World Auto News & Reviews

And just because we know you’re quite curious about the upcoming 2010 Beijing Auto Show, here are some pictures of the models that China’s Great Wall Motors is preparing to unveil. For the record, any information we could pull from the rubble of Google’s translation can be found below, so let’s just call anything read beyond this point…assumptions.

1) Ling Ao (small, 5-door hatch), highlights include: 1.3/1.5 liter VVT aluminum engines (68 kW, 77 kW ; 118, 138 Nm), ABS, and an Alarm System.

2) Great Wall Tengyi C30 a basic, average-looking small sedan.

3) Great Wall Teng Yi C50, an interesting-looking B-class sedan with a 95-kW turbocharged/180 Nm 1.5 liter engine, a CVT, and something about Seiko and Zoran (whatever that mean, I’m intrigued). It also has a tire pressure monitoring system and ESP. For some weird reason, I want this to be good.

Among the many new production and concept car proposals on display at Great Wall Motors’ Shanghai Auto Show stand is the CHC011, a mid-size sports sedan that shares its 3.0-liter V6 engine and 6-speed automatic transmission with the Hover H7 crossover concept. According to the Chinese automaker, the CHC011 comes equipped with many luxury features and technologically advanced systems like the adaptive cruise control and the so-called “omni-directional display system” which we have no idea what it is.

Chrysler and General Motors are hopefully that a recent government aid package will be enough to stave off bankruptcy, but things are looking much bleaker for Korea’s Ssangyoung Motors. The small automaker announced late last week that it is no longer able to pay employees.

Ssangyoung has experienced an even bigger drop off in sales than most automakers, leaving Ssangyoung’s piggy bank virtually empty. “The company is expected to post a deficit of more than W100 billion (about $76.7 million) this year alone,” the company said in a letter to employees. “Due to lack of operating funds for December, it is impossible for the company to pay salaries any longer.”

Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors is planning to start building cars in Europe in a new joint venture with a Bulgarian partner near the city of Lovech. The project was announced during a meeting on Tuesday between the Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and two of Great Wall’s Vice Presents, the government said in a statement.