REFLECTIONS IN A CHINESE EYE

Shanghai driving FAIL

Folks, there's "bad driving," and then there's "complete lack of common sense." You can go ahead and apply your own labels to this particular driver, who seems to have ignored the fact that there was no was asphalt leading to this tunnel. At least it looks like the passengers had the good sense to bail out before curious bystanders (or angry would-be pedestrians) started taking pictures. Either that, or they simply thought they were parked in the world's bumpiest parking lot.

Another angle for this driving mishap

Shangailist  

Honda Strike Becomes a Rallying Point in China

 

FOSHAN, CHINA — A strike at an auto-parts factory owned by Honda in southern China has unexpectedly become a cause célèbre in the nation’s struggle with income inequality, with Chinese media reporting extensively on the workers’ demands and calling on the government to do more to increase wages nationwide.

Strikes have occurred before at Chinese-owned factories and on rare occasions at foreign-owned plants. But the authorities have typically hushed them up and either sought a quick deal or sent in the police.

The 1,900 workers at the Honda factory here have been on strike to demand higher pay since early last week, and on Friday there was no resolution in sight. The resulting shortage of transmissions and engine parts has forced Honda to halt production this week at all four of its assembly plants in China, with one closing on Monday and the other three on Wednesday.

The work stoppage is the clearest sign yet of growing labor unrest in a country that is now the cornerstone of many companies’ global supply chains.

RZheng Qiao, the associate director of the department of employment relations at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing, said that the strike was a significant development in China’s labor relations history because the workers appeared to be well organized and united.

Read more at The New York Times

Some Roads to U.S. Electric-Car Batteries Go Via China

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke’s visit Saturday to Tianjin highlighted a shift in the balance of power in high technology, showing that even as the U.S. presses China to turn more to American companies for clean-energy technology, in some areas the U.S. is having to turn to China.

Bloomberg News

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in China this week.

Locke, in China both for a trade mission and for the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, toured a plant set up recently to produce electric-car batteries that a Tianjin company developed, which a California-based electric-car startup, Code Automotive, is now relying on to help launch an “affordable” electric battery car in California later this year.

Through a joint venture, Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-stock Co. is providing Coda access to advanced lithium-ion batteries — a cornerstone technology in enabling Coda to develop its all-electric car.

A few years ago when Coda began designing the all-electric sedan, “there were no U.S. suppliers of [large, vehicle-grade] battery systems, period,” Coda’s Chief Executive Kevin Czinger said in Tianjin after giving Locke a tour of his joint-venture electric-car battery plant. “We looked and we found luckily a great partner [in China] that was very open-minded and said let’s work together on your technology.”

Read more at The Wall Street Journal

GM Could Soon Sell More Cars in China Than in the US

Yes that’s quite an eye catching headline isn’t it? The Las Vegas Sun reporting on the Beijing Car Show quoted GM as saying its China sales jumped 68% in March from a year earlier and 2010 sales could top 2 million vehicles. That would nearly equal last year’s sales of 2.1 million in the United States. Although admittedly GM has to split China revenues with local partners, the total China market sales are predicted to rise by 20% in 2010 to 16.5mn, on top of a 45% rise in sales in 2009 according to an FT article.

GM isn’t the only one getting excited about China. VW is reported to be increasing its investment budget for China by Euros 1.6bn ($2.1bn) bringing its total investment fund for the next three years to Euros 6bn ($8bn) as it builds new factories and develops new models for the market. VW sees China as a central plank in its drive to become the world’s largest car producer, overtaking Toyota by 2018, a plan that involves $28.2bn of investments worldwide over the next three years.

Read more at Metal Miner

China's all-electric minivan may jolt U.S. market

BEIJING — The first Chinese-made car to hit the U.S. market might be an all- electric minivan that skips over gasoline technology and gets a head start on the auto industry's next era.

BYD, part-owned by investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, hopes to start selling its five-seat e6 on the West Coast this year.

The e6, displayed this week at the Beijing auto show, is one of a series of green vehicles being developed by Chinese automakers that run on everything from batteries to solar panels and tiny wind turbines. They lag behind Western rivals in technology but are working at a frenzied pace to ensure they'll be part of the green automobile age.

