Well, it was auctioned off today at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing for a whopping $1.75 million. Unfortunately, the identity of the winning bidder was withheld so we have no idea who he was, although, we do know that he’s probably rich enough to afford paying for this car.
If you recall, this uber-rare Ferrari, which incidentally was based from a limited edition 599 that is going to be exclusively sold in China, was designed by Mr. Hao with pottery patterns from the legendary Song Dynasty.
While the one-off 599 was the highlight of the auction, other Ferrari items were also up for bids, including racing overalls worn by Giancarlo Fisichella, as well as a helmet and model car that has been signed by no less than seven-time F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher.
The auction was done as part of a fund-raising where proceeds generated by the auction would go to the funding of a number of students and teachers from the Department of Automotive Engineering at Tsinghua University. These select group of students and teachers will be given the opportunity to go on a trip to the land of the Prancing Horse – Italy – where they’ll be given a chance to study at Politecnico di Milano University and take up an internship job at Ferrari.
After months of negotiations and a few bumps in the road along the way, General Motors has finally reached an agreement with China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery to sell an 80% stake of Hummer to the China-based company.
News of the impending sale have been floating around for months now but for a time, the deal was met with some strong resistance from the Chinese government especially since the proposed purchase of a gas-guzzling vehicle like Hummer goes against the country’s new protocol of becoming more eco-friendly out on the roads.
But now it seems that the road to the sale has been smoothened out and while the deal still needs approval from a number of regulatory agencies in the US and China, it’s looking like it’s only a matter of time before Hummer finds a new home out on the Far East.
For its part, Tengzhong’s foray into the world of consumer vehicles is a step away from its comfort zone of only producing commercial trucks and industrial equipment. Nevertheless, the company is optimistic that it can make a seamless transition into producing fuel-efficient vehicles down the road.
According to Tengzhong’s CEO, Yang Yi: "We are excited about some of the initiatives already underway at HUMMER that we believe our investment will be able to accelerate, particularly related to the creation of the next generation of more fuel-efficient vehicles to meet not only future regulations but also customer expectations."
As part of the deal, GM will continue producing Hummer vehicles in its plants until June of 2011 with a possible one-year extension until 2012.
We have just learned that the Italian automaker Ferrari is commemorating its 5th anniversary selling cars on Chinese soil with a special edition 599 GTB Fiorano HGTE. Apparently, one of those 599 limited edition GT cars has become unit number 1 of 1 in an even more limited edition lineup. This one-of-a-kind Ferrari, which was also penned by Chinese designer Lu Hao, will be put up for auction at a charity gala that Ferrari will be hosting in Beijing on November 3, 2009.
As the only one that will ever be made, Hao went to painstaking lengths to make it as special as possible. Taking inspiration from the legendary Ge Liln porcelain of the Song Dynasty, Lu etched the pattern into the car. Apart from the specific etching, Hao also added a few more touches to make this special Ferrari even more unique, like the jade start button and gold colored rev counter with ancient Chinese “Xiao Zhuan” script, which also comes as standard issue on the 599 GTB HGTE China Limited Edition.
The exotic Italian automaker Ferrari has just released a special edition model to commemorate their fifth anniversary doing business in the China with a unique take on the 599 GTB Fiorano with HGTE, because when you are Ferrari you go all out. Not only will future collectors of the 599 examples of the China limited edition Ferrari feel the benefits of the GT car’s 6.0 Liter V12 that makes a screaming 612 HP and 448 lb-ft of torque that rockets the better handling Ferrari from 0 to 60 MPH in only 3.7 seconds. The car also comes complete with goodies like the: F1-Super gearbox, F1-Trac system, enhanced manettino, optimized aerodynamics and of course the even more high performance HGTE suspension setup.
Designed in collaboration with Chinese artisan Lu Hao, the Rosso Fuoco 599 China Limited Edition is painted with a silver roof and is adorned with a plaque that identifies the Ferrari as a China edition. The celebratory 599s are rich with highly detailed touches that celebrate the Asian nation’s culture and history. The numbers on the rev counter have been replaced with their representative symbols in Xiao Zhuan script. Not only does the starter button say the word in the same Chinese script, but it is also made of jade. The decorative green stone dates back thousands of years in Chinese history as not only ornamental but ceremonial as well, this makes the precious stone as valuable to them as items like diamonds and gold play in our lives here in the U.S.
This first celebratory model intended for the Ferraristas of China also comes with its own dedicated luggage to fit in the 599’s tight trunk space. The hand crafted leather baggage is decorated with an embroidered map of the ancient Silk Roads that connected China with Africa and the Mediterranean becoming the old world’s first major commercial route. Perhaps this means that Ferrari is planning another cross country celebration for their new car in which owners can pick up their cars at the factory in Maranello and drive them home using their luggage to guide them, although that would most likely never happen, the 599 GTB China Limited Edition will most certainly be an instant classic.
Japan has been known as one of the world’s strongest manufacturers, thanks to brands like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan calling the Land of the Rising Sun as home. And while a lot of us the world over have been treated to a wide variety of high-quality vehicles from these brands, as far as manufacturers are concerned, Japan is more than just these three brands, for better or for worse.
