Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Chinese Can't Make Cars

The Chinese have decided that along with making most of the things we buy here they should make cars. The first ones were just parts taken from lots of other cars that were put together to look like the real cars. There was one that looks like a BMW X5 and Geely has two different cars that have the front and rear end of the last Mercedes-Benz C-class to a front or rear end of the Opel Astra. There is a SUV called a Landwind that looks just like an early 1990's Isuzu Rodeo and in the crash tests did the same thing. They Chinese must have decided that crumple zones are meant to be in the front seat. The tire came through the foot well, the A-pillar went back into the dummy's body, and more damage, meaning a driver would be dead. This is a trend that has gone on with most of the Chinese cars crash tested. The Chinese have another attempt to create a car, but its name (not the brand name) says it all about what the car is like, the Brilliance BS6. They must have been aiming for what they named it, either that or they thought BS was a good thing in English. The car is terribly overpriced, terribly unsafe, isn't luxurious in any way, slow, ugly, has horrible quality, and completely failed the crash test, even with 4 airbags. They are coming out with more, the Brilliance BS4 doesn't look bad. I have just seen crash test videos of the BS4 and an improved BS6, neither did too badly. However, I would never buy a car named BS. If I wanted to buy a car new for a very low price I would buy something Korean, the new KIA's and Hyundai's are good as I already wrote about, but those are probably more expensive. The best way would be used, you can get great cars for great prices that way.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do think that the cloned cars from spare parts are funny though!

mosport70 said...

Frightening thing is we all thought Hyundai and Kia made similar quality cars when they started being exported to North America.

With all of these joint ventures with BMW and GM the Chinese will soon learn enough about manufacturing cars to make them competitive at least on price and later on quality. It has taken Hyundai 20 years to bring their quality up to scratch. Anyone remember the Hyundai Pony... anyone?

Design can always be outsourced to Europe like the Koreans sometimes do. Marketing prowess in North America and Europe also can be bought, so I think we will likely see name changes on these vehicles before they are brought over here.

The question is whether the Chinese will care enough about building safe, reliable, clean and efficient automobiles or is it simply another play to corner another manufacturing sector?