I constantly check out the types of cars I see on Chinese roads. Yet I found myself staring at some of the stands of domestic automakers at the Beijing auto show, seeing models completely new to me.
Some of these automakers will not only survive, they will thrive. They may even become global household names. But which ones? Others will flame out.
One of the ones that came close to fizzling is Jiangling Motors Corp., maker of the Landwind SUV you see in the above photo. The company tried to export abroad way too soon, learning an abject lesson. Last year, a Belgian importer got exclusive rights to the company’s Landwind SUV.
It sold about 100 of them in the Netherlands. Then, word of an independent crash test in Germany came out. The Landwind SUV, a large vehicle, utterly failed in the area of passenger cabin protection, scoring zero out of five. Even airbags were deemed useless in protecting passengers in the collapsed cabin. After publicity about the tests broke, sales stopped overnight.
Then there are others, like Chery and Geely. We have an American friend with a Chery QQ and she loves it. It’s economical and fairly comfortable inside. I rode in the backseat for two hours once and had no problem.
Some brands I’ve hardly heard of, in part because China’s auto market is not really national. Hondas and Toyotas do particularly well in Guangzhou, near factories there, while VWs sell heavily around Shanghai, where many are produced. I had never heard of the brand in the photo below, Huang Hai, or Yellow Sea.
Lastly, check out this Roewe auto below. I don't have the details at my fingertips, but I recall that one of the big Shanghai automakers, maybe SAIC, obtained designs for the British Rover sedan but than did not win a bid to actually manufacture it. So it did the next best thing: It produced this knockoff, and the name is pronounced almost like "Rover" in Chinese. I was in Shanghai last month, and Roewe advertising was strung everywhere. By the way, the finishing looked top-notch to my untrained eye.
What happened to the QQ? They were everywhere in 2004, but their numbers seemed to decline markedly in the following years. I thought it must have been something to do with low quality. A few days ago, my workmate said she was selling her QQ and buying a Buick. I asked her whether there is something wrong with the QQ, but she said that it is a good car, but it is just too small. Perhaps in the minds of Chinese consumers, the QQ is too cheap.
I will probably go to the Car Show tomorrow, so I'll be able to compare notes.
Posted by: Xiao Zhu | November 22, 2006 at 02:12 AM
it is a pleasure to read your words. I am working in HK.It is really intersting to read sth about my hometown from a different point of view.
Posted by: Samantha | November 22, 2006 at 04:12 AM
Car? Oh, NOW I see it...
Best from down south...
L
Posted by: Lonnie | November 23, 2006 at 09:40 PM