China


REUTERS: China's BAIC secures $2.1B line of credit... is it for Saab?

Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation (BAIC) could still be in the game for Saab, having secured a $2.93 billion line of credit from the Bank of China. On the other hand, BAIC could just be gearing up for its own home-grown expansion plans, with an eye on ramping up production and putting financial and technological legs underneath its partnerships with Mercedes and Hyundai. Or... it could be doing both: trying to buy Saab and as well as remodel its business. The deal for Saab between GM and Koenigsegg was for about $1 billion: the ... Read more →

REPORT: GM selling control of Chinese joint venture to SAIC, half of India operations Chris Shunk

It has been a busy week at General Motors. The week started off with CEO Fritz Henderson's abrupt resignation, then executives converged on the LA Auto Show where Bob Lutz was the keynote speaker and ...

REPORT: U.S consortium now in lead for Volvo purchase Jeremy Korzeniewski

Just about a month ago, news hit the interwebs that Chinese automaker Geely officially became Ford's preferred bidder for Volvo once concerns over intellectual property were sorted out. Today, ...

REPORT: GM could sell some Saab assets to Chinese; brand has through year's end to find buyer Chris Shunk

General Motors' Saab brand has been given a one month stay of execution as the Detroit, MI-based automaker has announced that it will hold off on a decision regarding the brand's fate until the end ...

New Buick Excelle debuts in China, sedan coming to America soon Sam Abuelsamid

Back in August, when General Motors gave the media a tour of its design studios to show off pieces of its upcoming lineup, one of the cars we saw was a compact four-door Buick sedan. That sedan ...

REPORT: China's Changan delays plan to enter North American auto market 11 days ago on Autoblog

Changan is coming to America, just not yet. Aiming to establish a base in Mexico with which to move into the U.S. market, the Chinese automaker signed a deal last year to build a plant south of the border. The familiar story of planetary financial catastrophe has encouraged Changan to tap the ...

REPORT: New Chinese-market Cadillac SLS and Buick Excelle XT to debut in Guangzhou 12 days ago on Autoblog

General Motors' China's sales are up 60 percent year-on-year, and The General wants to keep the momentum going at its Chinese outpost. Automotive News China reports that the Guangzhou Auto Show will play host to the unveiling of the market-specific Cadillac SLS and Buick Excelle XT, the latter ...

SEAT dominates with second consecutive World Touring Car Championship 12 days ago on Autoblog

If you would have told us ten or twenty years ago that diesel would come to dominate motor racing, we probably would have laughed in your face. But since Audi charted new territory by dominating Le Mans with its R10 TDI, the competition benefits of burning oil is beyond reproach. Not satisfied to ...

SAIC-owned MG launches MG 6, first all-new car in 14 years 13 days ago on Autoblog

The last new MG was the MGF sportscar way back in 1995, and oh, what a difference 14 years makes. The MG6 is the first new MG by the company's new owner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), and they've chosen a four-door liftback for their coming out party. About the size of a VW ...

Spy Shots: Next-gen Buick Excelle for China snapped 13 days ago on Autoblog

Soon Buick will have an entire lineup of competitive vehicles with the Enclave, all-new LaCrosse and soon-to-arrive-from-Europe Regal. Since the latter model is basically a direct port of the Opel Insignia, its success may help General Motors decide whether or not to snag a fourth model from ...

Can You Hear Me Now? China reportedly developing 3G-based 'smart' car 17 days ago on Autoblog

Chana Auto, otherwise known as Changan (that's their Benni Sports pictured), has entered into an alliance with China Mobile "to develop a smart vehicle based on 3G wireless technologies." In actuality, however, it sounds like it's not the vehicle that will be smart, but what you can do with it. ...

Geely looking for 1M units from Volvo, plans Chinese factory 21 days ago on Autoblog

Should Geely succeed in its bid to purchase Volvo, the Chinese automaker does not plan to spend any time playing in its new Swedish sandbox. Ford moved about 380,000 Volvos around the world last year; Geely wants to sell 2.5 times that amount within five years. How so? By injecting "two or three ...

