China Auto News of the Week (Jan. 12 - Jan. 16, 2009)

Global carmakers embrace China's auto stimulus

Shanghai, January 16 (Gasgoo.com) Global automakers in China welcome the auto industry stimulus plan launched by the country's State Council on Jan.14, xinhua.net said today. The global auto giants said the support package would boost the Chinese auto market and would benefit their operations in China as well.

The plan includes a new set of tax cuts and subsidies aimed at boosting demand for cars. The purchase tax on cars with engine sizes below 1.6 liters will be cut from 10% to 5%. A one-off cash subsidies totaling 5 billion yuan ($732 million) will be given to farmers to replace their high-emission vehicles with more fuel-efficient and cleaner ones.

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Great Wall Motor to launch 12 new models in '09

Shanghai, January 16 (Gasgoo.com) Great Wall Motor Co, China's largest maker and exporter of pickups and SUVs, plans to launch a total of 12 new models in 2009, including 4 sedan models, 5 SUV models and 3 pickup models, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

The report said the automaker is set to release 4 fuel efficient sedan models this year, with a 1.5L Coolbear scheduled to go on sale in March, followed by the 1.3L and 1.5L Cross sedans in May and August. An all-new sedan model codenamed CH031 could be launched in October with 1.3L and 1.5L editions. 

Ford starts making Fiesta hatchback in Nanjing

Shanghai, January 15 (Gasgoo.com) Ford Motor started manufacturing the Fiesta subcompact car at a plant in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Thursday, the Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing a company statement on Wednesday.

The Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Company's Nanjing plant will produce the five-door hatchback and four-door sedan versions of the new global Fiesta for the Chinese market and the vehicles will go on sale later in the first quarter, the company said.

BYD sells 170,000 vehicles in '08, to double in '09

Shanghai, January 15 (Gasgoo.com) In 2008, BYD Auto sold 170,000 vehicles, growing by 89% from 2007, and the company will seek bigger sales growth this year, said sina.com today.

The company aims to more than double the car sales to 40,000 units this year by launching more new car models. BYD sold about 170,000 vehicles last year, a huge increase from its sales of 90,000 vehicles in 2007. Much of that growth came from strong sales of the company's small cars, particularly the F0 subcompact and the F3 compact sedan.

China unveils support plan for auto industry

Shanghai, January 14 (Gasgoo.com) China unveiled a wide-ranging support package today for the auto and steel industries to revive the two "pillar industries" amid the lingering global financial crisis, state media reported. The plan includes a new set of tax cuts and subsidies aimed at boosting demand for cars.

The Chinese government will cut the purchase tax on cars with engine sizes below 1.6 liters from 10% to 5% as part of the efforts to stimulate auto sales in China, the world's second largest auto market. That rate cut by half will take effect on Jan. 20 and run until the end of 2009.

FAW Group '08 auto sales up 6% to 1.5 mln units

Shanghai, January 14 (Gasgoo.com) China's auto giant FAW Group Corp has announced that it sold 1.53 million vehicles in 2008, up 6% from the previous year, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

FAW Volkswagen, FAW's joint venture with Volkswagen Group, was the top-selling automaker in China last year, with sales increasing 8.6% from a year earlier to 499,000 units. 

GM: China auto market to overtake US by 2015

Shanghai, January 13 (Gasgoo.com) General Motors Corp.'s top executive for its Asia-Pacific region unit yesterday predicted that China could overtake the U.S. as the world's No. 1 auto sales market in 2014 or 2015 if the U.S. market remains slow, the Associated Press reported.

Nick Reilly, president of the division, told reporters at the Detroit Auto Show that industry-wide auto sales in China may decline as much as 10 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to a year ago but could rise slightly to 9.5 million units by the end of the year.

Chinese brand cars shining at US auto show

Shanghai, January 13 (Gasgoo.com) On the night of Jan. 11, one of the biggest North American auto shows kicked off at Detroit. Two home-grown Chinese automakers BYD and Brilliance have come to the global auto event and attracted much attention.

On Day one, the plug-in hybrid electric F3DM (F3 Dual Mode) model launched by BYD Auto in the China market in December 2008 was the most viewed new car model at the show, said xinhuanet.com today. The BYD F3DM is China's first mass-produced plug-in electric car model.

China's 2008 auto sales growth slows to 6.7%

China's automobile industry sales growth slowed to 6.7% in 2008, putting an end to at least five years of double-digit growth, data from a semi-official industry group showed Monday.

Passenger vehicle sales rose 7.27% to 6.76 million units last year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said, without giving the year-earlier figure.

Sales of commercial vehicles rose 5.25% to 2.62 million units, CAAM said.

VW '08 China sales top 1 mln units, up 12.5%

Shanghai, January 12 (Gasgoo.com) Volkswagen AG, the German-based world leading automaker, announced that its vehicle sales in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau hit 1.02 million in 2008, up 12.5% compared with 910,491 units sold a year earlier.

Sales for the Volkswagen brand increased 8.2 percent to 844,491 units while the Audi brand grew 17 percent to 101,996 units and the Skoda brand more than doubled the sales to 59,284 units.

Dongfeng Nissan '08 sales up 29% to 350,000 units

Shanghai, January 12 (Gasgoo.com) Dongfeng Nissan sold 350,000 vehicles in 2008, up 29.63% from 2007, exceeding its sales target of the year and ranking sixth in the top 10 Chinese automakers in 2008 passenger vehicles sales, according to data from China Passenger Car Association, reported Nanfang Daily on Sunday.

Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Co, a joint venture founded five years ago, has made legendary sales achievements in China's auto industry. While most automakers in China had cut their sales targets but still miss the goal for 2008 amid the financial crisis and market downturn, Dongfeng Nissan had surpassing its initially set 2008 sales targets, scored a nearly 30% sales growth and gaining 9.3% market share.

South Korea urges SAIC to revive Ssangyong

SEOUL, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The deputy head of South Korea's financial regulator on Monday urged China's SAIC Motor Corp to make efforts to revive its South Korean automaking unit Ssangyong Motor Co.

On Friday, Ssangyong, in which SAIC has a 51 percent stake, filed for court protection to avoid bankruptcy as Ssangyong struggles with a slump in car sales and liquidity problems. Rhee Chang-yong, deputy chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said it would be difficult for the regulator to support SAIC's South Korean unit before the court makes a decision on whether to accept the filing.