Matchedje Pickup testing in South Africa * Many thanks to Anton Smit for the tip * Chinese investment through the Shanghai-based China Tongjian Investment Co. has transformed Mozambique into a car manufacturing and exporting country, at a time when first-world countries like Australia drop out of the list. Last September, the…
VW Jetta taxi in Harbin After Mudanjiang, we are staying in the Heilongjiang province to travel to its capital, Harbin, the 8th most populous Chinese city and the most populous in Northeast China, home to a total of 10.6 million inhabitants as a sub-provincial city. The uniqueness of Harbin comes from…
Suzuki Lingyang taxi in Mudanjiang After Yanji in the Korean Autonomous Prefecture, we are now leaving the Jilin province, headed north to cross over to Mudanjiang in the Heilongjiang province, home to just under 1 million inhabitants. Mudanjiang does have an airport but it doesn’t have direct flights to either…
Karakoram Highway at Bulong Lake (click on any image to enlarge) After Ürümqi and Kashgar, we continue on our adventure through the Xinjiang Uyghur, China's Westernmost autonomous region. Today we take the legendary Karakoram Highway on the Chinese side for 450km between Kashgar (altitude 1.260m) and the Khunjerab Pass on the…
Guarding his Chana pick-up with pride. (Click on any photo to enlarge) After Beijing, Chongqing and Ürümqi, as promised we are now headed 1.080km South-West to the hinterland of the hinterland: Kashgar, China's westernmost city and predominantly populated by Muslim Uyghurs. To give you a rough idea of what Kashgar looks like, the…
The Wuling Hongguang launched this month in India as the Chevrolet Enjoy. * This is Part 4 of 5 in my series on Chinese carmakers abroad. See also Part 1 (Africa), Part 2 (Latin America), Part 3 (Eastern Europe) and Part 5 (Mature markets) * In the first 3 parts of this series we observed that…
Will the ChangAn Eado be the Chinese model to crack Western Europe? * See the full article by clicking on the title! * We have covered how Chinese models were struggling to rule their own market, but how do their fare outside of China? Based on all the data I…
Advertising billboard for the Pyeonghwa Samchunri. Picture by Eric Lafforgue. All Rights reserved. * See the North Korean capital Pyongyang's streets as if you were there by clicking on title! * The North Korean car market is very limited but seems to have enjoyed a mini-boom over the last couple of years…
VW Gol * See the Top 150 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * Unusual month in Brazil where car sales are actually down 2% at 305,252 registrations, bringing the 2011 year-to-date total to 3,096,410 units, up 4%. The VW Gol enjoys its 10th month in pole position this…