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If you hadn't noticed, the Olympic Games in Beijing are being celebrated these days. MINI decided that it was a good opportunity to mix Chinese traditions with British German craftmanship and so they sent a MINI Clubman to be cut in half and made a rickshaw. Yes, not a lot of horsepowers, but human legpower moves the MINI rickshaw around the Hu Tong district in Beijing. The vehicle is finished with all sorts of amulets and decorations to bring good luck to the rider, and liberate some positive energy during these Games. What we can't deny is that human power is actually greener than an ICE engine. Oh, wait, didn't somebody challenge that statement?



[Source: BMW]

The city of Beijing has been generating the kinds of headlines that cities usually want no part of. Ahead of the Olympic games, many athletes have been publicly deriding the city's air quality, and rightly so. According to the World Health Organization, the current air pollution in Beijing is at least two to three times higher than levels deemed safe. City officials have been doing what they can with the limited resources and time that is available to them, but Detroit News writer John McCormick, on assignment covering the Beijing Motor Show, reports that there is a long way to go before things are truly cleaned up.

[Source: The Detroit News]

China will ban about half of its 3.3 million cars from the streets during the Beijing Olympics (August 8-24) in an attempt to cut air pollution. Necessary cars like emergency vehicles, buses and taxis will be allowed but only if they have an even or odd number license plate number that matches the even or oddness of the date. China may also change the emissions standards of cars and gasoline sold in Beijing to comply with international standards. Will all of this lower the air pollution at the Beijing Olympics? Not likely. Recently, China tested the car ban and discovered it actually increased air pollution.

[Source: Guardian, Xinhua News Agency]

Here's an update on GM's new hybrid for China. Shanghai GM says they will release a Buick LaCrosse hybrid for the Chinese market before the Beijing Olympics, which will have its opening ceremonies August 8, 2008. The hybrid will be based on the Saturn Aura hybrid and the pricing and mileage difference ($2,500 premium and 25 percent improvement in mileage) hints the hybrid system is mild and not GM's two mode system.

In China, Toyota and Honda currently offer a hybrid for sale. Recently, China's Changan Auto debuted its first hybrid and other Chinese automakers like BYD and Chery said they would offer hybrids next year. In a recent speech, Bob Lutz said China admired the Buick brand over any other GM brand. Currently there are no plans to release a Buick LaCrosse hybrid in the American market.

GM has said they would release 16 hybrids in the next 4 years and the US market already has the Aura hybrid, so a Buick hybrid in the U.S. is possible. Below the fold is a Chinese TV ad for the Buick.

Related:

• Want a Buick hybrid? Move to China, where the LaCrosse hybrid is coming soon
• LA Auto Show video: Bob Lutz confirms GM will release 16 hybrids in next four years
• China's Changan Auto's first hybrid model: Jiexun-HEV
• Chery has huge plans for hybrids in 2008 and beyond
• China's BYD Automobile to make hybrid next year

[Source: AutoChannel]

UPDATE: Thanks to Ash, image has been changed.

In July, we told you Changan would have a hybrid on the market in 2008. Now, Changan Automobile, the fourth largest automaker in China, is showing off the hybrid Jiexun-HEV. The hybrid is expected on the market soon and some will be donated to the Beijing Olympics next year. Here is Xu Liuping, the president of Changan Automobile, at a celebration ceremony, speaking about Jiexun-HEV:

It took us 6 years to develop this hybrid and it marks the beginning of mass production of hybrid vehicles at our company today. ... We will donate 10 Jiexun hybrid vehicles to the Olympics Games next year. ... The volume production of Jiexun indicates that China has grasped core technologies of hybrid vehicles.

Jiexun-HEV is China's first local-brand hybrid vehicle, fuel economy is improved 20 percent (compared to the non-hybrid version) and it meets EU-IV emission standards. Hybrids have not been too popular in China because of the high price but Xu promises the price for the Jiexun-HEV will be sharply lower than the imports and the company will invest 300 million yuan ($40.7 million) into research and getting the car into production.

