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Youngman Lotus (Europestar) L3

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#1 ·
Proton has secured a deal to supply fully built-up (CBU) Proton GEN2 cars to Youngman Automobile Group Ltd Co. to be sold in China. The agreement was signed between Proton Managing Director Dato’ Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir and Youngman through its Chairman, Pang Qingnian.

The deal involves a minimum of 30,000 Proton GEN2 CBU cars that wil be rebadged in China under the brand EUROPESTAR and eventually Youngman and Proton (through Lotus Engineering) will be developing a new range of EUROPESTAR cars together. This supply contract is for a period of 20 months from the date of the first delivery of vehicles.

I think it’s best that the underlying components of these new EUROPESTAR cars use component sharing with Proton cars, that way the economies of scale for both Youngman’s EUROPESTAR and Proton can improve together. From what I understand, the deal involves technical licensing of the GEN2 platform as well as the CamPro engine for future EUROPESTAR cars

Proton MD Syed Zainal says these are landmark win-win agreements as it would enable Proton to sell its products and commercialise its technologies in China through Youngman for their brand of passenger cars in a huge market with promise of exponential growth. Imagine, the Chinese auto market is already huge as it is, yet in reality Chinese car ownership is only at 1% of it’s population and is set to grow by 20 to 30% annually.

“We are therefore positive with the prospects and export optimisation that will result in production volume increase at the Tanjung Malim plant. We are equally optimistic of the opportunities in commercialisation of PROTON’s technologies and intellectual property rights,” added Syed Zainal.

However, in Proton’s announcement in Bursa Malaysia, it stated that the relationship of Proton and Youngman is one of independant contracting parties and shall not be construed as creating an agency or partnership between the parties.
http://paultan.org/archives/2007/07/13/youngman-to-sell-proton-gen2-badged-as-europestar-in-china/
 
#27 ·
Youngman to debut Persona at Guangzhou show.

November 12, 2008 - Malaysian carmaker Proton has recently launched its another sedan model Persona, and its Chinese partner Youngman Lotus will expand its product lineup by building the Chinese version of the Proton Persona, which is to debut at the upcoming 2008 Guangzhou auto show next week.

Zhejiang Jinhua-based Youngman Lotus is a joint venture between Youngman Auto and British Lotus Engineering, an affiliate of Proton. The Proton Persona model will have its Chinese edition named "Jingyue," to be specially built by Youngman Lotus for the Chinese market. The Jingyue sedan model will be launched on November 18 at the Guangzhou auto show.

The first batch of the Persona / Jingyue model, now available for ordering, will be delivered to the market at the end of this month. The price of the car is not disclosed yet, but customers can order it by paying a deposit of 2,000 yuan ($293) at Youngman Lotus 4S stores. Customers who are interested in the Proton brand can go to the Guangzhou show for an early look at Jingyue model.

The Proton Person is powered by the Lotus 1.6-liter gasoline engine, mated with the five-speed manual transmission or four-speed automatic transmission. Its Chinese edition shares many features and configurations with the Europestar Lotus RCR ("Jingsu" in Chinese) hatchback introduced by Youngman Lotus earlier this year.

Youngman Auto, formerly a commercial vehicle OEM only, has decided to enter the passenger vehicle market by introducing and producing its partners' models first. Its production of the Proton Gen.2-based Europestar Lotus RCR hatchback has been delayed from August to December this year due to policy requirements.
source: Gasgoo.com
 
#30 ·
December 8, 2008 - Chinese carmaker Youngman Auto saw the Lotus RCR model rolls off line on December 6 at its Guizhou facility, said xinhuanet.com today. This marks the Chinese carmaker's capability to assemble and produce this Lotus model.

The Guizhou base, former Yunque Auto, was invested by Zhejiang Jinhua-based Youngman Automobile together with China National Guizhou Aviation Industry (Group) Co in 2004 and has started making some Lotus cars before Youngman's Jinan base is completed in 2009 as scheduled. Its production of the Europestar Lotus RCR ("Jingsu" in Chinese) was delayed from August to December due to policy requirements.

The Europestar RCR model for Chinese production has been developed jointly by Youngman Auto, Guizhou Aviation and British Lotus Engineering under the aegis of Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd, with total investment of 2 billion yuan ($293 million). Youngman Auto began to market the Lotus RCR, a smart roadster coupe based on the 2nd-generation Persona sedan model of Lotus Proton.

Youngman Lotus is a joint venture between Youngman Auto and British Lotus Engineering, an affiliate of Proton. Another Lotus car, the Proton Persona sedan model ("Jingyue" in Chinese), will also be specially built by Youngman Lotus for the Chinese market. The Jingyue sedan model was launched on November 18 at the Guangzhou auto show.

Youngman Auto, formerly a commercial vehicle OEM, is entering the passenger vehicle market by making its British partner's models at first. The company will design eight models jointly with Lotus Engineering over the next four years and produce them at the Guizhou base. The models will include the family sedan, Coupe, SUV, MPV and others.

source: gasgoo.com
 
#31 ·
Re: Youngman to sell Proton badged as Europestar in China

Good to see Guizhou Aviation's auto plant up and running again. Looking at the website one would think that the Subaru-based WOW (Skylark) is still being produced there.
And better still for Guizhou, this looks like it's just the beginning, with another eight models to come. It's good to see Youngman finally getting the ball rolling in a province that can use a boost to its employment rolls. But the timing may be a problem what with this downturn of the economy and all. I hope it defies the odds and does well.

