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Oil prices rising on Nigeria's instablilty

Oil prices climbed to $67 a barrel in London today after Nigeria's presidential election drew condemnation from monitors and investors waited for fresh word on oil supplies from the world's eighth biggest exporter, according to Reuters.
Militant attacks have shut about a fifth of Nigeria's oil production. Energy Minister Edmund Daukoru said last week he expected the country's biggest foreign operator, Royal Dutch Shell to restart its Forcados fields in May.
London's Brent crude was up 51 cents at $67.00 a barrel; U.S. crude was up four cents at $64.15.

Posted by   at 10:05 AM to Oil | Permalink | Comments 0

Sex sells at Shanghai auto show

Political correctness be damned. Modern China’s founder, Mao Zedong may have promised a truly egalitarian society, but today’s increasingly capitalistic Chinese have discovered what the West long knew: sex sells, according to thecarconnection.com. And they seem to have foregone that limiting discipline that has tamed and toned down most U.S. and European auto shows, political correctness.

Posted by   at 9:14 AM to Shows | Permalink | Comments 0

Nanjing's plan for assembling MGs in Oklahoma?

Will Nanjing Auto be coming to Oklahoma to assemble its new line of MG cars?There is some question about the deal, according to thecarconnection.com
The Chinese auto maker made plenty of headlines when it acquired the remains of the bankrupt British automaker, Rover. But it topped that act, last year, when the company announced plans to produce a new version of Rover's classic-reborn MGF sports car - at a plant in Oklahoma.
Since then, there've been a series of conflicting reports suggesting Nanjing/Rover has scuttled the deal. But reports of the death of the American MG have been greatly exaggerated - well, at least maybe, according to MG CEO Zhang Xin.

Posted by   at 8:53 AM to Companies , Marques | Permalink | Comments 0

Where is China's unique sense of design?

The main language spoken at the Shanghai auto show is Chinese, but the vocabulary of the designs is polyglot: Italian flourishes, high Japanese roofs, German solidity, American assertiveness, according to The New York Times.
What is missing? Almost anything that could indicate the emergence of a distinctly Chinese school of automotive design.

Posted by   at 8:43 AM to Shows | Permalink | Comments 0