Investment

Short Torque

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-25 07:56

Sino-German joint venture Shanghai Volkswagen last Friday rolled out its 6 millionth car - a red Tiguan - to become the first domestic carmaker to reach the benchmark.

As the earliest car joint venture in the country, Shanghai Volkswagen has long been a leader in the Chinese market. It reported sales of more than 707,000 cars in the first three quarters of this year.

Sales of its VW brand cars in the period jumped 29.6 percent to 574,114. It also sold 133,568 units carrying its Skoda badge.

Sales of the company's most popular model, the Lavida, totaled 174,671 in the first nine months, accounting for nearly one-third of total VW sales. The star product hit a record-high in monthly sales in September, when customers purchased 22,510 Lavidas, a rise of 95 percent over the same period in 2009.

British luxury brand Jaguar announced last week it sold 2,155 cars - including the XF, XJ and the high-performance XFR and XKR - in China between January and September this year, a 71 percent surge over a year earlier.

The company also announced that the XJ Supersport equipped with a 5-liter V8 engine, will hit the Chinese market next month.

Field test for electric Mini

BMW recently began recruiting drivers to participate in a field test of its Mini E electric cars in Beijing and Shenzhen that will start next year and last five months.

The field test is sponsored by BMW China, State Grid Corp, China Southern Power Grid and China Automotive Technology and Research Center.

Powered by a 150kW electric motor and a package of lithium batteries, the Mini E can travel 140 to 170 kilometers on a single charge.

Chery sales, exports surge

Maintaining its leading position in homegrown brands, Chery sold 70,336 vehicles in September, up 37 percent from the same month last year, and 24 percent from the previous month.

Its nine-month sales tally in 2010 hit 475,288 units, some 68 percent of its full-year target of 700,000.

The company exported 10,564 cars last month, a 71 percent increase over a year ago. In the first nine months Chery shipped 67,865 vehicles overseas. It has set an export target of 100,000 vehicles for the year.

Toyota recalls 134,200 autos

Toyota's China joint venture with FAW last week announced a recall of 134,200 vehicles including 71,840 Crown and 62,394 Reiz cars to check for a possible fault in brake calipers on the rear wheels.

About 57,400 of the affected models - including 33,292 Crown and 24,126 Reiz sedans - could also have brake fluid and fuel pump problems.

The brake and fuel pump problems led Toyota to recently issue a worldwide recall of more than 1.5 million vehicles.

Motoring