Beijing | AsiaLynx

AsiaLynx Top Stories – 1/28/2010

AsiaLynx Top Stories 28.01.2010 Comments Off

Coach To Open First Mainland Flagship Store In Shanghai: The American luxury accessories designer and maker Coach has announced plans to open its first Chinese mainland flagship store in Shanghai in April 2010. Located at the junction of Shanghai’s Huaihaizhong road and Songshan road, this new flagship store covers an area of 650 square meters and was designed by Coach’s construction and design team. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)

7 For All Mankind To Open Four New Locations In China: 7FAM will open four new stores in China this year, in Beijing, Shanghai and two other as yet undetermined cities. Denim is big business in China, and has been since the early 1980s when the first waves of post-Mao fashions swept through Chinese cities. In more recent times, premium denim makers from around the world have seen demand soar in top- (and now second-) tier cities, and brands like Miss Sixty (Italy), ONLY (Denmark), Diesel (Italy) and G-Star (Holland) have opened retail outlets and in-store boutiques throughout the country. In 2007, American premium denim maker 7 For All Mankind entered the mainland market, and since then has established locations in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Dalian, Hangzhou and Chengdu. This week, in an interview with China Daily, Vice President of VF Asia (the Asian office of American apparel monolith VF Corp, which owns 7 For All Mankind) Raffaele Germano said the company plans to open four new retail locations in China over the course of 2010, with one store each slated for Beijing and Shanghai, with the other two locations to be determined. (Via Jing Daily.)

Sony to shadow Apple store strategy in Japan: Sony this week outlined a plan to fight back against Apple by opening its own flagship retail stores. Starting with Sony Store Nagoya, the stores will imitate the multi-floor design of Apple flagships like Ginza and use large, spacious display areas divided by category. The first floor of the Nagoya store will focus on portable devices like Cyber-shot and Handycam cameras, the PSP, Sony-Ericsson phones, Walkman players and VAIO PCs; a second floor will focus on home theater equipment such as Blu-ray players and TVs. (electronista.com) (Via News On Japan.)

Toyota to suspends sales, production of 8 models with accelerator issues: In what was described as the largest such move ever by an automaker in the United States, Toyota said Tuesday that it had halted sales of eight models of its cars and trucks that account for more than half its U.S. sales until it could find a fix for sticking accelerator pedals under a safety recall. The move, which will cut production starting Monday for at least a week at seven Toyota plants in North America, comes six days after the Japanese automaker announced the recall of 2.3 million vehicles due to the accelerator problem that it first encountered in 2007. (mercurynews.com) (Via News On Japan.)

Proposal to ban dog, cat eating sparks debate over China’s culture: Researchers of a Chinese government think-tank have defended their proposals to ban the eating of dogs and cats in the face of criticism that it would destroy local traditions. A proposed anti-animal abuse regulation suggests a prohibition on cooking dogs and cats with the risk of a 5,000-yuan (732 U.S. dollars) fine or even imprisonment. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)

Tags: 7 For All Mankind, Apple, Asia business, Asia news, automobile, Beijing, China, Coach, denim, Japan, retail, Shanghai, Sony, Toyota
Aston Martin opens huge Beijing store

China 24.01.2010 Comments Off

The four door Aston Martin Rapide.

By Todd Balazovic (China Daily) – Luxury car maker Aston Martin launched its flagship store in Beijing yesterday evening in a push to increase its presence in the premier Asian market.

The store, located at 66 Jinbao Street, Chaoyang District, is more than twice as big as Beijing’s other two Aston Martin stores and is the largest in Asia Pacific. The 500 sq m showroom will display seven of the luxury vehicles each costing roughly 1.3 million yuan ($190,500).

“(Beijing) is a representation of the history of China, of the life in China, and this is why we are here,” CEO of Aston Martin, Ulrich Bez told METRO yesterday.

Despite the economic recession’s impact on luxury good sales, Bez said Aston Martin continues to expand worldwide and the Asia market is one of the fastest growing.

“Whatever the situation is in the economy if you have a great product, you will be successful and if you have a bad product you will suffer,” he said.

The decision to open the new store was heavily influenced by the upcoming Spring Festival celebrations, said Matthew Bennett, regional director for Aston Martin Asia-Pacific. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: Aston Martin, automobile, Beijing, China
Bogus brews in China raise health concerns

China 06.01.2010 1 Comment

Bottles of Corona and Carlsberg are lined in the window of a bar in Beijing. Enforcement officials recently broke up a gang selling fake liquor and warned that counterfeit beers could pose a health risk. (China Daily)

By Wang Chao (China Daily) – Fake “foreign” beers sold in some Beijing bars could cause sickness because of insanitary conditions in the brewing process, according to enforcement officers with the bureau of quality supervision in Chaoyang district.

