Ex-Apple Engineer Arrested on His Way to China, Charged with Stealing Company’s Autonomous Car Secrets

Allyson Chiu
Washington Post
For about two years, Xiaolang Zhang was privy to information to which many in the tech world can only dream of having access: the inner workings of Apple’s secretive autonomous car research.

Welcome to China, Tesla. Now Time to Cough Up

Anjani Trivedi
Bloomberg
Welcome to China, Elon. Let’s talk about how this is going to work.

China Cuts Car Tariffs, in a Small Offering to U.S. on Trade

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
The small change is unlikely to motivate automakers to shift production.

Tesla Isn’t Ready to Thrive in China's Embrace

Anjani Trivedi
Bloomberg
The structure of the electric-car market means that it needs a local partner.

Xi Says China to Lower Trade Barriers as Beijing Files Wto Complaint against U.S.

Scott Neuman
NPR
China’s President Xi Jinping says his country will “significantly lower” import tariffs on automobiles as part of a broader move to open up its economy amid a major trade dispute with the U.S.

Trump Takes the Bait from Musk, Attacks China Auto Import Duties

Dana Hull and Justin Sink
Bloomberg
President Donald Trump may not follow Elon Musk on Twitter, but the Tesla Inc. chief’s posts decrying China’s automotive trade practices managed to catch his attention.

Sinica Podcast

03.06.18

Courts & Torts: Driving the Chinese Legal System

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
“Having read hundreds and hundreds of these cases, I have decided that I’m never going to drive in China.” That is what Benjamin Liebman, the director of the Center for Chinese Legal Studies at Columbia University, concluded after his extensive...

The Brands That Kowtow to China

Richard Bernstein from New York Review of Books
There’s been no joking as the apologies to China have come thick and fast in recent weeks, issued not by teenage singers but by some of the largest and richest multinational corporations in the world—the German luxury car manufacturer Daimler, the...

Germany’s Daimler Issues ‘Full Apology’ to China over Dalai Lama

BBC
Daimler has issued a second emphatic apology to China after its subsidiary, Mercedes Benz, quoted the Dalai Lama in an Instagram post on Monday.

China’s Didi Chuxing Signs Deal with 12 Car Groups

Charles Clover and Sherry Fei Ju
Financial Times
Chinese ride-hailing group Didi Chuxing has signed partnership agreements with 12 car companies to help them market auto-sharing services and electric vehicles.

China Wants to Enter the U.S. Car Market, But a Rough Road Lies Ahead

Russ Mitchell
Los Angeles Times
State-controlled Chinese automaker GAC Motor plans to enter the U.S. car market.

China Plans to Kill Local Subsidies for Electric Cars

Bloomberg News
Bloomberg
The Ministry of Finance is working on a plan that would mandate authorities to phase out the incentives to discourage protectionism and help rein in state expenditure, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing...

China Will Lead an Electric Car Future, Ford's Chairman Says

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
Speaking in Shanghai, William C. Ford Jr., Ford Motor’s longtime executive chairman, outlined why in an unusually blunt comment. “When I think of where E.V.s are going,” he said, using an abbreviation for electric vehicles, “it’s clearly the case...

China Hastens the World toward an Electric-Car Future

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
There is a powerful reason that automakers worldwide are speeding up their efforts to develop electric vehicles — and that reason is China.

Exclusive: One Ford, Two Systems - U.S. Carmaker Revamps China Strategy amid EV Push

Norihiko Shirouzu, Joseph White
Reuters
U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co (F.N) is overhauling its China plans as its global “One Ford” strategy is holding it back in the world’s biggest auto market, two high-ranking company insiders told Reuters.

China Considers Rule Change That Could Aid Tesla

Trefor Moss and Eva Dou
Wall Street Journal
The move could pave the way for Tesla Inc. to manufacture vehicles in China.

BYD Predicts Ambitious China Shift to Electric Cars by 2030

David Stanway
Reuters
All vehicles in the country will be “electrified” by 2030, which could range from full electric cars to mild hybrids, Chinese automaker BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said on Thursday. BYD, backed by Warren Buffett, has already invested heavily in the...