REPORT: Chinese automaker SAIC accused of hybrid tech theft by SsangYong 24 days ago on Autoblog

In the beginning of the decade, before SsangYong got into really deep doo-doo, the Korean automaker began work on a hybrid control unit (HCU) with German engineering firm FEV. From 2004 to 2008, as the research continued, the South Korean government provided nearly half of the financial ...

Brilliance importer for Europe goes belly up 25 days ago on Autoblog

When Chinese automaker Brilliance wanted to invade The Continent, it chose Germany-based importer HSO Motors to introduce models like its BS4. Brilliance kept up its end of the agreement, shipping cars to HSO; HSO, however, couldn't get the cars sold, and a little more than a year into the ...

REPORT: BAIC/Koenigsegg may produce Saab 9-5 in China 29 days ago on Autoblog

Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC), announced as a minority partner in Koenigsegg's deal to purchase Saab from General Motors two months ago, plans to produce the Saab 9-5 on Chinese soil next year. The involvement of BAIC in the Saab transaction helps Koenigsegg close the deal and ...

Unique porcelain-finish Ferrari 599 China raises $1.77M at auction 1 month ago on Autoblog

A Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is an exceptional piece of automotive art. Even more exceptional is the latest model equipped with the Handling GT Evoluzione package. More exceptional still is the limited-edition 599 HGTE made exclusively for the Chinese market. But even in this rarified territory, ...

SPOILER ALERT: Champion's Champions Crowned at 2009 Race of Champions 1 month ago on Autoblog

Every year, around the world, drivers compete wheel to wheel in all manner of racing series, from rally to F1, touring cars to Le Mans and everything in between. It gives racing fans plenty of varied action to follow, but it leaves one question ultimately unanswered: who is the world's best ...

REPORT: Nissan working on Tata Nano-like cheap car strategy 1 month ago on Autoblog

India's Tata Nano has seemingly shown the world's remaining automakers that it's possible to build a small, inexpensive car for emerging markets that's still profitable. You can reportedly count Nissan among the companies paying close attention and the Japanese automaker reportedly has plans to ...

2009 Race of Champions heads to Beijing 1 month ago on Autoblog

Most of this year's major motorsport series are winding to a close. Champions are being crowned. Teams are preparing for next year. You know what that means: it's time for the Race of Champions. The international event has been held for the past twenty years, and it always offers a real ...

Ford officially confirms China's Geely as preferred bidder for Volvo 1 month ago on Autoblog

It's been rumored for months Chinese automaker Geely had the best shot at picking up the Volvo brand from Ford, and today, Dearborn has finally confirmed it. Geely was named as the preferred bidder this morning and the Blue Oval is proceeding with negotiations. However, this is not going to be an ...

Shreveport, LA mayor lobbies D.C. to close the HUMMER deal, already 1 month ago on Autoblog

Cedric Glover, the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, went to Washington, D.C. to plead his case for the sale of Hummer to Tengzhong. The only thing is, we're not sure why he went. To be more precise, we do know that he wants to protect jobs at GM's Shreveport plant that builds Hummers. The plant ...

Jianghuai flagship sedan looks like an Infiniti G35 with elephantitis of the grill 1 month ago on Autoblog

Who says Twitter is good for nothing? Making fun of derivative Chinese car designs (cough Geely cough) is like shooting fish in a barrel. Only the barrel has no water in it, is only six-inches deep and you're using a shotgun. Still, we're thinking this Jianghuai sedan might be taking a cake or ...

China building drive-in car museum? 1 month ago on Autoblog

As much as we like our drive-in movies and drive-through restaurants, could there be anything more appropriate than a drive-in car museum? We think not. Unfortunately, such an obvious and awesome thing isn't on its way to America. Instead, China, a relatively new player on the world ...

REPORT: Former Ford employee arrested for stealing trade secrets 1 month ago on Autoblog

Former Ford engineer Xiang Dong Yu, also known as Mike Yu, was arrested Wednesday at the Chicago O'Hare airport and indicted on suspicion of stealing trade secrets from his former employer. Yu, who worked at Ford Motor Company from 1997 to 2007, is being charged with downloading over 4,000 sensitive ...

Officially Official: Regal named next mid-size sedan for Buick 1 month ago on Autoblog

Drum-roll please. After making a point of pausing to listen to its dealers for input and suggestions, Buick has just announced the name of its next mid-size sedan. Plucking a nameplate from its not-too-distant past, the brand has introduced its newest model for America, the 2010 Buick Regal. ...

