BEIJING - Beijing Automotive Industry (Holding) Corp. (BAIC), Power Diversity Automobile Trade Group Co., Ltd.

LIUZHOU, Guangxi - Liuzhou Wuling Automobile Corp. said on July 27 that the Wuling Group had never talked with other shareholders on stake transfer of SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) or selling the Wuling brand, and had not received any decisions from any government authorities on the two issues.

SHANGHAI - SAIC Motor, Volkswagen AG and Suzuki Motor are reported in talks to set up a three-way joint venture based on the existing Shanghai-Volkswagen, Beijing Times reported on July 25.

GUANGZHOU - GAC-Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

- by Pei Dajun In a marriage of convenience, partners can hardly achieve synergy if they do not work for a common goal.

- by Wang Jitao In the Chinese auto industry's short history, overcapacity has been attacked as a problem perhaps more than any other issue. It has been routine for the auto community to join masses of commentators criticizing overcapacity. Suffice it to say, I was no exception, and I have always concluded my remarks with the same sentence: Let's wait and see; things will progress as I predicted.

- by Wang Qiufeng  On May 4, PSA signed a 50:50 JV agreement with Chang'an Automobile (Group) Corp. to produce light commercial vehicles and passenger cars.

- by Li Miao   As domestic media is speculating about when the government would announce the specific subsidies for new energy vehicles, four EV State standards were announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on its website on April 30, which will have a decisive impact on the fate of electric vehicles in China.

China's new energy vehicle industry has an unprecedented development opportunity in 2010, that in turn also brings business potentials for parts suppliers. However, high production costs, lack of charging stations, and key parts and technologies that are still not up to par still bottleneck the industry development. High investment with little breakthrough has tamed the green vehicle excitement of parts and components makers.

PSA Peugeot Citroën (PSA) seems to be well aware of the changing conditions of China's cutthroat automobile market to act quickly and decisively in China.

As the weather gets hotter in China, the automobile market seems to be going in the opposite direction.

The Chinese government is likely to give green light to low-speed electric vehicles, according to people familiar with the draft of a 12th Five-Year Plan on Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development (the Plan).

The monthly growth rate of China's automobile market in the first five months has continued to decline, especially that of passenger vehicles.

- by Feng Jugao

Rough and bumpy road for low-speed vehicles

The low-speed vehicle (LSV) used to be called the farm vehicle.

BEIJING ¨C China?ˉs farm vehicle market continued its stable growth in the first half of this year. Production and sales reached 1,088,992 and 1,086,247 units respectively, an average of 8.1 percent increase compared to last year, according to the latest statistics from the Farm Vehicle Sub-Association of the China Agricultural Machinery Association.

Continued decline

China’s farm vehicle sector has experienced another year of continued decline. Output and sales were 1,899,834 and 1,895,116 units, respectively, in 2005, down 9.15 and 9.25 percent compared with those of 2004, according to the latest statistics from the Farm Vehicle Association. However, this rate fell back to single digits, compared with a more than 20 percent decline in 2004.

China’s farm vehicle manufacturers are moving into light and medium truck production, according to the latest statistics published by CBU. While most medium truck manufacturers have registered a decline in output in the first nine months of last year, one manufacturer, Wangpai Automobile, registered a 77.03 percent increase year on year in their medium truck output. Wangpai is one of the country’s leading farm truck manufacturers. Another farm truck maker, Yinhe Automobile, is now the seventh largest medium truck manufacturer in

- by Pei Dajun In a marriage of convenience, partners can hardly achieve synergy if they do not work for a common goal.

PARIS - Leading suppliers of diesel technology in Europe expect Chinese demand for diesels to increase substantially during the next decade.

BEIJING - Co-hosted by the America's Center for Foreign Investment (ACFI) and Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corp. (HKMC), a media and investor briefing event was held on June 9 at the platinum 5-star Legendale Hotel in downtown Beijing.

- by Yu Linglin   Once upon a time regional auto markets were vastly uneven. As a result, joint venture carmakers sold their cars primarily on the tier-1 market whereas homegrown carmakers tended to sell more vehicles on tier-2 and tier-3 markets. This is no longer true now. Both JV and homegrown carmakers are now converging on the same markets.

