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A “report” initially published by Gasgoo has been widely circulated around the Internet. As a result, we have been graced with punchlines such as “Chinese automakers still can’t lick quality problems” from USAToday, and also Autoblog’s “Chinese car quality complaints on the rise”.

Because there’s nothing like good, old fashioned China bashing, right? Unfortunately, due to the lack of ethics or pure laziness from these so-called “journalists,” it’s up to CCT to debunk the myths and right the wrongs. Instead of making further research or using common sense, it’s easier for a quick, dirty and cheap sneer at Chinese automakers.

According to Gasgoo’s report, “Complaints about cars that had quality problems within six months from the day of purchase accounted for more than 60 percent of all the complaints in the first quarter, up 9 percent” and “complaints over safety risks and carmakers’ production defects rose nearly 15 percent”.

The first logical fallacy of the argument resides in the fact that China’s car sales have gone up by astounding rates of over 60% year-on-year. It is obvious that with an increase in sales, there is going to be an increase in the number of complaints. In fact, if sales are up by more than the complaints, it’s indicative of an improvement in quality. Regardless, yours truly went to the bottom of this and read the original report published by CAQ, the China Association for Quality. The report is here (in Chinese).

Perhaps the most interesting observation is on page 6; the manufacturers against which the complaints were lodged. Foreign automakers (producing cars under joint-ventures in China) account for 81.2% of the complaints, up from 78.1% in 2009. Indigenous Chinese automakers are down to 15.8%, from 17.2% in 2009. Surprised? The best is yet to come: foreign cars have a market share of 50-60% in China. 81.2% is way disproportionate with this number.

Finally, the report concludes its analysis with customer satisfaction on the resolution of the complaints. The best ranked automakers were: Shanghai Volkswagen, Chang’an Ford, Geely, Great Wall Motors and Hafei. What automaker with major participation in China is conspicuously missing from this list? I’ll give you a hint: It’s a company that filed for bankruptcy and still owes over 50 billions dollars to American taxpayers, in spite of their claims that the loans were “paid”. (Yes, I know it’s equity).

Conclusions:

• Common sense tells us that complaints will rise with rising sales
• Foreign automakers account for the majority of the complaints
• Statistical analysis can’t be made in a vacuum. There are many other factors are in play.
  For example, Chinese consumers are getting more savvy and demanding.

That’s why critical thinking skills are necessary when reading the news. More so when writing them.

For this years Beijing Auto Show, Chery wheeled out the current version of the Tiggo3 which is the same model that they’ve had in production since 2006. Their Italian partner, Dr, released a face lift version for the Italian market which was put into production for various markets within China, but the old reliable Tiggo was wheeled out out for the show and looked rather out of place against Chery’s latest offerings.

Whilst the Beijing Auto Show is in full swing, these photos of a facelift Tiggo emerged from Chery’s hometown in Wuhu, and show a vastly improved Tiggo. The new front end is similar to a VW Tiguan, with slanted front lights and a much more sharper front grill. The interior also has undergone a major change with it becoming more modern and less detached from the rest of the car, the current generation Chery Tiggo interior is very bland in comparison to this. Interestingly enough, this Chery Tiggo is likely to make full use of a 1.6 supercharged engine that was developed by Chery and Easton (more on this next week). An eventual launch date for the facelift Tiggo has yet to be announced, but we are likely to see it towards the end of the year at the Guangzhou Auto Show.

The Chinese gray car market is a large and beautiful one, you often see some very random cars cruising the streets of China and do wonder how on earth they arrived in the Middle Kingdom. Last week I found myself staring at a mark 4 VW Golf Wagon in Beijing obviously an import from somewhere, despite its age it still looked rather exotic thanks to its tasteful 19inch wheels and wagon styling, a true rarity in China. Recently, the number of full and mid size American pick up trucks on Chinese roads has increased a great deal with urban cowboys ready to spend upto three times the original US price ticket for a large, unusual truck.

This Ford F150 Raptor starts at around $38,000USD in the USA, this Chinese model was selling for a shade under 1.5million RMB according to the salesman preseant when tax, insurance, and plate fees were accounted for, that’s $219,751USD or a massive mark up. Of course the seller would be responsible for import taxes which would are likely to be in the 100% zone (unless they have imported it as a light truck?) but there is a huge difference between $38,000 and $219,000USD.

You might be wondering why would Chinese want to buy a Raptor? Well there is a very large and very active 4×4 club in China that hold local and national events on a weekly basis, plus there are a series of offroad race events all over China every summer and winter, but only a very comitted member of this scene would be ready to spend 1.5 million RMB on a truck, even if its V8 and sounds like the Devil is coming to town.

