Short Torque

Acura to open local plant

In 2016, Domestic production will begin on models under the Acura brand, Honda Motor Co's luxury division. The facility will be operated by the Guangzhou Automobile Group, China's sixth-largest automaker by sales, according to the two sides' joint announcement released on July 18. According to the announcement, this move is intended to meet the demands of China's rapidly growing luxury auto segment.

Green car sales up in first half

More than 16,000 green vehicles including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure electrics, were sold in the first half of 2013, said Qian Minghua, a department chief at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on July 12. By the end of 2012, the country had produced 27,400 new energy vehicles, of them 4,400 units were purchased by private customers. Pilot cities have built 146 charging stations and 807 charging booths.

Rolls-Royce to grow network

Premium auto brand Rolls-Royce will open a dealer in Nanning, capital of Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in the third quarter of the year, to meet the surging demand in the region. It plans to increase the number of it dealers from 16 to 20 in the country in 2013. It sold 3,575 units globally last year, one-fourth of which were sold on the Chinese market. Currently its dealers are mainly in China's big cities or coastal areas, and there is only one operational in the southwestern region of the nation.

Motoring

(China Daily 07/22/2013 page10)