VW, China Partners to Recall 4.86 Million Vehicles over Takata Airbags

Reuters Staff
Reuters
Official Chinese estimates show over 20 million cars in China had air bags made by Takata, which have been linked to at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries globally. The air bags have the potential to explode with too much force and spray shrapnel.

Ride-Hailing Ucar Invests in China Tesla-Challenger Startup

Meng Jing
South China Morning Post
Ucar, a ride-hailing app launched by Hong Kong-listed China Auto Rental (Car Inc), has led a 2.2 billion yuan (US$324 million) investment into a Tesla-challenger in China, making its foray into automobile manufacturing.

China Auto Sales Fall 2.6 Pct in May; SUVs up 13.5 Pct

Associated Press
China's auto sales shrank for a second month in May amid weak demand following a rise in the sales tax, an industry group reported Monday.

An SUV Called Trumpchi, and Other Marketing Challenges for Chinese Autos in the U.S.

Wall Street Journal
The country’s auto makers aim to boost sales overseas, and are starting by building better cars. That’s just the first hurdle.

Why Ford’s Electric Push in China Might Get Grounded

Wall Street Journal
On Thursday Ford Motor announced its China-focused electric-car strategy, including new vehicles. Ford’s Chief Executive Mark Fields said the “time is right” for his company to beef up in China. It is playing catch-up, though.

South Korean Automakers Cut China Production amid Missile Dispute

Hyunjoo Jin
Reuters
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp have sharply cut vehicle production in China, sources said, as anti-Korean sentiment and competition from Chinese brands play havoc on sales and threaten earnings.

If U.S. Trade with China Is So Unfair, Why Is GM the Best-Selling Car There?

Tim Fernholz
Quartz
Ahead of a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Donald Trump’s White House has made clear that it isn’t happy with China’s high tariffs on imported American automobiles.

China’s Taxes on Imported Cars Feed Trade Tensions with U.S.

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
A Jeep Wrangler can cost $30,000 more in China than in the United States—and the reasons illustrate a growing point of tension between the two countries.

Ford to Build New Lincoln SUV in China by 2019

Detroit Free Press
Ford and its joint ventures in 2016 sold a record 1.27 million vehicles in China, though the company’s imported vehicle volume for 2016 was down overall from 2015.

These American-Made Ford Raptor Pickups Are Shipping off to China

Jordan Golson
Verge
In a move that is sure to make President Trump happy, Ford is shipping a boatload of F-150 Raptor pickup trucks. Company reps are very excited to be sending American-made trucks over to China instead of the other way around.

Books

01.23.17

China as an Innovation Nation

Edited by Yu Zhou, William Lazonick, and Yifei Sun
This volume assesses China’s transition to innovation-nation status in terms of social conditions, industry characteristics, and economic impacts over the past three decades, also providing insights into future developments.Defining innovation as the process that generates a higher quality, lower cost product than was previously available, the introductory chapter conceptualizes the theory of an innovation nation and the lessons from Japan and the United States. It outlines the key governance, employment, and investment institutions that China must build for such transition to occur, and examines China’s challenges and strategies to innovate in the era of global production systems. Two succeeding chapters explain the evolving roles of the Chinese state in innovation, and the new landscape of venture capital finance. The remaining chapters provide studies of major industries, which contain analyses of the evolving roles of investment by government agencies and business interests in the process. Included in these studies are traditional industries such as mechanical engineering, railroads, and automobiles; rapidly evolving and internationally highly integrated industries such as information-and-communication-technology (ICT); and newly emerging sectors such as wind and solar energy.Written by leading academics in the field, studies in this volume reveal Chinese innovation as diverse across industries and enterprises and fluid over time. In each sector, we observe continued co-evolution of state policy, market demand, and technology development. The strategies and structures of individual companies and industrial ecosystems are changing rapidly. The sum total of the studies is a great step forward in our understanding of the industrial foundations of China’s attempt to become an innovation nation. —Oxford University Press{chop}

China’s Electric Vehicle Strategy Paved With Potholes

Anjani Trivedi
Wall Street Journal
By the numbers, China looks like it’s on the way to dominating the global electric car industry. But

GM China Reportedly Under Antitrust Investigation: A Warning for Trump?

