese luxury brand to start production in China in 2014 in Nissan’s flagship venture with Dongfeng Motor Co. Two Infiniti models will be produced domestically as part of a strategy to increase the global sales of Infiniti to 500,000 units by 2016. China has been the second largest
    market for Infiniti for two years after Nissan started importing the models to the country in 2007. Last year, sales of Infiniti cars rose 60% on an annual basis to 19,075 units in China.
  • China imported 284,000 vehicles in the first three months of the year, 21.7% more than in the same period last year. Imports maintained an average year-on-year growth rate of more than 30% over the past decade. In 2011, the total sales of imported automobiles reached 1.04 million. Of those, 1.01 million were passenger vehicles,  In 2011, the imported SUV segment surged 35% to 539,000 units, taking a 53.3% share of the import market, passenger cars accounted for 40% and multi-purpose vehicles took 5%. Jeep and Land Rover led SUV imports in the first quarter, with year-on-year growth rates of 567.6% and 127.7%, respectively.
  • The three entry-level vehicle segments ― minicar, subcompact and compact ― account for 55% to 60% of China’s passenger vehicle sales, according to LMC Automotive China. Sales of entry-level vehicles in the first three months of 2012 declined by 5% from the same period last year. Minicars led the decline with a 30% drop in sales compared to the same quarter in 2011.
  • China’s First Automobile Works Group Corp is going to revive its legendary brand Hongqi, or Red Flag ― which in 1958 was China’s first domestically produced car ― by launching its luxury model H7 in October, said FAW Chairman Xu Jianyi. The new model will be Hongqi’s first hybrid sedan with core technologies developed by the company itself. The car will compete with Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Four other vehicle types will be developed for the Hongqi brand, including two sport utility vehicles, a multi-purpose vehicle for business use and a mid-size limousine coach for ceremonies and parades. The company said that it has already invested CNY5.2 billion in research and development (R&D) of the Hongqi brand.
  • Dongfeng Motor Corp said a new model with the working name Dongfeng-1 is under development, with the first concept model expected to make a world premier at the 2013 Shanghai auto show. Three variants with engine displacements ranging from 1.8-liter to 2.4-liter are planned on the PSA platform. Dongfeng sold more than 3 million vehicles in 2011. Its own-brand vehicles contributed 1.12 million units, one-third of its full lineup.
  • Fuji Heavy Industries said it no longer expects to start building cars in China as part of a five-year growth plan that runs until March 2016, and lowered its global sales target for the final year by 50,000 vehicles. It said it would continue to import cars into China after an unsuccessful bid to obtain Chinese government approval for a joint venture with Chery Automobile Co to build Subaru cars. The company now projects Chinese sales at 100,000 vehicles for the year 2015/2016, from an earlier 180,000 target.
  • The Shanghai Commission of Consumers’ Rights and Interests Protection warned locals to watch out for car cushions made of substandard textiles that include discarded fabric and medical waste fibers to avoid health hazards. People will suffer from coughing, asthma, and serious respiratory diseases after inhaling the dust and bacteria produced by toxic cushions, the Commission warned.
  • For every 100 families in downtown Shanghai at the end of last year, 18 owned private sedans, 13 more than five years ago, according to a new survey.
 