The seller had these on show at the rear of the Beijing Auto Show, he also had a Chevrolet Avalance which in the USA has an affordable sticker price of $35,000USD and rising, whilst the Chinese price was set at 690,000rmb ($101,000USD!).

Let’s be honest here, overly American styled cars have never sold well in China, we just need to look at sales of the Chrysler Sebring, the Dodge Caliber and just about everything else from Americas automotive empire, aside from the Jeep Cherokee of course, and to a lesser extent the 300C. The Ford Edge has plenty of American styling, its massive bold chrome grill screams ‘USA‘, and obviously fits in well with the rest of the US Ford line up, but it appears to be a fish out of water against the Ford China line up, which by default is the Euro line up and is made up of non flashy, slimline motors that look more funky than bling bling.

Also it appears that the Edge cant really make up its mind as to what it actually is, is it an SUV, or is it a wagon, or is it a hatchback? It appears to be an SUV come wagon come hatchback, but with the ground clearance of a pensioners mobility scooter.

The interior appears to be the best thing about the Edge, its relatively luxurious and feels fairly well made. There are plenty of cup holders and lots of storage space. The Sony stereo interface is probably the best of I have personally seen so far in a mass made automobile.

The Chinese do like ’showy’ vehicles, they also like their chrome, but the Edge might just be a bit too showy, and a bit too chromed up for the Chinese domestic market. However, it is does fill the gap in the line up in Ford China’s SUV segment, which is an area that Ford have so far failed to exploit with a domestically made vehicle as of yet.

Until now, BMW only offered parts from its Motorsport catalog to people (and maybe even entities) in Europe. Not so any longer; professional and amateur racers in the U.S. will now be able to buy parts for select vehicles.

The initial limited release will include catalogs for the 2008 Z4, the current 3-series, and 1995–present M3s, including the parts necessary to build and maintain an M3 GT4 like the one shown above. More cars should be added in the future. The parts will only be available through four BMW stores: Laurel BMW in Westmont, Illinois; Global Imports in Atlanta, Georgia; BMW of Stratham in Stratham, New Hampshire; and BMW of Cleveland in Solon, Ohio.

You can take a look at the catalogs here.

Related posts:

1. BMW Motorsport Announces Z4 GT3
2. Bridgestone Seeks Greater Innovation Outside the Pinnacle of Motorsport
3. BMW Adds Real-Time Fuel Prices, Weather, and Stock Quotes to BMW Search

Buick’s competitive new products—starting with the Enclave and now the LaCrosse and brand-new Regal—far exceed the brand’s former perception of building roly-poly barges for the retiree crowd. Speaking of the age thing, this recent product push has helped; Buick’s average customer in the U.S. is now 65 years old versus 72 just a short while ago. This may sound ancient compared to the usual marketing spiel about appealing to the young, hip, active-lifestyle crowd (never mind that these people don’t tend to have the money to actually buy a new car). But as the director of Buick marketing, Craig Bierley, points out, the average age of any U.S. new-car buyer is 54, due to an aging population of boomers; in fact, this number has steadily increased over the past five years.

By the way, the situation couldn’t be more different than in Buick’s largest market, China, where the brand is perceived as fashionable and the average age of its customers is an enviable 32.

The Buick team wisely acknowledges that product is king—of which substantially more will be coming in the near future—but is also continuing a significant and sustained advertising budget to help people see the light. The plan appears to be working, too, as focus groups are showing a much-improved view of the latest cars. A series of questions that marketers refer to as the “purchase funnel” starts out by asking broad questions such as, “Have you ever heard of Buick?”, followed up with more and more detailed queries leading to “Would you rate the LaCrosse as excellent?” (that is, if they already have first-hand experience with the product). The previous LaCrosse received “excellent” ratings just eight percent of the time versus well over 20 percent for the new car (for reference, the best brands receive “excellent” ratings from about 40 percent of respondents). This tripling in the past year is an all-time record among GM brands.

Interestingly, Bierley says that it was more than simply Buick’s importance in China that kept it alive post-bankruptcy, whereas Pontiac was dropped. He explains that consumer data shows that Buick doesn’t, in fact, have a negative brand perspective. It’s simply that most people believe the brand’s cars are appropriate for their parents or grandparents and not for them. This perception, he says, is far easier to fix than Pontiac’s predicament. It turns out the excitement division often received such glamorous feedback from clinics as being thought of as cars for “white trash.” We’re no marketing experts, but that does sound pretty dire.

Related posts:

1. Buick Will Do Away With Trim Levels in 2012
2. Next Up From Buick: Smaller Sedan and Compact SUV
3. Buick to Launch Four New Models in 24 Months

Despite the green hype, internal-combustion engines will keep powering vehicles for the foreseeable future.

Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan and Renault, has proclaimed that battery-powered vehicles will account for 10 percent of global new-car sales by 2020. Mr. Ghosn, of course, is planning to introduce at least four electric cars in the next three years. Independent analysts, however, such as Tim Urquhart of IHS Global Insight, believe that battery-powered vehicles will remain at less than one percent of the new-car mix in 2020.

Keep Reading: The Future of the Internal-Combustion Engine – Feature

Related posts:

1. Engine Displacement Downsizing – Feature
2. Mercedes Engine Transplant: Modern Diesel in a 1992 190E 2.6 – Feature
3. The Future of In-Car Technology – Feature

This Italian compact shows the Fiat-Chrysler alliance has promise.

We are sympathetic to the boy who cried wolf. Frankly, we’ve lost track of the number of times we have heralded the return of Alfa Romeo to the United States.

Keep Reading: 2010 Alfa Romeo Giulietta – First Drive Review

Related posts:

1. 2010 Alfa Romeo Giulietta – Official Photos and Info
2. 2010 Alfa Romeo Giulietta @ 2010 Geneva Auto Show – Video
3. 2012 Alfa Romeo Giulietta – Feature

We took a look through GM’s 2011 online order guide, which highlights scores of minor equipment changes across the General’s brands. Most of them are boring—do you really care that order codes for certain metallic paints have changed?—so we picked out the interesting and important changes for 2011 vehicles.

Chevrolet Camaro

GM has already announced some of the Camaro’s main changes, notably a fake power increase for V-6 models and the addition of an optional head-up display. Buyers also are now be able to specify factory-installed hood and hockey-stick stripes in black, white, or gray (pictured above) as part of a mid-2010 running change. Bad news for Transformers fans: picking Rally Yellow paint now costs extra.

Chevrolet Corvette

The Z06 Carbon Limited Edition, at right, is new for 2011 and slots between the regular Z06 and ZR1. Among other things, it includes the Z06 Ultimate Performance Package and Z06 Carbon-Fiber Package, which are also available separately on the middle Vette. The new model year also brings improved synchronizers for all manual-transmission Vettes, new five-spoke wheel designs for base Corvettes, and a retuned exhaust for the Z06.

Chevrolet HHR

As we reported last year when GM shut down its High-Performance Vehicle Operations group, the turbocharged HHR SS is dead for 2011, leaving just naturally aspirated engines in its wake. (Chevy’s SS lineup is now limited to just the V-8 Camaro.) HHR buyers also lose the ability to order chrome exterior trim or to delete the rear seat.

Chevrolet Malibu

Six-speed automatic transmissions become standard across the board for the Malibu; a four-speed auto had previously been included with the base LS four-cylinder model.

Cadillac STS

For 2011, the STS V-8 dies, leaving just the V-6 model with either rear- or all-wheel-drive. (It’s really no big loss since the aging 4.6-liter Northstar eight made only 18 hp more than the 3.6-liter V-6.) Adaptive cruise control, four-wheel active steering, real-time adaptive damping, and magnetic ride control were all only offered with a V-8 and thus vanish from the STS order form.

Related posts:

1. Chevrolet Confirms Camaro Convertible, Orlando, Shows Next-Gen Aveo and Malibu
2. 2008 Chevrolet HHR / HHR SS – Review
3. 2009 Chevrolet HHR / HHR SS – Review

The plug-in Prius goes much further and faster on electricity alone, but remains a Prius in every other respect.

Way back in the waning years of the last millennium, the Toyota Prius was born, becoming the first Toyota hybrid. Since then, of course, many other Toyota and Lexus hybrids have hit the roads, as have many from nearly every other automaker. But it’s the Prius—thanks to distinct (if unsexy) styling and industry-leading fuel economy—that remains the unofficial green-mobile for Toyota and the world.

Naturally, then, the Prius is set to become the first Toyota to make the next big leap in fuel efficiency for 2012 by going plug-in with its new Prius PHV, or Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle. And since 2012 is a long ways off—in our impatient minds, at least—we jumped at the chance to drive one of the 150 powder-blue preproduction Prius PHVs bound for the U.S. in 2010. All are part of Toyota’s Prius PHV pilot program that places vehicles with various utilities and government agencies to gather data on vehicle performance.

Keep Reading: 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid – First Drive Review

Related posts:

1. 2010 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Concept – Official Photos and Info
2. Toyota Launches Plug-In Hybrid Prius Leases, Plans Sales by 2011
3. Toyota to Bring Plug-In Prius to U.S. in Late 2009 – Auto Shows