Results tagged “cars”

• Discounts! Bargains! Deals! This week there apparently a glut of savings at Plaza 353 where dozens of stores are beginning to offer promotions and steep discounts in anticipation of the impending national holiday [City Weekend]
• We'll need those savings if we're going to enjoy this hairy crab season. Reports have come out that prices will be about 10% higher than last year because of bigger crabs and higher water quality. [Shanghai Daily]
• In the mood for a classy night out living it up with the fashionistas but don't want to spend a lot? The Frau Ana fashion shows combines a party, fashion, and no cover this Friday. Oh, and there is allegedly free cotton candy. Sweet. [Shanghaiist]

Not only was Car Free Day in Shanghai neither car free or a day, it seems that the two-and-a-half hour traffic ban on Nanjing Xi Lu this morning probably just caused more congestion (and possibly more pollution thanks to stopped, but still running, cars) thanks to nobody even knowing it was Car Free Day. And who can blame them? The day has shrunk from an entire 12-hour ban on private cars in central business districts in 2007 to just six hours on fewer streets last year and now to the measly little attempt this time around. And while today's efforts may have been symbolic, transport planners apparently forgot to tell the media to widely publicize their mediocre, lame action. As a result, traffic was backed up along most nearby roads. Good going, guys. Source:Shanghai Daily

While we suppose that people who use private transportation are wiping their brows at the news, Shanghai's Car Free Day - which happens tomorrow, September 22 - seems to be a bit of a wash. While there is a rule that no cars are allowed in a section of the city during the day, take a look at where and for how long. Unlike previous reports that cars would be banned over five square kilometers for twelve entire hours, it seems that drivers will actually only need to worry about roads from between 8am to 10:30am... and only if they are traveling the stretch of Nanjing Xi Lu between Shimen Er Lu and Huashan Lu. If you happen to be around Shanghai Center and Plaza 66 at that time, we suppose you could leap through the usually crowded street (watch out for buses if you do), but otherwise, everywhere else will remain exactly the same as usual. Source: Xinmin

Who knew that there was enough good will on the Chinese internet to help a beggar afford an automobile? Meet Wang Hao (王昊). By day, he's a mild-mannered, Shanghainese office worker, but upon logging onto the web by night, he becomes Gloomy Hao (郁闷昊), the world's most powerful online beggar.

Well, would you look at this crazy little contraption. According to the Metacafe link, this single seat car (actually double seat, the passenger is in the rear), will be sold in Shanghai in 2010. The car allegedly gets 258 miles per gallon, can cruise at 100 to 120kmh and only costs 4000RMB. There's absolutely nothing to dislike... EXCEPT IT'S NOT REALLY TRUE.

How hot is it in Shanghai? So hot that a car spontaneously combusted last week. At around 3:30pm on July 9, a Volkwagen Passat began smoking and caught on fire at the corner of Changde Lu and Changle Lu, according to Xinmin. By the time the Xinmin reporter got to the car, the fire had already been extinguished. But from the photos of the aftermath, it looks like the fire did a number on the front of the vehicle. The tow company said that the car likely combusted because of circuit failure. As a PSA, perhaps you should keep your car out of the sun.

Londoners living in major Chinese cities may find themselves feeling a little more at home in the near future. Geely Automobile Holdings, a Hangzhou-based budget car maker, plans to manufacture and sell about 1,000 of London's iconic black cabs throughout China by the end of the year.

Here's something to consider if you're thinking of buying a car in Shanghai: the city is discussing a scheme to grant discounts to license plates of low-emission vehicles. Every year, the Shanghai government puts a set number of license plates its willing to issue up for auction in an attempt to slow urban congestion. Though they've raised the amount of issued plates each year to pace growing demand, getting a " 沪 （hu）" license can still be astronomically expensive (this January, it cost around $4,388 per plate - and that was considered low). Officials weren't clear about what discount would be offered, but the policy would hope to balance reducing the cost of owning a private car and boosting sales of more environmentally friendly motor vehicles. Source: Shanghai Daily

As a tribute to the ongoing Shanghai Auto Show, car blog Jalopnik has posted their list of the ten worst Chinese car names. Our favorite: the Tang Hua Detroit Fish, which takes the cake for not just sounding like possibly the most unappetizing seafood dish in the Midwest, but is also an amphibious car with giant holes.

         

Chery seemed to be the only car on the lot to have a functioning electric car (the Riich M1) but other car makers who have jumped on the green bandwagon included Peugeot, BMW, Volvo, Mercedes Benz and Hyundai.

Porsche's Panamera Turbo is a soon-to-be-released sports sedan, a German-produced rocket of a car that puts out a whopping 493 horsepower, rockets from 0-60mph in 4.0 seconds, and only stops accelerating at a mind-numbing 188mph. So why, given Shanghai's never-ending traffic problems, should you care? Because you could be one of the first to see it!