 
19 Apr
2012

Short news automotive

 
  • A firm from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, will invest CNY12 billion in China’s largest electric vehicle production line at Deyang. Nanjing Jiayuan Electric Vehicle said that more than 350,000 electric cars would roll out yearly once construction would be completed, but did not give a date.
  • BYD Co reported net profit in 2011 fell 45% to CNY1.38 billion on weaker demand for vehicles. The Shenzhen-based company sold 437,000 vehicles last year, down 13.3%. BYD’s revenues decreased 1% from a year earlier in 2011 to CNY46.31 billion, but its gross profit dived by 17% to CNY6.87 billion. The Shenzhen-based company blamed the profit decrease on its waning battery business. BYD’s automobile sales decreased by 13.33% in 2011 from the previous year to 437,000 vehicles. BYD has only sold about 1,000 electric vehicles since it introduced them more than two years ago.
  • Geely posted a 13% gain in profit last year to CNY1.54 billion from CNY1.37 billion earlier. The company’s  vehicle sales increased 1% to 421,611 units in 2011. It has set a goal of 9% growth in sales to 460,000 units this year.
  • The first model from Dongfeng Nissan’s wholly owned brand Venucia rolled off the production line in March at the joint venture’s second factory in Zhengzhou. The D50 model will be available in four configurations priced between CNY70,000 and CNY90,000.
  • Bosch Automotive Diesel Systems Co, the joint venture between Germany’s Robert Bosch and Wuxi Weifu High-Technology Group Co, recently announced that it will invest CNY1.6 billion in a new facility in Qingdao to produce diesel fuel injectors and other products. The 110,000 square meter site will be Bosch’s second manufacturing site for clean diesel technology in China.
  • Beijing Communist Party Secretary Liu Qi and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga unveiled the name plaque of Foton Motor Kenya at a founding ceremony in Nairobi. Chinese automaker Foton Motor also opened a USD50 million assembly plant in Nairobi to explore the market in Kenya and east Africa.
  • BMW will recall more than 120,200 models of its 5-Series and 6-Series sedans to fix a battery problem. The recall, from May 10, will affect 118,256 units of the BMW 5-Series sedans produced by its Chinese joint venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive, between March 2003 and September 2010, and 381 imported units of the same model that were made during the period. The German carmaker will also recall 1,046 units of its imported 6-Series coupés produced between September 2003 and July 2010 as well as 563 units of the 6-Series cabriolet models made from December 2003 to July 2010. The faulty batteries may stall the engine and cause fire under extreme cases.
  • The Beijing Municipal Transport Commission is encouraging communities within the fourth ring road to build more than 110,000 new parking spaces by the end of next year by offering a CNY2,000 reward for each space. The capital has more than 5 million vehicles on its roads but only 2.48 million parking spaces.
  • Mazda and its joint venture partners in China were recalling more than 62,000 vehicles to fix problems with anti-lock braking systems that could cause false warnings. The three-party joint venture with Ford and Chongqing Changan Automobile will recall 58,949 Mondeo sedans and 3,496 S-Max vehicles and replace problem parts, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) said.
  • Ford’s China unit will invest about USD600 million to increase capacity of its Chongqing passenger-car factory by almost 60% to 950,000 vehicles a year by 2014. The company, with joint venture partner Changan Automobile, would increase capacity by 350,000 units.
  • Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, parent of Geely Automobile, plans to spend USD11 billion on Volvo Cars over the next five years. Geely, which took over Swedish brand Volvo from Ford in 2010, aims to build an engine plant, beef up research and development (R&D), and upgrade technology at Volvo, Geely President Li Shufu said. “We want to revive Volvo and give the brand its strength back,” he added.
