Short news automotive
April 3, 2014 Category Automotive Metals & Minerals, Short news automotive
- Sales of electric cars are hampered by the limited number of charging points for private vehicles and the fact that it is often not possible to install charging points in residential communities due to the high voltage required. About 40% of 300 residents who test drove electric cars last year returned home empty-handed because they couldn’t install a charging point at home, according to Electric Beiijng, an semi-official organization aimed at promoting electric cars. State Grid said it would set up a total of 6,000 charging facilities in Shanghai within two years, and promised to build 1,000 similar facilities in Beijing for private car owners, unlike most of the current ones that are available only to taxis and buses.
- Chinese car sales rose 13.9% last year to 21.98 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Of the top ten car brands in terms of sales, eight were joint-venture brands – Shanghai General Motors, FAW-Volkswagen, Shanghai Volkswagen, Dongfeng-Nissan and Beijing Hyundai among others.
- The number of bidders for Shanghai car plates leapt more than 35% in March from February, but priced remained stable. The March auction attracted 61,853 private buyers – up 35.2% from 45,758 in February and a six-year high for the second consecutive month. However, the number of plates on offer remained at 8,000. The surge in demand pushed the average price for a private car license up CNY515 – 0.7% – on February to CNY73,872, while the lowest winning bid was up CNY600 to CNY73,800, said the Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co.
- Infiniti sold 2,365 units in China in January, surging 161% year-on-year and setting a new monthly sales record. Its February sales reached 1,586 units, still up 218% from the same period of last year despite the Chinese New Year period. January sales of the popular sporty G series rose 131% year-on-year, and those of the well-received QX50 SUV increased 162%. The two models drove Inifiniti’s February sales as well, according to the company. In 2014, the brand will introduce six models to the Chinese market.
- Shanghai General Motors will recall more than 24,000 cars imported in China over an air bag defect. The recall covers 24,021 Buick Enclave sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) from the model years of 2008 to 2013 and made between August 15, 2008 and September 21, 2012.
- A growing number of electric car owners are applying for private charging facilities at their homes. Shanghai Power Co said it has received 140 applications for home-based charging points, but has so far given the go-ahead for only 30. Sometimes the local network and conditions at the site are not appropriate for the installation. Moreover, even if an application is approved by the power supplier, the property manager might still block it, citing safety concerns. Private chargers cost from a few thousand to more than CNY50,000. Shanghai has 24 power stations and about 2,000 charging spots.
- Hangzhou’s government has started restricting the number of new car plates at the end of March in a bid to reduce congestion and combat air pollution. No plates will be issued until April 26 when car buyers can take their chances in a lottery system to get a plate for free or bid for a plate with a starting price of CNY10,000. The city will issue a total of 80,000 plates over the 12 months from May with 64,000 available in the lottery and the rest to be bid for. It was expected that the average price for a car plate would be around CNY15,000.
- Dongfeng Motor Group and joint venture partner PSA Peugeot Citroen signed a global strategic partnership agreement. The deal was sealed three days after the French carmaker announced a €3 billion capital increase, in which Dongfeng’s purchase of a 14% stake in its partner of 22 years will put the Chinese automaker along with the French government and the Peugeot family as PSA’s biggest shareholders. The partners will set up a new joint venture to export cars made by their jointly-owned Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co, as well as other PSA cars, to other Asian markets. The two partners will also set up a new research and development center.
- Volkswagen signed joint declarations with its Chinese partners at a ceremony attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Volkswagen will partner with SAIC Motor Corp and First Automotive Works (FAW) Group to develop and begin production of new-energy vehicles from 2016. The projects are part of €18.2 billion in investment for new plants and products that Volkswagen and its partners are making between 2014 and 2018. It will be the largest-ever investment in China’s automotive industry. Agreement was also reached on expanding production capacity at the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture.
- General Motors Co will pull the Opel from China next year as part of a plan to focus the brand on the European market. Opel, which has been in China since 1993, failed to expand beyond a low-volume, niche player in the country, accounting for less than 1% of GM’s sales in the market last year. Opel’s 22 Chinese dealers sold 4,365 vehicles in 2013. “This is a long overdue decision,” Karl-Thomas Neumann, Opel’s CEO, said in a statement.
- Production of vehicles by Chery Jaguar Land Rover is set to start in the fourth quarter of the year as construction of a plant in Changshu, Jiangsu province, is underway as scheduled. The 50-50 joint venture Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Co is capitalized at CNY10.9 billion. It has an annual production capacity of 130,000 units. A research and development facility will also be established in Shanghai. Jaguar Land Rover’s sold 95,237 units in China in 2013, a 30% increase over the previous year.
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