China Auto News of the Week (May 4 - May 8, 2009)

Shanghai, May 8 (Gasgoo.com) China sold 830,000 sedans, minivans and other passenger vehicles in April, a rise of 37% year on year, the most in three years, xinhuanet.com reported today, citing data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Vehicle sales, including buses and trucks, rose 25% to 1.15 million.

Seven of the top 10 passenger car makers in China posted sales growth last month. Shanghai VW, FAW VW, Shanghai GM and Beijing Hyundai each saw their April sales rise to 50,000 cars, with the sales of Shanghai VW exceeding 60,000 units, retaining its lead in China's monthly sales of passenger vehicles, according to CAAM.

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Geely has submitted a bid for GM's Saab: report

Shanghai, May 7 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings has submitted a bid to acquire GM's Saab unit, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Geely is one of "three to four" serious bidders for Saab, according to the report. It said that Geely appears to be the only bidder from China.

Changan Auto says it has no plan to buy Volvo

Shanghai, May 7 (Gasgoo.com) Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., China's second-biggest maker of minivans, said on Thursday that it isn't planning a bid for Volvo, denying earlier reports by domestic media, according to Reuters.

"The company currently has no plan to acquire Volvo and has not hired any agencies for legal services for an acquisition," Changan said in a stock exchange statement, adding that it would not pursue such a plan in at least three months.

Changan Auto April sales up 51% to 117,846 units

Major Chinese auto group Chongqing Changan Auto Co said on Wednesday its April sales jumped 51 percent from a year earlier.

Changan Auto, a Chinese partner of Ford Motor, sold 117,846 vehicles in April. It churned out 117,729 vehicles in the month, up 23 percent from a year earlier, according to a company filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Shanghai VW April sales top 60,000 vehicles

Shanghai, May 6 (Gasgoo.com) Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co may lead China's passenger car sales chart in April with 60,425 units being sold, outselling its rival Shanghai General Motors by 5,180 units, according to a report from Sina.com, a leading Chinese web portal.

Citing its sales data, the report said Shanghai VW, the joint venture between Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group) (SAIC) and Volkswagen AG, sold 51,000 cars of VW brand in April, up 10 percent from March and 9,200 Skoda cars, up 21 percent from the previous month.

Beijing Auto in talks to buy Lifan: report

Shanghai, May 5 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese automaker Beijing Automotive Industry Co is in talks to acquire Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co, Lifan Group's auto making subsidiary, the Economic Observer reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the deal.

Commenting on the talks, Yin Mingshan, president of Chongqing Lifan Holdings, said that "Lifan welcomes partnership negotiations with any auto groups provided that the partnership allows Lifan to retain its own brand and voting rights on the board."

Renault to import 10,000 Koleos to China from S.Korea

Shanghai, May 5 (Gasgoo.com) The Renault Executive Vice President Katsumi Nakamura has lately ordered Renault's South Korea factory to additionally provide 10,000 Koleos SUVs for the Chinese market in 2009, according to SinoCast Business Beat.

"Renault is poised to restarts its auto import strategy in China, which is one of the world's most important auto markets, " said Robert Chan, newly appointed president of Renault China.

Chrysler has "business as usual" in China

Shanghai, May 4 (Gasgoo.com) After its bankruptcy filing and future alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat S.p.A. Chrysler's international subsidiaries are not part of the Chapter 11 filing and its business in China is going on as usual, xinhuanet.com reported today.

Daphne Zheng, spokeswoman for Chrysler's Asia-Pacific division, said the bankruptcy won't affect operations there. Chrysler's China business is small and will focus on imports. In the first quarter, Chrysler sold about 3,600 vehicles in the Chinese market, down about 25% from a year earlier. Imports accounted for more than half of those sales.

Fiat may buy GM's China operations beyond Opel

Shanghai, May 4 (Gasgoo.com) Italian automaker Fiat Group SpA may seek to buy GM's operations in China and Russia besides its Germany-based Opel, the Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Fiat is looking at not just Opel, but also at the Detroit automaker's operations in emerging markets such as China, Russia and Latin America, according to the people under condition of anonymity.

China imports 65,000 cars in Q1, down 37%

Shanghai, May 4 (Gasgoo.com) In the first quarter of 2009, China imported 65,000 vehicles, down 37% from a year earlier, xinhuanet.com reported today. As China's auto market is recovering, the import is expected to rally in the second quarter, but the full-year auto import will see slight fall.

The number plate registration of imported cars hit 75,600 units in the first three months, up 20.5% year on year. The sales of imported cars also grew rapidly during that period. Meanwhile, the import of SUVs exceeded that of sedans, but high-emission vehicles were less imported.