  • General Motors’s Chinese partner reported full-year profit rose 23% on demand for the top-selling Buick Excelle and Chevrolet Cruze sedans. SAIC Motor Corp’s net income rose to CNY20.2 billion last year, while sales rose 18.9% to CNY434.8 billion. GM’s sales in China rose an annual 11% to a record for March. Deliveries of cars and Wuling minivans increased to 257,944 units. Unit sales gained 8.7% to a record 745,152 units in the first quarter.
  • A long-awaited draft regulation on school bus safety management was passed at an executive meeting of the Chinese government chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao. Higher technical standards are set for school buses and stricter requirements for drivers. The regulation was prompted by a string of road accidents involving school students and pre-schoolers in November and December.
  • Volkswagen announced a personnel reshuffle in its China operation, including seven new appointments to strengthen sales and marketing. Lubos Vlcek has been named as Executive Director of Volkswagen Group China in sales, second-hand car and after sale business since April 5. Other new appointments cover marketing, imported vehicle business, premium car affiliate Bentley, the Seat brand in China, as well as the sales division of its Chinese joint venture FAW-VW Automobile Co.
  • Bentley Motors announced that China has become its biggest market globally due to significant sales growth in the first quarter of 2012. Bentley sold 578 of its ultra-luxury cars in China in the three months, an 84.9% increase over the same period last year, to surpass the United States, where 468 units were sold. Globally it sold 1,759 cars in the period, a 46.6% increase over the same period last year.
  • Jaguar Land Rover sold 17,997 vehicles in China in the first three months of 2012, a year-on-year growth of 110%. China has become the fastest-growing market for the automaker, and is likely to soon be its biggest.
  • Mazda Motor Co set a record in the first quarter by selling 57,631 units, 16% more than in the same period in 2011. Its two joint ventures ― FAW Mazda and Chang’an Mazda ― sold 35,105 units and 22,526 units respectively in the period, a year-on-year growth of 5% and 37% respectively. The company plans to increase the number of its dealers in China from 371 in March to 420 by year’s end.
  • Toyota Motors announced that it sold 86,000 cars in China in March, up 2.2% from the same month last year. It sold 211,500 cars in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 1.9%. Toyota plans to sell 1 million cars in China this year, an expected increase of 13% over last year’s sales.
  • Italian tire maker Pirelli expects sales in the Asia-Pacific region to increase 23% annually to €650 million by 2014, from €353 million last year, as it increases capacity in China and Indonesia to meet demand. Pirelli supplies tires to BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz in China.
  • Honda Motor Co plans to double sales in China to about 1.2 million vehicles by 2015. The company will introduce more than 10 new and revamped models to China from 2013 to 2015 to support sales growth. Honda will also develop cars especially for the Chinese market and increase purchases of components from local suppliers to lower cost. Honda has a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group with an annual output of 480,000 units and another with Dongfeng Motor Corp that is able to produce 240,000 vehicles a year.
  • Domestic carmaker Chery sold more than 58,700 vehicles last month, up 35.8%  from February, and shipped some 12,400 cars overseas, up 18% from the previous month and an increase of 5.2% from a year ago. Sales of the Tiggo SUV in March totaled 12,895 units, a record high.
  • BYD announced it will expand the warranty on all its products to four years or 100,000 km, twice its previous two-year, 60,000 km warranty. For its all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles and their core components, the company offers a five-year or 100,000 km warranty. The move is expected to boost consumer confidence.
  • Shanghai Volkswagen reported a growth of 19.7% in March sales to 107,840 units. Strong sales for the month brought its quarterly wholesale shipments up 11.5% year-on-year to nearly 320,000 vehicles, including 262,968 Volkswagens and 56,920 Skodas. The company now has more than 600 dealerships in China for its Volkswagen-brand vehicles.
 
