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Lincoln opens new Beijing store

Ford Motor Co's iconic luxury brand Lincoln opened a 10,000-square-meter store in Beijing with local dealership Beijing Aojitong Group last week. The move brings the number of its stores in China to 11 and the brand plans to have a total of 60 stores in 50 cities in China by 2016 to boost sales, according to Lincoln China President Robert Parker.

Lincoln now sells imported small SUV MKCs and mid-size sedan MKZs in China. The brand will also introduce three new models to the country by 2016, including the mid-sized SUV MKX, large SUV Navigator and a full-size sedan.

The company said its stores in China would provide customers with comprehensive services the "Lincoln way", which is "an innovative model for luxury automotive ownership designed to create lasting relationships through personally crafted experiences".

GM celebrates record sales

Automaker GM, from the United States, and its join venture in China saw combined sales grow by 1.3 percent year-on-year to 261,072 units in February, marking a record high.

Shanghai GM sold 112,568 units last month, up 2.4 percent year-on-year, and Shanghai GM Wuling sold 148,227 units during the same period, up 3.9 percent year-on-year.

The sales of Buick hit 59,088, Excelle reached 18,247 and Regal was 9,573. Excelle saw the highest growth rate of sales among the three brands.

GM's sales in the SUV segment surged by 164.7 percent year-on-year, marking record sales of 11,087 units.

New-energy vehicle growth

The combined production volume of new energy vehicles during the first two months of the year surged to 11,900 units, five times the amount during the same period last year.

A total of 4,137 pure electric passenger vehicles rolled off the production line during the two months, four times that of the same period last year.

Production of plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles hit a record of 3,969 units, five times the figure during the same period the year before.

Production of pure electric and plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles hit 2,170 units and 1,583 units respectively, up nine and three times from the first two months last year.

5.12m cars recalled in 2014

China recalled 5.12 million cars made by 64 different automakers last year, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

A total of 19.8 percent of the recalled vehicles were made by domestic carmakers.

Premium brands accounted for a high proportion of the recalled vehicles, according to the administration.

China Customer Association said it dealt with a total of 26,251 car problem claims last year. Among them, 10,230 were quality problems, 6,104 were contract flaws and 4,111 were after-sales dissatisfactions.

Infiniti donates for education

Daniel Kirchert (left), president of Dongfeng Infiniti Motor Co, exchanges gifts with Lu Mai, secretary-general of the China Research Development Foundation after the carmaker donated 3 million yuan ($491,803) to help kids in poverty-stricken regions gain access to kindergartens through the foundation's Early Education Village Center program.

Statistics from East China Normal University showed that due to a lack of preschool education, kids in China's less developed regions scored about half as well as their urban counterparts in language proficiency and recognition tests.

The donation from Infiniti will be used to establish 200 kindergartens in four counties in western China and will finance other aspects including teacher training. Kirchert said Infiniti would also urge car owners and dealers to participate in the program, which he said would be "long-term, participatory and effective".

Motoring

(China Daily 03/23/2015 page19)