According to the latest statistics from the customs, China's import of large-displacement automobiles, especially those powered by 4.0 liter and larger engines, declined dramatically in the past couple of months.

The feature story by Li Chao, noted automotive writer, is interesting reading in understanding the strategy of BYD Automobile.

When China hosted the 29th International Summer Olympics Games last month, Beijing tried its best in presenting to the world a friendly, clean, efficient and green metropolis to ensure a most successful event in the history of the Olympics.

Although total sales of automobiles in the first half of 2008 grew by 18.5 percent compared to the same period of last year, the growth rate was about 5 percentage points lower than last year.

On June 1, 2010, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published its draft of Measuring Methods for Fuel Consumption of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Commercial Vehicles (Measuring Methods). This is viewed as the first formal step toward the project's completion since its launch in May 2007. Also on June 1, MIIT began to acquire feedback and suggestions on the draft; this process will remain open until July 15, 2010.

Tractors have surpassed dumping trucks to become the most-sold type of heavy-duty trucks in the first half of 2010. According to China National Heavy-Duty Truck Group Corp. (Sinotruk), tractors accounted for 40 percent of the company's sales in Tianjin in the first six months of 2010, reflecting a nationwide phenomenon.

Heavy-duty truck dealers report that since the end of May, far fewer orders have been received than normal, especially on construction trucks and dumpers. Typically, a sales peak appears from the beginning of the year until the end of April, with a second busy season observed starting in September or October. As this year's high season lasted through the end of May, around 45 days longer than in previous years, dealers predict a more difficult off-season to come.

Confident in the advantages of alternative energy trucks, Shaanxi Heavy-Duty Automobile (Shaanxi Heavy-Duty) recently launched its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) product lines onto the domestic market, and aims to push annual sales of natural gas trucks to 50,000 within the next three years.

BEIJING - Beijing Automotive Industry (Holding) Corp. (BAIC), Power Diversity Automobile Trade Group Co., Ltd.

SHANGHAI - SAIC Motor, Volkswagen AG and Suzuki Motor are reported in talks to set up a three-way joint venture based on the existing Shanghai-Volkswagen, Beijing Times reported on July 25.

GUANGZHOU - GAC-Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

BEIJING - Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors is seeking a new JV partner in China, although it is still involved in GAC-Changfeng and Southeast Motor as a foreign investor.

- by He Lun On June 9, FAW-Volkswagen's Guangzhou plant project was signed in Foshan.

BYD's March sales reached a historic high of 68,129 units, placing it behind Shanghai-Volkswagen and Shanghai-GM as China's No. 3 carmaker, according to sales data provided by the China's National Passenger Vehicle Association. Sales of BYD's three car models, namely the F3, F0 and G3, all exceeded 10,000 units in that month.

BEIJING - Belgium's Flanders region could be a potential destination for Chinese automakers to set up their European operations as they seek to expand their footprint overseas.

- by Roland Schedel, CBU/CAR German correspondent  

DETROIT - General Motors Co. announced on February 24 that its sale of the Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd. (Tengzhong) failed as the Chinese "was unable to complete the acquisition" before the agreed deadline. As a result, GM will begin the orderly wind-down of the Hummer operations.

A top government think tank has forecasted that China's economic growth will hit at least 10 percent in 2010, after the world's major developing country has regained momentum to the fast-track growth.

BEIJING - Beiqi-Foton Automobile Co., Ltd., China's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, lately held a ground-breaking ceremony for its new multi-purpose vehicle plant in Miyun District, Beijing, according to

BEIJING - A Goldman Sachs Group-managed private equity fund is pouring about $250 million in Geely Holding Group's automobile arm, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. to support the automaker'sambitious expansions,

On May 31, the Guangdong Environmental Protection Bureau announced the implementation of State IV emission standards in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) area, beginning June 1. The implementation, effective both for passenger and commercial vehicles, requires all new vehicles sold within the region to comply with State IV emission standards (equivalent to Euro IV standards) or face ineligibility for a license plate. The implementation of the new standards will not affect existing vehicle owners; only vehicles purchased on or after June 1 are subject to the heightened standards. The Bureau is consulting with industry experts and researchers to ensure a smooth transition to the new standards.