 
22 Mar
2012

Short news automotive

 
  • The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) said GM (China) Investment Corp and Shanghai GM started to recall some imported cars, including 1,586 Opel Antara and 16,618 Chevrolet Captiva cars. The models were made between April 11, 2006, and November 9, 2009. The two companies reported flaws in the anti-lock braking system, resulting from impure brake fluid. The flaw might cause safety risks as drivers needed a longer braking distance.
  • U.S. school bus maker Blue Bird Corp said it wants to work jointly with Chinese partners, but it denied a Reuters report saying that China’s Zongshen Industrial Group Co is discussing with the company a USD250 million acquisition deal. The company is reportedly also discussing with Xiamen Winterthur International New Energy Automobile Co about local production of school buses in Xiamen. The sales of school buses may hit 70,000 units this year, Sinolink Securities Co said, adding the demand may grow explosively.
  • Shanghai-based SAIC Motor, China’s largest carmaker, plans to sell 4.33 million vehicles this year, up 8% from last year, President Chen Hong said. In the year’s first two months, sales grew 6.9% year on year to 747,000 units.
  • Chinese car parts maker Hebei Lingyun is buying German peer Kiekert for an undisclosed sum. The merger would create a company with a turnover of €1 billion, Kiekert said. Lingyun would take over 55% of Kiekert from a foreign consortium including Blue-Bay Asset Management, Silver Point Capital and Morgan Stanley. Henan North Xingguang Machinery and Electric Co will have a 25% stake, and an investment foundation from Tianjin will have the rest. In 2011, Kiekert sold more than 41 million latch systems.
  • BMW’s China sales rose about 30% over the same period last year after it reported record deliveries of more than 232,000 vehicles in China in 2011, according to Ivan Koh, President of BMW China Automotive Trading. A major force expected to drive production and sales this year is its newly completed plant ― BMW’s second in Shenyang ― that will increase annual output in China to 200,000 vehicles or more. An expanded product lineup is another positive factor.
  • About 30 million vehicles are expected to be sold in China annually by 2020, making it overwhelmingly the largest car market in the world, new forecasts reveal. The country’s current auto sales of 17 million a year, already the highest of any country, will leap 73% in the next eight years as first-time drivers take to the roads, according to data from IHS Global Insight, a European research firm. In third- and fourth-tier cities car use is still extremely low. Gansu and Hunan provinces, for example, have fewer than 40 cars per 1,000 people, compared with more than 400 cars per 1,000 in the U.S.
  • Volkswagen said it is not considering a recall of vehicles to fix a defective direct-shift gearbox despite the  General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) urging it to launch a thorough investigation into potential risks. The problem involves about 500,000 vehicles sold in China.
  • Illegal car factories remained widespread in Hubei province’s Shiyan city – a major source of car parts – CCTV reported. In the city’s Bailang Economic and Technical Development Zone alone, about 30 factories provide vehicles that are pieced together with car parts made on site. The illegally-made vehicles were found to have many problems. Fake certificates of authenticity could be purchased from legal vehicle manufacturers.
  • The price of a license plate in Shanghai reached an all-time high of CNY58,625 in March with the average cost rising CNY2,993 from a month earlier. The lowest price for a plate hit CNY58,300, also a record, up CNY2,900 from a month earlier. The municipal government put 8,000 car plates up at this month’s auction, the same as last month. The number of bidders rose to 24,897, compared to 23,391 in February.
  • Full-year vehicle sales may increase less than 5%, said Gu Huaxiang, Deputy Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). The weaker outlook was lower than CAAM’s estimate at the start of this year of an 8% rise to 20 million units. Sales of commercial vehicles will be hit the hardest, he added. In the first two months of this year, vehicle deliveries fell 6% year on year to 2.95 million units.
  • The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) ordered an investigation into allegations of fraudulent sales of Chrysler jeeps. CCTV has alleged some of the  jeeps contained components which did not originate from the factories where the vehicles were manufactured, leading to suspicion of fraud. Chrysler ordered distributors to apologize to customers if problems were found and to replace their faulty jeeps.
  • Mercedes-Benz said China sales grew 61% year on year to 20,250 units in February, including Mercedes-Benz, smart, AMG and Maybach vehicles. Total sales in the first two months reached 35,640 units. Sales of S-Class vehicles reached a monthly record in February with 7,030 units, up 213% year on year. The locally-produced E-Class and C-Class sedans posted combined sales of 7,390 units in February.
  • Bosch Group has agreed to invest CNY1.6 billion to build the second manufacturing plant for its diesel system in China. The new facility will be located in the Qingdao National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and mainly produce advanced fuel injectors. Bosch said demand for energy-saving diesel technologies is expected to grow rapidly in China as the national IV diesel emission standard would take effect in 2013.
  • Renault will appoint its Executive Vice President Katsumi Nakamura to take full charge of its China business starting from April. He joined Nissan in April 1978 and was appointed President of Dongfeng Motor Co in 2003. Company officials said the move highlights the importance of the Chinese market while industry observers noted it may also help speed up the localized production of Renault cars in China.
 