Recork the Champagne? China says Hummer paperwork not submitted yet 1 month ago on Autoblog

Last week, it was reported that General Motors had signed a definitive agreement to sell Hummer to Chinese machinery manufacturer Tengzhong. The Chinese company and its partner in the deal, Lumena Resources Corp., would pay $150 million and receive Hummer and its intellectual property, ownership ...

Fine China: One-off porcelain-finish Ferrari 599 special to be auctioned for charity [w/VIDEO] 2 months ago on Autoblog

In a communist country, all Ferraris are equal, but some are more equal than others. Take the special-edition 599 that the Italian automaker debuted exclusively for the Chinese market. Only twelve of them will be made. And now, an even more exclusive version – as exclusive as they get, ...

Red Flag: Ferrari crafts a dozen 599 HGTE specials for China 2 months ago on Autoblog

It wasn't so long ago that the idea of seeing an exotic Italian sportscar in mainland China was as much an anathema as a Chinese car in America. But the times, as one Mr. Dylan sang, they are a-changin.' Today, China is one of Ferrari's most important markets, where the red Prancing Horse shares ...

To Chuanfu! Thanks for Everything, Warren Buffett 2 months ago on Autoblog

Wang Chuanfu (above), the founder of Chinese battery manufacturer and automaker BYD is reportedly the richest man in all of China. Already a wealthy man, Bloomberg reports that Chuanfu has jumped a startling 102 places to land himself atop Hurun Rich List, an annual wealth index chronicling the ...

REPORT: Outgoing Saab 9-5 to live on... as Chinese BAIC 2 months ago on Autoblog

If Billy Joel is right that only the good die young, the outgoing Saab 9-5 has been very, very bad. In automotive terms, the 9-5 is positively ancient, having first seen the light of day in 1997 and getting very little in the way of meaningful changes since that time. If, though, you happen ...

REPORT: Mitsuoka to offer unique rental cars in Japan, also plans to sell in China 2 months ago on Autoblog

Mitsuoka, the Japanese car company whose mission seems to be hoarding all the ugly in the entire world and using it to design automobiles, will expand into Japan's rental car market and offer its luxury range in China. Japanese drivers will be able to rent the Orochi for ¥25,000 ($279 US) ...

Obama administration slaps hefty import tariffs on Chinese-made tires 2 months ago on Autoblog

The aggrieved parties are: the United Steelworkers and the U.S. government on one side, Chinese tire companies and the Chinese government on the other. The issues are, as always, jobs and money. The Steelworkers brought a case against Chinese tire companies for dumping tires on the U.S. market ...

OnStar not for sale, expanding into China 2 months ago on Autoblog

Profitable, and with 5.5 million subscribers under its belt, GM's OnStar vehicle telematics system is not for sale, according to a top General Motors executive. "At this point, OnStar is firmly a part of the new GM and is an integral part of GM's future strategy," reports Chet Huber, the outgoing ...

REPORT: China's Beijing Automotive takes minority stake in Saab 2 months ago on Autoblog

It had been reported that SAIC had quietly taken a stake in Saab in conjunction with the Koenigsegg Group. However, it's been confirmed that Beijing Automotive -- which also recently made a play for Opel -- has grabbed a share of the Trollhätten pie. BAIC provided the $400 million ...

REPORT: Private Chinese investors sought to fund $6 billion auto plant in Mississippi 3 months ago on Autoblog

The headline is attention-grabbing. A former Chinese auto executive is proposing a $6 billion plant in economically-distressed north Mississippi that will employ 25,000 people and produce one million cars a year. Automotive News' story is both intriguing and complicated – and not just ...

REPORT: U.S. psyched as China decides to cut auto part tariffs 3 months ago on Autoblog

China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, at which point it was given five years to adjust to the rules of open trade before any complaints were lodged against it. On schedule, in 2006, the complaints began, lodged by the U.S., Europe, and Canada. In one example of open trade ...

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Autoblog Podcast #155: 'Twas the night before LA...

Chris, Dan, and Editor Paukert go over some LA Preview action and quietly whoop it up on the podcast.

 
 

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