We've been hearing a lot lately about Chinese cars' impending arrival on our shores. According to what could be cooler heads -- or decoys! (insert maniacal laugh, here) -- that simply isn't the case. At a recent event in Detroit, China's ambassador to the U.S., Zhou Wenzhong, said Chinese carmakers can't even make enough cars for the Chinese, much less fulfill America's production needs.He was seconded by Zhang Lin, a Chery executive, who said that the company first wished to solidify its operations in emerging markets before
Of note, though, is that Chery is not one of the five Chinese makers attending the 2008 Detroit Show. One of those companies, China Automotive Group/ZXNA, is headed by Steve Saleen, and we wonder if he got the memo about not being in a rush to begin Stateside operation.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gary Lowe @ Nov 19th 2007 7:23PM
I live in China and from what I see Chinese cars are half way between where Korean cars were 5 years ago and where they are today. Another words a leap in quality and design is in the making. Their quality often exceeds local made foreign brands like the ever problematic but great looking Peugeot 307 or the Ford Focus. I think their greatest shortcoming is understanding western marketing and customer service. The entire car buying/selling process is very different in China and would not fly in the US.
I_Hate_China @ Nov 20th 2007 9:40AM
> I live in China and from what I see Chinese cars are half way between where Korean cars were 5 years ago and where they are today.
So care to tell me which Chinese brand cars are equal to a 2002 Hyundai Sonata or Santa Fe? Because I must be missing out something. Other than illegal clones, I mean.
> Another words a leap in quality and design is in the making.
Another news to me. An interesting story. A Hyundai VP recently visited Chery to discuss Chery's recent theft of Hyundai's welding technology, then took a plant tour. He came out smiling, murmuring 1982, 1982... What 1982? He meant Chery of 2007 is at where Hyundai was in 1982.
tekdemon @ Dec 1st 2007 9:11PM
lol...the post by "I hate China" is probably very objective and filled with accurate facts. And of course Hyundai wouldn't have any reason to bash Chinese car manufacturers, right?
Oh wait, Hyundai has the most to lose of probably any car manufacturer just because the position they currently occupy is exactly what the Chinese are going after.
And anyways, Chery isn't the most advanced Chinese manufacturer. If you want to see how fast the Chinese are catching up, last year Geely launched a homegrown aluminum block 1.8L CVVT engine.
The Chinese are learning MUCH faster than the Koreans, because there's just SO MUCH MORE MONEY in the Chinese car market. There's well over 1 billion consumers in a country where too many people have made too much money in a booming stock market, so there's definitely a lot of money to go around. Plus half the car companies are heavily backed by various provicincial or even the federal government in China, so they have nearly unlimited funding. On top of which, China has plenty of cheap engineering talent.
It'll take a few more years yet, but China is likely to move a lot faster than Hyundai did.
Bryan @ Nov 19th 2007 7:26PM
The chineseeee are coming.......oh noes
james @ Nov 19th 2007 8:48PM
the Chinese are not voming for another eight to ten years
www.tengears.com
paul34 @ Nov 19th 2007 9:37PM
you're STILL spamming here?! why haven't you been banned yet?!
Hank @ Nov 19th 2007 9:22PM
i don't think the Chinese automakers are lacking customers to sell their cars to right about now. I mean, it'll take a few cars to seat 1.3 billion people, right? lol.
J M C 3 @ Nov 19th 2007 9:22PM
The Chinese are using are monies from exports to fund military build up.
Ry @ Nov 20th 2007 12:44AM
Just like the Americans used to do but now they just put it on credit!
RobZ4 @ Nov 20th 2007 1:18AM
Well that is not really news.They always had a huge army and Chinese built weapons are sold to terrorist groups and dictators all over the world.Now they just have more money
J M C 3 @ Nov 20th 2007 1:01PM
My prediction.They and the Russians are going to back the Iranians and take over Iraq for the oil they need.Americans who only care about the short term(cheap cars- Dodeg Hornet,low cost labor,goods) will regret it.
Menice @ Nov 20th 2007 8:32AM
china is killing our kids, economy, and poisoning the environment everyday. you gonna tell me quality is on the rise.
I buy electronic components out of china all day long. 50-70% of them are counterfeit/ remarks. they are 500 years behind in standards, quality, and evolution.
icetraxx @ Nov 20th 2007 9:51AM
The companies here should be held responsible for testing their own products built in China, since they failed to do that you could almost say American companies have been trying to kill our kids. China is going through an industrial revolution such as the one the US and Europe went through over a hundred years ago, except theirs is far accelerated and parts of China are already fully modernized. Is it fair that our ancestors were able to poison the environment and now we are able to reap the benefits of our post-industrialized nation? Why shouldn't China have the chance to do this now? If 50-70% of the electronics you buy out of China are counterfeit, buy them from somewhere else. 500 years behind on evolution? Thats not very nice.
I_Hate_China @ Nov 20th 2007 9:54AM
Anyhow, the window of entry into US market has closed, there is no room for Chinese automakers in the US, excluding the possibility of foreign automakers(Likes of GM, Toyota, Honda, VW) exporting out of China.