The area is home to Sanlitun – one of the most well known bar streets in the city – as well as many luxury hotels.

“These beers are produced in small workshops with no disinfection process,” said Wei Jinsheng, head of the enforcement team.

“Customers in bars usually wouldn’t check what they are drinking, which raises the chance of getting a disease.”

In a recent raid on a rented house in Wuliqiao village, officers found four men making counterfeit beer that they hoped to pass off as Budweiser, Corona and Carlsberg.

The men were filling empty foreign beer bottles with Chinese beer and resealing them using a bottle-capping machine. Officers seized more than 10 boxes of adulterated beer.

They said Chaoyang is known as a base of fake beer makers.

In 2007, an adulterated beer production workshop raided in Chaoyang contained 7,000 boxes of phony foreign beer.

According to Wei, it is easy to pass off fake beer because many brands have a similar taste.

“Some people add water to light beers, such as Corona, which is quite popular among women in bars,” he said.

Officers said fake foreign beers are sold to bars for around 7 or 8 yuan a bottle and sold on to customers for 30 to 40 yuan a bottle. …read more at ChinaDaily.com

Tags: beer, Beijing, Carlsberg, Chaoyang, China, Corona, Sanlitun
AsiaLynx Top Stories – 1/5/2010

AsiaLynx Top Stories 05.01.2010 Comments Off

Beijing airport getting mostly back to normal following snow: Beijing Capital International Airport reported 231 delayed and 40 canceled outbound flights as of 2 p.m. Tuesday after record heavy snow paralyzed the airport earlier in the week. Services were mostly back to normal with the three runways all open Tuesday thanks to more than 300 workers who worked for 60 hours to clear the snow and ice, said a spokesman for the airport management department. The airport authorities attributed the disruption mainly to bad weather in airports outside Beijing… (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)

China Becomes Top Exporter: China took over the mantle of the world’s top merchandise exporter from Germany in 2009, aided by a global economic crisis that has taken a greater toll on other trading powers. (Via WSJ.com: What’s News Asia.)

Taiwan’s Xiabu Xiabu Opens 100th Restaurant On The Mainland: Xiabu Xiabu, a Taiwan-invested hotpot restaurant chain, has opened its 100th restaurant in Daxing, Beijing. Following registration in Beijing in 1998, Xiabu Xiabu opened its first restaurant in Beijing’s Xidan in March 1999. As the first bar-style small hot pot restaurant in Beijing, the company has developed steadily during the last ten years. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)

U.S. eclipsed by China in 2009 auto sales: New car sales in the United States plunged more than 20 percent in 2009 to a 27-year low of 10.43 million units, less than the 12.23 million units sold in China during January-November, making the country the world’s largest car market for the first time, data released by a U.S. research firm showed Tuesday. The result marked a historic turning point in the world automobile industry, which had been led by the Big Three Detroit companies since Ford Motor Co. began mass production in 1913 introducing the world’s first belt conveyor system. (Via Kyodo News (Business).)

Singapore PM: No return to pre-crisis growth: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the city-state requires a long time to achieve the pre-crisis growth levels of 7 to 10 per cent as the recent economic slowdown has adversely impacted almost all key economic parameters. PM Lee, addressing a bursary award ceremony at Townsville Primary School, said that economy has been, however, showing the signs of resilience as demand in all spheres is slowly picking up due to stimulus measures taken by the government. (Via TopNews Singapore.)

Tags: Airlines, Asia business, Asia news, automobile, Beijing, China, Ford, Singapore, Taiwan, Xiabu Xiabu
Daimler to triple Beijing JV capacity on sales boom

China 15.12.2009 Comments Off

The Mercedes-Benz GLK made its world debut in Beijing

By Li Fangfang (China Daily) – Daimler AG, parent of German luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz, said yesterday it was tripling the production capacity at its Beijing joint venture, amid skyrocketing local demand.

The capacity of Beijing Benz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive Co Ltd (BBDC), a joint venture between Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co Ltd, Daimler AG and Daimler North East Asia Ltd, would be raised to 75,000 to 100,000 units per year, depending on shift patterns. As part of this the company would convert the former Chrysler hall into Mercedes spaces for C- and E-Class expansion, said Ulrich Walker, chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia.

“BBDC is performing exceptionally well and will hike production of C-Class and the locally produced long-wheel base E-Class vehicles. Looking forward, in the mid-term, Daimler and its partners would produce as many vehicles as we import,” said Walker.

Sales of the locally produced C-Class have exceeded expectations, and clocked a year-on-year growth of 189 percent during the first 11 months. The company has delivered nearly 14,500 units of these vehicles to Chinese customers.

