"CCTV Annual Auto Model Award" is jointly held by many authoritative organizations, such as CCTV Economic Channel and China Automotive Technology and Research Center. The judge panel of this contest consists of one hundred judges, including 30 authoritative automotive experts in China, 50 automotive journalists and 20 representatives from the circulation cycle. Each auto model winner is decided by judges through testing and voting. This contest is one of the most authoritative and popular auto awards in China. The contest is held annually and has become an important reference for Chinese consumers to purchase cars.

As expected, DR Motor company, the subsidiary of Italian DR Automobiles Groupe, will become the owner of Fiat’s Sicilian Termini Imerse factory, which was closed in December last year. In an interview for Italian newspaper La Repubblica", Di Risio, founder and CEO of holding company, confirmed plans to start production of Chinese Chery models. DR Motor is still waiting for the green light from government agency Invitalia, which has to approve the new investment. If that happens, the company will get bank loans for the project. The first goal is to start assemble small SUV based on Chery Tiggo by the end of 2012.

The registration data provided by IBRM Samar show, that only 40 Chinese cars were registered in Poland in 2011. Although this result isn’t impressive, it is more twice than in 2010, when the number of registrations was 19. For comparison, a Samar reported 13 units of models „made in China” in 2009, so Polish market is growing up.

MG Motor has announced it will enter the 2012 BTCC Series with a ‘dream team’ of cars, drivers, constructors and sponsors. Two MG6 GT cars will run in the all-new MG KX Momentum Racing team piloted by double BTCC champion Jason Plato and BTCC rising star Andy Neate. The cars will be prepared by Triple Eight Race Engineering, one of the most successful constructors in touring car racing. And completing the ‘dream team’ are principal sponsors Tesco Fuels with their Momentum 99 brand and KX energy drink completing an all-British line-up.

In the latest edition of the Chinese crash test C-NCAP, the luxury model Geely Emgrand EC8 got five stars. Although for the observes this result is not surprising, it is worth to noting that thanks to the highest score 49,6 points set a new record for Chinese cars. Unfortunately, parameters of crash test in China are still less demanding for cars than in Europe. The main difference is a speed - 56 km/h instead of 64 km/h. For comparison, Peugeot 508 scored 49 points in China in the same edition of the tests.

On January 16, Beijing Time, 2012 Dakar Rally lasting for two weeks came to an end in Lima, Capital of Peru. In the vehicle group, all Chinese racing teams completed the race; among them, Haval Racing Team for Dakar Rally not only ranked in top ten of the race for the first time together with famous racing teams including BMW and Hummer, but also created the best record of Chinese racing teams participating in the rally.

Beiqi Foton will debut on the Polish market later this year. One of the biggest Chinese producer of commercial vehicles is building sales network. Although we don’t know the official Foton’s offer, we can suppose that only new cars with European homologation and Euro 5 norm can appear on the Polish streets. Foton has only one model which meets our expectations. It is a newest pickup named Foton Tunland (code P201).

Recently Great Wall Motors built Voleex C30 and Voleex C20R have been approved by EU with WVTA. Following Florid, Coolbear, Haval, and Wingle, the complete series of Voleex saloon cars of Great Wall Motors have got this certification. This certification lasted for 1 year, and the certification organization of VCA in UK is responsible for the certification process which is considerably complicated and strict. Totally 48 testing items are involved in EU Certification, of which 13 are relating to active safety, 13 for passive safety, 8 for environmental protection. Fairly high standards have been set for the vehicles in regard to emission level, safety performance and environmental protection.

The Chinese producer has ambitious plans for the European markets. After released of information about start of sales in UK, came the announcement of expansion in Italy. The sales of Asian brand will begin this year. Just as in Britain, initially will be offer only a four-door sedan with code EC7. The car will compete mainly with Skoda Octaivia. According to preliminary information, the basic version of the vehicle equipped with 1.5l 1006 hp petrol engine, ESP and airbags package should cost about EUR 12,000.

Great Wall Motor Co., China's largest SUV maker, expects its joint venture assembly plant in Bulgaria to start producing vehicles in February - according to autonewschina.com. The factory, in the northern Bulgarian town of Lovech, is a joint venture between Great Wall and Bulgaria's Litex Motors Co. Chinese tycoon plans to set up a technology center in Europe to develop vehicles that comply with the European safety standards - autonewschina.com said.