“Automakers want to invest because they know it's one area where they can really compete abroad,” said Liu Lixi, an auto analyst in Shanghai.

Read more at chron business

China in the Driver’s Seat

The Ferrari 599 GTO was introduced in China, with buyers there already placing orders.

“The Chinese don’t understand us,” Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari’s global chief executive, told me in a recent interview. “They don’t understand why we make only two-door cars. They don’t understand why we don’t make a limousine.”

If Ferrari does someday make a stretch limo,  it will be because the Asian market demanded it. China, or what is being increasingly referred to as the “C-Factor” in the auto industry, is likely have a significant say from now on in how automobiles are designed, built and sold.

The fact that luxury coupe makers like Porsche, Aston Martin and even Bugatti have designed their first four-door models is directly attributable to the Chinese market. So that begs the question: Can a four-door Ferrari be far behind?

Read more at The New York Times

Bright news for China's electric vehicle future

As the Auto China motor show gets under way in Beijing, a new study has shown that China may be a key country that drives the uptake of electric vehicles.

Global manufacturers such as Honda and Volvo, which have been confirming their commitment to clean energy vehicles at the show, will no doubt be cheered by statistics that show nearly eight in ten Chinese consumers showed intent to buy an electric vehicle if price were not an issue.

Read more at The Independent

Carmakers ‘Unsustainable’ Growth in China Risks Overcapacity

April 26 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and Nissan Motor Co. are raising production capacity and sales forecasts in China, betting vehicle demand will continue to grow even if the government scraps car-buying incentives.

Volkswagen, the biggest foreign carmaker in China, will invest 4.4 billion euros ($5.9 billion) in plants and new models by 2012, while Nissan aims to boost capacity in the nation almost 70 percent, the companies said April 23 at the Beijing Auto Show. Toyota and Hyundai Motor Co. are also building new factories in China, the world’s largest vehicle market.

The automakers are competing for market share as Volkswagen estimates the growing wealth of China’s 1.37 billion people may raise the nation’s auto demand as much as 20 percent this year. Nissan predicts growth may slow next year as China has signaled it may end a tax break for small cars, and industry consultants JD Power & Associates and IHS Global Insight say carmakers risk building too many plants.

“China’s motorization is reaching the masses,” said Takanobu Ito, Chief Executive Officer of Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-largest carmaker. “Even after the tax break ends, demand shouldn’t drop very much.”

Read more at BusinessWeek

China's super-rich are driving luxury car sales boom

It is difficult to take your eyes off an £800,000 automobile, which perhaps explains why the Rolls-Royce Phantom at this week's Beijing Auto Show was that rare thing, a car attracting more avid attention than the skimpily-clad models preening over the bonnets of lesser brands.

"We sold that car this morning," Rolls-Royce's new German chief executive, Torsten Muller-Otvos observed casually. "I can't say who bought it, but a client known to our Beijing dealership will take it after the show."

It is this kind of impulse-purchasing power that brings the top-brass of the European and American car industry to China this week in the hope of capturing a slice of the world's fastest-growing car market.

At a time when sales are stagnating at home, car sales in China surged by 45pc last year to 13.6m vehicles, easily eclipsing the 10.5m sold in the US and the growth story has continued this year with first-quarter sales up 63pc on 2009.

The vast majority of these will be the identikit, knock-off saloons that clog the roads of all China's major cities, but for super-luxury brands like Rolls-Royce the boom in Chinese car sales is, if anything, even more spectacular.

Read more at The Telegraph

Better Place in China deal

Better Place, the electric car infrastructure company, has announced its first deal with a carmaker in China, potentially the biggest future market for battery-powered cars.

The US company signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday with Chery Automobile, China’s biggest independent carmaker, to develop prototypes for electric vehicles to be used in regional state-sponsored pilot projects.

The cars will have switchable batteries that can be removed and replaced with recharged ones at swap stations of the type Better Place is building in countries including Israel and Denmark.

Read more at Financial Times

The Ford Start Concept

Ford is looking to increase its brand presence in China. GM and other Asian brands have already pegged the market there, but Ford is making steps towards this rapidly growing segment. At the Beijing Auto Show, the brand assembled their largest ever display in China. The interactive setup featured something we haven't seen from Ford in quite a while, an all-new concept car.