Bertel Schmitt
Forbes
The surprising report of an investigation of GM comes suspiciously close to President-elect Trump’s incendiary recent comments on Taiwan

German Automaker Chief Removed After ‘Racist Rant’ in China

BBC
German carmaker Daimler has apologized and removed a senior executive from his job after he made racist remarks in a row over parking

China’s Other Car Problem

Economist
A lack of parking spots worries Chinese car-owners--and fixing it will be hard

A Chinese Billionaire is Staking His Legacy—and Thousands of American Jobs—on this Factory in Ohio

Ylan Mui
Washington Post
The chairman of Fuyao Group, the biggest auto glass maker in China, rose from poverty by riding the same wave of globalization that devastated Moraine, Ohio

Volkswagen in Talks to Make Electric Cars in China

Rose Yu
Wall Street Journal
The German car maker has signed a memorandum of cooperation with China Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co.

Caixin Media

08.22.16

What’s Next for Uber and Didi in China?

New regulations and a blockbuster merger between the industry’s largest players are reshaping the business landscape for China’s car-hailing app companies.And the landscape is widening as car-hailing companies, including Didi Chuxing Technology Co...

Tesla Drops Autopilot Label From Chinese Site after Crash

Peter Campbell
Financial Times
The move comes only days after receiving complaints over the way it markets the technology to potential owners.

Environment

07.21.16

Chengdu’s Pollution Is Complicated by Taxi Apps

from chinadialogue
Research carried out by Peking University’s Statistical Science Centre and Guanghua School of Management found that Chengdu suffers from air pollution 88 percent of the time—even worse than Beijing at 76 percent.

Green Space

04.13.16

Chinese Love Affair with Cars, and Tesla

Michael Zhao
Chinese love their cars. With the emergence of a large middle class, and in spite of restrictions on daily car use in some cities, many Chinese households are choosing to keep a second and sometimes even a third automobile. The world’s most populous...

Green Space

03.25.16

Facebook CEO Defies China Smog; Spoof Projects Nostril-Hair Air Filters

Michael Zhao
At least a few of Facebook’s 1.5 billion users now know that founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg ran several miles in some of Beijing’s most notorious smog on Friday March 18 while he was in the city attending a conference. Famously sharing his...

Features

02.18.16

The Bamboo Bicycles of Chengdu

Sascha Matuszak
The shift in how Chinese prefer to get around means salespeople in China have to market bicycles as fashion accessories, rather than as reliable modes of transportation. This is where colorful custom-made fixed gear bicycles come in. Hipsters from...

Environment

11.20.15

China Remains a Rocky Road for Electric Cars

from chinadialogue
Recent revelations about Volkswagen’s emissions have focused attention on the environmental damage caused by the auto and fuel industries—and the need for a decisive shift towards genuinely green transport that can cut smog in the world’s major...

Infographics

09.29.15

China’s New Roads Are Taking a Toll

from Sohu
On July 21, the Ministry of Transport issued a revised draft of its “Regulations on Toll Road Administration,” outlining planned adjustments to toll collection periods.Four Important Changes:{photo, 19386, 3}How Many Toll Roads Are There in China...

Conversation

09.16.15

What Would New Breakthroughs on Climate Change Mean for the U.S.-China Relationship?

Junjie Zhang, Joanna Lewis & more
With just over a week to go before Chinese President Xi Jinping begins his first State Visit to the United States, there is much evidence to suggest that bilateral action to fight climate change is an area most ripe for meaningful Sino-U.S...

Caixin Media

06.30.15

Tesla’s Ambitious Quest for Traction in China

Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk was mobbed like a pop star last year while introducing Chinese consumers to his U.S. company’s Model S electric car.Amid the frenzy, the American billionaire-entrepreneur ambitiously predicted China would...

