Automotive World

Even Alfa Romeo, which has cancelled its return to the U.S. more times than we care to remember, has plans to form a joint venture with local company Guangzhou Automobile.

Well, the list just got a little but bigger as on Monday Chery Automobile Co. and investment firm Israel Corp. announced a new joint venture that will lead to a new brand called Qoros.

Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan), though, announced today that Saab Great Britain (Saab GB) filed for administration with the High Court in London.

According to the Swedish carmaker’s CEO, Stefan Jacoby, the reason for this is that Volvo’s biggest European markets are in Scandinavia and Germany, which don’t face the financial crisis that storms the southern regions like Italy, Spain and Greece.

Well, China is probably their best bet right now. Its number of billionaires grew from 189 in 2010 to 271 in 2011, according to data from Hurun Report, and the communist (…) country now has close to 1 million millionaires - 960,000 to be precise or 85,000 more than in 2010. Overall, Asia has some 3.3 million millionaires, more than Europe and edging close to the North America region.

After receiving court protection from its creditors, Swedish Automobile N.V. agreed to sell 100% of Saab to Chinese partners Pang Da and Zeijiang Youngman Lotus Automobile, it had to get approval from its shareholders. General Motors, though, almost immediately raised concerns over the deal

Therefore, it makes perfect sense for China to be one of the first overseas markets to receive the Chevrolet Volt. GM’s extended-range hybrid will be available in eight cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan, through 13 Shanghai GM Chevrolet dealerships.

Of course, when the weather gets rough and tough, the smart thing to do is just find another mode of transportation, but sometimes that's not an option for all people.

Fortunately, at least when it comes to light rain and snow, there's an abundance of waterproof apparel available in the market. And then there's this: one Chinese company has come up with a very bizarre solution that looks a lot more like a tent than motorcycle gear.

Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of this week's Guangzhou Auto Show, the Chinese company's president, Zeng Qinghong, said that Guangqi Fiat will start production as early as July of 2012.

More interestingly, Qinghong revealed that the joint venture would also build Alfa Romeo cars for the domestic market.

Last year, the two companies formed a 50-50 joint R&D venture called "Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd" or "BDNT" for short, to create a new brand that will focus on the development of pure electric vehicles for China.

The GS 250 is the third model in the new GS lineup, after the previously revealed GS 350, which is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 delivering 306-ponies and the GS 450h top-end model that links a 3.5-liter Atkinson-cycle V6 to the Lexus Hybrid Drive for a combined system output of 338-horsespower.

At the heart of the new GS 250 lies Lexus' 2.5-litre V6 gasoline engine with D-4S direct port injection and Dual VVT-i intelligent valve timing.

It produces a maximum output of 209HP (154 kW/206bhp) at 6,400rpm and 253Nm (187 lb-ft) of peak torque at 4,800rpm, accelerating the GS 250 from 0-100km/h (62mph) in 8.6 seconds en route to a top speed of 230km/h (143mph).

The first of the three new models will most likely be a luxury flagship sedan based on the well-received Metropolis concept that was exhibited at the 2010 Shanghai Show.

Today, General Motors has finally stopped beating around the bush and decided to come out in the open about the Saab-Pang Da-Youngman deal. And what the Detroit-based automaker said is that it's not giving away its Epsilon platform technology nor its 9-4X SUV.

“Although General Motors is open to the continued supply of powertrains and other components to Saab under appropriate terms and conditions, GM will not agree to the continuation of the existing technology licenses or the continued supply of 9-4X vehicles to Saab following the proposed change in ownership, as it would not be in the best interest of GM shareholders,” Cain said in a statement.

Now, Saab must have a really bad karma. There’s really no other explanation for the constant problem that arise, preventing the ailing Swedish carmaker from finding peace in securing its existence.

This time it’s not the Chinese government, the creditors, the suppliers, the workers’ unions, the Swedish debt office or the court-appointed administrator. All of the aforementioned parties have given their approval. Instead, in a surprising move, it's the company's former owner and current preference shareholder, General Motors, that’s may try to block the sale to Pang Da and Youngman.

A MoU, however, does not mean that the transaction is completed. Especially when the Chinese are involved: recently Subaru and Toyota were denied a new joint venture in the country by the local authorities, which have also been stalling on approving the previous Saab-Pang Da-Youngman deal that was signed back in July.

The new factory, which will have an annual capacity of 300,000 units and is expected to be operational in the second half of 2014, will boost Kia’s annual local production to 730,000 units in order to satisfy the dramatically increasing demand for its vehicles.

Nissan originally launched the Infiniti brand in 1989 exclusively for the North American market but has since expanded its marketing operations to include the Middle East, Russia, Europe, South East Asia and other regions.

Saab’s management informed the creditors about the key points of the reorganization process, which has the support both of the administrators who are overseeing the process as well as future owners Pang Da and Youngman.

If the deal goes through, the Chinese will own Sweden’s car industry bar Koenigsegg as Volvo was sold to Geely in 2009 – admittedly at the much higher price of US$2 billion dollars than the €100 million (US$141.7 million) Pang Da and Youngman are willing to pay for acquiring 100% of Saab Automobile and Saab GB shares.

Yet the two Chinese companies that provided only part of the €70 million (US$ 95.4 million) loan and which recently offered to buy 100% of Saab’s shares, say that the €240 million (US$340 million) July agreement is still on the table.