–by Yang Zaishun The U.S. and Canada mainly use long-nose trucks to transport cargo whereas Europe and China mainly use cab-over trucks.

CHENGDU, Sichuan – FAW-Volkswagen’s third plant was put into operation here in Chengdu on October 13, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

After gushing growths over 2009 and 2010, China’s heavy-duty truck market fell about 10 percent year-on-year to just over 710,000 units in the first three quarters of 2011.

The “Gang of Four” left Beijing on September 25 for a 45-day driving expedition after a brief ceremony at the China Ethnic Park in the western part of the city.

A recent survey by Accenture on plug-in and pure EVs has revealed some interesting results which may shed some light on more creative and effective approaches to popularize vehicle electrification.

– by Wu Qiong There seems to be a change of wind regarding the present situation: the much hyped electric vehicles come out so few, whilst many carmakers have launched several hybrids.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) held a hearing on October 26 about the China auto warranty regulations.

China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) secretary-general Rao Da said recently at a forum that promoting joint venture independent brands is a none official government policy which is “

– by Chen Guangzu Chen Guangzu is a member of the China Automotive Industry Consultative Committee, an organization of retired automotive executives.

A recent survey by Accenture on plug-in and pure EVs has revealed some interesting results which may shed some light on more creative and effective approaches to popularize vehicle electrification.

China’s largest joint venture manufacturer, Dongfeng-Nissan or formally Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd.

As the central government tightens credit and cools down new investments and infrastructure building in 2011, small and medium companies, especially privately-owned, are experiencing a credit crisis.

“Range anxiety” is constantly brought up like a curse haunting the potential EV customers.

- 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

The “Gang of Four” left Beijing on September 25 for a 45-day driving expedition after a brief ceremony at the China Ethnic Park in the western part of the city.

– By Zhao Yun Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, finally decided to call an end to the storm of  negative news about BYD such as “

SHANGHAI – China needs to develop a social policy for automobiles, said Chen Qingtai, noted economist and former director of the State Council’

– by Zheng Jingxin The incident of lead-acid battery pollution in Shanghai in September caused a big blow to not a factory but the whole industry.

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.

–by Yang Zaishun The U.S. and Canada mainly use long-nose trucks to transport cargo whereas Europe and China mainly use cab-over trucks.

China sold 1,038,866 heavy-duty vehicles (heavy-duty and medium trucks, large and medium buses, including chassis and semi-tractor trailers) in the first three quarters of 2011, down 6.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden – At the world final of the Volvo Trucks Drivers’ Fuel Challenge held at the Volvo Demo Center in Gothenburg, Sweden on October 22, a Chinese contestant was able to grab the Asia runner up, losing to the eventual Asia winner and world champion from South Korea.

SHIFANG, Sichuan – Sichuan Tengzhong Foton Special-Purpose Vehicle Co., Ltd. (Tengzhong Foton) produced its first special-purpose vehicle (SPV), a dump truck, at its production facility here on December 9.

SHENZHEN – Chang’an-PSA Automobiles Co., Ltd.(CAPSA) was officially set up here on November 20.

The Fiat-Chrysler group is in intense negotiations with the Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) on a possible joint venture to produce Jeeps in China, for the Chinese market, reported the The Detroit News on January 26.

NANNING, Guangxi – China’s private automaker Hawtai Motor signed an agreement with Malaysian automaker Proton Group to jointly establish an auto technology industrial park in Erdos, Inner Mongolia on October 21, said a company press release.

STUTTGART – Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd. (BAIC) and its German partner Daimler AG signed a Letter of Intent in Stuttgart, Germany on November 2, which will further deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between these two companies, according to a BAIC press release.

Chery Jin Yibo: from quantity and scale to quality and efficiency By Ace Xin and Wayne Xing In just eight years, annual sales of Chery Automobile has gone from 80,000 to a target of 800,000 units.

Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD Co., Ltd., met with a group of media representatives in Shenzhen on November 9, 2011 to discuss company mistakes made over the past two years as well as its plans for the future.

