Lou Ann Hammond on carlist.com

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Beijing, China - In the middle of the Beijing auto show Nick Reilly, set down for a roundtable talk with some journalists. Here are some highlights from his talk, plus a video of highlights:

Over the next decade, General Motors anticipates that vehicles sales in Asia Pacific will grow at a faster rate than sales in any other region.

SAIC-GM-Wuling was founded in 2002. GM China owns 34.0%, SAIC owns 50.1% and Wuling Motors owns 15.9%. The number one vehicle sold in China last year, according to China Auto review, was the Wuling. GM also has a technology partnership with Toyota motor corp. General Motors is the top non-Asian, in Asia Pacific.
According to Chinese Cars, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) is one of the “Big Three” Chinese automakers.SAIC partnered with General Motors to form Shanghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, and the Pan-Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC). SAIC also partnered with Volkswagen Group in the formation of Volkswagen Group China.
SAIC owns 20% stake of Chery, the largest Chinese automaker and in late 2004 took a 49% stake of SsangYong Motor Company.

Less than 4% of the Chinese population owns a car, while around 80% of Americans own a car. Eighty percent of cars sold in China by General Motors is 4 cylinder.

According to China Auto Review, Sales of vehicles rose 21%, cars rose by 23% and SUVs rose by 50%.

GM’s portfolio in Asia Pacific is comprised of: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Saab and Wuling brands.

Reilly said that the Chinese industry is set to sell almost 10 million vehicles, with GM garnering about 1.2 million.

Why did the price of cars go down? Are they still going down? Does TATA’s nano pose a threat to GM? Watch the video and find out

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Beijing, China - I was talking to my buddy, Warren Brown from the Washington Post. I told him I was going to Beijing and Portugal and asked him what he wanted me to video. “The Nissan Teana”, he replied.

After Beijing I went to Portugal for Nissan’s 360 global product introduction and the Teana was there and everyone wanted to drive it. I came home and called Warren and asked him why he was interested in the Teana. “It’s the most like the Altima and I think Nissan maybe thinking of expanding sales into China.”

I didn’t ask Nissan, but what I did find out was currently the Nissan Teana is being produced in Japan. Beginning in 2009 the Teana will be manufactured in Russia for the Russian market. The largest market for the Teana is Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

The Teana is built on the same D-platform as the Altima and uses the same 3.5-liter V-6 engine with CVT, continuously variable transmission.

The one big difference is the length: the Nissan Teana is 106 inches long, while the Altima sedan is 189 inches and the coupe is 182 inches. The Altima sedan and coupe were both at least 1,200 pounds lighter than the Teana, at 4,541 pounds.

It explains why the Altima gets a couple more miles to the gallon.

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Beijing, China - It’s so Asian! A little Hello Kitty type car with a smiley face and cute colors. Most people at the Beijing auto show think it is to keep the kids occupied while the adults look at the real cars. Wrong!

PIVO 2 is a concept car that Nissan says incorporates these different technology:

3D motor: compact inverter ultra-thin high output motor is integrated with a compact inverter within the wheel assembly.

Compact Lithium-ION battery: Double the storage capacity of a conventional lithium-ion battery, while delivering about 1.5 times the output in a compact package.

RA, or Robotic agent: monitors facial expressions and voice patterns. Nissan syas that RA interacts with the driver using speech and gesture to encourage the driver into a more positive state.

The Pvios 2’s Metamo system, or variable geometry chassis, enables the four wheels to be independently controlled and dynamically positioned to optimize stability and permit new maneuvers. It aids in parrallel parking.
Watch the video and you’ll notice the angles and position of the wheels are controlled and can change from side to side to ensure stability duting acceleration, decelaration, braking and cornering.

X-by-wire: Watch the video as the X-by-wire technology allows the top part of the car to turnaround, so that the car doesn’t need reverse. Brakes, steering and other operations are controlled electronically instead of mechanically. X-by-wire technology allows freedom of motion for the wheels and cabin.

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Hiroshi Ito, Large Project leader of the Honda research & development of the 2009 Honda Pilot team took me through some of the improvements made on the interior and exterior of the 2009 Honda Pilot.