Changan has also said their hybrids would be available over seas. So, Jiexun-HEV could be on American streets soon. Are you ready for inexpensive, hybrid cars from China?

Related:

• Chinese car company Chang'an to enter hybrid market
• China's BYD Automobile to make hybrid next year
• Chery has huge plans for hybrids in 2008 and beyond
• Rumor: Chinese automaker FAW to release hybrid based on Mazda 6
• Shanghai Motor Show: Chinese domestics jumping on hybrid bandwagon

[Source: Gasgoo via AutoChannel]

Audi has decided to launch some of their more advanced and efficient engines in the Chinese market. At an Audi Green Olympics Initiative event in Shanghai, the company announced the addition of the 2.8L FSI V-6 to the A6L and the A8. In the big A8, the 2.8L is rated at 28.3 mpg (US) which is pretty impressive for such a large car. In the next few years they also plan to introduce their TDI diesel engines in the Chinese market. In the meantime they will also be supplying 1,000 cars with the FSI V-6 and smaller turbo-charged TFSI engines for use as VIP shuttles during next summers Olympic Games in Beijing.

[Source: Audi]

Eight million people are expected at the London 2012 Olympics but their cars are not invited. The 2012 games will be car free, a first for the Olympics, with the only options for transport between the venues 1) walking, 2) biking or 3) public transport. The "car exclusion zones" include parts of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, and Weymouth and Portland in Dorset.

With 800,000 people expected to converge on venues in a day, one organizer described it as the "country's largest peacetime logistical operation." The organizers expect the ban on cars to extend to other events in the future. Hugh Sumner, the ODA transport director, said "We want to leave both a hard legacy in terms of infrastructure and a living legacy in the way people think about transport and about how they travel to sports and cultural events."

The organizers don't even want to encourage driving to edge of the car free zones. Plans were scrapped for two park-and-ride sites on the M25 and M11. Even the handicapped will only be allowed a limited number of parking spots outside of the car exclusion zones. Hugh says "We want to accelerate the shift to public transport and cycling that we have seen in London in recent years. ... We will make it very plain to people that there isn't going to be parking."

The organizers are giving detailed information on how to get to the events with the ticket order and updated information will be sent to cell phones. Organizers will help in getting to the games car free by giving out all-zones travel card and discounted, flat-rate rail tickets. Don't feel too bad for the people that decide to brave the first car free Olympics. The gap between the trains at the London 2012 Olympics will be 13.87 seconds. For two months around the games, 80,000 people in the "Olympic Family" (athletes, officials and media), get their own lane, called "Zil Lanes" on major routes in London.

[Source: The Times]

The 2007 Shanghai Auto Show is set to get underway on the 20th of April and China's largest auto manufacturer, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), will be on hand to debut a new fuel-cell vehicle. SAIC, which recently made headlines when it bought the Rover brand off BMW, said that the Shanghai-branded fuel-cell prototype will utilise fourth generation fuel-cell technology developed in-house to produce a peak power output of 60 kW / 80.5 hp that should propel the vehicle to a top speed of 150 km/h / 93 mph.

SAIC is investing one billion yuan (US$129 million) in developing cleaner, more energy efficient vehicle technologies. The company plans to produce 50,000 electric vehicles of various types by 2010, some 95 percent of which will be hybrids. Via a joint venture with Volkswagen, SAIC is aiming to produce 500 Touran hybrids before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Analysis: SAIC have also partnered with GM to develop hybrid vehicles of the booming Chinese market. Clearly they're planning to roll out the latest tech to the Chinese market as it comes online in Western nations as well. I think Shanghai is going to be an interesting show this year.

Related:

• Video: Rick Wagoner on GM's commitment to energy diversity. And new E-Flex concepts soon?
• Chinese government to promote greener cars
• Shanghai Automotive building a hybrid "Rover 75"

[Source: Shanghai Daily]