According to an unnamed source from the 21st Century Business Herald in China (via Gasgoo), Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) has been in talks with General Motors since last March to purchase the Eplison II platform (as used by the latest Opel Insignia and the Chinese-market Buick Regal) for its next Roewe 750 midsize sedan. The fact that SAIC is GM's Chinese partner may seem to lend a bit of credibility to these rumors, though SAIC and General Motors have both initially denied any knowledge of the platform-sharing plan.

While all of Roewe's sedans have so far been based on the aging underpinnings of the former Rover brand from the U.K., recent concepts – such as the attractive N1 from the Shanghai Motor Show earlier this year – show that the Chinese automaker is serious about designing attractive machines for its home market and beyond.



[Source: Gasgoo]

Ssangyong Motor Company is still struggling to gain traction after it ceased production late last year and slipped into receivership earlier this year. It restarted its production lines in February, but even the company director, Lee Yu-Il, says volume is still far too slow. To deal with matters, Gasgoo reports that Ssangyong is letting go of 2,700 workers, representing 37% of its workforce.

Yu-Il said the struggling Korean firm will run out of money at the end of June, and will need 100 billion won ($75 million US) if the company is broken up -- which makes us wonder how much the company needs to stay in business and question who would supply such funds in the face of a 50% drop in sales. With majority stakeholder SAIC refusing to get involved, Ssangyong's future is looking decidedly bleak.

[Source: Gasgoo]

Chinese automakers have been on the receiving end of barbs for some time now, particularly when it comes to styling. In terms of both originality and proportion, most Sino automakers have struggled to find both balance and identity, but among them, SAIC Roewe has been able to build on its Rover roots and churn out some rather attractive designs. Case in point: The N1. Now showing in Shanghai for the first time, the N1 sedan is quite well resolved from most angles, and its design is widely expected to make it into production unscathed. That the car's styling jibes with Western sensibilities is important, because the company plans to roll a production N1 out not just to domestic audiences next year, but likely to European audiences a short time later.

Unlike some previous Roewe offerings, the N1 sits on a new chassis, but it will reportedly still rely on updated versions of the British automaker's K-series four-cylinder powerplants.

Inside, the N1 is rather more ambitious, featuring a touch-screen interface with full-on internet connectivity, a "3D" digital gauge cluster, and a navigation system based on open-source coding. The car's high-tech dashboard gubbins are likely to remain a showcar-only detail for the next few years, however.



Photos copyright ©2009 IceBin/ Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: Autoblog Simplified Chinese]

Yesterday's rumors regarding a possible Buick sale to China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) might have been a wee bit premature according to an unnamed executive at GM China. This news should be anything but surprising – we didn't put much stock in the rumor when we first reported it – since the success of the Buick brand is one of GM's few current bright spots.

In America, General Motors has singled out Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick as the core brands that it will concentrate on, which gives further reason to believe that the Buick nameplate will be staying right where it is in the General Motors portfolio. Hummer, Saab and Saturn, on the other hand, remain very much for sale.



[Source: Gasgoo]

Korean automaker Ssangyong has reportedly restarted five of its production lines at its plants in Pyeongtaek and Changwon. Earlier this month, Ssangyong was forced to enter receivership as a last ditch effort to stave off bankruptcy after failing to negotiate a deal with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., the Korean automaker's Chinese owners, and Korea Development Bank, its largest creditor.

Prior to those negotiations, Ssangyong was hemorrhaging money due to a 50% drop in sales, which ultimately led to the inability to make payroll and fulfill supplier contracts. At this point, Ssangyong must wait until February 9 to find out if the local court of Seoul will allow the automaker to enter bankruptcy protection proceedings. Sounds like the road will remain bumpy for Korea's fifth-largest automaker for the foreseeable future.

[Source: Gasgoo | Image: AFP/Getty]

After investing a few hundred million dollars into alternative powertrain research, China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) says that it's finally ready to produce its first hybrid car. Nothing too fancy, just a mild hybrid with an electric motor that isn't capable of powering the vehicle without the assistance of the gas-powered engine. The battery pack, at least, is a suitably high-tech lithium ion unit that will be supplied by Johnson Controls, which has a joint venture with battery-maker SAFT to produce automotive packs. SAIC expects a fuel savings of about 20%. The platform for SAIC's first hybrid will be the old Rover 75, which was renamed the Roewe 750 after being bought out by its Chinese owners. Assuming all goes to plan with this first hybrid step, SAIC plans to branch further into the alternative propulsion world with an all-electric model.

