Top Nice Cars: China

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South American Consumers Wooed by China's Low Cost Cars

China may be one of the largest car manufacturers in the world, but its local brands haven't really managed to infiltrate any major markets.

And while Europe and North America continue to be out of their reach (for the time being, at least) for a great number of reasons ranging from their vehicles' sub-par quality and safety credentials to the fact that some brands blatantly copy Western automakers' models, certain countries in Latin America are seeing a surge in Chinese car sales.

"Little by little, I heard favorable comments. It took a long time to decide, but I'm risking it," Lima taxi driver Mario Segura, told the Detroit News. Segura had just dropped $12,000 on a brand-new Fullwin XR sedan, half the cost of a comparable Fiat or Renault.

Another example from Peru is Luis Lina, a doctor by profession, who decided against buying a second-hand Japanese model after he was convinced by relatives to visit a JAC dealership. We'll remind you that JAC is the maker of the Ford F-150 pickup truck clone.

In 2011, U.S exports rose by 14.4 percent to a record US$2.1 trillion. That’s the good news. The bad news is that imports also set an all-time high record of US$2.7 trillion, a 13.8 percent increase over 2010. It's really not that hard to realize that the result is a deficit of 0.6 trillion – or US$558 billion, to be exact.

More than half of this trade deficit is with China, a startling US$295.4 billion. Even though U.S. exports to world's most populated country rose by 13.1 percent to US$103.9 billion, it was offset by a 9.4 percent increase to a record US$399.3 billion in imports from China.

The auto industry was amongst those sectors that set new deficit records: last December alone marked an increase of US$1.8 billion in imported vehicles, parts and engines.

We've seen this play before and before that and before that, but it never gets old: Chinese automakers replicating vehicles from western automakers. One brand that keeps popping up on our cloning radar is Jianghuai Automobile, more commonly known as JAC Motors.

It's latest accomplishment is the JAC 4R3 pickup truck that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's a styling copy of the Ford F-150. Of course, as with other Chinese doppelgangers, the similarities begin and end with the appearance as it's too costly for automakers to extend the cloning to the mechanical hardware.

The 4R3 will reportedly make its debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April and will then go on sale in China where it will be offered with a 2.8-liter four-cylinder diesel engine pushing out 108-horsepower and 240Nm (177 lb-ft) of peak torque.

True, accidents can happen any time and at virtually any place, but we think the driver of the small truck seen in this video from Taiwan is unforgivably careless. How on earth can you not see the police officer with the distinctive yellow markings in broad daylight?

Even though he was literally hit by a truck, the officer managed to get up by himself and trot to the sidewalk before another motorist had the chance to finish the job. And yes, that's definitely going to hurt for a while…

The Czech auto brand that could has built its 14 millionth vehicle some 107 years after Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement, the founders of Skoda, began producing their first cars in 1905.

The milestone vehicle is a special edition ‘Laurin & Klement’ Superb that is designated for delivery to a German customer.

“This celebratory car is an impressive expression of our growth strategy,” said Skoda chairman Winfried Vahland. “We are expanding at a high speed. Almost two thirds of the 14 million cars built by the company were produced and sold in the past 20 years, four million of which were produced in the past 5 years alone.”

Chinese officials may be withdrawing their support for investments made by foreign automakers, but the Fiat-Chrysler Alliance is still looking for ways to increase its presence in the country.

A new report from the Detroit News says that Fiat and Chrysler are currently in "intense negotiations" with the Guangzhou Automobile Group to produce Jeep models for the local market.

The Italian automaker has already forged a joint venture with Guangzhou for the manufacturing of a new compact sedan based on the 2013 Dodge Dart, which will most likely be introduced in China at the upcoming Beijing motor show in April.

In Europe, the most popular model in terms of sales in 2011 was the aging Volkswagen Golf with 485,547 units followed by the VW Polo and the Ford Fiesta, while in the United States, Ford's F-Series took first place with 584,917 units and was trailed by the Chevy Silverado and the Toyota Camry.

In China, while the overall top sellers continue to be commercial microvans, the bestselling passenger model for 2011 was the Buick Excelle with 254,000 units, according to data provided by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Going it alone on new model development is a costly endeavor even for large automotive groups – and practically out of the question for smaller manufacturers.

