It’s a strange dilemma China has on its hands.  And most Chinese will probably never even see this blog due to the massive censorship on its hands.

We all know that China’s so polluted that their air makes Los Angeles smog taste like a crisp mountain stream.  So naturally, they’re really putting the push on to go green and get some more electric cars on the market.

Well, they’re not the only ones there, but China’s got a SERIOUS problem.  Where most of us have been driving cars for a long time, and are starting to seriously think about going green just by ourselves, the Chinese have not had cars all that long.  Well, not INDIVIDUAL Chinese, anyway.  Individual Chinese haven’t had cars all that long and now that they’ve got them, they mean to keep them.

Now along comes the government telling them, oh, yeah, I know you’ve had this car like all of six weeks but we need you to give it back to the state.  Oh, don’t worry–we have electric cars coming out.  When?  Um…soon.  And they’ll only cost as much as what you paid for the last car!  Subsidies?  Um…look…just get back to work, okay?  Or we’ll kill your children.  You know how this works by now.

It’s a tough road China’s got to drive to get its citizens to go green, and there are plenty of ruts and bumps in it.

Tags: china, Chinese, electric cars, Gas, gas cars, going green, green cars

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Despite the fact that Ford is still the last of the big three automakers to not have accepted any government bailout money, they’re still operating in a tough environment.  Let’s face it–everybody’s been operating in a tough environment ever since about 2007.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone to hear this:

“We plan to sell,” Booth said. “It’s not about Volvo, but because we want to focus on Ford. The situation for Ford around the world is still tough. Ford is still losing money.”

Ford is still losing money and they want to focus on Ford.  Well, frankly, you can hardly fault them for planning to deal with their own problems and, meanwhile, spin off some divisions.  Especially given that Volvo is a loss-maker for Ford.

Who’s going to buy?  Well, some have said that the Chinese are interested.  But some Chinese firms have said that they never actually made an offer.  If something doesn’t happen soon, Volvo will be Ford’s albatross.

Tags: china, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Sweden, Volvo

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The Jaguar Land Rover Auto Trade Company Ltd. in China has recalled over 214 Discovery 3 cars due to defective brakes and engines. About 1,069 Discovery 3 cars have been reportedly sold in the mainland between June 2007 and May 2008 where the issue was traced to a problem in the diesel engine that may catch fire at the worst possible scenario.

For their part, Jaguar Land Rover has announced that they will be replacing the defective parts of all issued models free of charge. Car owners who have purchased this model should immediately bring their car to the nearest maintenance center for check-up and possible replacement if necessary.

(Source) China CSR

Tags: auto trade, car owners, Cars, charge car, china, company ltd, csr, defective brakes, diesel engine, discovery 3, jaguar, Land Rover, mainland, maintenance center, models, necessary source, rover auto

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If your daily driver is a Toyota Camry, Corolla, Vios or Yaris and you are situated in China, definitely read on — Toyota has recently announced that they are recalling 688,314 sedans manufactured in China. Apparently, the vehicles in question shipped with a defective electronic window control system caused by excessive lubricant.

Reports suggest that this problem could potentially escalate and result in overheating of the door panel and in extreme cases, melting. You wouldn’t want that now would you?

Read (Gasgoo)

Tags: Camry, china, corolla, electronic window control, lubricant, safety hazard, vios, Yaris

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Audi has today announced the impending availability of the A6L TDI. This vehicle is a diesel burning alternative to the already popular Audi A6L which reportedly managed to move 8,440 vehicles in July alone.

This vehicle features a 2.7-liter engine with 189HP and 258 pound-feet of torque along with a 34.6mpg fuel efficiency rating. While you won’t be able to pick this up anywhere outside of China, Chinese consumers can expect to pay around 488,800 yuan or about $71,500 USD for Audi’s brand new A6L TDI.

via autobloggreen

Tags: a6l, china, Chinese, diesel, TDI

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If you weren’t aware, the US isn’t the only one moving towards a greener future in terms of automobiles. China, especially, with their extremely large population and extremely high pollution level needs to get their move on and introduce some fuel efficient cars.

The country may be doing just that as BYD has recently stricken a deal with a major Chinese automaker to supply them with automobile batteries. Autoblog reports that these batteries will be good for up to 2,000 charges meaning they could theoretically power a car 375,000 miles throughout their lifetime.

We’ll keep you posted as more news on these batteries, and the cars they will be used in, is made known.

Tags: automobiles, byd, china

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A new study shines new light on potential Indian and Chinese car manufacturers. Conducted by AutoPacific, 15% of 30,000 new car and truck buyers said that they would purchase a car from a brand they never heard of.

“Not only are a significant number of people willing to consider Chinese and Indian brands, this group consists of highly desirable buyers who would be coveted by any manufacturer.” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “They tend to be young, well-educated, and affluent for their age and have good jobs in administrative, healthcare and middle management positions,”

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors, both South Korean companies, have been out in the American scene for a while now, so who knows when India and China will be stepping into the mix? A cheaper alternative to the heavily Japanese and American company saturated markets would be breath of fresh air in this economy.

via AutoRemarketing

Tags: autopacific, china, India, study

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If all goes well for NIssan, they are hoping to bring their all-electric vehicles to the Chinese market by 2011. This will be their EVs debut as Yasuaki Hashimoto, Nissan exec, has said that Wuhan, China will be a good market for the battery powered vehicles.

This still isn’t set in stone as things are likely to change but here’s to hoping that Nissan will be able to bring their publicly available EVs to the entire world within the next couple of years.

Just a side note, how come some automakers can’t seem to make a nice looking vehicle? No disrespect to those who like the design but I’ve never been big on the whole cube-shape thing. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait until they showcase a production model before I pass judgement.

