FAW Group targets at '10 sales of 2.3M units
China Faw Group Corp. has set its sales target for 2010 at more than 2.3 million units, an increase of 18.3 percent from a year earlier, an executive said Sunday.
Jin Yi, Faw Group's deputy general manager, told the 2010 purchase convention that the nation's No. 2 carmaker also targets a sales revenue of 290 billion yuan (42.5 billion U.S. dollars), up 11.2 percent from 2009.
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Luxury Aston Martin opens flagship store in Beijing
Shanghai, January 25 (Gasgoo.com) Over the weekend UK luxury car brand Aston Martin opened its new flagship store in Beijing. The store is the third one Aston Martin has opened in Beijing in recent two months and the largest in the Asia Pacific region, China Daily reported.
Located at 66 Jinbao Street, Chaoyang District, the store is more than twice as big as Beijing's other two Aston Martin stores. The 500 sq-m showroom will display seven of the luxury vehicles, each costing 1.3 million yuan ($190,400). The three stores in Beijing were opened by a local distributor of Aston Martin cars.
Geely may sign initial Volvo deal in early Feb
Shanghai, January 26 (Gasgoo.com) Geely may sign a preliminary agreement on February 8 to buy Ford's Volvo unit, the Economic Observer reported today, adding that the Volvo deal would cost Geely around $1.6 billion.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will set up a separate company with registered capital of 8 billion yuan ($1.17 billion) to buy Volvo. Foreign strategic investors and the group's Hong Kong-listed Geely Auto will hold a 51% stake of the company.
China-made new Peugeot 408 launched in Beijing
Shanghai, January 26 (Gasgoo.com) French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen launched its new Peugeot 408 model in Beijing yesterday. The Peugeot 408 sedan is locally made by the company's Chinese venture Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Auto (DPCA).
The Peugeot 408 was specifically tailored for the Chinese market and was designed by the French carmaker's styling teams in Europe and China. The newly unveiled Peugeot 408, with a series of seven editions, is just developed for Chinese buyers, targeting at the new, younger demographic.
Great Wall Motor's vehicles enter Philippine market
Shanghai, January 27 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor Co. market will introduce six models in the Philippine auto market through its Philippine importer and distributor Statemotor Corp., the Manila Bulletin reported recently.
"Statemotor Corp. has been tapped by Great Wall Motor Co. to bring high-quality and cost-effective products to the Philippine market, namely, the Florid compact passenger car, Peri sub-compact passenger car, Wingle 4x2 & 4x4 pickup, Cowry MPV, Coolbear compact passenger car and Hover 4x2 & 4x4 SUV," said Statemotor president Allen Roxas.
China planning to levy tax on vehicle emissions
Shanghai, January 27 (Gasgoo.com) China is mulling an eco-friendly plan to levy tax on emissions produced from vehicles, according to an official with Beijing city's economic planning agency, the Beijing News reported today.
"The central government has started its research on the environmental tax reform, including a plan to tax vehicle owners according to emissions of their vehicles," said Zhang Yanyou, deputy head of Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission.
Chery set to sell 720,000 cars in '10, up 44%
Shanghai, January 28 (Gasgoo.com) China's leading private carmaker Chery Auto sold more than 500,000 cars last year, up from 356,000 units it sold in 2008, media reported. The company aims to sell 720,000 cars this year, up nearly 44%.
Last year Chery sold 500,300 vehicles, exceeding its target of 480,000 and becoming the best-selling home-grown brand. The sales volume includes more than 450,000 units sold domestically and nearly 50,000 units exported.
Geely plans Beijing factory to double Volvo output
Shanghai, January 28 (Gasgoo.com) China's Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group is planning to build a Volvo plant in Beijing to nearly double the Swedish brand's annual global output to 300,000 cars, as part of its plan to pull Volvo out of the red by 2011, media said yesterday.
Zhejiang Geely, parent of Hong Kong-listed Geely Auto, will likely sign an initial agreement with Ford Motor early next month to buy the U.S. automaker's Volvo unit, and aims to complete the purchase of Volvo for less than $2 billion by June, according to industry sources.
China to forbid new auto project with no merger deal
Shanghai, January 29 (Gasgoo.com) China's regulators will not approve auto capacity expansion project of its automakers unless they first agree to take over a domestic rival, Reuters reported today, citing the Shanghai Securities News.
According to a new version of policy guidelines due to come out by March, the government will only give the greenlight to new vehicle projects and capacity expansion of those automakers that first acquire a domestic peer. Those will merger deals will also be rewarded with tax, credit and other incentives.
Toyota's 75,552 RAV4 SUVs recalled in China
Shanghai, January 29 (Gasgoo.com) Toyota Motor's recalls in the U.S. have spread to China, with a possible accelerator pedal flaw prompting the recall of 75,552 RAV4 SUVs starting yesterday, and Ford Motor has halted its Transit van production in China due to the affected gas pedal, Dow Jones reported.
Earlier this week, Toyota halted sales of most of its popular models in the U.S. on safety concerns. It had recalled millions of vehicles in the U.S. last week following growing reports of unintended acceleration.
