The Chinese are coming! Well, eventually...

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 attacking exporting to the United States. The Milky Way-sized trade deficit between the U.S. and China was also mentioned as a reason for taking a long term approach to entering the US market.

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.

[Source: Detroit News]

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