Archive for China

The Toyota-Daihatsu siblings take economies of scale to a whole new level unheard of with the introduction of the Daihatsu D-01 Concept recently at the Auto China 2006 motor show. While Toyota calls it a “concept” for China, it’s actually pretty much the same ASEAN market Toyota Avanza/Daihatsu Xenia that’s been available for ages already, with a slightly different bodykit. The production version of the Daihatsu D-01 Concept will be introduced into the Chinese market in mid-2007.

One more rear view photo after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Daihatsu D-01 Concept - China’s Avanza

The feasibility study between Lotus Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Youngman Automobile Group Co Ltd (Jinhua Youngman) recently concluded with positive results, and Lotus has managed to secure the deal to assist Jinhua Youngman produce passenger cars. Jinhua Youngman started off manufacturing commercial vehicles, but recently secured a license from the Chinese government to produce passenger vehicles. Lotus will start with a 4-door saloon for Jinhua, with work scheduled to begin early 2007. Jinhua plans to have a 4 car model line-up within the next 5 years.

Do you think Jinhua will be using our existing platforms like the ones that have spawned the GEN2 and the Waja, helping Proton achieve better economies of scale? Or perhaps Jinhua will be using the flexible and advanced Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) by Lotus, which use was demonstrated to the public with the rapid development of the Lotus APX Concept. The latter sounds more likely.

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Fiat and Chery have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will result in Fiat using Chery’s ACTECO family of engines in it’s China-produced cars, with a possibility of the ACTECO engines finding it’s way in Italian models like the Bravo.

The deal involves Chery’s 1.6 liter and 1.8 liter ACTECO engines, though the ACTECO family has a wide range of displacements and configurations, from a tiny 0.8 liter to a huge 4.0 liter V8.

The ACTECO family of engines was developed by AVL, an Austrian-based automotive consulting firm. Despite the negative stigma surrounding China products, the ACTECO family of engines is actually quite modern, incorporating aluminium alloy cylinder blocks/heads and direct fuel injection, complying with Euro IV emission standards.

Pictured on the left is the ACTECO 1.8 liter DOHC turbocharged engine. With a bore of 81mm and a stroke of 87.2mm, the long stroke turbocharged engine makes 180 horsepower at 5,750rpm and a very healthy 250Nm of torque at 4,300rpm.

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Chery and Fiat in talks

Petronas has reached an agreement with two Chinese automotive companies to jointly manufacture the Petronas E01 engine for commercial use, after a Letter of Intent was signed between the three parties back in September 2005.

The inline-4 16-valve DOHC engine with variable valve timing which can be configured in three displacements - 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 liters - was developed with Petronas’ experience in Formula 1, and is expected to begin production in December 2006 with an annual production capacity of 100,000 units a year.

The two Chinese companies are Nanjing Automobile Corporation and Brilliant Culture Group. The former is an automotive manufacturer while the latter is a consulting group.

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Related Posts:
Nanjing Automobile to use Petronas E01 engines?
The Petronas E01

Chery Automobile’s latest ally to be in the automotive industry might just be Fiat. Fiat has an existing alliance with a Chinese auto manufacturer - Nanjing Automobile Group, but that partnership has been far from profitable so far. One option being discussed would be Chery making cars using Fiat technologies and selling them.

That sounds wonderful, give Chery access to your technology Fiat, and perhaps the next Chery QQ will look like a Fiat Punto.

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Chery Automobile Co., Ltd, J&K Technologies Inc and Tsinghua University has developed a hydrogen fuel cell car which can reach a top speed of 80 km/h and like a traditional hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, emits no exhaust fumes other than water vapor.

The joint venture has announced that the car was developed entirely on their own, and China now has fully independent intellectual property rights to a fuel cell vehicle. But then again, considering Chery’s definition of intellectual property… hmm.

Think we’ll be seeing a fuel cell Chery QQ soon?

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This little oddball spotted at the 2006 Paris Motor Show is the Tang Hua Xiao Ya, looking quite sesat in the middle of all the other displays. It’s booth doesn’t even have any banners of any form, only a little oriental-style umbrella next to it, and a small dalmation toy in the car.

The little Tang Hua Xiao Ya is actually an electric car made in China, and features a 7 hour charge time, a 45 km/h top speed in normal mode which can be boosted to 64km/h in performance mode. It’s cheap though, at around US$5,000.

This must be what the old woman who lives in a shoe drives - a yellow shoe-mobile. One more photo after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2006 Paris Motor Show Gallery: Shoemobile

According to a report by China Knowledge, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd has scrapped it’s plans to set up an automotive assembly plant in Malaysia. Previously it applied to start assembling cars in the 1.3 liter and 1.5 liter range here in Malaysia together with it’s local partner Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd (IGC) at a plant in Kuantan. Assembly was expected to begin in October 2006 with the Geely CK sedan. Total investment was expected to be in the RM100 million range.

First they were faced with a 20:80 local distribution to export ratio, and recently the government decided to only approve assembly of cars with 1.6 liters of displacement and above. I suppose when you are faced with so much problems even before you put your money in, anyone would just walk away - Geely has decided to take it’s business elsewhere and has decided to set up an assembly plant in Indonesia instead.

As for Cam Soh’s Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd (IGC), they will begin importing Geely cars in from Indonesia for sale shortly. 1.6 liter models and above will be assembled locally in Oriental Assemblers Sdn Bhd’s plant in Johor Bahru by year-end.

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Some news regarding collaboration between DaimlerChrysler and Chery. Previously it was reported that Chrysler will name it’s subcompact car partner by the end of 2006, with talks currently on-going with a few partners. Subcompacts which are known for frugal fuel consumption - important in these high fuel price days - account for 1% of the overall US market currently, but it is expected to double in amount next year.

DaimlerChrysler is said to be in final talks to build cars in China and export them to the US under the Dodge brand to take advantage of the cheaper costs there. This move will follow Honda Motor Co’s recent recision to export vehicles built in China. However, DaimlerChrysler is keeping mum on the issue, and it is said that this collaboration is very controversial within DaimlerChrysler, with opponents questioning whether cars produced in China by Chery can meet quality standards.

Other partners being considered are Mitsubishi Motors Corp, and Hyundai Motor Co Ltd. “We know we can’t do it alone. The capital expense alone would be very high, said Chrysler Group CEO Tom LaSorda.

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NOTICE: This news was posted back in 2006, but things could have changed now.

More news on the Proton-Chery partnership - Business Times reported today that Proton Holdings Bhd may produce an MPV and an SUV model together with Chery Automobiles Co Ltd, according to Chery distributor Alado’s executive chairman Tan Sri Cam Soh.

Previously Alado said it wanted to locally assemble the Chery Tiggo T11 SUV and the Chery V5 Crossover MPV here in Malaysia. So what Alado’s executives might have meant is Proton will assemble the Tiggo and V5 here in Malaysia for Chery, or Proton will come out with SUV and MPV models based on the Chery platforms. I think it’s more likely the former rather than the latter.

Related Posts:
Chery Tiggo (Chery T11) coming to Malaysia
Chery V5 Crossover (Chery B14) MPV

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