 
23 Feb
2012

Short news automotive

 
  • Morgan Motor, a family-owned British manufacturer of hand-made, vintage-styled luxury cars, appointed its first China car dealers in Beijing and Shanghai. Luxury car sales in China rose 30% last year to almost 600,000, and are projected to continue double-digit growth this year, according to industry consultants LMC Automotive. The boom in luxury sales saw China become the top market for the first time last year at companies including Rolls-Royce, Audi and Lamborghini.
  • China’s largest carmaker, SAIC Motor – which completed acquisitions from its parent company Shanghai Auto late last year – expects net profit to jump 40% to more than CNY19.21 billion for 2011. SAIC sold more than four million vehicles last year – slightly surpassing its earlier target to achieve a year-on-year growth of 13%. More than half of the sales – or a record 2.55 million vehicles, came from its joint venture with General Motors. SAIC is expected to announce its full-year earnings on April 5.
  • Italian luxury carmaker Maserati would recall 222 vehicles in China due to a defective rear light. The company sold more than 780 cars in China last year, nearly twice as many as in 2010, making China its second-largest market in the world after the U.S. Ferrari Maserati Cars International Trading (Shanghai), the only Chinese importer of Maseratis, would notify customers and offer free repairs.
  • The number of cars on Beijing’s roads surpassed 5 million last year, but its car-plate lottery delayed the milestone for 11 months. There were 173,000 new cars licensed in Beijing last year, 617,000 fewer than in 2010.
  • Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC Group) announced it would launch its first own-brand car next month. The compact hatchback with the nameplate “Beijing” was expected last year, but government approval took more time. The company will open approximately 80 nationwide dealerships for the Beijing vehicles by the end of the year along with a separate sales network of 100 shops for Weiwang minivans that were launched a year ago. Combined sales of Beijing cars and Weiwang minivans are expected to reach 100,000 units this year.
  • China Grand Auto, the second-largest domestic car dealer, has been in talks to take over Sanroad, the second-largest auto sales company in Sichuan province for about CNY1.4 billion. China Grand Auto sold more than 410,000 vehicles last year with revenues over CNY63 billion. The dealer operates nearly 400 4S shops across the country. Its parent company is Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group Co based in Urumqi. The company is backed by U.S. private investment firm TPG, which owns 42%, while Xinjiang Guanghui is the biggest shareholder.
  • The top 100 car dealerships in China account for just 21% of market share. A guideline issued by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) last December called for more consolidation with a target in 2015 to have three to five large dealerships with revenues of over CNY100 billion and 30 regional dealers with revenues of over CNY10 billion. The top-ranked 100 dealers should account for at least 30% of the market share by then.
  • Chinese media reports alleged the transmission mechanism of the Chevrolet Cruze emits levels of electromagnetic radiation that could be dangerous, but GM said they were well within safe limits. Shanghai GM said inspections by an affiliate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) showed that the 1.6-liter Chevrolet Cruze SL model has a maximum electromagnetic level of 0.1376 microteslas (μT). The safe exposure level is 100 μT, according to China’s recommended standards.
  • 300 units of Pearl Grey limited edition Smart cars made were sold out within 89 minutes in an online sale by Jingdong. China was the only country where these special edition cars had been sold exclusively through an online retailer. Only 1,200 units were released globally. Since the Smart car entered the Chinese market in April 2009, China has become its third-largest market after Germany and Italy. Sales surged 180% last year to almost 11,000 units.
  • Great Wall Motor opened its first European factory in the Bulgarian town of Lovech on February 21. The €100 million plant – controlled by a joint venture in which Great Wall holds a minority stake – plans to manufacture 50,000 Great Wall models – Hover SUVs, Steed pick-ups and Voleex city cars – when it begins mass production in 2013. Great Wall Motor, which listed in Shanghai in September, exported 83,000 vehicles last year to 120 countries and regions including Europe. The euro zone debt crisis is expected to dent demand this year.
 
