China Auto News of the Week (Oct. 20 - Oct. 24, 2008)

Shanghai GM to build Buick sedans on new platforms

Shanghai, October 20 (Gasgoo.com) According to its global strategy, Shanghai GM will upgrade its Buick sedan models, among others, by using the European and American technologies and global platforms, said sina.com today.

In GM's global platform plan and brand strategy, Opel's second-generation DeIta II platform is used for making compact cars and the Epsilon II platform for mid-class cars, with the Chevrolet Cruze and Opel Insignia as their first new models respectively. And then they will be sold worldwide as GM's different sub-brands.

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Great Wall Motor eying high-end car models

Shanghai, October 20 (Gasgoo.com) Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd (GWM), a homegrown Chinese carmaker based in Hebei province, plans to develop a luxury SUV model as well as a global C-segment car through its A-share IPO plan, a Shanghai Securities News report said today, citing application materials prepared by the automaker.

In the materials submitted to China Securities Regulatory Commission, GWM said it wants to raise 360 million yuan ($52.7mln) for the SUV project and 380 million yuan for the high-end car.

The luxury SUV will be powered by 3.0L (or above) engines, mated with a 5- or 6-speed transmission. The planned C-segment car will have a 3.3L engine and 6-speed transmission. Both the SUV and C-segment car target global markets.

Russia's higher KD-parts tariff to hit China carmakers

Shanghai, October 20 (Gasgoo.com) The door for Chinese carmakers to export their vehicles to Russia is getting narrower. Shanghai Securities News reported on Sunday that the Russian government will start implementing a new policy on November 14 to levy a 15% tariff on auto-making knock-down (KD) parts as an imported vehicle body.

As many automakers in China export their products in the form of knock-down parts to Russia, this new policy will deal a heavy blow to the Chinese car companies. This tariff policy will be carried out for a nine-month trial period. At the 15% rate, up to 5,000 euros ($6,700) has to be paid as tariff on an imported car body.

Dongfeng Nissan to launch electric cars by 2012

Shanghai, October 21 (Gasgoo.com) The Renault-Nissan alliance is pushing forward its giant project of electric vehicles and the Nissan electric car is expected to be launched in 2010. Nissan’s Chinese venture Dongfeng Nissan will also put its electric car on sale in China in 2012, said auto.163.com today.

Earlier this year Nissan's joint venture with electronics maker NEC Corp announced the plan to invest 12 billion yen ($115 million) to start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries, a technology widely viewed as vital to electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles. The push into advanced lithium-ion batteries comes as Japanese automakers invest in an array of new eco-friendly car technologies amid soaring prices at the pump.

Bosch to add 850 mln euros to China investment

Shanghai, October 22 (Gasgoo.com) Bosch Chairman Franz Fehrenbach announced in Beijing recently that Bosch will invest 100 million euros to build a new energy facility in Beijing this year and the company will invest a total of 850 million euros in the coming three years, Beijing Business Today said yesterday.

Up to 2007, Bosch had put 1 billion euros in its China operations, and plans to further invest 850 million euros in the 2008-2010 period. The company will focus these investments on resource-saving and energy efficiency innovations, according to Fehrenbach.

FAW-Toyota, Changan Ford cut '08 sales target

Shanghai, October 23 (Gasgoo.com) FAW-Toyota, Changan Ford and some automakers in China has cut their sales target for 2008 due to auto market slowdown, Beijing Times said today, citing sources.

One month ago, FAW-Toyota, Toyota's joint venture with China's FAW Group Corp, still said it would maintain its sales target of 420,000 vehicles for 2008 despite bad first-half sales. However, in a recent presentation ceremony of Reiz, sources told the reporter that the automaker has planed to cut its sales target to 400,000 vehicles or below for the whole year.

FAW Group focuses resources on own-brand models

Shanghai, October 23 (Gasgoo.com) On October 11, Tianjin FAW said it will produce the company's first A-class car based on Toyota's ninth-generation Corolla platform. On October 18, FAW Car put its Hongqi Shengshi (HQ3) onto the market, and the next day the company launched its 2009 Besturn model and started construction of its second plant.

These moves are seen as a sign of FAW's gradually focusing its human, financial and material resources on making cars of its independent brands, said Beijing News today, citing an industry analyst. These all-out efforts to promote its own-brand models are closely related to FAW's in-house development plan, which says that the Chinese car giant aims to sell 2 million vehicles by 2010, and half of them must be FAW's own-brand vehicles.

1,000 new-energy cars to have trial run in 10 cities

Shanghai, October 24 (Gasgoo.com) As part of its "863" initiative that was launched in December 2007, the Chinese government is to kick off a pilot project of "1,000 new-energy cars in 10 cities" in the next few months, and has announced to foster the development of charging stations for this operation, said xinhuanet.com today.

At an August 2008 summit meeting focusing on electric cars, Wan Gang, the Chairman of the Ministry of Science and Technology indicated that over a three-year period the Ministry would develop a large-scale pilot project in 10 or more cities to put 1,000 hybrid, fuel-cell and all-electric vehicles on the road in each of those cities and provide the necessary infrastructure for the project.

China-made engines drive 90% of China-made cars

Shanghai, October 24 (Gasgoo.com) China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF) said at an industry event that more than 90% of the cars produced in China currently are fitted with Chinese-made engines.
 
In a meeting marking the 100th anniversary of China's engine industry, CMIF said China produced 8.88 million cars in 2007 and over 93% of those cars were driven by Chinese-made engines, while only 610,000 engines were imported.