The Ford Start Concept takes cues from other current industry trends- presenting a small urban oriented commuter that promotes efficiency and connectivity. As Ford describes at length, it should essentially cover all the concerns of the modern urban commuter and first time buyer. The hassles of parking, traffic, and fuel cost should be mitigated by the Start's small yet functional size. Four occupants can ride in the car at once, though comfort would likely be at a premium. City cars like the Smart Car and and Scion iQ are direct competition.

Read more and view slideshow at the College Driver

Remodelled electric vehicles unveiled

General Motors has debuted a concept crossover version of its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle at the Auto China motor show on April 23.

The firm introduced the new Volt MPV5 model on the first press day of the show, which opens to the public on April 25.

It uses the same extended range propulsion system to be debuted in the Chevrolet Volt, due for release in 2011, but is 18 centimeters longer, 7 centimeters wider and 18 centimeters taller than the production version.

Read more at The Independent

In China, every ding has a silver lining

Peter Hessler

A foreign resident in Beijing decodes the process of hiring a car and dealing with dents in the bustling capital

FOR my road trip, I rented a Chinese-made Jeep Cherokee from a Beijing company called Capital Motors. It was a new industry; even five years earlier, almost nobody would have thought of renting a car for a weekend trip. But now the business had started to develop, and my local Capital Motors branch had a fleet of about 50 vehicles, mostly Chinese-made Volkswagen Santanas and Jettas.

They are small sedans, built on the same basic model as the VW Fox that was once sold in the US. At Capital Motors, I often rented Jettas for weekend trips, and there was an elaborate ritual to these transactions. First, I paid my $US25 ($41) a day and filled out a mountain of paperwork.

Next, the head mechanic opened the trunk to prove there was a spare tyre and a jack. Finally we toured the Jetta's exterior, recording dents and scratches on a diagram that represented the shape of a car. This often took a while; Beijing traffic is not gentle, and it was my responsibility to sketch every door ding and bumper dent. After we documented the prenuptial damage, the mechanic turned the ignition and showed me the gas gauge. Sometimes it was half full; sometimes there was a quarter tank. Occasionally he studied it and announced: "Three-eighths."

Read more at The Australian

This is an edited extract from Country Driving: A Journey through China from Farm to Factory, by Peter Hessler (Text Publishing, $36.95).

China's Real Auto Powerhouse Is Based In Detroit

 

General Motors is in the headlines this week for paying back a chunk of the $50 billion it borrowed from U.S. taxpayers to avoid imploding last year. It's a good start, but, as Jerry Flint wrote on Forbes yesterday, the company has a long way to go.

Still, there is good, if not great news for the once-great American automaker. And it's in China, where the ubiquitous Wuling Sunshine rules the roads outside of major city centers. This $4500 van, familiar to anyone in China is the best selling vehicle in the fastest growing auto market in the world. More important, it's a GM product (through a joint venture), a sign that while GM still struggles in Detroit, overseas it is fast learning how to be a low-cost, good-enough-quality carmaker that can thrive in the markets of the tomorrow.

For the latest issue of Forbes, Detroit bureau chief Joann Muller traveled to China to see the carmaker's factories in action. Her take: what GM is learning there will determine the future of the company.

Forbes - The China Tracker

Ford unveils minicar for China at Beijing show

The Ford Start concept, which makes its global debut at the 2010 Beijing Auto Show, is to have a 1-liter, 3-cylinder engine. (Ford)

Ford said Thursday it plans to build what may be its first-ever three-cylinder engine for a car in China and is showing the engine in a concept car called the Ford Start at the Beijing Auto Show.

The Ford Start showcases a 1.0-liter, direct-injection, turbocharged engine that Ford said it plans to begin building in the "near future."Eventually, Ford expects to introduce the engine, which will be part of Ford's EcoBoost engine family, in all regions, including the U.S., said Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer.

Read more at FREEP

Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SV China Limited Edition Debuts at Beijing Auto Show

Like many high-end automakers displaying at this year’s Beijing Auto Show, Lamborghini has decided to unveil a special edition model exclusively for the Chinese market. Lambo chose its flagship model, the Murcélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce, dubbing it the “China Limited Edition” and has delivered it with a stunning new paint scheme and interior trim changes. Just 10 LP670-4 SV China Limited Edition models will be offered to a growing number of Lambo enthusiasts in the world’s most populous country.