• Chavez says world 'center of gravity' now Beijing [AP] "The world's center of gravity has moved to Beijing, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told his Chinese counterpart Wednesday during a visit focused on boosting Chinese oil purchases. The frequent U.S. critic also praised China's response to the global financial meltdown that has sent prices of his South American nation's key export, oil, down sharply."
• Auto Makers Flock to Web to Woo Chinese Buyers [WSJ] "Global auto makers think the Internet is the way into the hearts of a new generation of Chinese car enthusiasts. Both foreign and domestic auto makers here are pouring ad money into online ventures, even as their overall spending remains flat. Market-tracking firm iResearch expects outlays for online auto marketing to reach 1.75 billion yuan, or roughly $256 million, this year, up from 1.38 billion yuan in 2008."
• Professor beaten ahead of Tiananmen anniversary [ABC] "The approaching 20th anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square crackdown has brought tensions to a head, with a 75-year-old, retired professor brutally beaten for trying to honour the memory of a Chinese leader who supported the students in 1989."

• China targets an academic culture of cut-and-paste [csmonitor.com] "Plagiarism and sheer invention have flourished in Chinese academic circles, adds Stephen Stearns, a Yale University professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who taught two classes at Peking University in 2007, because 'at least until recently, the rewards were great and the punishment was trivial. It paid off.'"
• China clears Johnson & Johnson products after probe [The Times of India] "China’s State Food and Drug Administration has cleared baby products manufactured by Johnson & Johnson after a high-profile and widely publicized investigation to determine if they contained potential carcinogens. The Administration launched its probe on the basis of allegations leveled by an US based activist group."
• Beijing Redeploys Its Carmakers For Global Race [Forbes] "Dongfeng Automobile Co., Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. have been directed by Beijing to start acquiring smaller rivals in a race to transform themselves into the “Big Two” or “Big Three” in China’s auto industry."

Fast and the Furious: Shanghai Shift?

Randy Cohen, New York Times "The Ethicist" columnist, might be inclined to think so. Granted, Cohen's anti-auto podcast from last week is about Manhattan, but several of his arguments already seem applicable to Shanghai (and, in 2020, when our city's subway system looks like this, there will be few ethical excuses for owning personal cars in most of Shanghai). Cohen lays out five reasons why cars and Manhattanites shouldn't mix. Here's No. 1: "Cars kill. If you introduced a transportation system by announcing, 'It'll only kill 40,000 people a year,' it's hard to believe it would gain widespread popularity." (The number of "traffic deaths" in China was down to 73,484 in 2008, but up 100 percent over the last 20 years.) Listen to all New York Times podcasts here or subscribe via iTunes. They're all free.

This video capturing some classic auto showroom drama was uploaded by an intrepid Youku user and has garnered over 436,000 views in less than a day. The young woman, on hearing that her boyfriend was not going to buy the car, flies into a mad rage, gets behind the steering wheel and attempts to drive off with the car, much to the horror of both boyfriend and salesperson. Worried that his girlfriend might do some real damage to the store, the exasperated boyfriend eventually surrenders and decides to take all the damage upon himself. He whips out his credit card and yells out to his girlfriend saying, "I'm buying it! I'm buying it!"

Danwei directed us to the embedded six-month old video of a short local NBC News piece on a Chinese-made three-wheel "car" available from a dealer in Webster, New York (it's actually available in several places in the U.S., like Michigan). The Webster dealer (we think this is his MySpace page ... yes, MySpace) claims women love the Wildfire WF650-C. The jury is still out on that one.

Image by Roger Wo

Earlier reports that Shanghai may axe its loss-making Formula One Grand Prix once its contract runs out in 2010 have now been negated by a spokesperson for one of the organisers. Qiu Weichang, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, was previously reported to have said:

We're doing the assessment. By next year we should be able to give you an answer," he said in an interview late on Thursday. China's biggest city spent 240 million dollars on the state-of-the-art Shanghai International Circuit and hosted its first Formula One race in 2004. But the event has been plagued by poor ticket sales and Qiu said its fate was in the balance.

Continue reading "Shanghai's F1 Grand Prix to be extended past 2010 after all"

You can almost smell burning rubber wafting through the air.

Less than a month after airing this commercial featuring Richard Gere driving the new Fiat Delta from Hollywood to Tibet, Italian automaker Fiat has been forced to withdraw the ad, and issue a statement extending its "apologies to the Government of the People's Republic of China and to the Chinese people". Readers of this blog (a group which no doubt excludes anyone from Fiat or their agency) will be aware that Richard Gere is a vocal proponent of Tibetan autonomy/independence. Earlier this month, when Fiat's Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne first showed the ad to journalists, he was reported to have said in no uncertain terms:

"I obviously like it."

