The Citroen DS3 Racing will get a new version in the future as the company keeps its DS line, and the original DS3 version, alive. With a series of special edition Citroen DS3 models keeping the market interested, the practice of using exclusive options and new versions will extend from the hot hatch to the larger and more luxury Citroen DS4 and Citroen DS5 models.

In speaking to the WhatACar site, Citroen product planning director Thomas d’Haussy says: “We will be offering exclusive options and probably exclusive models. We have already done this a little with the DS3, including versions with matt finish paint. The policy will be extended to the DS4 and Citroen DS5 review, but perhaps in different ways.”

The process will mostly involve limited edition interiors and new paint jobs, but the Citroen DS3 Racing itself has performed beyond expectations and something new in the near future will be reserved for it. No concrete details are forthcoming, but the racing model has been a much bigger seller than originally planned and a revamped version will attempt to drive that demand even further.

What’s more a hot version of the DS4 is also in the works. While hard to imagine, d’Haussy apparently says: “We have a lot of imagination.” We can also expect to see big plans for the Chinese car market as Citroen takes advantage of its growing presence there.

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From black gold in the coal industry to the real stuff, poured all over a Lamborghini Gallardo. This Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-2 has a pure gold paint job and is to be seen cruising the streets in the area of Shijiazhiang in the Hebei Province, known for its coal industry (and therefore rich Chinese businessmen). Unfortunately there are no estimates as to how much this kind of machine might cost, what with an original purchase and then the gold paint.

We don’t know who did the paint job either, but would be interesting to see whether China’s panel beaters are starting to specialise in the stuff (BTW - how do you get a scractch out of this?). We don’t like the colour but hell, it certainly makes the statement.

Source | CarnewsChina via TTAC

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On strong sales for Porsche in China, Automotive News suggests the brand might want to consider some more Chinese-backed design in the future. Already rolling special models like the 10th anniversary edition specifically for the Chinese car market, Porsche has experienced strong sales there recently and expects that China will overtake the US as its biggest market in about two to three years.

After expanding its dealership network in China beyond the 31 stores registered last year, it wouldn’t be such a silly idea for Porsche to have some Chinese-specific design and production. In July this year Porsche sales rose fivefold to 2,484 units and the company has already announced 10 dealerships a year in China in the future.

With sales up 73 percent for the first six months of this year for Porsche in China, is anyone up for a Year of the Dragon Porsche special edition for China? If Rolls Royce can, who’s to say Porsche can’t cash in on the idea, too.

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Making it big in China doesn’t just mean premium brands and an exclusive image - you need to have products with a strong personality that really speaks to the Chinese culture. And we just love how they’ve managed a little extra ‘wow’ factor on the Fiat 500 China edition. Handing the Italian dolcevita-designed Fiat 500 over to five Chinese designers for a launch edition has produced these marvellous little 500 First Edition China models.

Designers LeiLei, Mee Wong, Benny Luk, Nod Young and Yan Wei lent their artistic flair to the Fiat 500 and have provided five separate first editions on themes of life, surprise, follow your instinct etc. The models are all white with a new graphic design and have been prepared for the Fiat 500 China launch on September 15th. Anyone ordering a new 500 goes into a draw to swap it with a First Edition model.

The Fiat 500 First Edition China model is based on the 500 Lounge kit with a special pearl white exterior, red leather interior and the 1.4-litre Multiair engine with 101 hp and 133 Nm of torque. The models appear after Fiat has already introduced special edition 500s on the Chinese car market, including the 500 by Gucci and the 500C cabrio.

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McLaren has no problems stating its very modest production ambitions for the next few years, bringing some British sense to the supercar industry, and taking a leaf out of the Italian luxury book, too. In reports from Asiaone, McLaren regional director Ian Gorsuch says:

“We are looking at sustainable production. We want to produce less cars than the competition. The key is making the dealership profitable. We will produce less cars but the dealers must have more cars than the competition because the long-term goal is profitability.”