Like the other 350 LP670-4 SV models, the Chinese Edition gets a massive 6.5-liter V12 engine with 670-hp and 487 ft-lbs of torque enabling a 0-62 mph sprint of just 3.2 seconds. It also gets the same lighter body, weighing 220 lbs less than the standard LP640.

Special “Chinese Edition” trim items include the orange stripe down the length of the gray-painted car, which Lambo says symbolizes an erupting volcano. In addition, every vehicle will get a numbered plaque with the badge of the owner engraved on it. It’s no surprise then that Lambo specifically mentions car collectors in its press release, as such a plaque might not be as attractive to the second owner.

Read more at AutoGuide

Toyota: Aim To Start Trial Launch Of Plug-In Hybrid In China

- BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) said Friday it aims to start the trial launch of its plug-in hybrid vehicles in China.

Takeshi Uchiyamada, an executive vice president with the Japanese auto maker, said at a press conference at Auto China 2010 in Beijing that the company wants to begin the trial as soon as possible.

The Japanese car maker sold 709,000 vehicles in 2009 in China, up 21%. For 2010, it is targeting a 13% growth in sales to 800,000 vehicles despite its recent recalls. Sales in the first two months of this year grew 43% on year to 117,000 vehicles.

In January, the auto maker issued a recall notice for 75,552 RAV4 sport-utility vehicles in China due to faulty gas pedals.

Toyota is striving to regain customer trust by fixing problems with 8.5 million vehicles in China, the U.S., Europe, Japan and other regions as early as possible and enhancing quality control in local markets to swiftly respond to customers' concerns.

Easy Bourse

BMW confirms Megacity electric car for 2013

BMW has used the Beijing Motor Show to announce that it will have its much-talked-about Megacity electric car on the market by 2013. Previously, the German automaker had only hinted that it would produce the urban runabout in the first half of the decade. Also of note is that the Megacity EV will be launched under a new sub-brand, much in the same way that the automaker has used its Mini branch to enter into lower-market segments without taking the chance of tarnishing the well-earned reputation of its corporate roundel.

According to BMW, its upcoming electric vehicle will be the first mass-produced vehicle that relies heavily on the use of carbon fiber for its structure, which should help keep the vehicle lightweight, thereby improving its performance and range. BMW has indicated that it hopes to earn valuable information from its 600-plus vehicle fleet of Mini E electric vehicles, 50 of which will be delivered to Chinese customers before the end of 2010.

In related news, BMW has also said that it will show off an electric 5 Seriessedan in Beijing. Called the Echo, the electric vehicle was assembled at BMW's Shanyang plant in China with cooperation from the government-backed Tongji University. There are currently no plans to put the vehicle into production, but the automaker hopes to gauge how advanced China's homegrown electric vehicle technology is at present.

REad more at autoblog green

China Drivers Shun Hybrids, Electric Cars on Lack of Subsidy

April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Huang Jihai considered buying his 28-year-old daughter the world’s first plug-in hybrid as a wedding gift in Beijing before choosing to save 16,900 yuan ($2,500) with a gasoline-powered car instead.

“Some of the hybrids and electric cars look pretty cool, but they are too expensive,” said Huang, 51, who opted for a General Motors Co. Chevrolet Cruze. “I’d rather spend less money on a reliable gasoline car.”

Automakers including GM and Nissan Motor Co. plan to display a record 95 alternative energy-powered models at this year’s Beijing Auto Show, which opens to the press tomorrow. While China’s government has touted less-polluting cars as a way to improve air quality and cut reliance on imported oil, it has delayed a plan to introduce subsidies that may put the models within reach for buyers like Huang.

A lack of affordability may limit sales of such vehicles by GM, Nissan and Toyota Motor Corp., which have all announced plans to introduce new hybrids and electric cars in China by 2011. The sluggish demand is also curbing investment in less-polluting car technology, prompting domestic automakers to seek foreign alliance partners to help fund development.

