Motors Tracker

Mercedez-Benz, Audi, BMW and other luxury carmakers have taken this year’s Chengdu Auto Show in southwestern Sichuan province by storm, investing heavily to debut a number of super sleek car models targeting China’s younger clientele. Even though the number of visitors to this year’s auto show, the biggest in western China, is less than in previous years, the three German brands have all upped the ante, expanding their exhibition floor space and filling them with a range of state-of-the-art autos, as China’s luxury car market shows no sign of slowing. Munich-based BMW had six new cars on show, including its latest 4 series coupe, a low-slung, aerodynamic, sporty fashion statement. The firm commanded an exhibition area of 3,210 square meters while Mercedez-Benz and Audi were not far behind with booths of almost 3,000 square meters. The three marques are all neck to neck in the battle for market share. Mercedez-Benz, owned by Germany’s Daimler, sold 346,000 units in China in the first ha...

The joint venture between SAIC Motor and German auto giant Volkswagen Group will soon start to produce Audi-branded cars. “Volkswagen and its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC Motor plan to invest CNY4.13 billion (USD590 million) to revamp their car plants in Shanghai to make new Audi sedans,” according to a Reuters report published today that cited a government document. The SAIC-Audi project is proceeding as planned, online news outlet The Paper reported, citing Audi China, the wholly owned unit of German luxury carmaker Audi, and SAIC Volkswagen, the joint venture between Audi’s parent firm Volkswagen and SAIC. The matter is sensitive. Volkswagen’s China-made Audi vehicles are mainly produced by another JV, Changchun, Jilin province-based FAW Volkswagen, which is not in favor of the deal. When the SAIC-Audi project was first broached in November 2016, it was met by a storm of criticism and had to be shelved. SAIC Volkswagen so far only produces the Volkwagen and Skoda marques. It w...