Short news automotive
November 21, 2013 Category Automotive Metals & Minerals, Short news automotive
- Electric-bus maker BYD has employed only 40 workers at its Los Angeles plant and been fined USD100,000 for violating the minimum wage law. When the project was launched, hundreds of new “high-paying green-collar jobs” were expected to be created. But three-and-a-half years after its initial promise, the company has employed fewer than 40 workers in Los Angeles, and at least five of them are temporary Chinese workers being paid less than USD8 an hour in yuan, which is below California’s minimum wage. BYD is to argue in court that Chinese workers on legal work visas are not subject to state labor laws, including the minimum wage. BYD continues to court transport officials in the U.S. to win contracts for electric buses.
- Dongfeng Motor Group is still weighing the benefits of investing in loss-making PSA Peugeot Citroen. PSA is preparing a €3 billion capital increase, in which Chinese partner Dongfeng and the French government would each contribute €1.5 billion and acquire a 20% to 30% stake. “If we can complement each other’s advantages, if we can achieve synergies, we may go ahead to do it. Otherwise, we would not do it,” Dongfeng’s General Manager Zhu Fushou suggested.
- Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show that in the first nine months, combined vehicle sales by domestic brands increased 12.14% to 5.13 million units, accounting for 39.89% of the overall market, a drop in share of 0.67 percentage points from last year. Surviving the fierce competition, especially after the international automakers entered the lower-end segments, domestic automakers should continue to invest heavily to improve product quality, said analysts.
- Sales of major Japanese carmakers Nissan, Honda and Mazda rose strongly year-on-year in China last month, recovering from the sharp drop in deliveries which were dented by last year’s consumer boycott of Japanese brands. Nissan saw sales soar 128% year-on-year to 114,700 units in China. Honda increased its deliveries 211.6% to 75,150 units, and Mazda sold 17,904 units, up 88% from a year earlier. Toyota had reported an 80% sales increase. Japanese carmakers are hoping the Guangzhou Motor Show from November 21 to 30, will drive sales to meet their annual targets as south China is their strongest market.
- FAW is to build an assembly plant in Algeria with an initial investment of USD61 million to produce 10,000 vehicles per year under an agreement with private Algerian firm Arcofina. Arcofina will own 51% of the plant and FAW 49%, with the aim of reducing the Chinese manufacturer’s share to 40% after three years.
- Beiqi Foton Motor Co, the largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in China by sales, is among truck manufacturers eager to capitalize on the further urbanization of China. During the first eight months, Foton sold 73,900 heavy trucks, up 27% from a year ago. In addition to heavy-duty trucks, Foton is also a major manufacturer of electric buses in China.
- In a bid to ease traffic jams and cut air pollution, Beijing is likely to start charging congestion fees in the downtown area in 2015 at the earliest.
- To speed up the industrialization of new-energy vehicles, China has launched 25 technological innovation projects and will allocate CNY4 billion central funding as a subsidy, Su Bo, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said during the Green Industry Conference 2013 held in Guangzhou from November 7 to 9. China gives buyers of new-energy vehicles a bigger subsidy than any other country, amounting to about CNY120,000.
- General Motors has decided to move its international headquarters from Shanghai to Singapore in the second quarter of next year, GM said. The Shanghai office with 250 employees will cover operations in China which is GM’s largest overseas market with total sales of around 2.8 million vehicles last year. GM has 12 joint ventures and two wholly-owned firms in China, employing 55,000 people. In 2004, GM had moved its Asia-Pacific regional headquarters from Singapore to Shanghai.
- Volkswagen will recall more than 207,000 sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) sold in China over a possible defect in the lights. The car maker is also to recall 640,390 cars to fix gearbox flaws in the Audi, Tiguan, Golf, Passat and Lavida models, starting on November 25. It said mineral oil used in dual-clutch gearboxes could cause electronics to malfunction and lead to overheating and security problems.
- Toyota has opened its fifth and biggest overseas research and development (R&D) center in China, covering 2.3 million square meters. The USD689 million Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (China) Co’s scope is to localize hybrid power train solutions for China as well as improving Toyota’s traditional internal-combustion engines and continuously-variable transmission. The launch of TMEC also aims to reinforce Toyota’s commitment to the market.
- The price of a Shanghai car plate dropped nearly 10% to CNY75,717 in the November auction, down CNY8,006 from last month. The lowest winning bid fell CNY6,800 to CNY75,500. Following the introduction of a ceiling in April, the average price for a Shanghai car plate dropped from a record high of more than CNY90,000 in March to CNY73,492 in September. Though the latest auction had just 8,500 car plates – 500 less than usual and 1,500 down from last month’s supply – the number of bidders increased by 32% to 38,220.
- The city of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, introduced a two-month traffic restriction in its urban center to curb severe winter pollution. Cars will be banned from roads from 7 am to 8 pm on alternate days up to January 10 depending on whether their number plates end in odd or even numbers.
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