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High-speed hybrid roars into Beijing
Porsche's new Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Executive.
Porsche's new Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Executive made its Asian premiere last week in Beijing.
The model's wheelbase has been extended by 150 mm to 3,100 mm, and its body length from 5,049 mm to 5,199 mm.
The Panamera Executive models delivered in China have the "Executive" logo on their column C.
The model sports a V6 2.9-liter twin-turbo engine, which has an output of 243 kW, and an electric motor with an output power of 100 kW.
In pure electric mode, it can run for up to 50 km. The peak torque is a staggering 700Nm, and it takes just 4.7 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h. It has a maximum speed of 278 km/h.
China became Porsche's largest market in 2015. The brand continued its positive momentum in 2016 with deliveries of more than 65,000 units.
New JLR sales chief readies for key role
Frank Wittemann will become the sales chief of Jaguar Land Rover in China next month.
Frank Wittemann will take the helm of Jaguar Land Rover sales in China from February when current sales chief Mark Bishop retires later this month.
Joining JLR in 2011, Wittemann has around 25 years of experience in the automotive industry.
His most recent role was managing director of JLR Latin America and the Caribbean.
JLR sold around 120,000 cars in 2016, marking growth of 31 percent compared to the previous year. The performance ranked JLR fourth in the market after the three well-established German giants Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Besides imported models, the British automaker is localizing three models at its joint venture Chery Jaguar Land Rover: Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Jaguar XFL. It plans to introduce at least one model a year into the localized portfolio before 2020.
VW sees record sales, sets sights on solid growth
German car giant Volkswagen AG sold a record-high 3.98 million vehicles on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong last year, marking 12.2 percent growth year-on-year.
Jochem Heizmann, head of Volkswagen Group China, said the growth exceeded both the group's expectations and its long-term projections.
A number of new models targeted at the specific needs of Chinese consumers along with the ongoing popularity of the brand's core models underpinned the result, with the Lavida, Jetta, Sagitar and Santana models all maintaining their place among the top 10 sellers in the Chinese market.
Heizmann expects to see solid growth in 2017, saying that Volkswagen will deliver products tailor made for the Chinese market.
China performance boosts Continental
Continental AG saw its sales revenue in 2016 reach 40.5 billion euros, registering 3 percent growth year-on-year. In the rubber sector, it sold a record 150 million tires. In the automotive segment, Continental's orders increased by 10 percent to more than 33 billion euros in 2016.
Continental's business is growing even faster in China, posting double-digit growth for the year, said its China head, Ralf Cramer. He said the company will increase its presence in China with continuous investment in the coming years. Contiental's executive board chairman Elmar Degenhart expects an increase in sales of over 6 percent to more than 43 billion euros in 2017, saying the target is to comfortably achieve an adjusted EBIT margin of more than 10.5 percent.
