China Auto News of the Week (August 24- 28, 2009)

Shanghai, August 24 (Gasgoo.com) Toyota Motor will start tomorrow to recall 688,314 Camry and other sedans made at its two joint ventures in China to fix the vehicles' faulty electronic window control systems, media reported, citing the country's quality watchdog.

Electronic controls on the driver's side window may short-circuit because an excessive amount of lubricant was applied during the manufacturing process, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement on its Web site.

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Brilliance Auto to set up SPV subsidiary company soon

Shanghai, August 24 (Gasgoo.com) Brilliance Auto will set up a wholly-owned subsidiary making special purpose vehicles (SPV) in China very soon, the Beijing News reports Monday.

Qi Yumin, chairman of Brilliance Auto, said the company would make an initial investment of 25 million yuan ($3.6 mln) on the project. The SPV subsidiary will include four production facilities located in Tieling, Dalian of Liaoning province, Miangyang of Sichuan province and the last one in Shanghai.

Geely SUV base in Chengdu set to start operation

Shanghai, August 25 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese carmaker Geely Auto recently said that its SUV production base in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan province, will start operation next month and is expected to roll out its first SUV model in October, xinhuanet.com reported today.

The 3-billion-yuan ($439.2 million) project's major part is nearing completion. The facility includes the assembly, coating, stamping and welding workshops. The first model to roll off the assembly line will be the Gleagle GX SUV, which will go into mass production at the new plant in 2010.

GM may mortgage China assets to keep Opel

Shanghai, August 25 (Gasgoo.com) General Motors Co is considering a plan to retain its Opel and Vauxhall operations in Europe and may mortgage its assets in China to raise money, Reuters reports Tuesday, citing sources with knowledge of the deliberations.

The development follows a meeting last Friday in which GM directors declined to endorse a sale of Opel to Magna, sending the automaker back into negotiations this week with the German government.

Beijing-Hyundai Jan-Jul sales exceed '08 sales

Hyundai have had a complete turn around in China over the past two years, it was only a few months ago that they appeared to be struggling in the Chinese market with out of date products that were hardly catching the attention of local consumers, that seems to have completely changed for 2009.

By July 2009 Beijing-Hyundai, the JV between Hyundai and Beijing Auto Works had already sold more cars from January to July 2009 than they did in the whole of 2008. Beijing-Hyundai saw sales of 43,813 cars from Jan to July this year, of which the Elantra accounted for 13,014 sales and the newer Elantra Rui Dong accounted for sales of 20,522.

Dongfeng lifts '09 sales target 18% to 1.3M units

Shanghai, August 26 (Gasgoo.com) China's Dongfeng Motor Group, the country's third-largest carmaker, said today it has raised its 2009 sales target by 18% on encouraging sales of its passenger vehicles amid China's economic stimulus measures, Reuters reported.

Dongfeng was aiming to sell about 1.3 million vehicles this year, up from its previous target of 1.1 million, Dongfeng President Liu Zhengmin told reporters. "We are optimistic about the development of China's auto industry. The market is having 10 years or more of speedy growth," he said.

SAIC profit falls as write-off erodes China GM sales

SAIC Motor Corp., China's largest domestic automaker, said first-half profit fell 26 percent after 1.18 billion yuan ($173 million) of write-offs eroded gains from surging sales of General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG cars.

Net income declined to 1.45 billion yuan from 1.97 billion yuan, the Shanghai-based automaker said in a statement to the city's stock exchange today. Sales rose 6.9 percent to 61.6 billion yuan.

BYD to start selling electric buses by year end

Shanghai, August 27 (Gasgoo.com) BYD, China's largest rechargeable battery maker and an ambitious automaker, recently said its first batch of electric buses will roll off the production line and go on sale by the end of this year, xinhuanet.com reported today. 

The first phase of BYD's bus plant project will kick off next month in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan province. The company signed an agreement on July 24 to take over Midea Coach Manufacturing Co., Ltd. for 60 million yuan ($8.78 million) from its owner Midea Group, one of the largest home appliances manufacturers in China.

Chery Auto expanding global production network

Shanghai, August 27 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese carmaker Chery Auto will add six assembly plants overseas this year, expanding its global production network to 15 countries and regions, China Daily reported yesterday.

"Construction of the assembling facilities in Taiwan, Syria and Thailand has been completed, while the plant in Venezuela is still waiting for the local government's approval," an executive of Chery said.

Chery Auto expanding global production network

Shanghai, August 28 (Gasgoo.com) China's Tengzhong may finalize a deal with General Motors as early as next week to acquire the U.S. automaker's Hummer brand, Reuters reported today, citing a source familiar with the deal.

Chinese industrial manufacturer Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery has been in detailed talks with GM since it announced a tentative plan in early June to take over the rights to the premium SUV Hummer brand from its U.S. owner.

Daimler denies SPV JV with Brilliance China

Shanghai, August 28 (Gasgoo.com) A senior official of Daimler yesterday dismissed as "speculation, rumors" reports of a joint venture between Daimler AG and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings to make special purpose vehicles (SPV) in China, Reuters reported.

"I know everything about China in Daimler, so ... from my point of view that's not right," said Ulrich Walker, head of Daimler's Northeast Asia operations.