On May 31, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and other nine central government departments jointly published the Suggestions on Promoting Development off Remanufacturing Industry (Suggestions), listing automobile components, construction machineries and machine tools as key areas in remanufacturing industry.

On May 26, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published the 2010 Investment Guidelines on Technology Innovation and Transformation in Automobile Industry (the Guidelines) to define technology innovation standards on electric vehicles and related parts, engines, transmissions, automobile electronic control systems and other key components.

BEIJING - The Chinese government announced on June 1 the launch of a pilot program in five cities to provide subsidies to buyers of battery-powered cars and plug-in hybrids, as a major effort to keep the country competitive in the global race to develop electric vehicles.

- by Zhao Yi and Zheng Shuang   Zongshen Industrial Group (Zongshen) based in Chongqing, southwest China, is one of the biggest motorcycle makers in China. Zongshen has recently partnered with PEM Power Systems Inc. of Canada and Piaggio of Italy to produce respectively pure electric motorcycles and hybrid motorcycles.

CHONGQING - China South Industry Group Corp. (CSIG) is planning to merge its three motorcycle companies, China Jialing Group (Jialing), Jianshe Motorcycle Co., Ltd. (Jianshe) and Qingqi Motorcycle Co., Ltd. (Qingqi), into a new mega motorcycle group in Chongqing, according to a recently report in 

"Two automakers, which have had different histories and traveled along different paths, have had great synergy. This is the result of a cultural union," says Kimiyasu Nakamura, president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. (DFL), on the six years of joint venturing between Nissan Motor Co. and Dongfeng Motor Corp. (Dongfeng).

- by Guo Bo

Zuo Yan'an joined the Jianghuai Automobile Works as a technician 30 years ago. It has since morphed into Jianghuai Automobile Co. or JAC, and Zuo at 60 has been company chairman for the past two decades.

- by Wen Jing

In the government's Automotive Industry Readjustment and Revitalization Plan, Chang'an Automobile Group Corp. is for the first time rated as one of the four top-tier automakers in the country. But Xu Liuping, its chairman, is sober-minded enough to say that this is "just the beginning of a new long march."

French automaker Renault, Japan's Nissan Motor and Renault Samsung Motors (RSM) plan on acquiring the ailing South Korean Ssangyong Motor, AFP reported on June 7, citing a spokeswoman for the French auto group.

MOBILE, Alabama - Hybrid Kinetic Group Ltd.

MICHIGAN, U.S. - "Technology is critical to surviving and growing in the fluid systems industry and suppliers need to have focus, insight and creativity to meet increasing customer demands," said Bill Kozyra, chairman, CEO and president of TI Automotive, at the recent ITB Automotive Fuel Systems Conference held in early March in Michigan.

DETROIT - Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne is restructuring its Fiat partner to strengthen the positions of both in the North American and China markets.

The suppliers getting most of the attention in discussions about new energy cars are those making the batteries, electric motors and control systems, but traditional suppliers are investing in research that will be necessary.

The aftermarket in China is fragmented and small, but it is growing. Delphi estimates that there are 600,000 warehouses and distributors in China, and there are hundreds of models of cars on the road.

"This is the most complex time in the history of the world automobile industry that requires more important than ever strategic analysis of market dynamics and government action." - Michael Hanley, Global Auto Industry Leader, Ernst &

China has been working toward electric vehicles officially for four five-year planning periods, and for the past year headlines have proclaimed that China may be able to leapfrog western companies in the field of EVs, plug-in hybrids and fuel cells.

BEIJING - China's auto sales to end customers in the first half of 2010 rose 30.45 percent year-on-year to 7.18 million units amid more signs of slacking demand as the industry enters the traditional weak summer months, according to the latest data released by Tianjin-based China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC).

BEIJING - China's auto sales in the first five months grew 53.25 percent to 7.6 million units but the market is clearly showing signs of slowing down, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

BEIJING - China's automobile market continued to cool-off in May, as sales to end consumers rose 29.74 percent to 1.19 million units, nearly 120,000  less than what was produced, according to the latest data released by the Tianjin-based China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC).

BEIJING - Despite the short month and the Chinese New Year holiday, China's auto sales in February, thanks in part to strong performance of independent brands and continued government incentives, still grew 46.25 percent year-on-year to more than 1.21 million units, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on March 9.