Geely looking to Volvo for domestic boost
Head of China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Li Shufu, is looking to Swedish brand Volvo to boost domestic sales. The $2bn capture of the distressed General Motors unit will, according to Reuters, be bought by Geely for both domestic and overseas sales.
Already, Shufu has made plans for a factory in Beijing to make as many Volvos for China as are now made for foreigners abroad.
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Porsche aims to sell over 10,000 cars in China in '10
Shanghai, February 8 (Gasgoo.com) German sports-car producer Porsche SE said it aims to sell over 10,000 cars in China, its third biggest market, this year as rising wealth makes luxury vehicles more affordable in this country, Bloomberg reported today.
In 2009, Porsche sold 9,090 vehicles in China, up about 9%, Helmut Broeker, who heads Porsche's China unit, said in a Bloomberg TV interview today. China is expected to surpass Germany to become Porsche's second biggest market by 2012 with estimated sales of 16,000 units.
Toyota leads new-energy auto sales in China
Shanghai, February 9 (Gasgoo.com) Toyota Motor has taken the lead in China's new-energy vehicle market, with its Lexus-brand hybrid series ranking the first by sales, SinoCast reported today.
The huge sales of hybrid Lexus cars are largely boosted by buyers' strong environmental awareness and the products' good performance, said a Lexus dealer in Guangzhou, south China. The LS600hL, GS450h, and RX450h hybrid products have accounted for more than 30% of all the Lexus models, according to Toyota China.
BMW China Jan sales more than double to 11,919 cars
Shanghai, February 9 (Gasgoo.com) BMW AG said Friday that its sales in China last month more than doubled to 11,919 cars from 5,360 cars of a year earlier, Dow Jones reported. The company expects its China sales to grow by at least 10% this year.
In January, the core BMW brand sold 11,369 cars in China, the first time that its monthly sales exceeded the threshold of 10,000 units. Sales for BMW 7-Series sedan doubled to 1,705 vehicles from 844 cars of January 2009. China continues to be the largest single market for BMW's flagship model.
China Jan auto sales up 124% to 1.66 mln
Shanghai, February 10 (Gasgoo.com) China's auto sales surged 124% in January to a monthly record of 1.66 million vehicles, extending last year's strong gains and bucking forecasts for weaker growth, media reported, citing an industry association.
Last month, sales of passenger cars, including sedans, SUVs, and MPVs, surged 115.5% year-on-year to a new monthly record of 1.32 million units, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said yesterday. Nearly half of the sales, 650,000 units, were achieved by homegrown brands.
Honda eyes its '10 China sales up 10% to 632,200
Shanghai, February 10 (Gasgoo.com) Honda Motor said today it aims to sell at least 632,200 vehicles in China this year, up 10% from last year, though the growth rate will likely slow down after a surge in 2009, Reuters reported.
Honda Motor saw its 2009 sales in China grow 22.5% to 576,000 vehicles and aims for annual local production of 710,000 units in 2012, up from the current 610,000 units, industry officials said.
China '09 auto export down 46% to 369,600 units
China's auto export in 2009 dropped 46 percent year-on-year due to the global downturn, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) Wednesday.
The CAAM said China exported a total of 369,600 autos in 2009, valued at $5.19 billion, both down 46 percent from 2008, citing figures from the General Administration of Customs.
Mazda Motor eyes sales growth in China via two JVs
Shanghai, February 11 (Gasgoo.com) Through its two local ventures, Mazda Motor sold 179,679 vehicles in China in 2009, up 41% year-on-year, and the Japanese carmaker expects to sell 220,000 vehicles in China this year, up about 22%, media reported.
In 2009, FAW Mazda and Chang'an Mazda sold 106,982 and 72,697 vehicles separately, up 27% and 69%. Meanwhile, the two JVs set up 42 dealerships across China.
Nissan preparing for Renault production in China
Shanghai, February 11 (Gasgoo.com) Nissan Motor is preparing the ground for French carmaker Renault's eventual move into China [for local production], Dow Jones reported today, citing Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.
When the decision is made by Renault to go to China, "we are going to find a network of suppliers, a network of dealers and a manufacturing base and a system for us to move very quickly," thanks to Nissan's presence, he said. Renault now only has its imported cars sold in China.
Toyota Motor sees shrinking orders in China
Masahiro Kato, general manager of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., lately announced that the sales target of Toyota Motor Corporation in China for 2010 was more than 800,000 vehicles, only rising 12.8% from a year earlier.
Analysts believe that the growth rate of Toyota's Chinese operations is very conservative this year compared with the figure in the same period of last year.
SAIC-GM-Wuling minivans set to enter India market
Shanghai, February 12 (Gasgoo.com) SAIC Motor, General Motors and Liuzhou Wuling, which formed SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) venture, have been discussing which vehicle models to be promoted in India after SAIC became a major shareholder of GM's Indian unit, and media guess is that SGMW minivans may roll into India first, SinoCast reported recently.
Ding Lei, general manager of Shanghai GM, denied that Buick Excelle would be exported to India when asked about SAIC's plan for the Indian market. At the launch of its new Wuling SunShine, a top executive of SGMW revealed that Wuling's minivans would possibly be first exported to India.