One other Japanese-based car company that we’ve all had the privilege to come across is Mitsuoka. For those who don’t know, Mitsuoka produces some of the most aesthetically gawky cars you can ever find. Why they do so, we have no clue, but we assume it has something to do with the Japanese way of being aggressive and bombastic with their ideas.
In any case, Mitsuoka’s forte is to create retro-looking cars that are, in some way shape or form, stylistically copied from cars coming from the Western world. And while small in stature compared to the Toyotas and Hondas of the world, Mitsuoka is now primed to expand their operations out of Japan with their first stop being China.
The car brand is crossing over to China with the company’s new Orochi luxury brand heading the plight. From what we’ve gathered, Mitsuoka is planning to use the 2010 Beijing Motor Show – where it will formally introduce the Orochi to the Chinese market - as its stepping stone towards its planned Chinese invasion. > More
It’s been awhile since we last heard of the Hummer-to-China deal, but apparently, the two sides have been working hard on ironing out the final kinks of the deal that would involve Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery buying one of the most iconic SUV brands in the world.
As part of the deal, which is expected to be completed at the latter part of the year, Tengzhong will maintain Hummer’s vast dealership network – the SUV brand is sold in more than thirty countries around the world.
A Tengzhong spokeswoman said: “there will be no change in Hummer’s existing global sales networks and the quality of its after sales services after the completion of the deal.”
Now it seems that the government has reserved course, with the commerce ministry softening its stance, saying that the deal was nothing more than a company taking advantage to grow its portfolio and network all over the world.
With talks now in the advanced stages, expect the deal between Tengzhong and Hummer to be finalized sooner than later.
There is a new hybrid super car coming from Japan that is set to debut sometime next year. If all goes well Tong Jian will be remembered amongst the greats such as Enzo Ferrari and Ferdinand Porsche; except for one thing Tong Jian is a Chinese figure skater. Perhaps the designers wanted to inspire the Tong Jian S11 to be as agile as the other speed machines that it resembles.
The car was designed by students from the Tongya University, and used a number of elements from super cars that are already on the market. The nose is a mix of Lamborghini scoops and Audi inspired headlights. The super car also features a pair of carbon fiber side scoops from an R8. Out back there are Ferrari inspired taillights and a powerfully round rear end that gives the S11 a GT-R like stance when viewed from behind. The Ferrari elements are carried over into the interior as well.
What should make electric automakers like Tesla take notice, is that the car will be powered to a combination of electric motors and internal combustion that will send power to all the four wheels. Could this be the next green super car?<
General Motors may be a long ways from getting back on its feet in the US, but in another country, the Detroit-based manufacturer is standing tall.
Despite a tenuous hold on the US auto market, GM can take comfort in the fact that they’re Chinese consumer base has more than picked up the slack, accounting for a whopping 814,442 vehicles in sales in the first six months of 2009.
It doesn’t come as the least bit surprising to us to see China establish themselves as the world’s leading auto market. After all, the country still comprises about 1/6th of the entire world’s population so naturally, that many people would entail a lot of customers too. GM also benefited through a number of stimulus policies the Chinese government has implemented, allowing foreign brands to import their products easier.
We mentioned a while back about the growing number of cars making its way into China. But apparently, cars aren’t the only ones infiltrating the world’s most populated country.
So are car factories.
We recently got word that General Motors, in an effort to build their brand on overseas markets – especially in China and Asia – will begin making the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car in China starting in 2011.
Now it seems that tapping into the largest market in the world is a sound strategy for GM, especially after going through its worst crisis in company history. The Detroit-based manufacturer is expected to use its China facility to continue building on its revolutionary technology in a wide variety of vehicles, which includes the Volt and a host of other cars the company is trying to introduce to the vast Asian market. Unlike their dismal showing in the US, GM is hopeful that the Chinese market – the biggest in the world by a mile – will take a liking to the Volt and the slew of other vehicles they’re planning to produce in the country. As it stands, all Volts built in China are to be sold there but the company is expected to open its doors to other Asian markets as well.
It’s beginning to look like Hummer is not moving to China after all.
Weeks after it was reported that General Motors was on its way to selling the beleaguered car franchise to investors from the East, strong objections towards the impending sale may have killed all the talks between GM and the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp.
China’s planning agency was apparently behind the blocking of the sale, saying that purchasing the Hummer would go against China’s new energy-saving policies.
In addition to that, China’s National Development and Reform Commission also noted that while the Hummer remains one of the most popular SUV brands in the world, selling it off to a buyer that has neither the expertise nor experience to produce the Hummer would only hurt the franchise’s credibility in the long run.
You may recall the surprising news a while back that General Motors found a suitor for the Hummer from China, which caught a lot of people by surprise. And now, it may not come to fruition, after all.
We haven’t heard any response from General Motors yet, but with the strict laws in China regarding foreign purchases – they require regulatory approvals, by the way – it’s becoming more and more likely that GM should open the possibility of having to look for a different buyer for the Hummer franchise because as it stands, the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp may have been pulled out of purchasing the Hummer by its own government.
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