China Auto News of the Week (Aug. 18 - Aug. 22, 2008)

Imported Audi models to see price rise in Oct

Shanghai, August 18 (Gasgoo.com) German carmaker Audi, the premium sedan division of Volkswagen Ag, has recently announced its plans to raise the prices of some Audi cars by 0.9 percent starting October 6, and as a result, the imported Audi models for sale in the China market will increase correspondingly, said sina.com today.

The Audi models to have the price hike will include the Audi A4 sedan, Audi Q7 SUV, Audi TT Coupe and Audi R8 race-car. A Beijing dealer of imported Audi cars said that these imported models are expected to have more than 0.9% price rise because the taxes on imported cars will increase if these cars are higher priced at their place of origin.

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Changhe Auto to cooperate further with Suzuki

Shanghai, August 18 (Gasgoo.com) China's Changhe Automobile officially announced its restructuring strategy last week, which said the company would withdraw the ongoing loss-making auto assets from the listed company and would then transform itself into a plane maker through acquiring two aerospace units.

As its auto assets will be pulled out, will Changhe end its 13-year long cooperation with Japan-based Suzuki motor? Li Yao, president of Changhe Automobile denied the guess. Changhe will continue to maintain and even strengthen the strategic cooperation with Suzuki Motor, he said.

Chinese-made X-trail to go on sale in October

Shanghai, August 19 (Gasgoo.com)The Nissan X-trail SUV, a domestically made vehicle by Dongfeng Nissan, is ready for official launch as it has passed the road tests, Chongqing Business News reported today, citing sources of Dongfeng Nissan Automobile.

The X-Trail is expected to go on the market in October 2008. Dongfeng Nissan said the X-trail is set to rival Honda CR-V. Thus the company will fix the products plan and price of X-trail in accordance with CR-V.

China not to raise oil price shortly after Olympics

Shanghai. August 19 (Gasgoo.com) China's top energy official said the government has no plan to review oil prices immediately after the Olympic Games, the state-run Xinhua News agency reported, cited by Reuters.

"Further adjustments in China's fuel prices would depend on the post-Olympic economic outlook and global commodity prices, " said Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, at a news conference Monday.

China auto imports grow briskly, exports slow

SHANGHAI (AFP) — China's auto imports grew rapidly in the first half of 2008, underlining its increasing importance as a market for carmakers, but export growth slowed, state media said Tuesday.

China imported 212,000 vehicles in the first half of this year, up 53.2 percent from a year earlier, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing data from the China's customs administration.

The growth rate was 18.3 percentage points faster than the same period in 2007, it said, adding that most of the imports came from Japan, the European Union, South Korea and the US.

Brilliance Auto denies possible acquiring by FAW

Shanghai, August 20 (Gasgoo.com) An earlier report said that an insider of FAW said the company is set to acquire Brilliance Auto, a Chinese partner of BMW, but an executive of Brilliance denied this report yesterday, adding that Brilliance Auto has no restructuring plans in the near future, according to the Beijing News.

"It is impossible for FAW to buy out Brilliance Auto," said the Brilliance executive to the reporter. "Although FAW has the desire to acquire it, Brilliance Auto has worked out its own mid- to long-term targets for product development and sales, and therefore it has no plans for restructuring in the near future." In fact, Brilliance turned losses to profits last year by doubling its sales and now it is carrying out its new "five-year plan."

Beijing's Olympic lanes open to public traffic

Shanghai, August 21 (Gasgoo.com) Beijing's Olympic lanes will open to public traffic gradually, the city's road and traffic authorities said Wednesday. However, these lanes may be closed again next month for the Paralympics.

Three lanes were made accessible to non-Olympic cars yesterday, and one of the lanes links the South Airport Expressway. Next Monday, most Olympic lanes on the Second and Fourth Ring roads will open. And on Thursday, the lanes connecting Dongzhimen Bridge to Jianguomen Bridge and the main expressway to Beijing Capital International Airport, will open to public traffic.

Two new Mini Cooper models to sell in China in Sept

Shanghai, August 21 (Gasgoo.com) BMW China has recently revealed that another two all-new Mini Cooper sedans will go on sale in China early next month, said xinhuanet.com today.

The two Mini sedans to hit the Chinese market on September 4 are the Mini Cooper S and Mini Cooper S Clubman. The two all-new Mini S models have twin turbo kits added to the usual 1.6L 4-cylinder engine of most Mini Cooper models, and this will greatly boost the power and torque of the engine.

Fiat to re-enter China, no Shanghai, Nanjing dealers

Shanghai, August 22 (Gasgoo.com) Ten months After cutting its cooperation with Nanjing Auto, Italian carmaker Fiat is set to restart its China sales network with the imported models first, according to Oriental Morning Post today.

Fiat (China) said the company launched the imported Linea and Bravo models into the Chinese market first last night. However, the dealership list released by Fiat didn’t include any dealers in one of the most important cities — Shanghai.

Toyota's new Crown to be made in China next year

Shanghai, August 22 (Gasgoo.com) An insider of FAW Toyota recently revealed that the 13th-generation luxury sedan Crown of Toyota Motor will be made at the No.2 plant of Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor in first half of 2009, said xinhuanet.com today.

The source added that the China-made new Crown will have a longer wheelbase to meet the needs of Chinese consumers. In addition to the stretched wheelbase, the all-new Crown model is 30mm longer and 15mm wider than its predecessor, and it is more streamlined.