According to Walker, BBDC has increased the localization rate of Mercedes cars to 45 to 50 percent and identified 85 new China-based suppliers and worked with them to support the local production.
Walker estimated that Daimler will sell more than 70,000 cars, vans and trucks in China this year, more than a 50 percent increase over last year, strongly boosted by the record sales of Mercedes cars. He expects Mercedes sales to surpass 65,000 units for the whole year, representing a 65 percent growth rate. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: automobile, Beijing, China, Daimer, Mercedes-Benz
Burger King steps up pace with six more outlets in Beijing

China 03.12.2009 1 Comment

A Burger King outlet at Beijing International Airport

(China Daily) – Fast food chain Burger King is planning to open six more restaurants in Beijing by June next year, as part of a major expansion in China.

The company, which has 25 outlets in the country, officially opened its first restaurant in downtown Beijing this week in Joy City in the Xidan area.

John Chidsey, chairman and chief executive of Burger King Holdings (BKC), who was in Beijing for the opening of what was the company’s 12,000th restaurant worldwide, said the group was aiming for fast growth.

“We intend to be on a similar scale to our competitors. Certainly a heck of a lot bigger than we are today, ” he said.

Burger King was a relative late entrant to China, not opening its first store until 2005.

KFC, owned by Yum!, which first came to China in 1987, has 2,000 outlets and McDonald’s, having made its debut here in 1992, recently celebrated its 1,000th store opening.

There was speculation earlier this year that McDonald’s had slowed down its expansion in China as a result of the economic downturn.

Chidsey said because Burger King was starting from a low base it had major scope for expansion regardless of economic conditions.

“When you are ahead in the market, any downturn in sales is going to hurt you very bad. If we were offered 10 suitable sites we would take them,” he said.

BKC’s global store development program has accelerated since the company, founded in 1954, was bought by a private equity concern in 2003 and then floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006.

Seventeen of the company’s current 25 China stores are company-owned so as to establish a Burger King business model for China but it intends to grow in future by finding franchise partners. – read more at SINA.com…

Tags: Beijing, Burger King, China, KFC, Yum
Cash-strapped expats bring Christmas to Beijing

China 02.12.2009 Comments Off

German tourist Marian Klug-Li picks Christmas decorations at the Beijing Liangma Flora Market yesterday. (China Daily)

By Lara Farrar and Meng Jing (China Daily) – International hotels and ski resorts are preparing for an influx of foreigners choosing to spend Christmas in Beijing this year.

Hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton and the Hilton, are vying to attract foreigners with multi-course traditional Christmas dinners and family activities.

“Obviously because of the financial crisis, people are on more of a budget,” said Floria Wun, public relations director for the Ritz-Carlton Beijing. “We are trying to give people more value for their money.”

The Ritz has a set dinner on Christmas Eve and a Christmas Eve Gala featuring a buffet, drinks and door prizes.

“We are expecting 80 percent capacity,” Wun said.

The Hilton Beijing has a four-course Christmas Eve dinner and a set menu for Christmas day lunch and dinner.

“If you can’t get home for Christmas, there is no shortage of places to get a turkey dinner,” said Jim Boyce, author of bar blog beijingboyce.com.

“And you can also mix foreign traditions with local cuisine. If you can’t get turkey, have Beijing duck. If you can’t find candy canes, buy some candied hawthorn on a stick.”

Many expatriates get little, if any, time off from work, which means holiday festivities consist of a meal at a nice restaurant or a small gathering with friends who also are unable to leave.

“I don’t celebrate holidays here as I would at home,” said Barrett Parkman, an American expatriate who works as the international business development manager for a Chinese company.

“In some ways, I forget about the holidays. This year is the first year I have a Christmas tree and it feels like Christmas in my home,” he said.

Parkman said it was too expensive to return to the United States for Christmas.

“We are upper middle-class in China, but we don’t make enough money to go home more than once a year. The expenses of going back are quite prohibitive,” he said.

Meanwhile, ski resorts are another popular excursion for foreigners who cannot get out of the country for Christmas.

“We don’t have any special plans for Christmas, but we are expecting more foreign people at that time,” said Liu Na, a spokesperson at Nanshan Ski, a popular ski resort outside of Beijing.

“It will look like a small United Nations.” – read more at ChinaDaily.com

Tags: Beijing, China, Christmas, expatriates
Beijing Automotive will ‘move fast’ on Saab bid, chief says

China 01.12.2009 1 Comment

General Motors is still seeking a buyer for Saab

(China Daily/Agencies) – Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co said it will “move fast” on General Motors Co’s Saab unit after its partner scrapped a bid for the Swedish automaker.