Look at Chery's Hornet project. 36 month is the earliest time Chery chould have a US-exportable econobox ready before the current project halt, with no dates on when the Hornet project could resume.
The cold hard truth is that it cost Honda more to assemble an Accord in China than in the US, and "Chinese price" on automobile doesn't exist. Chinese cars are cheap because they use cheap unsafe steel and cheap parts(Chery in particular), not because of labor cost savings which isn't a big part of auto assembly cost anyway(unless you are GM or Ford wth UAW benefits, pension and health care). The moment Chinese start using high-strength anti-corrosive steel, high quality parts, and slap a 12 year warranty(Or worse, a Life-time warranty like Chrysler/Dodges), they have to charge 90% of Toyota prices to break even.
This is why Chinese cars will never become a significant factor in the US. You also note that there is no Chinese "global" brand like Sony, Samsung, Toyota, and Hyundai. Chinese are good at little things but suck at big things.
gt @ Nov 20th 2007 3:06PM
I see safety as being the biggest barrier to entry.
BTW, you're also forgetting the cost of development. Since the Chinese rip off existing designs, their cost of development is extremely low. Unfortunately, a lot of their copies use thinner gauge steel, crappier materials in general, etc. so they crumple like foil.
GSP @ Nov 20th 2007 12:36PM
You don't need to say anything. You Name has talked! You are a freak.
jw @ Nov 20th 2007 11:09AM
INTERVIEWED WITH SALEENS OUTFIT..THEY ARE CLUELESS..THEY STILL HAVE TO BUILD A PLANT IN MEXICO TO BUILD THERE PRODUCTS..DON'T SEE THIS HAPPENING SOON..
Just a friend @ Nov 29th 2007 6:16PM
Dear Mr.Hyundai,
Can I bring you back to reality ?
This is your hyundai back 9 years ago
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/hyundai_accent_1998/36.aspx
So get off that high horse about 1982, clear ?
And for your Samsung, keep in mind that your Samsung only took off as a global brand after the year 2000, clear ?
Your Hyundai was exported to America in 1986 and was viewed as cheap and nasty, and it nearly withdrawn out of the American market. And the only reason your Hyundai can make it to the US at that time because there were no restriction on safety and emission standards. Your hyundai only started to gain some name in the recent years so don't be too ego.
Chery president already made it clear that he does not want Chery cars to enter American market too early. Since Chery cars at the moment cannot satisfy the US standards, and due to the Chinese government restriction on car export to developed market to avoid the Yugo fiasco, Chery president said Chery cars won't hit American soil at least by 2011.
To the American readers here. The American corporations want to cut costs, they keep urging Chinese sub-contractors to keep the costs down, so whose fault is this ? Even if China was to go down now, the American companies won't move back the manufacturing bases back to the US, they will simply just move it to other cheap labour source. The US economy is ill now is because of the US itself , it cannot go around and blame other people, instead of finding a way to recover the economy, your politicians and you choose to go around and pick scapegoats, first Japan and now China. If someone said Chinese goods are counterfeit then do not buy it, and for quality, if you say Chinese quality is 500 years behind then think about American quality 100 years ago.
tekdemon @ Dec 1st 2007 9:23PM
Yeah, I find it funny how people seem to forget when Hyundai spent decades building cars that were basically just outdated mitsubishi clones that used engines actually made by mitsubishi because Hyundai didn't develop their own engines yet.
It wasn't even until 1993 that Hyundai could make it's own engine, and it wasn't exactly a cutting edge engine.
Chinese car manufacturers are moving a lot faster than Hyundai ever did.
And people seem to forget that Hyundai was already WAY ahead of where Kia was. Up until Hyundai bought Kia and merged them in, Kia's were still super-outdated cars.
At the rate China's catching up, there's good reason for Hyundai to try and talk smack, because they want to seed the idea that the Chinese won't catch up anytime soon, so people will keep buying Hyundais when cheaper Chinese cars come out.
And I have nothing against Hyundais, but it's utter BS that the Chinese are still in 1982, in 1982 Hyundai was making POS excels, and even the crappiest Chinese car is probably better than a 1982 Excel, lol.
sap @ Dec 18th 2007 7:49PM
"Hyundai spent decades building cars that were basically just outdated mitsubishi clones"
You are wrong. early hyundai cars such as Pony Stellar and excel are hyundai engineered minus mitsu engine. for newer cars, until the 90s Hyundai rather co-developed its cars with Mitsubish, not producing mitsu's outdated models. Examples are Hyundai grandeur/mitsu's 2nd gen debonair twins introduced in 1986 and hyundai equus/mitsu praudia flagship debuted in 1999.
"It wasn't even until 1993 that Hyundai could make it's own engine"
Wrong again. Hyundai finished developping the 1.5 liter alpha engine by 1990 and used it in Scoupe in 1991.
"even the crappiest Chinese car is probably better than a 1982 Excel, lol"
At least excel made its way to the America, and it sold pretty good. Do you see even the crappiest chinese cars in the US? Im pretty sure you don't, and there's a reason for that...