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beijing motor show
The Beijing Motor Show traditionally warrants nothing more than a collective "meh" from the mainstream automotive media, but it certainly caught our attention this year. Bigger and better than ever, automakers from China and abroad have done everything to bring attention to their cars but put a gigantic stuffed elephant in one. Oh, no, wait. They've done that, too. But why shouldn't they show off — as the Chinese market continues to mature into it's teenage years, we've watched it shed some of the awkwardness of puberty, but still manage to showcase that youthful wide-eyed optimism with some truly innovative, unique and beautiful concepts. Still, like pimples, a cracking voice and a random desire for adorning oneself with chrome bits n' pieces, this teen still shows off it's rebellious side with vehicles that are completely bizarre, ridiculous knock-offs of popular designs or in most instances, both. Follow us below the jump through as we watch the coming of age tale that is the 2008 Beijing Motor Show.
More »
10 Strangest Cars Revealed At The 2008 Beijing Motor Show
The Beijing Motor Show traditionally warrants nothing more than a collective "meh" from the mainstream automotive media, but it certainly caught our attention this year. Bigger and better than ever, automakers from China and abroad have done everything to bring attention to their cars but put a gigantic stuffed elephant in one. Oh, no, wait. They've done that, too. But why shouldn't they show off — as the Chinese market continues to mature into it's teenage years, we've watched it shed some of the awkwardness of puberty, but still manage to showcase that youthful wide-eyed optimism with some truly innovative, unique and beautiful concepts. Still, like pimples, a cracking voice and a random desire for adorning oneself with chrome bits n' pieces, this teen still shows off it's rebellious side with vehicles that are completely bizarre, ridiculous knock-offs of popular designs or in most instances, both. Follow us below the jump through as we watch the coming of age tale that is the 2008 Beijing Motor Show.
More »
12:30 PM on Mon Apr 28 2008
By Matt Hardigree
8,158 views,
43 comments
Latest by SeanKHotay: @Novaload: With booth bab...spokepeople like that, Huanghai Faster is an appropriate alpha male name... more »
beijing motor show
We have to give Nanjing Auto/Shanghai Auto/Ason Unique credit for taking care of their MG brand. MG/Rover has a long history of making awesome police cars back in Britain and the Chinese version of the company has been making vehicles for both the Chinese police and the army. And while we're not big on Chinese authorities, what with the human rights abuses, we have to admit this MG TF convertible police car is quite rad. We especially like the shark fin stalk holding up the cherry.
More »
Geely GT Steals Our Hearts, MG Police Car Arrests Them
We have to give Nanjing Auto/Shanghai Auto/Ason Unique credit for taking care of their MG brand. MG/Rover has a long history of making awesome police cars back in Britain and the Chinese version of the company has been making vehicles for both the Chinese police and the army. And while we're not big on Chinese authorities, what with the human rights abuses, we have to admit this MG TF convertible police car is quite rad. We especially like the shark fin stalk holding up the cherry.More »
question of the day
Would You Drive A Chinese Car?
