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BAIC to introduce its first electric vehicle in September

June 7, 2011 at 6:41 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, China, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News

Over in China, state-owned carmaker Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co is set to begin sales of its first electric car in Beijing from September, according to reports.

The vehicle is a compact sedan which will offer a 100 km travel range and a 130 kph maximum speed. No further details were available about the EV, which is codenamed C30DB, though the pricing was indicated – the sedan will be priced at 300,000 yuan, which is around RM140k, though government subsidies in effect means that buyers will need to pay only 180,000 yuan (RM83,500), the reports add.

Earlier this year, the Beijing city government started restricting new car sales in the Chinese capital to 20,000 units per month in a bid to ease the traffic congestion in the city. Electric vehicles, however, are exempted from this restriction, so it looks like the upcoming BAIC EV will provide more than just the ‘going green’ alternative as far as options go.

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BYD to send e6 electric cars to Municipality of Rotterdam

June 7, 2011 at 11:52 am By Danny Tan Filed Under BYD, Cars, China

China’s electric cars are going places. The nation’s EV pioneer BYD has signed a deal with Rotterdam city in the Netherlands to deliver a fleet of e6 electric cars to the city that’s home to the largest port in Europe.

The Municipality of Rotterdam has intentions to purchase a range of electric cars for its test fleet of 75 vehicles, and the e6 will be part of this fleet, although the privately owned Chinese automaker (as opposed to state owned) did not reveal how many units it will deliver. Last year, BYD delivered a fleet of 50 e6 cars to a taxi company in its home city of Shenzhen.

The e6 is a five-seat crossover/MPV style vehicle with a claimed range of over 300 km. In its most powerful form, the e6 has a 215 hp front motor plus a 54 hp rear motor. Powered by BYD’s own Fe battery, the e6 does 0-100 km/h in 10 seconds and has a top speed of 140 km/h. Read more about it here.

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Porsche marks 10 years in China with special 911 Turbo S

June 2, 2011 at 6:01 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China, International News, Porsche


Click to enlarge

Porsche has been in China for a decade and is growing strongly in the world’s largest auto market. Demand is outstripping supply, especially for popular models like the Cayenne SUV, which has a waiting list of over a year! Stuttgart plans to triple its dealer network in China to about 100 from 33 by 2018 at the latest, and from the looks of it, China should overtake USA as Porsche’s largest market in 2014.

And to celebrate its tenth anniversary in China, Porsche is introducing a special edition of its 911 Turbo S. No extra power or mods, so the car comes with the standard 530 hp twin-turbo flat-six, mated to Porsche’s PDK twin-cutch gearbox.

What’s unique is the looks. The exterior is painted in a special Gold Bronze Metallic hue with flat black and carbon fibre accents. Those black wheels are 19-inch Fuchs-style alloys taken from the 911 Sport Classic. Inside, you’ll find a gold commemorative plaque, lots of Alcantara and contrasting gold stitching for the main black trim.

Only 10 examples will be built, and they’re all reserved for Chinese customers. As with anything labelled “special edition”, they will have no problems finding 10 people willing to pay top dollar to stand out.

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Chinese automakers actively hunting for foreign talent

May 27, 2011 at 12:03 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China, International News

They’re not only snapping up foreign brands, but the Chinese are out to get bright foreign talent as well. It has been reported that two state-owned Chinese automakers started recruiting talent in Germany last week to satisfy their expanding operations. They are BAIC and Dongfeng.

BAIC said that Han Yonggui, president of Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp, led a delegation to Germany on May 19. The team organised job fairs in cities such as Stuttgart, Munich and Aachen to recruit 60 to 100 engineers and engineering students.

The other company, Dongfeng Motor Group Co. held an event Friday in the home city of BMW to recruit ethnic Chinese engineers working in Germany. Led by Dongfeng’s passenger vehicle unit chief, Li Shaozhu, the drive attracted more than 50 ethnic Chinese engineers, according to the company.

This is the first time they’ve gone hunting in Germany, but companies like BAIC and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) have organised similar events in Detroit, USA before. Besides their JV business with foreign brands, BAIC, Dongfeng and SAIC have launched their own brands and models, and are aggressively pursuing growth.

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2011 Ford Fiesta introduced in China

May 27, 2011 at 12:01 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, China, Ford, International News

Two years after the Ford Fiesta made its debut in China, Changan Ford has launched the upgraded 2011 Fiesta, with changes including a more refined interior, additional tech/features and new colours, as well as a new name – the sedan variant now comes with a ‘Fengchao’ suffix. Meanwhile, the hatchback in Sport+ form also joins the lineup.

Added to the exterior shade palette are two vivid new colours, called Blush and Colorado Red, and changes to the interior include the inclusion of a USB port and rear speakers to model variants, a sunroof option as well as new trim colours combinations – there’s a choice of different coloured centre console covers, as the photo suggests.

The new Fiesta Sport+ hatchback joins the range in China, which is now made up of 10 variant models in sedan and hatch form, wearing a Mazda-derived 1.5 litre Duratec engine and automatic transmission.

The car comes with an exclusive coffee-coloured interior, and features redesigned 16-inch aluminum alloy wheels, a leather-covered steering wheel and projector headlamps, among others things.