 
26 Jan
2012

Short news automotive

 
  • Japanese automaker Subaru is recalling 7,133 vehicles exported to China due to defects in the brake system master cylinders. The cars to be recalled include Legacy models produced from September 21 to November 15, 2011 and Outback models produced from November 29 to December 19, 2011. The problem increases the stopping distance.
  • Daimler is planning to sell a 5% to 10% stake to sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) as part of a plan to build closer ties with the government, according to John Zeng, Director of LMC Automotive Asia Pacific Forecasting.
  • SAIC Motor announced it has completed the largest asset restructuring in China’s A-share market last year, with the market value of the listed company estimated at CNY29.11 billion. SAIC acquired the shares in its auto component, services trading and new-energy vehicle businesses by issuing shares to SAIC (Group) and SAIC Ltd. The listed company will trade under the new name of SAIC Group. The group sold more than 4 million vehicles last year, up 11.9% from last year and higher than the national average of 2.2%.
  • Toyota Motor Corp said its vehicle sales in China slowed last year to 883,000 units, 4% more than the 846,000 units delivered a year earlier. The automaker is targeting sales to exceed 1 million units this year. Production at Toyota’s assembly plants in China fell to as low as 30% of normal following the earthquake in Japan in March.
    Toyota, which has joint ventures with China FAW Group Corp and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co, began producing its third-generation Prius hybrid last month in China for sale early this year. Toyota had 5.92% of China’s passenger car market, compared with General Motors’ 17.9%.
  • Car plate prices in Shanghai rose in the first auction of 2012 as demand outstripped supply. The averaged price increased to CNY53,195 this month, up CNY1,758 from December, auction organizer Shanghai Commodity International Co said. The lowest price jumped CNY1,800 to CNY52,800. The plate supply was reduced to 8,000 this month, 500 less than December. The number of bidders fell by 2,177 to 24,354 in January.
  • General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co reported record car sales in China last year, outpacing Japanese rivals. Deliveries to Chinese dealers climbed 8.3% from a year earlier to 2.55 million vehicles, GM said. Ford said its sales grew 7% to 519,390 units. GM sold one car or truck every 12 seconds on average in China last year as it started a five-year rollout of more than 60 new and upgraded models.
  • Rolls-Royce Motor Cars had the highest sales in its 107-year history in 2011 as China became its biggest market for the first time. Sales of Rolls-Royce cars in China rose 60% last year. Growth in all regions drove deliveries 31%  higher to 3,538 cars in 2011, beating the previous record year of 1978 by 191 vehicles. China became Rolls-Royce’s biggest market three years ahead of a target the company set in February.
  • Sun Xiaodong was appointed to be Director at PSA Peugeot Citroen Asia. Before Sun joined the group in May last year, he had served in SAIC Motor Corp and its joint ventures with Volkswagen and General Motors for two decades.
  • National standards on charging portals and communications protocols for electric vehicles were released at the end of 2011. The new standards set requirements on DC and AC ports, as well as for communications between chargers and vehicle battery management systems. The standards are expected to take effect on March 1.
  • Domestic automaker BYD is building a second crash test lab in Shenzhen that is expected to begin operation in August. The 22,000-square-meter, CNY100 million facility will meet the same standards as collision testing labs in Europe and the U.S. BYD already operates a similar lab in Shanghai.
  • The 600,000th Hover SUV made by Great Wall Motors recently rolled off the production line, becoming the first domestic SUV to surpass the benchmark. In the first 11 months of 2011, Great Wall sold 434,469 vehicles, a 28.7% increase over the same period last year, with 141,249 Hover’s sold, up 6.1%. Sales of its Tengyi sedan reached 181,344 units, up 60.9%, while 111,876 of its Fengjun pickup trucks were sold, 22% more than the previous year. Great Wall exported 76,031 vehicles, a 49.4% increase.
  • Clean energy vehicles will form one tenth of the buses on the streets of Shanghai by the end of 2015, the city Transport Bureau pledged. Currently, the 18,000 buses in service in Shanghai include around 300 electric vehicles.
 
 
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