January 24, 2008
Beijing will withdraw more than half of its 3 million cars from the roads during the Olympics to ensure better air quality and improve the flow of traffic, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications Liu Xiaoming told a panel discussion at the ongoing first session of the 11th BMC, according to People's Daily Online.
The traffic plans for the Olympics and Paralympics, to be held in August and September, have been completed, Liu said.
Public transport will operate more efficiently and carry more passengers during the Games, with 173 bus routes and special lanes for Olympics-related vehicles. And more metro trains, some of which will not stop at all stations, are likely to be introduced to deal with passenger rush.
The city will dedicate lanes to Olympic traffic and increase public transportation with new shuttle buses to accommodate visitors and local residents, the article said.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth 
at 1:07 PM | Permalink
January 17, 2008
DETROIT — Hundreds of media representatives crowded around two Chinese vehicles at the North American International Auto Show Tuesday, somewhat confused and befuddled about what they were looking at, according to USA Today.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 11:48 AM | Permalink
January 4, 2008
SEOUL, South Korea -- Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday it expects to increase sales by about 10 percent in the United States and 64 percent in China in 2008 by introducing new models after missing targets last year, according to the Associated Press.
Hyundai spokesman Jake Jang said the company expects to sell 515,000 vehicles in the U.S. this year, up from 467,009 cars sold there in 2007.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 11:34 AM | Permalink
November 21, 2007
TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that it has raised its 2007 sales projection for China on solid sales of small cars and aims to sell even more vehicles there next year, according to the Associated Press.
Toyota, which appears to be on track to beat General Motors Corp. as the world's top automaker as soon as later this year, raised its sales estimate in China for this year to 480,000 cars from 430,000 due to the popularity of its Vios small car and the newly introduced Camry, Toyota spokesman Naoki Oku said.
The company sold 308,000 cars in China in 2006.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 9:33 AM | Permalink
November 16, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — A top executive of China's biggest independent automaker said Thursday his company is waiting to enter the U.S. and European Union markets until it builds its capabilities and quality standards required to compete there, according to an Associated Press story cited in USA Today.
Lin Zhang, general manager of Chery International, said the company is focusing on high-growth areas such as Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central and South America, where it now exports more than 100,000 vehicles.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 1:20 PM | Permalink
October 29, 2007
BEIJING -- General Motors Corp. said Monday it will set up a $250 million alternative-fuel research center in Shanghai amid efforts by global automakers to produce commercially viable alternatives to gasoline engines, according to the Associated Press.Global automakers are stepping up research into fuel cells, biofuels, diesel and other power sources amid rising demand from governments and consumers for cleaner transportation and an alternative to expensive oil.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 9:55 AM | Permalink
September 12, 2007
Toyota said it might need more production capacity in China to meet demand as sales there rise at about nine times the pace of those in the United States, according to a business brief in the New York Times.
“We are looking at the possibility of a new plant,” an executive vice president, Mitsuo Kinoshita, said at an investor conference in New York, without elaborating. Toyota, based in Toyota City, began building its seventh factory in China in June.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 10:21 AM | Permalink
FRANKFURT, Germany — It’s hardly surprising that a car that bills itself as the “ultimate driving machine” would inspire imitation. But to BMW, the CEO, a Chinese sport utility vehicle, is less respectful homage than brazen knockoff, according to the New York Times.
Charging that the CEO is a copy of BMW’s popular X5, the company has filed suit to prohibit its sale in Germany by the Chinese carmaker Shuanghuan Automobile.
That did not prevent Shuanghuan’s European importer from showing off the CEO on Tuesday at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
It was a vivid illustration, on the show’s first day, that the struggle over intellectual property rights between China and the West — a battle that has ranged over products from designer handbags to computer chips — now extends to cars.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 10:17 AM | Permalink
August 29, 2007
In a bold display of intent to become major players on the global automotive scene, five Chinese vehicle manufacturers will bring cars and trucks to Detroit for display at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in January, according to Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh.
Only two Chinese automakers have previously exhibited at the Detroit show -- Geely Automobile Co. in 2006 and Changfeng Group this year.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 11:37 AM | Permalink
August 9, 2007
A tire importer said Thursday it would recall 255,000 Chinese-made tires it claims were defective because they lack a safety feature that prevents tread separation, according to USA Today.
The recall involves half the number of tires that the importer, Foreign Tire Sales, had identified in June as possibly posing a risk.
The models involved are steel-belted radial replacement tires for pickups, vans and sport-utility vehicles that consumers bought from early 2004 through mid-2006, Foreign Tire Sales said.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth at 9:02 AM | Permalink
July 16, 2007
They have names like the Brilliance BS6, the Landwind Fashion or the improbable Hover Wingle, and though these sedans, vans and sport utility vehicles are hardly as familiar to Europeans as, say, a Volkswagen Golf, they are beginning to show up on European roads, according to the New York Times.
“I’ve got air-conditioning, ABS brakes and air bags,” said Carlo Scalvini, describing his Hover, a big and boxy sport utility vehicle built by the Great Wall Motor Company, with headquarters in Baoding in eastern China. “And the price is competitive: you pay 10,000 euros less in the end,” more than $13,000.
Posted by at 10:29 AM | Permalink
July 5, 2007
Thanks to a refreshed 2007 Ford Focus, Ford said its retail sales in China jumped to 93,206 cars and trucks in the first half of the year, a 25% increase compared to the same period in 2006, accoording to the Detroit Free Press.
Ford sells imported and domestically produced Ford, Lincoln, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover models in the fast-growing Asian country.
Posted by at 2:15 PM | Permalink
The next Made-in-China export bound for the United States - cars, according to USA Today.
Chrysler Group signed a deal Wednesday with China's biggest automaker, Chery, to launch a low-cost production venture that could export the first Chinese-made cars to the United States.
The first cars will reach Latin America or Eastern Europe within a year, and models should be exported to North America and Western Europe in 2½ years, said Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda.
Posted by at 11:05 AM | Permalink
June 19, 2007
A small Chinese automaker and its New Jersey partner are negotiating with Mexican officials to import Chinese-made pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, the first step toward establishing a beachhead in North America, according to the New York Times.
As part of the deal, the partners expect to begin building an assembly plant in Tijuana this year that could export pickups and S.U.V.’s to the United States within a couple of years, said Marc N. Scheinman, a consultant to Chamco Auto of Parsippany, N.J.
Posted by at 2:45 PM | Permalink