The report comes with some interesting insight into McLaren and its Asian operations. With production numbers set at 1,000 units per year, the next three years of the MP4-12C are already sold out. McLaren has had to build an entirely new dealership network for its roadgoing supercar, and China is currently without a dealership among the 35 present in 19 countries around the world.

Heading to Asia in the future will probably be essential to McLaren sales, and a production increase might be required to achieve that. Currently McLaren is planning a China launch in 2013 because it doesn’t have enough cars right now to do that. Still, the slow but steady approach might pay off in a world where even luxury products aren’t quite as self-assured as before.

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In the pics we see the BMW M3 Carbon Edition specific for the Chinese car market. It’s the third in a series of M3 special editions for China and indicates just how well BMW has courted that market. The model is as its name suggests, and uses carbonfibre for the roof, front splitter and air vents and the rear wing. The interior is also decked out in the minimalist material.

We love the M3 Carbon Edition’s bright white exterior and black stripes up the bonnet. It’s a pricey model though, with a starting price of about €130,000. See more pics and details from M3Post and autohome.com.cn.

In the meantime, Autocar is reporting that a hardcore BMW M3 sedan is on its way as a final version before the new 2012 M3 arrives next year. The last special edition will use the same 4.4-litre V8 engine as the coupé, but will be lighter than the sedan on which it’s based. Power will be between the 414 hp of the standard model, and the GTS 444 hp. That doesn’t give it much of a window but the British mag says it could reach the latter figure.

Apparently “several other surprises” are planned for the model to give it a fitting swansong before the new version arrives. It could be an opportunity to experiment with some styling upgrades before moving on to the new model, including new front and rear bumpers, lightweight body panels and a new front splitter and rear diffuser. While a sedan model, this new M3 is designed to take the place of the M3 CSL model, which sits between the standard and GTS versions. No news is available as to when we might actually see this.

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Will the Chinese car market get its own slice of the dolce vita? According to more rumours, the debut of the Fiat 500 in China is imminent, a year after the first rumours appeared. This time, ChinaCarTimes has revived the possible news, with a report accompanied by a photo of the Fiat 500 in China. According to them, the Fiat 500 was on prominent display during the media days of the Shanghai Motor Show, but was moved elsewhere for the public days. What’s more, the publication gives an arrival date as early as September this year as a certainty.

The Italians are hoping that the reports are true, given that the Fiat 500 could bring some lucrative Italian style to China. The 500 could create quite a path for itself, as an economical, stylish citycar; but there has been no real business case announcement from the Italians at this stage and we think this could probably be a fickle market for this car. We will have to wait through summer for more details.

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Another special edition Porsche 911 has been released with this 10 year anniversary China tribute being created. Only ten units will be made of the 911, based on the Turbo S and made to celebrate a decade of Porsche on the Chinese car market. No pricing has been released, but this is a fitting tribute to the brand and the world’s largest car market.

The Porsche 911 10 Year Anniversary Edition has a gold tone exterior and carbonfibre bonnet and rear spoiler. The lovely 19-inch Sport Classic wheels with chrome circle complete the exterior package. The interior features alcantara seats and Sports Classic steering wheel with contrasting gold stitching, carbon fibre trim on the dash and door area, and the special edition badge featuring on the door sills and elsewhere.

The engine and performance remain the same, that is the 3.8-litre inline-six boxer engine with direct injection, 530 hp and 700 Nm of torque. Dual-clutch PDK and steering wheel paddles are standard and Porsche says reaching 100 km/hr takes just 3.3 seconds.

Continue reading: Porsche 911 China 10 year anniversary edition

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Yesterday we mentioned how Audi has stormed ahead on the Chinese car market with its A6L sedan and it seems its status as a luxury car brand is doing well elsewhere too - almost surprisingly in Germany itself. The home turf war between Audi, BMW and Mercedes would surely be harder fought that anywhere else in the world, with local loyalties and prejudices held more tenaciously.