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China’s Lifan hires Ricardo to make 1.2 turbo DI engine

May 18, 2011 at 6:00 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China

It’s a common perception that Chinese brand cars have unwanted “features” such as poor quality and old technology. But things are fast changing, and this latest piece of news is proof. Chinese carmaker Lifan, probably known outside its country as the maker of the “fake MINI”, has hired UK based engineering firm Ricardo to develop a 1.2-litre turbocharged direct injection gasoline engine.

Turbo, DI and 1.2 litres are the same ingredients as those in the Volkswagen Polo’s TSI engine, and this downsizing formula has been proven to be good for both pace and efficiency. While VW’s 1.2 TSI makes a healthy 105 PS and 175 Nm, Lifan is looking at 115 horses and 200 Nm of torque from the new Euro 5 engine, which will go into its 520 compact sedan.

Ricardo is no stranger to collaborating with Chinese companies. Back in 2008, they worked with Chery on hybrid cars for the Beijing Olympics, and in March, signed a deal to provide Great Wall with a modern gasoline engine and a 6-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

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Kung Fu Panda saves the day! Chinese auto distributor Pang Da pumps 45m euros into Saab, buys stake in Spyker

May 17, 2011 at 5:35 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China, International News, Saab, Spyker

Cash strapped Saab has a new saviour, just a few days after the deal with Chinese automaker Hawtai fell through. The Swedish brand’s owner, Spyker, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pang Da Automobile Trade Co Ltd, China’s largest publicly traded automobile distributor with over 1,100 dealerships nationwide.

The MoU includes a strategic alliance consisting of a 50/50 distribution joint venture and a manufacturing joint venture (MJV) for Saab vehicles as well as for an MJV-owned brand (a so-called ‘child brand’) in China. Saab will have up to 50% stake in the MJV, with Pang Da and another manufacturing partner owning the remaining shares.


In return, Saab gets what it needs the most for now – cash. Pang Da will pay 30 million euro for the purchase of Saab vehicles and is expected to make an additional 15 million euro payment for the purchase of more Saab vehicles within 30 days, subject to certain circumstances. The 30 million euro initial payment will give Saab the ability to pay its suppliers and the liquidity required to restart production.

In addition, the Chinese company will take an equity stake in Saab’s parent Spyker for a total amount of 65 million euro at 4.19 per share. This equates to 24% of Spyker, and Pang Da will have the right to nominate a member of the Supervisory Board of Spyker and/or the board of Saab.

Isn’t that quite a bit of purchasing power for a car dealer? Well, Pang Da raised nearly 6.5 billion yuan (over 703 million euro) in its initial public offering last month, so it definitely has the means.

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Volkswagen’s Chinese JV brand with FAW to be called Kaili

May 11, 2011 at 2:09 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, FAW, International News, Volkswagen

The name has been chosen, and Kaili is the name of FAW-Volkswagen Automotive’s JV brand for the Chinese market. According to reports, the first Kaili vehicle on the cards is an electric vehicle, this being based on the production plan submitted to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. No details have yet been disclosed about the EV.

Kaili is the latest sub-brand to emerge for the Chinese market, which has seen a number of new names coming about of late – SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile recently launched its Baojun brand’s first offering, the 630 sedan, while Honda’s JV concern, Guangqi Honda Automobile, has Li Nian, of which the Everus concept compact car – riding on a Fit platform – was shown recently.

Elsewhere, there’s the Venucia, which belongs to Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle. It’s all in line with Beijing’s call to encourage global automakers to allow their JVs to create new brands.

Hopefully, along the way, Kaili won’t be looking to name one of its models the Minok. Now that would be a really, really bad one!

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Shanghai VW to roll out new compact premium sedan

May 10, 2011 at 11:19 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Volkswagen

There will be a new premium compact sedan for the Chinese market rolled out by Shanghai VW, a joint venture between SAIC and Volkswagen. The new model will have the “most advanced platform and engine technology,” SAIC said. Apparently, Shanghai VW has long hoped to build a premium model.

Reports speculate that this will boost the profits of Shanghai VW nearer to the level of VW’s other JV in China, FAW-Volkswagen. Shanghai VW currently builds the Polo, Touran, Santana, Lavida, Passat and Tiguan, but FAW-Volkswagen builds Audi sedans, and premium marques carry a bigger margin. The FAW side also makes the Golf, Jetta, Sagitar, New Bora, Magotan and (Passat) CC models.

In the first quarter of 2011, Shanghai Volkswagen sold 227,835 vehicles, while FAW Volkswagen shifted 225,256 units including 42,667 Audi models. Big numbers.

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Chinese carmakers joining forces to develop car software

May 6, 2011 at 12:25 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, China, International News

A case of united we stand, with a hint of nationalism as well, by the looks of it. The Nikkei reports that in a bid to reduce its industry’s dependence on foreign manufacturers for key components and software, Chinese automakers are joining forces to develop the necessary digital technology for vehicles.

The report says that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), China FAW Group, Changan Automobile Group and Chery Automobile have banded together with a software maker affiliated with the state-run China Electronics Technology Group to form an organisation to build and commercialise automotive technology.

Elsewhere, Changan, FAW and Chery are also collaborating separately with local firms and universities in Chongqing, Jilin Province and Anhui Province respectively, in a bid to ramp up the development process.

In terms of engines and transmissions, Chinese carmakers are already shifting towards domestic suppliers to provide the necessary, but for items such as semiconductors and engine control software, they’re still reliant on foreign imports and technology, which is what they’re hoping to address. Along the way, all this also means growth for Chinese companies in the auto parts business.

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