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Wedler to step in as head of Audi China

Joachim Wedler, the former head of Audi's division of Model Series at its headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany, will replace Dietmar Voggenreiter as president of Audi China.

Voggenreiter, who moved to China in 2007, will remain executive vice-president of Audi but move back to Ingolstadt at the end of this year to take new high-profile tasks. Wedler will replace him on Sept 1.

Audi's sales in China totaled 579,000 cars last year, an almost sevenfold increase from 2006. Last year, the number of locally made Audi models grew from two to six, all of which are produced at Audi's joint venture with its parent Volkswagen Group and China's FAW Group.

In 2013, Audi opened its Asian technical development center in Beijing, its largest outside Germany. China has been Audi's biggest single market in the world since 2010.

Geely Group to build new SUV plant

Zhejiang-based Geely Group announced it will build a new plant to produce sport utility vehicles in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan province.

The plant is expected to cost 3.5 billion yuan ($564 million) and will begin production in 2018.

The company expects the new plant to produce 150,000 SUV units in the next three to five years.

Its projected production value could reach 15 billion yuan in five years.

Qoros begins recall of 6,736 vehicles

Chinese automaker Qoros began recalling 6,736 vehicles on Friday, including Qoros 3 sedans, Qoros 3 hatchbacks and Qoros 3 City SUVs, manufactured between Nov 12, 2013 and July 3, 2015.

Due to problems with manufacturing techniques, seat belts in front rows might not be able to offer due protection in "extreme cases of head-on collisions", said the young automaker in a notice emailed to China Daily.

Customers notified about faulty airbags

Guangqi Honda is recalling 742,493 cars of four different models in China. The Japanese carmaker had earlier announced an expanded recall worldwide due to faulty airbags.

The recall, which will start from Sept 15, involves 2007 to 2012 Fit City models and Everus S1 made in China between 2007 and 2011. The faulty airbags, which are manufactured by Takata Corp, run the risk of causing injuries as they eject shell fragments when they deploy and inflate.

(China Daily 07/27/2015 page19)