But according to Car and Driver, Audi has the best image in Germany compared to the market perception of BMW and Mercedes. Jens Meiners says:

Good news for Audi in the luxury segment: last month’s sales figures for Germany are out, and the A8 surpassed both the Mercedes-Benz S-class and the still-fresh BMW 7-series. This tells you something about the A8′s excellent image here [in Germany]. On common German home turf, Audi is entirely on par with Mercedes and BMW. In fact, one could argue that it has achieved the most comfortable position. Audi quite simply stands for superior innovation and design. Mercedes-Benz, by contrast, seems to go after every niche and struggles to recast itself as a sportier, more youthful brand; BMW tries to shift its focus from aggressive sportiness to “sustainability.”

We’ve always been skeptical about Mercedes-Benz’ push to become “younger”. That might seem cynical of us seeing as we’re still on the youthful side of 40, but really I’ve come to appreciate recently that Mercedes does luxury sedans like no other. They’re just not for me. And we love BMW sportiness, but the whole new ‘i’ thing just doesn’t do it for us.

So could Audi become the world’s next number one luxury German brand? They’re certainly counting on it and a model like the A8 does well across the board. If the Audi A9 coupe makes production,we’ll be very interested to see how it’s received.

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The Chinese car market is a playground for European brands right now as reports out of America indicate that US luxury doesn’t appeal to the Chinese buyer. Specifically, and unsurprisingly, it’s the German brands that are enjoying a heyday, with Audi in particular gaining mighty ground last year.

The car industry in China grew by 33 percent in 2010, with luxury car manufacturers increasing sales by 75 percent. That might sound like simple statistics, but the figures talk and loudly for the Americans. According to market sales figures in the China car market, in 2010 Cadillac sold 17,000 vehicles in total last year which is a 139 percent increase for them.

In contrast, Audi sold 115,353 A6L sedans alone - yes that’s right, those are the sales figures for one make, let alone across the entire brand. Audi’s A4 was placed second on the sales list for single models with 58,466 models. Exactly what US car brands are going to do about this is anyone’s guess, but they’ve certainly got some chasing to do if they too want to take advantage of the boom in China.

Source | Autoblog.com

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Saab has sold a 30-percent stake to the Hawtai Motor Group Company Limited in a deal worth €150 million. Struggling to stay afloat, Saab has been looking for other investment sources and the Chinese group also provided an option for overseas interest outside the EU. The deal includes 120 million euros subscription for 24.6 million Saab shares and a 30-million euro convertible loan.

Approval from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Swedish Debt Office is pending, and approval from the Chinese end could take six to 12 months. The company plans that this financing will furnish some mid-term operational needs and will obviously give it access to the Chinese car market - where every car manufacturer wants to be right now.

It’s unclear what kind of operational or production procedures will be shared, but according to reports, Hawtai is keen to expand its production, up to about one million vehicles by 2015. There is no further news about the courting of Saab investment from Vladimir Antonov, but a few days ago offers from him were said to be under consideration, pending approval as well.

If it all pans out, Saab is planning a global tour to introduce everybody and while we’re tempted to say it sounds like an international picnic, the new investment will mark another new chapter in Saab’s recent turbulent history, and quite an ecletic company at that.

Source | Automotive News and Autoblog.com

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The new Mercedes A-Class is on show at the 2011 Shanghai Motor Show in the form of the Concept A, and has since gone on display in New York at Daimler showrooms. The sexy little A-Class is a far cry from the compact people mover and minus a few show car features, this car is going all the way to production. Could it be what the US needed to be convinced of sporty hatches? We don’t know, but here in Europe at what will be a higher price point, we can see this really taking off.

What’s more, Mercedes got serious about its presence in Shanghai and showed off not only this world debut, but also the entire recent range including the C-Class restyling, and the new CLS and SLK models. Do we need to mention again just how important a love affair is right now with the Chinese car market for European car manufacturers? If things go according to plan, China will be Mercedes’ number one market by 2015.

The Concept A Class has a new four-cylinder, 2.0-litre engine with direct injection producing 210 hp. A new seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox debuts as does the MFA front-wheel drive architecture. The lower end of the Mercedes line-up will now get Brake Assist and Collision Prevention Assist, set to appear on the next A-Class and B-Class models.

Mercedes Concept A Class: new pics

Continue reading: Mercedes A-Class Concept new pics

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