[Source: Automotive News – subs. req'd]

Could it be too late for Ssangyong? Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) appears to have given up on Ssangyong Motor Co., allowing the company to slip into receivership. SAIC holds a 51% stake in Ssangyong, but gave up management rights in a bid to avoid liquidation and allow Ssangyong some time to get back in the black. The Korean automaker's Chief Executive Zhang Hai Tao and President Choi Hyung-tak both stepped down after the filing.

As recently as a couple of days ago, SAIC said they would help prop up Ssangyong, but that apparently has changed. As vehicle sales have fallen a whopping 50%, money was clearly tight. With the global economic crisis, credit was evidently unavailable to pay workers and new negotiations with the unions weren't going anywhere fast. This receivership agreement protects Ssangyong from creditors and keeps it from entering bankruptcy, allowing it some time to get back on its feet. For its part, SAIC said that it "will work with all parties so that Ssangyong can achieve a plan to normalize its operations." Thanks for the tip, Ken!

[Source: Market Watch]

One of the refrains we've all heard in recent years is how strong Buick is for General Motors in China, where it's not cursed with the stigma of being a grandparent's brand in the States. While most of yesterday's attention was rightly focused on the industry-wide year-end U.S. sales bloodbath, Shanghai Daily reports that 2008 was a bummer for GM's joint venture with SAIC in China.

Shanghai GM ended up down 7% versus 2007, with analysts saying that its new cars, like the freshly-updated Buick Excelle, didn't deliver the goods in terms of styling, price, or fuel economy. Hence, buyers reportedly turned to the VW Jetta and Toyota Corolla instead. Shanghai Daily points out that Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Saab all showed growth in China last year, so the overall Shanghai GM decline essentially gets laid at the feet of Buick. Now, it'll be interesting to see how 2009 plays out. GM is hoping that the Chevy Cruze can help get things back on track in the People's Republic (and everyplace else, for that matter) when it arrives sometime in Q2, joining other key Shanghai GM newcomers like the Buick Regal.

Shanghai GM's disappointing 2008 performance was part of a broader growth slowdown for the General in China. When factoring in the rest of its joint ventures, GM's China sales were actually up 6% overall. But that's a significant dropoff from the double-digit sales gains exhibited in preceding years -- 19% in '07, and at least 27% in the each of the four years prior to that, according to Bloomberg. With so many consecutive years of explosive sales growth, things were probably bound to level off as car shoppers transformed into car owners. Whether GM's influx of new models planned for this year and beyond stokes the sales fires in China again is a story that we'll follow throughout '09.



[Sources: Shanghai Daily, Bloomberg]

It may not be the entire 320 billion won that its largest creditor was looking for, but Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp's recent announcement that it would prop Ssangyong up with an investment of 25.9 billion won ($19.89 million) should do the trick. SAIC says the money is to facilitate the development of new products, but we'd guess that paying the Korean automaker's employees for their services will probably take top priority. According to the unionized workers for Ssangyong, which is Korea's fifth-largest automaker, a total of 29 billion won is owed to employees.

The union and SAIC appear to be posturing back and forth on how to proceed from here. Ssangyong's Chinese owners want to cut a total of 2,000 jobs from the Korean automaker before investing any further money and the union is expected to vote on this new plan, which is widely expected to fail. After reporting a staggering sales drop of over 50% last year, though, something's got to give.

[Source: Gasgoo]

Things are looking dire at Korea's Ssangyong Motors, which, as you might recall, was unable to make payroll last week due to a total lack of cash on hand. The sordid tale continues this week as Ssangyong's largest creditor, Korea Development Bank (KDB), suggests that it will simply liquidate the automaker if Shanghai Automotive Industries China, otherwise known as SAIC, isn't willing to prop up its ailing subsidiary. As of last week, SAIC had said that it didn't intend on bailing out Ssangyong.

KDB is looking for 120 million won in cash from SAIC, along with another 200 million won in guarantees for loans. Those two bits of financial aid total about $249 million in U.S. funds. If SAIC refuses, KDB says it will not consider making any more loans to Ssangyong. What that means for displaced workers at the Korean automaker we don't know, but it doesn't sound good.

[Source: Gasgoo.com]