Short news automotive
April 19, 2012 Category Automotive Metals & Minerals, 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.
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