Read more at BusinessWeek

Cars In China, A Crash Course

Are there too many cars being made in China—or simply too many car makers? So asks The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ:

Certainly executives gathering for the Beijing Auto Show, which starts this week, see China as their most exciting global story. It became the largest auto market in the world last year, with passenger vehicle sales up 48% over 2008, J.D. Power data show. Over the first three months of 2010 that year-to-year growth rate shot up to 80%.

Read more at Forbes

China invests heavily in fertile green auto ground

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese automakers, unscathed by a savage global downturn, are ramping up efforts to get more cleaner, low-emmission vehicles on the roads, counting on the green drive to propel them into the top ranks of the global auto industry.

From leading Chinese auto group SAIC Motor Corp to rising star Geely Automotive Holding, indigenous players will show off a host of new green vehicles at the Beijing autoshow that starts this week, including some futuristic concept models.

"Green energy cars represent sort of gold mine on the horizon that all the companies hope to reach eventually," said Stephen Dyer, principal with A.T. Kearney China.

"Almost all the major Chinese manufacturers have on-going development programmes. Some may be more politically motivated but clearly some are very serious pursuits that are backed by large investments and substantial research teams."

Read more at REUTERS INDIA

The myth and cost of a 'green' electric car

When Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced last year that he would pay people to buy electric cars, he justified his decision as environmentally smart and industrially expedient. Worth as much as $10,000 (on the purchase, for example, of a Chevy Volt for roughly $40,000), Mr. McGuinty said the subsidy would put Ontario behind the wheel of “a green vehicle.” And it would create jobs.

In retrospect, it was embarrassing. Almost everyone knows that electric cars will be only as green as the power that drives them. And the jobs? According to one provocative new analysis, they will go mostly to China.

The Dog & Lemon Guide, which bills itself as “the world's toughest car buyer's guide,” has published a 168-page report, titled The Emperor's New Car, a no-nonsense analysis of the coming environmental and industrial impact of electric cars. Edited by auto expert Clive Matthew-Wilson and screened by international scientific advisers, it documents both the green myth and the industrial mythology.

Read more at The Globe and Mail

Lamborghini opens Shenzhen store to win China market

Shanghai, April 21 (Gasgoo.com) Italian supercar manufacturer Lamborghini held a spectacular opening ceremony to celebrate the establishment of the Shenzhen Lamborghini dealership on April 20. The new outlet will offer exclusive VIP services to Lamborghini's clients in Shenzhen and the surrounding areas, as a powerful supplement to the existing Hong Kong and Guangzhou dealers.

The new Shenzhen dealership as one of the important parts of the company's global sales networks is located in the core area of Shenzhen CBD (Central Business District). In addition to Shenzhen, Lamborghini has established dealerships in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Hong Kong, totaling six dealers, and it is setting up the eighth dealership in Xiamen, a tourist city of southern Fujian province on April 21.

Read more at Gasgoo

Auto China / Beijing International Automotive Exhibition

2010 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China 2010)

2010 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (also known as Auto China 2010), the one of the most important automotive shows worldwide, will be held in New China International Exhibition Center (Tianzhu) and in China International Exhibition Center (Jing’anzhuang) from April 25 to May 2nd, Beijing. Complete range of domestic and imported passenger cars and commercial vehicles will be exhibited in the New Center, while multiple world and China auto accessories and parts, as well as relative products will be displayed in the Old Center from April 23 to April 27. In total, nearly 2100 companies from 16 countries and regions will exhibit, utilizing exhibition area of about 200,000m2. We sincerely welcome automotive industry home and abroad, media, all auto enthusiasts and people from all walks of life to visit Auto China 2010.

Read more at COSMOWORLDS

The Cost Of Driving In China

Toll roads prohibit the nation from enjoying the economic benefits of its vast highway network.

HONG KONG -- China will spend $300 billion on high-speed rail lines over the next 20 years. The world has seen nothing like it, and China-watchers have responded by drawing analogies to America's transcontinental railroad, built in the 19th century, or its interstate highway system, built and expanded throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

High-speed rail is not the only thing on the nation's infrastructure to-do list. China's General Administration of Civil Aviation has budgeted $62 billion to build 100 new airports by 2020. All of this new infrastructure is being seen as the signs of progress, but what has been missed is how high-speed rail and the new airports are a way for China to get around a major problem it faces--an exorbitant, toll-based road system.

Read more at Forbes