“Stay tuned,” Beijing Auto president Wang Dazong said yesterday in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, when asked whether the company would bid alone for Saab or as part of a group.

GM may shut Trollhaettan, Sweden-based Saab if the unit isn’t sold, a person familiar with the matter said last week after Koenigsegg Group AB walked away from a Beijing Auto-backed bid.

Wang declined to say whether a bid would be submitted before GM’s board discusses the unit’s future at a meeting today. “I can’t control GM’s timetable,” Wang said. “We want to move fast.”

Saab is attractive for its brand and its technology, Wang said, adding that a lack of “technology depth” is one of Beijing Auto’s weaknesses. In July, the Chinese carmaker’s bid for GM’s Opel unit failed because the companies couldn’t come to an agreement over intellectual property rights to car designs and technology, Beijing Auto said at that time. …read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: automobile, BAIC, Beijing, China, Saab
To buy or not to buy: Chinese home buyers’ dilemma

China 26.11.2009 Comments Off

Beijing apartment buildings

(Xinhua) – Shou Zhenwei, a 28-year-old State-owned company employee in Beijing, paid 1.4 million yuan ($205,000) for a two-bedroom apartment this month, realizing a long-cherished dream.

The price was 400,000 yuan higher than Shou’s budget at the beginning of the year, but he and his fiancee, Sun Hua felt they should buy quickly before prices went up further.

The impossible dream

Shou’s home outside Beijing’s northern second-ring road is less than 70 square meters, which equates in value to more than 20,000 yuan per sq m for the second-hand apartment built two decades ago.

That works out at two months of Shou and Sun’s total gross income for each square meter.

“We have only worked for two years, so we don’t have much saved. We want to get married next year, so we had to borrow 600,000 yuan from parents and relatives for the down payment,” Shou says.

Sun works in an export-oriented firm and sagging export demand resulted in smaller paychecks this year.

“I feel uncomfortable borrowing so much hard-earned money from parents and relatives, but we have no other alternative in the face of increasingly rising home prices,” Sun says.

The 4,700-yuan monthly installment going to the bank for the next 20 years is almost half of their combined income.

“We wanted to wait for prices to stabilize, but we worried that prices would climb even higher,” Sun says.

“Many of our young friends are borrowing money from parents for down payments, working hard and cutting corners to buy homes. For those who come from rural areas and whose parents cannot give them much financial help, buying a home is an unattainable dream.”

The couple’s story is common as home prices have gone through the roof since they began to pick up in February.

Average prices of second-hand homes in Beijing have soared 49 percent since the beginning of the year to around 16,100 yuan per sq m at the start of this month, says Qin Rui, a senior analyst with Beijing-based 5i5j Real Estate Service.

“There are some bubbles in the home prices, as many home buyers find the prices in big cities too high,” Qin says. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: Beijing, China, real estate
Big insurance hike for Beijing’s luxury cars

China 24.11.2009 Comments Off

A Ferrari is parked at Dongdaqiao, Chaoyang district. (China Daily)

By Wang Wen and Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily) – Beijing’s luxury car owners say exorbitant insurance fees that will come into effect from next year will not stop them driving their mega-million yuan sleek toys.

“Insurance fees will never stop me from driving,” said Xu Bo, a car dealer in his twenties, and who owns a 3 million yuan Ferrari 360, a 1.5 million yuan Porsche 911 and 1.6 million yuan Mercedes Benz in separate garages in Beijing.

Xu belongs to the “Supercar Club”, which consists of only a handful of millionaires, compared to nearly 5.7 million motorists in the capital. The cashed-up supercar drivers already pay up to 200,000 yuan each year to have their wheels insured, not to mention the maintenance costs.

The insurance fees are set to double under a new car insurance policy next January, which also stipulates that owners of cars with few crashes will enjoy up to a 40 percent discount on their insurance fees, while those with so-called “bad records” will pay up to three times more than the previous year.

“Unfortunately, supercars fall into that high-risk group along with some modified racing vehicles, because they are simply too costly to be insured,” said Li Feng, director of the commercial insurance department of the Beijing Insurance Association, who drafted the policy. “That’s why we call them ‘special-need vehicles’ under the new policy.”

Liu Dongqing, a veteran insurance broker, said insurers have a more vivid name for the group.

“They are called ‘the junk vehicles’ in our business. We just hate granting them insurance contracts,” he told METRO.

It costs buyers millions of yuan to own a Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini because of China’s high import taxes on luxury goods. But after calculating the insurance fees and compensation for fixing the expensive cars after even minor accidents, insurance firms often find their deals out of balance. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: automobile, Beijing, China, insurance