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China Quality Association and National User Committee released the 2011 China Automobile Customer Satisfaction Index (CACSI) on September 27.

They reviewed the models of 120 passenger vehicle brands with strong sales in 2011 through surveys with vehicle owners. The survey finds that the proportion of the first-time new vehicle buyers reduced from 75.9% last year to 73.3% this year. Meanwhile, the customer satisfaction index this year is 79 points, one point up from a year earlier and the highest score since 2002. The loyalty of auto users stays at 73 points. But the complaint rate of auto users against auto products rises 1.1 percentage points to 17.2% this year, the second consecutive year for the rate to rise. 54.8% of the complaints are against the quality of auto products, while 31.9% of the complaints are against after-sales services, up 10.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Some auto brands’ sluggish sales and ignorance of after-sales service quality are the major reasons for consumer complaints.

The survey also shows that auto consumers hope automakers to focus on improving the efficiency of after-sales services, improving the maintenance quality and charging service fees reasonably.

The number of defects in 100 new vehicles is 133, down 15 from a year earlier. The overall defect rate of the auto industry is 54.3%, down seven percentage points from a year earlier, which means the quality of new vehicles increases. However, the ratings of auto users on the reliability of engine system, driving system, steering and braking system, configurations and handling equipment, AC system, audio & entertainment navigation system are quite low.

The survey also finds that the homegrown automakers have been improved a lot in the aspects of brand building and quality improvement, but their customer satisfaction index still lags behind JV brands. The satisfaction index of homegrown brands is 75 points, which are six points lower than JV brands.

Zotye have long been the subject to take over rumors, as soon as the yearly automotive mergers and acquisitions rumor mill starts going Zotye are placed somewhere at the top of the list, but the plucky company has so far avoided overtures from major state owned companies they are rumored to be close to be setting up a partnership with Mitsubishi owing to Zotye’s impressive R&D in to battery swapping technology for their EV range.

At the Shanghai Auto Show Zotye showed a series of concept cars rather than current or new production cars, the cocky company was clearly eager to show its future rather than its current range, one of the concepts on display was the Z300. The Z300 maybe based on the Palio platform that Zotye bought from Fiat – we’re not entirely sure what maybe underpinning the Z300 but we’re guessing the Palio for now. The full car measures in at (LxWxH) 4565mm x 1766 x 1493mm and has a wheelbase of 2700mm. Under the hood Zotye has taken engine power from Mitsubishi in the form of a 1.5L producing 117bhp and 141Nm of torque.

Chinese auto website Autohome.com.cn had an early test drive of the new Z300 prior to it hitting the market, overall comments are quite positive of what the car achieves for its estimated price of 70,000rmb to 100,000rmb with the only negative comments being about the Mitsubishi sourced engine which is not quite powerful enough, but more than enough for daily city driving. Whilst the interior is obviously not on par with other compact sedans, especially the fake wood (although it may have a sheet of protective plastic covering the central section) the Z300 is Zotye’s first attempt at going mainstream, their first car was based on the Daihatsu Tarios, their second was the Fiat Multipla, the SUV sold in massive numbers, the Multiplan not so. The Z300 is likely to be a hit for Zotye when it hits the market later this year.

When GM started its own sub brand with Baojun Honda decided ‘We too, can do that‘ and of course it went at its own plans. But with Honda having two partners in China that are both focused on passenger car production, where as GM has one focused on passenger cars with SAIC and another focused on commercial vehicles with FAW. Honda’s partners at Dongfeng-Honda and Guangzhou-Honda both had plans for their own Honda based sub brands and by recycling Honda’s older platforms for customers that were not as aesthetically minded it seemed like a win-win situation for the joint venture partner and the customer, the partners would get access to IPR and the customer gets a world class car, albeit slightly more ‘mature’ for a Chinese price, Honda China could already hear the tills ringing.

Honda’s first sub brand came from their Guangzhou Honda joint venture, the Everus brand was launched at the Guangzhou Auto Show in December 2010, the Chinese media were waiting with baited breath as to what the first Everus would look like – instead they got the old generation Honda City with a new epilepsy inducing badge glued to the front end. The Everus S1 (aka the old City) has been on sale for a couple of months now, of course it does not yet have an independent dealership network and is sold through the Guangzhou Honda network and has accumulated sales of 13,459 units to date and sold just under 1500 units in August alone, clearly early days but there is some traction there at least.

The second sub brand will come from Dongfeng-Honda and is expected to be called Si Ming (思铭) in Chinese, or CIIMO in English – make sense? It does in Chinese, where the first character makes thoughts and Ming meaning an inscribed motto. The badge of course looks very similar to Dongfeng’s own badge with a few different strokes in there for good measure to mix things up, but the first car will be even more familiar; it’s the old Honda Civic with a minor face lift to keep it relevant. The new Honda Civic launched in China earlier this month at the Chengdu Auto Show and seems to be roughly on par with what was launched in the US last month, the hatchback version that was sold in Europe only until now is thought to in the works for China in mid to late 2012.