Ford Motor Co. is ready to rev up its operations in China. The next few years leading up to 2015 will be critical for Ford in China as the company shifts into high gear in trying to catch up with market leaders like GM and Volkswagen.

PACCAR is actively exploring different ways to grow its business in China, including establishing a joint venture with a local Chinese partner to produce heavy-duty trucks, according to Bill Kozek, vice president of the maker of light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, DAF and Peterbilt nameplates.

BEJING – China’s total new automobile sales to end-users in 2011 were down 7 percent compared to those in 2010, according to Rao Da, secretary-general of China Passenger Vehicle Association (CPVA).

BEIJING — China's motor vehicle parc reached 225 million units by the end of 2011, including 106 million automobiles, according to the latest data released by the Traffic Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.

BEIJING – China will begin enforcing State IV emissions standards on all diesel vehicles produced, sold, imported and registered in China as of July 1, 2013, according to a notice published on the website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

HANGZHOU, Zhejiang – Volvo Trucks’ proposed truck joint venture with Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Co. (DFCV) will be based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, according to a report on auto.

BEIJING – The School Bus Safety Rules (draft for solicitation) was released by the Legislation Office of the State Council on December 11, in response to recent accidents involving improper use of school buses.

BEIJING – Four compulsory national standards on school bus safety were released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on December 27 to seek public comments.

BEIJING – China’s Ministry of Commerce on December 27 released the Guidelines to Promote Development of Auto Distribution in the 12th Five-Year Plan Period (Guidelines).

BEIJING – The Fuel Consumption Limits for Heavy-Duty Commercial Vehicles (First Phase) will go into effect on July 1, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on December 31, 2011.

Struggling since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, some famed Italian motorcycle makers are now courting Chinese buyers, an Italian trade official said.

China’s motorcycle industry produced and sold 26.69 and 26.59 million motorcycles in 2010, up 4.

- 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."

DETROIT − U.S. automakers stepped up their internal investigations of fire risks in electric vehicles after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started delving into the problem.

Washington – Ford Motor Co. plans to boost its exports of new vehicles to South Korea by 50 percent in 2012 in the wake of a free trade deal.

SAO PAULO – Iochpe-Maxion S.A. (Iochpe-Maxion) announced on February 2 that its subsidiary, Iochpe Holdings, LLC, has finalized its transaction to acquire Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc.

WASHINGTON – Midwestern lawmakers and groups from the U.S. auto parts sector plan on January 31 to urge President Barack Obama to take action to restrict imports of auto parts from China, a U.S. industry official said.

After gushing growths over 2009 and 2010, China’s heavy-duty truck market fell about 10 percent year-on-year to just over 710,000 units in the first three quarters of 2011.

ORDOS, Inner Mongolia − Kangbashi was described in a New York Times article in October 2010 as a “

The World Bank in June 2010 organized a team of international experts in urban transport, electric vehicle technologies, and policy and environment to carry out a survey study of China’

HANGHAI – Zotye Holding Group in Hangzhou, about 200 km southwest of Shanghai, began R&D on electric vehicles in 2005, said Chairman Wu Jianzhong, and the young company hopes to use its technology to reach international markets.

According to statistics and analysis of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China automobile sales and production have both exceeded 15 million units accumulatively as of October.

BEIJING – China’s heavy-duty truck (including chassis and semi-tractor trailer) sales in November tumbled 30.

Despite the rising customer satisfaction index, the complain rate has raised two years in a row, according to a report in National Business Daily, citing Fan Tianshun, assistant secretary-general of China Association for Quality (CAQ).

BEIJING - The number of automobiles in China has surged to 100 million due to a rapid increase in private car ownership, according to a statement released Friday by the Ministry of Public Security.

— by Sarah Turner SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Chinese auto makers are expected to report strong earnings in 2010, but while analysts are expecting some deceleration in 2011, they are divided on the extent of the anticipated slowdown.