Car Moon

BMW is making plans with its Chinese partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. to develop a new fully electric model designed specifically for the local market, according to Autonews Europe citing a report from the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper.

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China's recently developed passion for cars is paving the way for an increasing number of new vehicles targeting value-conscious consumers. Along with Nissan, which took the wraps of the 2011 Sunny, Honda also debuted a new small sedan today at the 2010 China International Automobile Exhibition.

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Taking center stage and making its world debut at the 8th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition, is Nissan's all-new global small sedan, which will be locally marketed as the Sunny. According to the Japanese automaker, the new small sedan will go on sale first in China in January 2011 and then progressively across 170 countries worldwide under different vehicle brand names.

Even though Nissan's Spartan press release did not mention the Versa, there are one too many styling similarities between the new Sunny and the 2012 Versa sedan teased in an official sketch released by the automaker in October 2010. However, we have to stress the fact that Nissan has not made a connection between the two cars.

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Citroën's CEO of Asian operations, Gregoire Olivier, has revealed that the company is planning a production version of the beautifully styled Metropolis concept car to compete against German luxury brands, primarily in China.

The sporty looking limousine, which will most likely be called the DS9, will be built by PSA/Peugeot-Citroën's joint venture with Changan Automobile Group in China.

"The Metropolis will happen -- it will become a real car," Olivier told Autonews China on the sidelines of an industry conference in Shanghai. "The same styling elements will be used for a high-level Citroen car to be developed in China. We want to build up the premier line in China -- the Metropolis is emblematic of our approach."

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The chips are finally hitting the fan. China has put the word out there that it may play a big power card in the near future: give us all the secrets to your tech, or we won't let you build and sell in our ever-growing Chinese market.

According to the Wall Street Journal, executives have been given a proposal that would provide China with a majority share in any joint venture involving foreign companies introducing "key new-energy components...such as advanced lithium-ion batteries and high-power electric motors". This would allow China to gain control of the technology that minority shareholders (i.e. anyone else) bring to the table.

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As more evidence that the Chinese auto industry is here to stay (All hail our future Chinese overlords!), the 2010 Beijing International Auto Exhibition - aka the Beijing Auto Show - has been labeled a "great success".

To prove it, here are the numbers:

780,000 visitors
200,000 square meter exhibition area (over 2 million square feet)
12,000+ journalists
1,564 "media organizations"
990 Vehicles on display
89 World debuts (14 from global manufacturers)
65 Concept cars (37 from global manufacturers)

Yeah, that's big. And they're hoping to do even better in 2012.

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Some live pictures of BAIC's Sebring-based electric car have been found, and the results are thankfully not scary to look at.

China's BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Co.) opened its own dedicated alternate propulsion division a while back in the form of the Beijing New Energy Automotive Company. Now that's a name that rolls off the tongue.

B-NEAC's goal is to build a few hundred test vehicles as taxis that would be rechargeable throughout Beijing. If the taxis are successful, stage two would consist of building a bunch more and lease them directly to the public.

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BMW held a special private reception on the evening of the first press day at the Beijing Motor Show to unveil its all-new Concept Gran Coupé as well as the long wheelbase versions of the 5 Series, specially developed for the Chinese market, and this here video includes scenes from that event.

Most of you will probably be interested only in BMW's conceptual answer to Merc's CLS sports saloon, so in the video after the jump, fast forward to the 1:25 minute mark for the part with the Gran Coupé.

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This here is the first video of Hyundai's all-new 2011 Accent sedan that made its world premiere at the Beijing Auto Show as the Verna. Sporting a new design that draws directly from the latest Sonata, the Accent / Verna also gets a new platform and a choice of 1.4-liter and 1.6-liter engines with either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.

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These are the first 'real life' pictures of Citroën's latest concept car, the Metropolis, that gives certain German makers (see Porsche and BMW) a lesson or two on how to design an eye-candy luxury sports saloon.

The styling of the 5.3m long and 2m wide but only 1.4m high Metropolis has echoes of the French automaker's well received GT supercar concept of 2008. This one was developed by Citröen's Shanghai-based design team.

Under the subtle "Pearl Silk" colored bodywork there's a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that utilizes "an optimized" 2.0-liter V6 petrol engine, an electric motor and a 7-speed, dual-clutch electronic gearbox.

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This year's edition of the Beijing Motor Show saw China-owned MG unveiling the 'ZERO', a thinly disguised concept of an upcoming production model in the supermini segment -most likely called MG3- that could go on sale in China first and then in Europe as early as next year.

