Short Torque
SAIC Maxus G50 rolls off assembly line
SAIC Maxus' G50 MPV rolled off the assembly line of its plant in Nanjing, Jiangsu province on Friday. Hailed as a customer-to-business facility, the plant is designed to offer exceptional abilities in customizing vehicles for customers. The G50 MPV, one of five models to hit the market in 2019, will be the first product that will help the carmaker make inroads into a segment where more than 1 million vehicles are sold a year. SAIC Maxus said its total sales this year are expected to exceed 85,000 units, up 18 percent year-on-year. Of those units, more than 16,000 were sold overseas, up 60 percent year-on-year.
Geely will set up JV with battery maker
The Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd reached an agreement on Thursday to set up a battery joint venture with the country's leading lithium battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. In separate filings to the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges Thursday night, the two said that Zhejiang Jirun, an indirect 99 percent owned subsidiary of Geely Auto, and CATL, agreed that the joint venture would engage in the research and development, manufacturing and sales of battery cells, modules and packs.
Renault Group to acquire big stake in China's JMEV
French Renault Group plans to acquire a significant stake in JMEV, the electric car subsidiary of the Chinese manufacturer Jiangling Motors Corporation Group. Renault said the move should help it become one of major new-energy vehicle players in the fast-growing Chinese market. The deal is expected to be reviewed by relevant authorities next year. Renault is already doing well with EV sales in Europe. The company claims that one out of four EVs on European roads is a Renault. Jiangling Motors is already a joint venture partner of Ford and announced the cooperation with the battery manufacturer CATL in the middle of this year.
Uber resumes road test of autonomous vehicles
The ride-hailing company Uber in the United States announced on Thursday the resumption of the road testing of its self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State, nine months after an Uber car struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona State. Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber Advanced Technologies Group, said the company's self-driving operations were resumed upon the approval of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and following "months of vehicle testing on our track and manual driving on Pittsburgh streets", Meyhofer said.
US firm, Baidu cooperate in self-driving simulation
US video gaming company Unity Technologies said Tuesday that it is partnering with China's leading Internet giant Baidu to develop a virtual reality system that will help Baidu test its self-driving vehicles in a simulated real-time environment. San Francisco-based Unity said it is working on a real-time simulation product that creates virtual environments in which developers of Baidu's ambitious Apollo autonomous vehicle program will be able to devise, build and test self-driving systems with level 3, 4 and 5 autonomy.
Elon Musk bores tunnel to revolutionize driving
Elon Musk on Tuesday took a break from futuristic electric cars and private space travel to unveil a low-cost tunnel he sees as a godsend for city traffic. The billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX late Tuesday put the spotlight on the 1.14 mile (1.8 kilometer) tunnel created by his Boring Company for about $10 million. The sample tunnel is part of Musk's vision to have an underground network that cars, preferably Teslas, can be lowered to by lifts, then slotted into tracks and propelled along at speeds up to 150 mp/h (241 km/h).
Motoring - Agencies
(China Daily 12/24/2018 page19)
