Monthly Archives April 2014

Currently the LWB version of the BMW 3-series (F35) is only offered in China.

Previously the LWB 3-series is rear-wheel-drive only. But news come out recently that BMW is planning to manufacture xDrive LWB 3-series in it Shenyang production plant. Here is one spyshot showing the xDrive 328Li is under testing in public road.

Not only the LWB 3-series will be added the xDrive option, but also the LWB 5-series (also sold in China only) will get this treatment too. This indicates another forward step BMW is making to localize its product line.

For US market, with the X3/5/6 and the future X7 are made in US, it can be expected that BMW will shift more models’ production to US...

Today is the last day of April, from our website statistics below are the most popular articles of this month.

Transmission Titbit Series

Aisin 8AT
GM 8AT
ZF 9AT

Luxury Sedan AWD System Series

Part 1 – BMW xDrive, Mercedes-Benz 4Matic
Part 2 – Lexus, Audi Quattro

HongQi L-Series Luxury Sedan

Family Story – L5, L7, L9
L5 Model – V12 engine design, specificatioins

Aston Martin Financial Trouble

Aston Martin new car less than $100k
Why Aston Martin sell new car less than $100k
2012 financial analysis
2013 financial result and discussion

Here is the highlight:

– Revenue increased 13% to GBP 519 million;
– Full year adjusted EBITDA up 22% to GBP 84.8 million;
– Global retail volumes increased 11% to around 4,200 units.

However, we cannot declare Aston Martin is making progress financially. This is because revenue and EBITDA tell us nothing about the financial health of a company.

Revenue just informs you how many money they will suppose to collect for selling their inventory; we do not know the cost of making the goods.

EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is just telling you what money the company has, before lenders collect their interests/principles, government collect...

Lexus has launched a special edition of the LX570 (called “LX 570 Supercharger“) in the Kuwait market, with the V8 engine supercharged.

The updated V8 engine now makes 450 hp, instead of the naturally aspirated version’s 383 hp. There is no doubt this model will be available in all major middle-east market soon.

While US market has little possibility to get this supercharged LX570, it leaves us an interesting question: will Lexus build a supercharged LS460? We are know for the full size luxury sedan market in US, the LS460 is lacking behind of the engine output. The LS460 “only” has 386 hp, while the BMW 750i makes 445, the Mercedes-Benz S550 makes 449 and the Audi A8 4...

Yesterday (04/28/2014), Chinese auto maker BYD delivered two electric buses, which are build in its Lancaster, CA factory.

The BYD electric bus can hold a charge for a full day (24 hrs) and go with a range of 155 miles. It will be charged in the night during the off-peak hours. These first two California-build buses are delivered to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Below is the BYD electric bus running in LAX airport.

BYD Auto setup its USA headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles. Currently its Lancaster factory has around 50 employees, and BYD plans to hire 50 more by the end of this year...