The company emphasized the fact that the 4m long supermini was developed in the UK by MG Global Design team, led by British MG Design Director Anthony (Tony) Williams-Kenny, based in Birmingham.

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Now that you have probably seen and discussed every and any relevant new model, it's time to take a look at some of the more feminine aspects of the Beijing Auto Show.

Have a gander at some of the ladies that decided to stand for hours on end around a bunch of relatively boring (at least most of them) reveals. Now that's what I call commitment. Gallery after the jump.

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Mercedes used the Beijing Auto Show as a stage to debut its new, Chinese-market E-Class L. Built locally by Beijing Benz Automotive Co.,Ltd (BBAC), the E-Class L is nothing more than a stretched E-Class.

Other than that, what do you need to know? Not much, actually. The car's length, wheelbase, and rear legroom have increase by 14 cm (5.5 inches) and the front seats can be controlled from the back (so don't let jerks sit in the back...).

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For starters, there's nothing wrong with your eyes, the screen or the picture; the twin set of horizontal headlamps flanking either side of the Li Nian Everus concept's chrome-happy grille are the real deal.

Li Nian is a newly formed brand from Honda's China branch, Guangqi Honda, formerly known as Guangzhou Honda. The brand has showed two other concept models in the past, a compact-sized crossover and a sporty roadster.

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Volkswagen is gauging Chinese customer reaction to electric cars with the world premiere of a battery-powered version of its Golf-based Lavida sedan. Called the 'E-Lavida', the concept study is the VW group's first ever e-car completely designed and produced in China. Details on the E-Lavida remain scarce, but the company did release a bunch of photos of the car that you can check out after the break.

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Hyundai staged the world-premiere of its all-new Verna small sedan, otherwise known as the Accent, at the 2010 Beijing Auto Show today. Not surprisingly, the new Accent looks like a 2011 Sonata that was left too long in the dryer, boasting the same "Fluidic Sculpture" design language in a much smaller package.

The 2011 Accent measures 4,340mm in length, 1,700mm in width, 1,460mm in height, and has a relatively long wheelbase of 2,570mm.Hyundai claims that the small sedan's overall cabin dimensions are bigger than any rivals and that it comes with a 454lt trunk that can "easily accommodate as many as four golf bags plus three small tote bags."

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The BMW Group took us by surprise today with the world premiere of the Concept Gran Coupe. The Bavarian automaker calls it a four-door coupe which is fancy marketing talk for a saloon with sportier body proportions.

The car looks extremely production ready and it could very well enter the market within a year or two offering BMW a competitor the Porsche Panamera, the next Mercedes-Benz CLS and the upcoming Audi A7, possibly with the 8-Series badge on the boot.

The five-meter long Gran Coupé, which is a follow up to BMW's much more aggressive and unique 2007 Concept CS, comes with a very low body height of just under 1,400mm making it up to 100mm flatter than the 5 Series or the 7 Series sedans.

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Much like Ferrari's 599, or more recently Bentley's Continental range, Lamborghini has decided to offer a limited edition model for the Chinese market. It's called the Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce China Limited Edition (or the LP 670-4 SV CLE), and "not more than ten" will be built.

Lamborghini explains that the car "is designed and manufactured exclusively for China's most discriminating super sports car enthusiasts." I guess that's Lamborghini-speak for nouveau riche with "colorful" tastes.

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Earlier today, we showed you a bevy of pictures of the Beijing Automotive Works' (BAW) Saab 9-3-based C60 mid-size sedan. Now we have the first photos of the Chinese firm's reworked Saab 9-5, the C71 saloon, as well as a video showing both cars as they were being transferred to BAW's Beijing Motor Show stand.

As with the smaller C60, the most notable differences between the C71 and its Saab stablemate concern the styling of the front and rear ends.

As a reminder, in late 2009, BAW's parent company BAIC brought the design rights for the previous generation Saab 9-5 and certain 9-3 models along with some powertrain technology and tooling equipment from GM for about $200 million.

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These are the first pictures of BAW's (Beijing Auto Work) C60 sedan that was caught under GLAD wraps just a few hours before its world premiere at the 2010 Beijing Motor Show that runs from April 23 to 27. It's not hard to see the similarities between the C60 and the Saab 9-3 sedan.

However, before you utter the words "another shameless Chinese clone", learn that BAW's parent company, BAIC, paid Saab's previous owner General Motors $200 million dollars late last year to acquire the intellectual rights for Saab's outgoing 9-5 and certain 9-3s as well as some powertrain technology and tooling equipment.

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