China Fines Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz for Price-Fixing

BBC
China is the world's No. 1 car market and foreign automakers have been under scrutiny for allegedly overcharging customers.

BMW China Dealers Press Auto Maker for More Financial Support

Rose Yu and Colum Murphy
Wall Street Journal
In letter to German luxury car maker, dealers call on BMW to set more realistic sales targets.

Car-Hire Services Compete for the Ride Stuff

Qin Min and Wang XInci
Uber's deal with a car broker is a sign of growing competition among firms relying on car-hire and taxi-hailing apps.

Environment

01.21.15

‘New Measures Needed’ To Take China’s Cars Off the Roads

from chinadialogue
As air pollution once more soared to hazardous levels last week in Beijing, in Washington a panel of Chinese and other international experts explained some of the solutions to taking cars off the roads in the world’s most populous country, but there...

Media

01.08.15

What Will Happen to Uber in China?

Ride-sharing app Uber has expanded around the world at a blistering pace, launching in a new city every one or two days. At first glance, China would appear the ideal fit for the Silicon Valley startup. Most urban residents in the world’s second-...

Driverless Cars Compete in China

Naga Munchetty
BBC
China has been holding its sixth driverless car competition, with the unmanned vehicles having to navigate their way through various obstacles.

China Puts the Brakes on Car Makers

William Boston and Yoko Kubota
Wall Street Journal
Global car makers sounded new warnings that demand in China, the auto market’s strongest growth engine in recent years, is cooling further and clouding prospects after several reported disappointing October sales in the country.

Environment

10.23.14

Tesla-Unicom Deal Could Spark China’s Electric Vehicle Market

from chinadialogue
Electric vehicle firm Tesla’s major new deal with China Unicom to build EV charging infrastructure unites what is seemingly the only EV success story, pursuing a business model targeting elite customers, with China’s second largest mobile phone...

Trust-busting in China

Economist
 Unequal before the law? China’s antitrust crackdown turns ugly, with foreign carmakers at the forefront.

Chinese Regulators Search Daimler Offices

CHRIS BUCKLEY and JACK EWING
New York Times
The German automobile giant Daimler has become the latest multinational company to bear the brunt a Chinese regulatory investigation, confirming on Tuesday that officials from an agency that enforces antimonopoly and pricing rules had searched its...

China Using Antimonopoly Law to Pressure Foreign Businesses

LAURIE BURKITT and COLUM MURPHY
Wall Street Journal
China is using its six-year-old antimonopoly law to put foreign businesses under increasing pressure, a development that experts say will intensify as Beijing seeks greater sway over the prices paid by Chinese companies and consumers.

Death Toll Rises to 75 in Chinese Factory Blast

Jack Chang
Associated Press
The death toll in for an explosion at a Chinese auto parts factory has risen to 75 people, as investigators fault poor safety measures and news reports reveal that workers had long complained of dangerous levels of dust.

China Using Antimonopoly Law to Pressure Foreign Businesses

Laurie Burkitt and Colum Murphy
Wall Street Journal
Experts say Beijing seeking greater sway over prices paid by Chinese companies and consumers.

Does Multimillion Dollar Chinese Investment Signal Detroit’s Rebirth?

Jonathan Kaiman
Guardian
With a weak US dollar, strong yuan and China’s own real estate market cooling after years of explosive growth, Detroit is an attractive—but high-risk—option for Chinese property developers.

Note to Cadres: Hands Off the Black Audi and Chauffeur

CHRIS BUCKLEY
New York Times
Can you take away that ultimate perk of the respectable cadre—the black car with intimidatingly tinted windows, an equally intimidating medley of official insignia, passes and a faithful driver? We’re about to find out.

China Auto Sales Rise But Domestic Brands Lag

Joe McDonald
Sacramento Bee
Sales in the world's biggest auto market accelerated in May but domestic Chinese brands lagged and their market share shrank, an industry group reported Tuesday.