According to Chinese media reports the new old Civic will continue to use the old Civic’s 1.8L engine and 5 speed manual and automatic gearbox, pricing is hard to gauge in these early days but it could be somewhere in the 100,000 to 140,000rmb range.

Data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows that the August sales of homegrown passenger vehicles declined 2.86% from a year earlier to 407,400 units, accounting for 37.2% of the country’s total sales of passenger vehicles, down 3.96% from a year earlier.

Most of China’s homegrown brands saw their market shares down in August except Geely and Great Wall. BYD’s auto sales declined 8.4% in the month, Chery’s auto sales down 15.9%, and SAIC’s sales of passenger vehicles down 1.4% in the Jan-Aug period. The expiration of the stimulus policies early this year could be a reason for the homegrown brands to lose market shares.

Some analysts blame foreign joint venture manufacturers that are grabbing the market shares of domestic brands. It’s true that the JV automakers saw their market shares up this year, and some JV automakers entered into the lower-price vehicle segment, the traditional stronghold of homegrown brands.

However, it’s a wrong attitude to blame the market share decline to the aggressive moves of the JV automakers. Actually, it’s themselves they are losing to. The young homegrown brands don’t have distinct brand characteristics, so their image as a whole might be hurt by some irresponsible brands. Besides, the soaring sales made China’s homegrown brands lose their ration. Shen Yang, general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling, believes that China’s auto market growth was overly fast in recent years, which made the homegrown brands lose the motive to get themselves improved. They stop respecting the market, nor trying to learn about the market. Now the bad market situation is forcing the homegrown brands to think it over and acquire more learning abilities.

Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.

The Frankfurt auto show has closed its doors for another two years, and I am recovering from miles of walking corridors and exhibition areas with no air conditioning. This year’s IAA did not send a coherent message, which is a good thing. There was a peaceful coexistence of electrics and high-powered supercars—and absolutely no one seemed to pay attention to the various electric scooters, which are a pointless diversion for carmakers.

One great effect of electrics is the fact that they may lead to a redefinition of urban mobility. The Audi Urban concept, the Opel Rak e and the Volkswagen Nils represent a new type of vehicle, and a welcome departure from the obsession with passive safety that has made modern cars as heavy as tanks, and twice as clumsy. That’s not to say these city cars aren’t safe—in fact, they are, but they are also compact, lightweight, and they do without a dozen air bags, cameras, and exterior mirrors the size of elephant ears.

Personally, I liked Opel’s and Audi’s concepts better than VW’s. The Opel Rak e was obviously developed with cost in mind; it has a high-strength-steel structure and a fiberglass body; the co-driver is seated behind the driver; the interior is positively minimalistic and dominated by a screen; the view forward resembles that of a bike more than a car’s.

Audi’s Urban concept, by contrast, uses an aluminum space frame and a sort of trough made from carbon fiber, which defines the shape of the two seats. Their offset arrangement allows the co-driver to look forward onto the road, and it makes the car wider. Internally, Audi has created three versions: a “Sportback” with a canopy roof, a roadster, and a coupe (which was not shown). The styling language is characteristically Audi; in fact, designers insist the Auto Union Silver Arrow Typ D, a legendary late-1930s race car, was their inspiration.

VW’s one-seater Nils is a less convincing entry. Internally, engineers have worked on the Nils for three years, with structural work handled by Audi. The project was stalled for some time, but when Audi designers got wind of it, they decided to do their own interpretation—and suddenly, the VW Nils was back on track as well. But the vehicle looks tiny and static next to the Audi (and the Opel).

A Technology Update from France

In Frankfurt, I spent some time with Martin Haub, head of R&D at supplier Valeo. He believes in the electrification of the car, especially in range-extender concepts. But he says that the cost for such systems must come down significantly. His proposal for the “affordable hybrid” aims to halve the cost of hybridization by bringing down the voltage to 48 Volts, and by improving battery and/or supercapacitor systems. A prototype shown by Valeo integrates stop/start functions, regenerative braking, and an electric boost function, and can drive on battery power at constant velocities with an electric motor with just 10 to 20 hp. Haub also says that Valeo is working on an “alternative hybrid” that uses an electrically driven supercharger to “indirectly” boost the engine at low rpm.

Valeo is a technology leader on headlight systems, and Haub boldly precicts that from 2016 onwards, xenon headlights will be replaced by LEDs. While Haub has little doubt that the HID, as we know it, is doomed, the question remains whether halogen light will eventually become relegated to the dust bin. “I am convinced that we will see this moment. In the long run, LEDs will become the cheapest light source. They will dominate the market,” says Haub.