Effective today, China will raise gasoline and diesel fuel prices 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively, news that sent global oil prices down nearly US$5 a barrel. Electricity prices are also expected to rise sharply. Reuters offers a poorly displayed chart that shows China's domestic gasoline prices, fixed since November 1, have climbed 95 percent and diesel prices have more than doubled since 2003. Retail fuel prices in China are expected to increase to $3.05 per gallon for gas and $3.31 for diesel. Says the New York Times, "Costlier fuel and electricity could prompt businesses and individuals across China to use less of it, slowing somewhat China’s voracious increase in oil consumption in recent years as well as its steep rise in emissions of global warming gases." [Sources: AP, Reuters, LAT, NYT, CNN]

Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.

Shanghaiist wishes all female readers a happy International Women's Day (三八妇女节快乐)! Ladies, sit back, relax and watch this video specially made for you by the wonderful guys from SexyBeijing TV:

International Women's Day is this Saturday, March 8 so we're posting this video to celebrate two of the badass women we admire in Beijing's rock scene. Atom is the drummer for Hedgehog and Li Qing is the drummer for Carsick Cars and guitarist for Snapline.

Continue reading "Happy International Women's Day!"

From Sexy Beijing:

Snowboard pros from around the world converged on Beijing's Nanshan ski area this winter for the Nanshan Open, battling it out for $25,000 in prizes. Sexy Beijing correspondent Rachel Dupuy headed out to Nanshan to see what's going on with China's newly forming snowboarding scene. Featuring music by Beijing band Carsick Cars.

We are once more going to put in motion all the machinery of our technological ability, in order to repeat in 2008 the successes obtained in previous years.Needless to say, the ad invoked the fury of the Chinese community in Spain and Citroen was forced to issue an apology, though we bet their ad agency are secretly congratulating themselves for grabbing worldwide attention this way.

From National Geographic:

Cars are racing into China supercharging its economy, and delivering dreams of a better life. But Chinas cars are clogging its highways and spewing out clouds of pollution. The rest of the world better watch out, because some Chinese automakers have plans to flood the world markets with cheaper Chinese cars be they made by GM or Chinas own Geely Automotive. We go inside the Geely plant in Ningbo, and follow a worker after hours in the canteen with his girlfriend, and then in the dorm he shares with seven other men. We see chairman and founder Li Shufu at his university in Beijing, welcoming the freshmen who one day will work at Geely, and help take it onto the worlds stage. We tag along with David and Vivian Ren as they go shopping for a car in Beijing, and then spend a 12-hour day picking it up, getting the licence plate, and paying for it with cash. The automobile industry and private car ownership are pivotal to Chinas economic recovery. They promise freedom to travel and a better life. But they are contributing to Chinas pollution. This worries environmentalist Sherry Liao who also believes that China is adopting too many western values. Car marketing expert Michael Dunne makes sense of it all. Call it a driving dream or a nightmare. This is China's revolution on wheels.

After a long and wild New Year's break, things have slowed down on the music front and it seems that everyone is still trying to shake off their extended hangovers. Luckily, this weekend there isn't much happening, but if you are able to push yourself off the couch then head to 4Live (yes, it is still open!) where there are a couple of shows this weekend. On Friday, Beijing stalwarts, Catcher in the Rye, give us a peek into China's Rock past, circa 1992... when rock was new and bands were few (making sentences that rhyme is cool!). For fans of Snapline or Carsick Cars check out Papier Tigre, from France, at 4Live on Saturday. If you aren't able to make either show, then we suggest you rest up because it looks like 2008 is going to be a great year for live music in Shanghai.

We have never actually experienced or even witnessed a person's ears bleeding from a live show, but last night we were pretty damn close. Thursday, the Ex-Models put on an interesting show of sharp, sonic blasts for a small 4Live audience. If you happened to miss it, no worries, the band will be joined by Carsick Cars and Torturing Nurse on Saturday at Yuyintang. Carsick Cars has enjoyed a stellar year, opening for Sonic Youth at 3 shows in Europe and they look to continue their climb with a few major European festival invites for 2008.

As the weekend starts Shanghaiist is giddy with excitement. Not because this weekend is overly exciting (though there are a few good shows out there), but because this weekend marks the unofficial end of the summer music drought. Next week Coolio and Avril Lavigne with both be in town (where are our media passes?), AK-47 along with Brain Failure and Top Floor Circus will hold a special pre-1234 Beach Rock party and the following week the SUBS will be back in town. September gets even better, though Shanghaiist will be in Beijing to catch the New York Dolls, NIN, Mando Diao, PE and Markey Ramone, Shanghai shouldn't feel left out....the Exploited will be playing at 4Live in September in what will be a shat (replace the a with an i) kicking good time. Ok, enough of what is coming in the near future, let’s get down to what is happening this weekend.