There was a time when Youngman planned production of the Iranian Samand sedan at this location.
 
#32 ·
China-made Lotus RCR to go on sale in March 2009.

Chinese carmaker Youngman Auto had its self-developed Lotus RCR ("Jingsu" in Chinese) model rolling off line earlier this month at its Guizhou plant. This first Lotus-brand model made in China is set to go on sale in March 2009, at a price possibly below 100,000 yuan ($14,700), reported Jiangnan Times today citing a Youngman insider.

The Europestar RCR model for Chinese production was developed jointly by Youngman Auto and British Lotus Engineering, with total investment of 2 billion yuan ($293 million). At the 2008 Guangzhou auto show last month, Youngman Auto displayed the RCR as a Lotus model, a smart roadster coupe based on the 2nd-generation Persona sedan model of Lotus Proton.

Youngman Lotus is a joint venture between Youngman Auto and British Lotus Engineering which is an affiliate of Proton. Another Lotus car, the Proton Persona sedan model ("Jingyue"), will also be specially built by Youngman Lotus for the Chinese market. The Jingyue sedan model was unveiled on November 18 at the Guangzhou show.

While it imported the first RCR sedan in January this year for trial sales in the Chinese market, Youngman started to build its manufacturing bases in Guizhou, Tai'an (of Shandong), Ji'nan and Hangzhou. Construction of the Ji'nan and Hangzhou bases will be completed early next year to bring Youngman Auto's annual production capacity to 450,000 units.

Youngman Auto, formerly a commercial vehicle OEM, is entering the passenger vehicle market by making its British partner's models at first. The company will design eight models jointly with Lotus Engineering over the next four years and produce them at the four bases. The models will include the family sedan, Coupe, SUV, MPV and others.

With the Lotus RCR off line and in market first, other self-developed Youngman Lotus models are expected to be made and launched in succession starting 2009. The Proton Persona "Jingyue" sedan will go to market immediately after the RCR "Jingsu" model.
Europestar is essentially China’s newest autobrand, but many people havent heard of it, nor will they be able to buy one. Europestar was created between Youngman, a Shandong based bus maker, and Proton, the Malaysian car maker. Proton was set to supply the cars, and Youngman was to create the brand ‘Europestar’. The brand hasnt faired too well as of yet, probably due to the very small dealer network which seems to focus on interior Chinese cities, rather than the boom towns of eastern China. Sales of the Europestar RCR (Nee Proton Gen2 Racer) are not so high, in fact, that they are suprisingly low at around 30 cars per month.

Poor sales could be attributed to its small network, and also to the high price that they are asking for the RCR. The RCR is sent from Malaysia in CKD (Complete Knock Down) form, its basically a big box of car bits that are then assembled in Youngman’s factories in China. The price of the Europestar RCR is currently around 130,000rmb depending on model, which is essentially on par with the popular Ford Focus, or the Honda Civic hatch, even the engineering by Lotus badges on the back of the RCR (For which Lotus receives $50USD for each car!) have failed to win the car many buyers.

However, from next year the RCR is to be built in China, which may see the price drop to sub 100,000rmb which would surely bring a great deal of visitors into the few Eurostar dealers. The RCR maycurrently be the only model under the Europestar name, but it is soon to be joined by the Proton Persona, which will also see Chinese production. The joint venture between Proton/Lotus and Youngman was kick started with 2 billion RMB in investment, Youngman is currently working on two more factories for the Europestar brand, and soon hopes to have a production facility to produce up to 450,000 cars per year. This shows that Europestar, despite being China’s newest car company, has some grand plans for the Chinese marketplace, and possibly even the export market.

Youngman and Lotus have plans for eight new models, including MPV’s, and SUV’s.
gasgoo.com and China Car Times
 
#35 ·
Re: Youngman to sell Proton badged as Europestar in China

Europestar to sell Proton Exora MPV. The van has been seen testing it in northern China, maybe around Jinan where Youngman is based, according to China Car Times. It is expected to hit the Chinese market later this year.




And some trivia. Proton originated in the 1980's and is, I'm pretty sure a state owned enterprise. all of the early models were based on Mitsubishi models of the period, such as the Lancer. More were introduced and some were even sold, are are still being sold in Australian and for a time, New Zealand markets. Proton has definately come a long way since then.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Europestar domestically produced RCR seen in China.

Europestar, China’s latest brand to hit the streets have had their domestically made Proton Gen2 RCR spotted out in China. The Chinese made RCR looks identical to the Malaysian made model, except for its updated nose.

The Chinese built model is expected to see a drop in price over the coming months. Previously the RCR was produced in Malaysia, and shipped to China in CKD form which Youngman would then assemble in their auto factory in Guizhou.

Youngman plan to expand their dealerships aggresively over the coming months to include tier one and tier two cities.





source: China Car Times
 
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