Fast Ford and Bad News from Porsche

Ford is adding a six-speed manual version to its top-of-the-line European-market Mondeo—a 2.0-liter, 240-hp turbo. The fastest Mondeo ever maxes out at 155 mph; fuel economy is 30.9 mpg in the European cycle. The Mondeo is sized like the Ford Fusion, but it uses an entirely different platform; the next model generations will share a platform again, like the first-gen Mondeo. Its U.S.-market sister models were the Contour and the Mercury Mystique.

Ford’s decision makes sense as 72 percent of cars on the German market, according to enthusiast magazine Auto Straßenverkehr, are equipped with manual gearboxes. But the troubling fact is that manual gearboxes increasingly become a low-cost choice, not a choice made to enhance driving pleasure. While 92 percent of subcompacts have a manual in Germany, the number decreases to 62 percent for mid-size cars and 35 percent for upper-midsize and premium cars. The most disturbing number by far: Only 16 percent of Porsche’s vehicles are sold with a manual transmission in their home market.

The concept is both simple and ambitious: travel the world using 80 different modes of transportation, with no repeats. We’re guessing a monster truck won’t be among them, despite the fact that Dennis Anderson—creator of Grave Digger, and the interviewee in the What I’d Do Differently feature in our upcoming December issue—is one of the show’s hosts. He’ll be paired with Robert “Boston Rob” Mariano, a guy who is famous for eventually winning Survivor after competing four times. The two will work together at times and race each other at others, with each episode following their indirect journey to a new destination using transportation methods from throughout history. (Ah, there’s the tie-in to the show’s home channel.)

The first episode debuts this Sunday at 10 p.m. Eastern on History, follows Anderson and Mariano on their way to Lake Titicaca in Peru. The duo employs a variety of livestock, a zip-line, and reed boats, among other modes, over the hour-long trek.

Watch the trailer below and don’t forget to read the interview with Anderson in our December issue.

We caught a glimpse of the refreshed 2013 Lincoln MKS yesterday, and running in the pack with it our spy photographers spotted the 2013 MKT crossover. As you can see in these pictures, it too will receive a new rendition of the brand’s waterfall grille. Just as on the MKS, the MKT’s large, split grille gets thinner slats.

There don’t appear to be any other styling changes to the MKT, although our shooters were unable to photograph the rear of the car. The current range of engines—a naturally aspirated 3.7-liter V-6 and a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6—may be joined by a turbocharged 2.0-liter four; if the small turbo engine makes the cut, it will likely only power front-drive models. The 2013 Lincoln MKT is slated to go on sale in spring 2012, and it should make its first public appearance at November’s Los Angeles auto show.

With this 535i-based gas-electric, BMW finally moves toward mainstream hybrid appeal.

BMW’s earlier steps into hybridization haven’t been the most decisive. The hybrid vehicles it has offered so far start at nearly $90,000 and don’t quite have the impressive fuel-economy numbers commonly associated with hybrids. The hybrid 7-series is rated by the EPA at 17 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway; the now-cancelled X6 hybrid, 17/19. (The upcoming i8 plug-in hybrid sports car will certainly better those figures, but with wild looks and an anticipated six-figure sticker, it isn’t going to hold much mainstream appeal.) Next year, though, the Bavarians will be taking a big step in making the once-bizarre notion of a hybrid BMW more accessible—though once again not quite as efficient as most hybrids—when the company launches the ActiveHybrid 5 in March.

Keep Reading: 2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5 – Official Photos and Info

With corners like Deadman’s, the old Mulholland racetrack seemed like the perfect place to test our mettle in a 470-hp hunk of American iron. Did we mention the wasps?!?

Everybody in the party had been warned to wear long sleeves and hiking shoes. Almost nobody did. Just a few turns down from what we were told is Madonna’s Beverly Hills château, or one of them anyway, we parked the new Chrysler 300 SRT8 and took the first step off  Mulholland Drive onto a 45-degree downward slope, alternately sliding and stumbling into thickets of brown grass and sumac bushes. Soon we were invisible under a canopy of monkeypod and California black walnut trees, moving carefully to dodge the poison oak.

Keep Reading: 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 – Road Test

Lincoln will refine, rather than abandon, the corporate waterfall grille.

In our September 2011 issue, we presented an in-depth feature about how Ford intends to turn the Lincoln brand around, noting that the plan will begin in November with the debut of the updated MKS and MKT. We now have spy photos of the former, which gives us a first look at a number of the updates.

Keep Reading: 2013 Lincoln MKS Spy Photos – Future Cars