Now that almost everyone would drive a Japanese and now a Korean car, it's worth asking if you all would drive a Chinese car. In fact, given all that's coming out at this year's explosive Beijing Motor Show, it is a harder question than it has been in the past. Though there are questions of quality and originality, cars like the Geely GT do capture the imagination. With the Koreans moving up-scale, it is quite possible the cheaper-than-thou market is opening up. We all like value. More »
beijing motor show
Spy Photos Of The Volkswagen Lavida, VW's First "China Only" Car
Fans of the vee-dub in China have been chomping at the bit for their very own, super special people's wagon. And while the Volkswagen Lavida may be just a longer version of the Jetta/Bora, it gets a visual treatment more in-line with Chinese tastes. These photos from AutoHome show that this A-class luxury sedan will be ready to compete at the Beijing Motor Show with new cars such as the 2009 Buick Excelle, which moved further up-market this year.More »
1:00 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By Matt Hardigree
1,409 views,
16 comments
industry news
MG's Still Being Made In Britain? Someone Call The Badge Police
If only the Brits could hold on to their car companies. The moving of their formerly great/adequate/tolerable brands around the world is continuing to create confusion. We know that Tata owns Rover and Nanjing/SAIC owns the MG Rover designs.... or at least we think we know that. We just learned a company in Britain is producing a handful of MG's every month with the MG badge. How? We explain below the jump. More »
industry news
MG Re-Revival Continues After Shanghai Auto-Nanjing Deal
Yesterday we commented on the merger between Shanghai/Nanjing Auto and what it might mean for the Chinese market. What we didn't comment on is what this means for the ongoing MG Saga. Nanjing owned the MG badge, and markets the MG7 while SAIC markets the Roewe, which is based on MG technology. More »
industry news
SAIC Motors and Nanjing Automobile Group Merge, We Look Forward to Dr. Maoyuan Commercials
Shanghai Automotive (SAIC) has devoured the smaller Nanjing Automobile to make an even larger state-owned automotive company. In the deal, SAIC gets increased capacity in order to compete with foreign car companies and Nanjing will get approximately 320 million shares of SAIC. Though we've had a bit of bad luck with mergers (Daimler-Chysler, Ford-Volvo, GM-Krispy Kreme), the market in China is still rather young and consolidations of this type can often be beneficial for everyone involved. More »
industry news
Ni Hao! OnStar Coming to China
If you thought only American celebs like Jimmy Kimmel and Tiger Woods locked themselves out of their GM products, you'd be sorely mistaken. There are all sorts of Chinese celebs that need OnStar, too! Not to mention China has approximately 1.3 billion prospective customers. GM and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation Group (SAIC) are planning to provide almost the full range of OnStar features to China, including crash notification, roadside assistance, door unlock, handsfree calling and turn-by-turn navigation. Press release below the jump.More »
long and short version
Chinese First to Open Bonnet on New MG
Automotive News reports that the sporting car revival is set to begin at Chinese MG dealers next month. The long version of the MG will pack a 2.5 liter engine and a pricetag of 39,940 bucks. Three shorter versions will feature a 1.8 liter powerplant and a sticker of 22,630 to 26,590 dollars. The MG global launch will begin in UK and Europe markets near the end of this year. Nanjing MG Automotive and rival SAIC Motor are also discussing a merger, presumably so that they can produce the Super 7 Long Life Version MG to compete directly with worldwide sporting car rivals.
skodas around the globe
Octavia Goes to China
A few of the most tedious men in the auto industry are dropping the science behind the launch of the Skoda Octavia in the world's second largest auto industry. According to the Shanghai Volkswagen heads, the Chinese Octavia is more advanced than the European model. Plus, it's apparently available with the "Turbochanger Superchanger Injection" motor. Which — as far as we can make out is a breakdancing transformable robot that leaps out of the engine bay and pulls you to safety when the going gets seemingly impassable. Skoda for life! Skoda for victory! More »
shanghai auto show
Roewe, Roewe, Roewe Your Boat, Old Chap!
If buying Rover in all but name (thanks to those crafty bastiches in M nchen-Stadt) and slapping a weird melange of 300C and Audi schnoz on the front gives one mad Brit cred, SAIC may as well change its name to Pete Townshend, Carnaby Street or the Earl of March. The Roewe booth at the Shanghai show had the models all dolled up in riding gear, standing prim, proper and vaguely Stepford-esque. To be fair, the Roewes were likely the most well-realized seeming of the Chinese automakers' non-joint-venture products, and they do look a helluva lot better than Rovers past. That said, we'll wait for the JD Power numbers on these puppies. (Insert Five Deadly Venoms fighting the ghost of Joe Lucas joke here. Thanks.) More »
commentary
Fast as a Shark: Living on Chinese Rocks
I can't in truth call my Shanghai trip a comedy of errors, although there were errors, one of which resulted in my flying home first class. And while some of the Engrish I encountered was laugh-out-loud gut-busting. I can't quite refer to it as a tragedy, either. What it was, however, was a slightly nebulous, inchoate paradigm-fucker of a time/history/distance shift. More »
3:45 PM on Wed Apr 25 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,542 views,
11 comments
shanghai auto show
Operation Phoenix: Shanghai's First Car
In September of 1958, Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation introduced the Phoenix, the first locally-built car. In 1964, its name was switched to "Shanghai Sedan." Oddly enough, in Shanghai, when a road sign features a pictogram of an automobile, it bears an uncanny resemblance to a head-on, simplified shot of a Phoenix. If only German road signs featured Porsche 550s and American signage Chrysler Conquests, just a little bit more would be right with the world. More »
news
That rumor that Chinese auto manufacturer SAIC wanted a little bit of sumthin-sumthin from the German-American hybrid? According to SAIC, that's just not the case. Automotive News this morning is reporting that Shanghai Automotive spokesperson Chen Hong stated
More Chrysler Group Sales Speculation: SAIC Doesn't Want Your Damn US Auto Manufacturer!