Read (AutoBlogGreen)

Tags: all electric, china, ev, wuhan, yasuaki hashimoto

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The facts are shaky but the trend is obvious. We are in the age where electric vehicles will soon be the craze of the world and to identify the trends and factors leading up to it, Frost & Sullivan will host a live briefing to depict emerging trends and projections for the said vehicles.

If there is anyone who would benefit from this meet, it would be the car manufacturers. Most of these groups are engage in doing their separate analysis and independent research and perhaps this is the best time to check the consistency of facts that they have gathered, comparing their figures and notes to see the viability of the emerging electric vehicle market trend.

“Electric Vehicles are seen as an emerging trend in the APAC region especially in growing markets such as China. Key challenges for the implementation of electric vehicles are being addressed and electric vehicles are likely to emerge as a savior in the automotive industry in terms of dependence of oil and emission reduction.”

(Source) Press

Tags: automotive industry, best time, china, consistency, dependence, electric vehicle market, electric vehicles, emission reduction, frost sullivan, independent research, key challenges

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Everyone knows what a Hummer brings but as far as China is concerned, it is not green (eco-friendly) enough to meet the standard of the country. Apparently the issue here is fuel consumption to which everyone knows that this GM vehicle consumes a lot. To think of it, China may not be the only country who may oppose the entry of the hummer because of this.

Prior to these issue surrounding the fuel prices and eco-friendly problems plaguing the world, the Hummer was a class act vehicle to have. In fact, being seen riding or driving one already places you in the circle of the elite who could afford to get one. But that was yesterday. Today, the theme is “Green” and the Hummer seems to be nowhere near that.

The country’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is also concerned that Tengzhong lacks expertise in car production, the report said, but the company dismissed the story as speculative. Insiders at the company believe that negotiations with regulators are progressing well, that the Chinese government has not taken a view, and that it will assuage any environmental concerns by promising that future generations of Hummers will be significantly greener.

(Source) NZ Herald

Tags: china, chinese government, fuel consumption, fuel prices, future generations, GM, gm vehicle, HUMMER, regulators

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General Motors has sold two million Buicks in China and its quite a performance considering it took about eleven years to complete. The first million was sold in about eight years while the second million Buicks was sold in about three years. While the Buick isn’t selling as good in the USA it looks like Chinese customers really enjoy it. GM is currently selling various models, the Regal, LaCrosse and Park Avenue and it might just be on its way to three million. When’s the last time you drove a Buick?

via autoblog

Tags: Buick, china, General Motors, GM

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Porsche said China may pass Germany as its second-biggest market within the next three years based on rising demand for new Panamera sports sedan. Porsche revealed the car at the Shanghai auto show in April. “All premier manufacturers are showing good results” in China, Helmut Broeker, Porsche’s China head, said in a recent interview in Shanghai. The country was Porsche’s third-biggest market last year, up from 15th in 2006.

Porsche is planning to add more dealers in China and transfer its local office to Shanghai, the country’s financial capital, to help promote sales. Porsche anticipates about a third of its predicted 20,000 Panamera sales a year to come from China and the remainder of Asia. The Panamera is expected to start at more than $270,000 in China when it goes on sale in late 2009.

Tags: china, market, panamera, Porsche

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China has announced it is blocking the import of four Renault models siting ’serious safety risks’ and non-compliance with regulations. The models involved include the Laguna, Scenic, Megane and Megane Coupe-Cabriolet.These are some of Renault’s most successful models.

The decision was made by the General Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). “[W]e have repeatedly found batches of passenger vehicles made by the French Renault … do not conform with our country’s mandatory standards and relevant technical regulations, and there are serious safety risks,” AQSIQ said in a statement. Renault has not issued a full response, however a spokesman said only that the company was ’surprised’ by the decision.

Tags: china, Laguna, Megane, Megane Coupe-Cabriolet, Renault, safety risk, Scénic, standards

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Kumho Tires has officially opened its first outlet in North America, Tires 4U. With this development, local motorists can look forward to additional retailers. Tires 4U is dedicated to the Kumho Tire global retail format, serving a new market situated in Buena Park, Calif. The Buena Park location marks the first Tires 4U in North America. The Kumho global retail format is currently in stores in operation in Korea, China and Vietnam.

“This first retail center offers the best service that consumers can expect in a tire retail center,” said Benjamin Lee, owner of Tires 4U. “I am satisfied with Kumho Tires and have confidence in the success of our retail center and we look forward to expanding beyond our single location.”

The first retail center selling only Kumho tire products will allow Kumho Tires to increase brand awareness and promote premium tire sales. The Tires 4U retail center will sell the full line of Kumho passenger, competition, light truck and SUV tires and include state of the art mounting, balancing and alignment services.

(Source) Press

Tags: alignment services, brand awareness, china, Korea, kumho tire, kumho tires, motorists, retail center, suv tires, tire products, tire sales

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Considering Beijing has a population of around 14.93 million, its no wonder that it isn’t the cleanest of cities pollution wise. Well, in a push towards a greener city, legislation has been passed that will place cars into one of two categoreys; green and yelllow.

Green cars, as you could have guessed, are cars that meet the requirements for what the Chinese government deems environmentally friendly, yellow on the other hand, are ones who fall short of those requirements. Now, only the green catagorized cars will be allowed to drive through the Beijing’s city center.

This is in addition to the post-Olympic restrictions that the Chinese government extended to reduce pollution in one of their busiest cities. But China, if you’re making the yellow cars drive around the city center doesn’t that mean more driving thus resulting in more pollution?

Read (Gasgoo)

Image via osmoothie

Tags: beijing, china, chinese government, city center, Green, restrictions, yellow

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