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Filed under: China , Cadillac , Chevrolet , Ford , GM , Earnings/Financials , By the Numbers While domestic sales continue to slide, the auto market in China is thriving. Both General Motors and Ford have reported double-digit sales growth for the first-half of 2008 in the world's most populace country, with GM moving 590,126 Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillac vehicles for a total sales increase of 12.7 percent, while Ford sold 172,411 units for 21 percent jump in growth. With China recognized as the second-largest vehicle market outside the United States, and with their economy forecasted to grow by at least nine percent this year, automakers in Europe, Japan, and the U.S. are investing heavily to expand sales and production in the Chinese market. It is worth noting that vehicle sales in China have been nearly immune to the increase in global oil prices as governmental controls keep diesel and gasoline prices among the world's lowest. [Source: Detroit News ] Permalink | Email this...
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Filed under: China , Government/Legal , Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Earnings/Financials American automotive companies have been doing rather well for themselves these last few years in China. Still, the majority of manufacturing those vehicles is done in China using locally sourced parts. For this reason, the Chinese government has been facing pressure to ink more deals with American companies for the export of goods there, which is apparently now beginning to take place. Ford, for instance, has announced that it will be sending 30,000 complete vehicles (no word on which ones) to China along with other various auto parts. General Motors has also signed on with about $1 billion in vehicles and parts for export to China. Chrysler too will get in on the trading, though its deals will likely be smaller than either Ford's or General Motors'. All in all, the automotive sector will make up about $2 billion of the recently announced deals, which total more than $8.3 billion...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Spy Photos , China , Chevrolet , GM We saw the Chevy Beat concept unveiled a year ago, and now a camouflaged mule has been caught testing in China, fueling speculation that the Beat will succeed the Spark in that market. The Beat is certainly far less dowdy than the Spark, which is also sold, sometimes gratuitously , as the Matiz in other markets. When the Beat debuted as one in a trio of concepts , it was the sportiest of the three and described as a "tuner car" offering substantial levels of customization at the retail level, much like a Scion. That rhetoric may not be for world-wide consumption, however, and the Beat could wind up looking sharp on the outside and offering you roll-your-own windows and milk jug-quality plastics in the cabin. Of course, GM could pull a Ford and deliver a deliciously stylish small car everywhere but the United States, just as our fuel costs skyrocket ever further. Thanks for the tip, Kevin! [Source: China Car Times...
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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons , China , Buick , GM A new, small sub-Lacrosse Buick luxury sedan could fit the bill to meet future federal regulations requiring an average fuel economy of 35 mpg by 2020. If given the go-ahead, General Motors would build the new car based on the upcoming Buick Excelle, itself set to debut in China by early 2009 and thought to look like the car you see above. The Excelle is a small, Toyota Corolla-sized sedan that will be manufactured on GM's new global rear-wheel drive Alpha architecture developed out of Germany. If General Motors decides to proceed with the plan, executives will have to determine what North American plant gets to build it, but its proclivity to be driven by its rear wheels should set the small car apart in a sea of FWD compact sedans. [Source: AutoWeek , Photo courtesy of Sina.autonet.com ] Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Economy , China , GM Click image for a gallery of the GM China Chevrolet Spark If everyone else is going to build cars like Tata's headline-grabbing Nano, GM's going to pile on, too. The Lutz cites GM's part-ownership stake in Wuling Motors, a Chinese manufacturer of sub-$3,000 utility vehicles as a possible source of a GM Nano competitor. Lutz went on to say that one way to make an inexpensive car for the developing world is to repurpose a legacy platform that has become obsolete. The tooling and design will have long been paid off, and there'll be plenty of experience from the manufacturing side, too. This is essentially what GM China is already doing with the Daewoo Matiz/Chevrolet Spark. It might smack of dumping an old product that isn't safe or clean enough for mature markets, but is "good enough" in other parts of the world. That said, it could also be a way to maximize the life of an investment while also providing developing markets with...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Sedans/Saloons , China , Green , Buick , GM Shanghai GM today introduced the first mainstream hybrid in China's upper-medium vehicle segment: the Buick LaCrosse Eco-Hybrid. The car is part of Shanghai GM's push to earn truly worthy green credentials -- the kind that surpass Chinese requirements and meet European standards. The LaCrosse is the first car to get the two-mode hybrid system for the Chinese market. With it the, the new car gets 28 mpg as opposed to the non-hybrid's 24. From next year until 2012, GM will offer 11 more increasingly fuel-efficient engines, including the E-Flex drive and the Fuel Cell E-Flex. For this year, Chinese customers will get new powerplants in the form of the 1.2-liter S-TEC, an HFV6 3.6-liter dual mode DI V6, and a mystery two-mode hybrid that will better its gas-powered cousin by 50-percent in fuel economy with no drop in performance. The LaCrosse Eco-Hybrid is the first hybrid in Buick's lineup, and will...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Detroit Auto Show , Spy Photos , Coupes , Sedans/Saloons , Buick , GM click above for more live shots of the Riviera Concept from Detroit When the Buick Riviera concept debuted at the Shanghai Motor Show last summer, many didn't give the car a second glance because, while imminently snazzy, no one though it would have much impact on the U.S. market. We all may have been wrong, according to TheCarConnection, which is reporting that the Riviera Concept offers a sneak peek at what the next-gen Buick LaCrosse will look like. We've seen the next LaCrosse in spy shots and can maybe find a few similarities between the two, but otherwise we don't really see the resemblance. Aside from the obvious discrepancy in door count, you can see the grilles are markedly different, with the Riviera's upturned into a smile and the LaCrosse prototype's turned down in a frown. The Riviera also has three air intakes below the front bumper, while the spy shot shows...
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Filed under: Car Buying , China , Buick , GM GM is in a market share dogfight here in the States, but in emerging markets like China, the General is quickly gaining a strong foothold. Rick Wagoner and company are progressing so splendidly in the world's fastest-growing market that the automaker became the first manufacturer to sell one million units within a calender year. That millionth vehicle was a Buick Park Avenue , which is fitting since Buick is hugely popular in the land of the Great Wall. The speed with which the General attained this level of success is impressive as well, as GM sold 100,000 units five years earlier. With a population of 1.6 billion and an insatiable appetite for automobiles, China seems like as good a place as any for GM to increase its global automotive presence. With more and more automakers turning their attention (and funding) to China, however, GM's exponential growth since 2002 will likely begin to stabilize. For now, however, China is to GM what...
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Filed under: China , Buick , Cadillac , GM As if offering Buicks that people would actually buy isn't enough, the General is upping the ante in the ultra-competitive Chinese market by announcing that Chinese customers will be able to subscribe to its OnStar service beginning in 2009. The safety and telecommunications service will be jointly provided by GM and its Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), each of which will own 40% of a new joint-venture called Shanghai OnStar Telematics Company Limited. The remaining 20% of the new company will be owned by GM and SAIC's other joint-venture company, Shanghai GM. We now sit back and await the day that someone driving an Envoy in Tennessee hits the little blue button on his rearview mirror and is greeted in Mandarin. [Source: General Motors] Continue reading OnStar all grown up, leaves home for China Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: China , Crossovers/CUVs , Buick , GM , UAW/Unions click above image to view high-res gallery of the Buick Enclave Amidst all the fury surrounding the UAW strike today, General Motors released a statement announcing an $800 million deal with...
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Filed under: China , Hirings/Firings , Chrysler , GM Chrysler proved once again that it will spare no expense to draw leading figures in the industry to man the helm of the it's turnaround. Today, Chrysler LLC announced that it's hired a 32-year veteran...
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