That rumor that Chinese auto manufacturer SAIC wanted a little bit of sumthin-sumthin from the German-American hybrid? According to SAIC, that's just not the case. Automotive News this morning is reporting that Shanghai Automotive spokesperson Chen Hong stated "We have just floated...on the A-share market through the injection, so we are focusing on improving the A-share company...we need to further improve the quality of our growth instead of further boosting the size of our assets. At the moment, all domestic automakers are working on plans to expand their production as the Chinese market is still growing steadily"So by injection, we're assuming he meant an injection of $2.4 billion worth of core assets into its newly-listed Shanghai unit rather than... More »
news
Roewe, Roewe, Roewe, Your Rover in China
Having lost the rights to use the Rover name via some deft trademark swappery between BMW and Land Rover, Shanghai Auto is changing its brand strategy. The new owners of rights to build the erstwhile Rover 25 and 75 in China will do so under a new name and logo:
news
MG-Over Rover: Ex-British Marques to Face off in China?
Former British rivals MG and Rover are facing new competition from China: each other. China's Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), having lost the bidding war for many of MG Rover's assets — including the MG name — to Nanjing last year, reportedly spent $21 million to buy the rights to the Rover name from BMW. The deal could still be derailed by Ford, which according to the UK's Guardian, holds rights of first refusal for the brand name after buying Land Rover from BMW in 2000. (And, if SAIC does get Rover, it's banned from building off-road vehicles under the name.) Still, with MG on a high-profile push for expansion, but SAIC having far more financial juice than Nanjing, the fight for bizarro British rule in China is bound to be a hoot, if nothing else. More »
morning shift
• Today's totally a good day. GM only cut 100 white collar workers. [Freep]
• SAIC! We really are gonna build 200,000 cars in China! [Detroit News]
• And here we thought topless car washes were just for plot lines on Skinimax. [ChinaDaily]
• We seriously can't make a line like this up: "Poland's new car sales bounced back sharply in March as Poles rushed to showrooms after the end of the winter season..." Seriously, It's probably not...but why does it sound funny? [Reuters]
• While one of us packs for NYC, let's check out some urban transport options. [gizmag]
• Every once in a while even we need some sizzle with our steak, here's some "models" to whet your whistle with here, here, here, here, and here. [Multiple Sources]
• We're so excited...look, all the steak is covered up...we totally can't wait till the clothes come off. [Edmunds]
The Jalopnik Morning Shift
• Today's totally a good day. GM only cut 100 white collar workers. [Freep]
• SAIC! We really are gonna build 200,000 cars in China! [Detroit News]
• And here we thought topless car washes were just for plot lines on Skinimax. [ChinaDaily]
• We seriously can't make a line like this up: "Poland's new car sales bounced back sharply in March as Poles rushed to showrooms after the end of the winter season..." Seriously, It's probably not...but why does it sound funny? [Reuters]
• While one of us packs for NYC, let's check out some urban transport options. [gizmag]
• Every once in a while even we need some sizzle with our steak, here's some "models" to whet your whistle with here, here, here, here, and here. [Multiple Sources]
• We're so excited...look, all the steak is covered up...we totally can't wait till the clothes come off. [Edmunds]