Volvo until now has built all of its models around the platforms and powertrains from its former owner Ford. Now it is seeking a new partner to jointly develop its next generation of compact models.

Currently owned by Chinese carmaker Geely, Volvo recorded an impressive 20 percent increase in sales last year. Still, with some 450,000 units, it remains a small player in the global automotive industry, thus the need for cost sharing on new model development.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has made it clear that he wants Mercedes-Benz to become the number one premium manufacturer in the world, a title that for the time being belongs to its arch-rival BMW.

Last year, Mercedes sold 1.36 million units, around 300,000 less than BMW. According to Manager Magazin, Zetsche plans to reach the number one spot by almost doubling the three-pointed star’s production to 2.7 million vehicles by 2020 and increase its operating profit beyond 10 percent.

On Thursday, General Motors reported global sales of 9,025,942 units in 2011, up 7.6% over 2010, which makes it the world's largest automaker in terms of volume.

Earlier this month, the Volkswagen Group announced that it sold a total of 8.16 million vehicles, up 14.3 percent compared to the previous year, which puts the German automaker in second spot - or so we thought.

You see, today, Volkswagen is questioning GM's numbers and of course its crown as the bestselling automotive group in the world. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the German company argues that unlike GM, it's numbers don't include sales of its affiliates such as MAN SE and Scania AB, in which VW has majority-ownership stakes.

Declaring bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily mean that you close shop – just ask GM and Chrysler. But when the receivers walk in begin selling off your assets, though, as is the case with Saab, it would take a miracle (to say the least) to survive.

Then again, perhaps miracles do happen. Reuters reports that Chinese group Youngman, which had originally agreed with Saab's owner, Swedish Automobile, to buy the brand and had even injected some cash into it but saw the deal fall apart due to GM’s refusal to let its intellectual property fall into the hands of its rivals, is ready to make a comeback.

It's a position no one wants to be in but it can happen to anyone and anywhere. Unfortunately for the passengers of this vehicle in in central China's Hubei Province, it happened when a gunman hijacked their car when they stopped at the tolls.

The security camera captured footage of a man pointing a gun at the surprised driver ordering him to get out of the vehicle. The driver and the front passenger who was holding a child in her hands exited the car immediately.

In 2011, General Motors reclaimed its crown as the world's largest vehicle manufacturer from Toyota, which was hit hard by the Japanese Tsunami and the Thailand floods, and as a result, dropped into third place behind the Volkswagen Group.

Overall, GM's largest market in 2011 was China with 2,547,203 vehicles and an 8.3 percent increase over the previous year, followed by the U.S. with 2,503,820 sales, up 13.0 percent.

And the good news doesn't stop there for the Detroit carmaker, which announced today that the driving force behind its success, the Chevrolet brand, recorded its best sales year ever in 2011 delivering 4.76 million vehicles around the world.

In a glitzy event held in Beijing, China, this month, the World Luxury Association (WLA), which is a non-profit research organization, named its Top 100 most valuable luxury brands of the year.

In the automotive field, the Top 10 premium car brands included some of the usual suspects such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini along with some surprise entrants like Saab's former owner Spyker and Koenigsegg. Not that it matters any more, but Daimler's Maybach brand didn't make the cut.

Top Nice Cars

South American Consumers Wooed by China's Low Cost Cars

USW Says New Record U.S. Trade Deficit with China Threatens Auto Jobs

China's JAC Does it Again with Ford F-150 Pickup Truck Clone

Taiwanese Man Bumps into a Traffic Officer…with his Truck

Skoda Celebrates Production of its 14-Millionth Vehicle, wants to Sell 1.5 Million a Year by 2018

Fiat-Chrysler Alliance wants to Produce Jeep Models in China

Buick Excelle is the Best Selling Car in China for 2011, GM and VW Take 7 of the Top 10 Spots

Wanted: Automotive Partner for Small Car Development; Contact Volvo

Mercedes-Benz to Build Second North American Plant in the U.S. or Mexico

GM is World's Largest Automaker in 2011 but VW Group Says Not so Fast

Run, Youngman, Run: Chinese Still want Saab Even Though its Assets Are Being Sold

Caught on Film: Dramatic Carjacking Episode Backfires in China

Chevy Sets New Record in 2011 with 4.76 Million Sales, China is GM's Largest Market Overall

World Luxury Association Names Top 10 Car Brands