The cold hard truth for western countries is that China is on well on track to becoming the most powerful economy in the world. Acknowledging this fact, Lamborghini decided to establish a new branch in China in the country´s capital city Beijing that will start operations at the beginning of 2009. Currently, the Italian sports carmaker has three dealers located in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, one in Hong Kong, and another two will be shortly be opened in Chengdu and Qingdao. The company’s China sales this year a expected to grow by 186% or from 27 cars in 2007 towards 80 in 2008. Continued

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At 23, Shi Lingxi bought his first car last week.

He considered a Ford Focus and other models during months of shopping. But on Wednesday, Shi negotiated a 35,000-yuan discount that knocked about $5,000 off the price of a Nissan Blubird. He put the $20,000 sedan on a credit card his parents will help pay.

He doesn’t plan to drive it to work much — it’s too hard to find a parking spot — but he looks forward to the freedom his car represents: the ability to get out of the Chinese capital for weekend outings.

“I bought the car to expand the radius of my living,” said Shi, a human resources professional in Beijing.

There are millions like him in China. Personal car ownership is driving the million-vehicle-per-year growth in China’s auto industry and, for now, seven of eight are bought by first-time car buyers.

Economic growth and the corresponding boom in the auto industry in this nation of 1.3 billion people — and in the private passenger car market in particular — has attracted more than 100 global and domestic vehicle manufacturers to compete on the Chinese stage.

Nearly all of them — including General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC — plan to display their offerings, unveil new concepts and vie for consumers at Auto China 2008, the Chinese auto show that starts today.

“This is now the largest auto show in the world, by number of automakers,” Nick Reilly, President of GM Asia Pacific, told the Free Press on Saturday. “Where just two years ago Beijing was a relatively small, cramped show, now, you’re getting first-time showings. Unless it’s a major international show, you just don’t waste those. That’s really a sign it’s become a very important show.” Continued

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Automobile industry executives at Beijing’s bi-annual auto show forecast another boom year in China in 2008, with sales in the world’s No. 2 car market rising and production ramping up to take advantage of lower costs.Global automakers such as Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) are increasingly relying on emerging markets such as China to take up the slack as U.S. and European consumers feel the pinch from slowing economies and rising prices.

“I say this internally all the time, but the company that gets China right is going to be the dominant player for the next 25 years,” GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said at the Beijing Auto Show.

GM’s China sales lagged in the first quarter due to winter storms that disrupted shipments, but the company ranked No. 2 by production in China last year is forecasting a recovery.

“We still expect a very good year and to grow in line with the market,” GM’s president and managing director Kevin Wale said.

GM expects total China car sales to rise about 16 percent in 2008, after climbing to 6.3 million in 2007. Most executives predicated the whole auto market, including trucks and buses, to reach 10 million units this year.

As big as the Chinese car market has become, just 44 out of every 1,000 people owns a vehicle, compared with an average 600 for the developed world and some 800 for the United States.

The number of vehicles on Chinese roads last year reached 47 million, parts maker Magna International said, a level equivalent to where the United States was in 1947.

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Geely’s Beijing Motor Show concept parade rolls on, and the latest preview from our counterparts at Autoblog Chinese focuses on the NL concept. As has been the case with many of these Beijing-bound concepts, details are scarce, and we can’t vouch for the accuracy of the renderings you see in the enclosed gallery, either. If they’re actually indicative of the vehicle that Geely will present, expect to see an SUV blending the general shape of the Ford Kuga with a front end that’s vaguely reminiscent of an Opel Antara/Saturn Vue Red Line. In this case, things seem to come together rather nicely. We’ll find out what the real deal is next week when the Beijing show kicks off.

(source: Autoblog)

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The Scoopers of Cars have gotten their hands on a scanned brochure of the production version of the Nissan Intima concept, and it seems that in addition to getting a mass-market makeover, it will also be sporting a Teana badge when it goes on sale in Japan. The transition from concept to production has been uncharacteristically kind to the Teana, with the tightly drawn headlamps, plummeting C-pillar and elongated tail lamps surviving, but the suicide doors and 22nd century interior must have been scrapped due to feasibility issues. We’ll get our first official taste of the Teana when it’s finally revealed on April 20th at the Beijing Motor Show.

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