Type: 8-passenger crossover with three models: LX, EX/EX-L, and touring
Base Price: base price starts around $27,500 and can go up to $40,000 for a top-level trim with navigation.
Engine: V-6 24-valve SOHC I-VTEC 3.5-liter
Horsepower/torque: 250 @ 5,700 rpm/253lb.-ft@4,800 rpm
Top Speed: 191mph (302km/h) and a 0-62mph (0-100km/h) time of 4.3 seconds.
Transmission: mated to a five-speed automatic
Drive: rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive
fuel-economy:2wd=17 city/23 highway, 4wd=16 city/22 highway regular unleaded
Emissions rating: ULEV-2
Tow rating 2wd/4wd: 3,500/4,500 tow hitch comes standard
Competitors: Toyota Highlander, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, Mazda CX-9, Hyundai Veracruz, Ford Flex, Chevy Traverse, Nissan Pathfinder, Nissan Murano

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Shiro Nakamura is really the senior vice president for the Nissan design division, but this night we are having a bit of fun.

Shiro, as usual, gives a speech about design and what the future holds for Nissan and Infiniti. At the end he teases us with two shadows of future cars; the white one for Nissan, the red for Infiniti.

A colleague, and friend, came up afterward and said they thought the Nissan future car was a 350Z roadster and the red shadow car was a version of an Infiniti GT-R. We all got on a bus together to go to dinner. When I got on the bus Shiro was sitting by himself, so I sat down next to him. I’ve interviewed Shiro often enough that he knows me and we have a good fun relationship.

The bus is a bit noisy, so I wrote the two names down that my friend had said and I asked Shiro if those were the cars. Shiro said no, it was not a 350Z roadster, but a 350Z coupe. Then I pointed to the Infiniti and he shoke his head no, scratched out the GT-R and wrote, “new form”.

We get off the bus and sat down for dinner and my friend said, “so, did he tell you what it was?” Well, of course, I had to play with him. “he told me, but he told me I couldn’t tell anyone”. My friend gave me a hard time the rest of the night.

The clincher came when dinner was over and I took the menu over to Shiro and asked him if he would do me a favor. He did. Below is the picture of the car Shiro drew and then wrote, “don’t tell anyone!”, Shiro.

I can still hear my friend, and colleague, yelling, “No way”.

So, what do you think the red Infiniti is? Watch the video and tell me.

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Cascais, Portugal - I was in Beijing, China the week before I went to Portugal, to attend the Beijing auto show. In an interview with Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan Motor, Ghosn was passionate about electric vehicles. His passion wasn’t just about the electric vehicle getting us off the dependence on foreign oil, but about how a person will want to buy an electric vehicle because of its design.

Shiro Nakamura, senior vice president for the Nissan design division, showed me around the beautifully designed electric car named Mixim.

Okay, the backend looks a little like the Volvo, but the rest of the car is sooo futuristic, especially the interior.

The Mixim only weighs 950 kg, less than 2,100 pounds, and is powered by Nissan’s “super motor” electric motor/generator utilizing a lithium-ion battery. The EV is all-wheel drive, powered by a super motor for the front wheels and another super motor for the rear wheels.

The instrument panel looks more like a computer game room. The configuration of the seats is way cool; there are three seats, the drivers seat being more forward than the two passengers. You can press a button and the seats swivel to the door, so that you can ingress with ease, or vice versa.

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Estoril racetrack, Portugal - Kazutoshi Mizuno, chief engineer, Nissan GT-R took me for a spin around the Estoril racetrack in Portugal.

Watch Mizuno’s hands and enthusiasm as he goes for a spin.

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“We are in the presence of a legend” is how one Nissan representative introduced Kazutoshi Mizuno, chief engineer for the Nissan GT-R. Mizuno has been working on the GT-R since 1995 and says he still wants to modify the GT-R to make it “more better, more better”. Mizuno is said to have picked the team to help him design and manufacture the Nissan GT-R.

Mizuno takes us through the entire car, highlighting the two compartments: the driver’s cockpit and the luxury of the passenger seating, with “handbag or leather coat” feel.

He takes pride in the new carbon fiber piece that was produced by Toray company. Toray produces sixty percent of the carbon fiber in the world, and has an agreement with Nissan to start producing carbon fiber pieces for their cars. The piece is lightweight, but sturdy, in case of an accident, something Mizuno says he has not experienced in the car as of yet.

What was the most difficult part of building this car for Mizuno? The mind set, the thought process of the developers. It was easy to get the people to change car parts, but it was more difficult to get them to understand that this was a totally different car.