It occurred to me to be a wise guy and post something along the lines of: "Alright, China has been around for centuries. If in all this time they have never produced a home grown automobile, why on earth would I even dream of having an alternator, starter, or any other part of a vehicle made over there..."

So I web-smurffed it. Low and behold, now we know why they want all of the scrap steel, iron, aluminum, and so on that they can get from us and everybody else!

(Excerpt from CHINA CAR FORUMS DOT COM)

ChinaCarForums.com is a website dedicated to enthusiasts and owners of China made automobiles (Chery, Geely, Great Wall Motor, Nanjing, Hafei, Zhongxing, Brilliance China etc).

Chery? Could that possibly be Cherolet?

Now we see where all of the materials are going...

I hope for their sakes the vehicles last longer than the last pair of chinese made pliers I had. Seriously.

 

Last week scrap metal was being bought at $11.75 per 100 lbs for cars so it no surprise about where it's going. Now I am wondering when not if they will be selling cars here made in China.

 

After the performance of nankang tires - I don't think anyone would want one.

 

I would agree,but they way we are flooded with clothing,toys,furniture from overseas I would not be surprised that if they try selling cars here. All they have to do is scream excellent gas mileage,less polluting cars and tree huggers will be all over them. And if they are cheap enough they will sell on that point too.

 

Until they break down, and parts are not there.

 

Very true. But by then they will have gotten the money and no way to get it back. I'm so glad my sons like Fords

 

At least parts are available.

I can always find another 302.

 

Very true. I'm thinking about getting a 302 efi engine and a zf 5 speed trans for my 76 F250 and just save the 390 and 4 speed. I can't think of a better way to recycle.

 

Gentlemen, you are behind the times. The tide is already coming in. China has been selling really CHEAP cars and SUVs in Europe for a few years now. Chery is partnered with Chrysler(I believe) to start selling cars right here in the USA this year. There are 3 or 4 other Chinese makers also scheduled or planning to sell trash here soon.

The key word is CHEAP. Like all other things made in China, quality is hit and miss but there are enough people who are cheap, that China can sell us second rate products and grow their share of the market.

It is going to happen and may already have started. So don't be surprised to see a bunch of cheap vehicles flooding the roads in a few years.

The scary thing about Chinese vehicles is that they appear to cut quite a few corners on structural strength. The German safety testers tested one of the SUVs a few years ago and the video is horrific. The crash dummy was just totally obliterated. The Safety union said they had never had a vehicle fail so badly as that SUV. It looked like a typical oriental small SUV, but all of it was crumple zone. No human would have survived that test except as a vegetable.

Still, Europeans are buying them, because they are cheap. It will happen here in the USA too. For the first few years we will see horribly crushed vehicles until the CHinese move upscale with better vehicles.

It will be just like Japan and Korea cars again. Cheap trash to start but eventually OK vehicles as they get more money to compete against USA based products.

Sad, but this is the way things are moving,

Jim Henderson

 

Look at all the chinese motorcycles and scooters here already. Should show you the
quality of their products and how they back them, Do a search for chinese motorcycle
and people are complaining about those. Supposedly they bought hondas old 1970-80
tooling and castings and if you look the motors on most are pretty close to the old
XR-XL's!! I also read they are making a copy of many cars they just import one or
get the plans from a source and start spitting out copies. I read that the electronics
industry that makes the products and parts of legitimate products also are the same
exact factories that are putting out the illegitimate copies as well. They either run a
ghost shift at night using the equipment but putting crappier components or they are
actually building another complete factory down the road and build from the same
plans with the crappier component/materials. Of course the real danger I see from
both the real and fake components coming from them is their environmental track
record(country as a whole) And the incentive is there for them to actually mix the
waste products into the products and ship it over to us!! Think about it this way if they
were to mix in 1/10th of an ounce of lead into a gallon of paint then paint the toys
with that after a while it all adds up and is that much less pollution/waste they have to
get rid of/ deal with on their own soil. What is really worrisome to me is the mixing of
recycled metal that is taken from radioactive sites/products and then mixed into the
metal for that car frame,toy, stereo or FOOD!! Heres a question for you, Where DO
you think all the irradiated metal from Nagasaki and Hiroshima went to?
We bury all of our old medical equipment/ reactor parts "safely" in south carolina, Try
finding out where other countries dispose of theirs and if it is even truthful.
I hope I didn't start a run on scintillometers because I want one before the price goes
up!!

 

Chrysler cant survive, post-Daimler, as it is now. My prediction is that Jeep will be sold off to Nissan and the remaining dealer network will start selling Chinese cars, as the rest of the product lineup is allowed to die.

There is a little hope. Chrysler has been near-death several times and somehow is still around.

Jim

 

What is intriguing here, is that when GEO first turned up - a lot of people thought it was a brand new car company with sensitivety to urban and in-town milage.

NO Sir. Geo Metro, Pontiac Firefly, and Chevrolet Sprint were all RE-BADGED and somewhat differently styled SUZUKI SWIFTS!

SO then, if China has a deal with GM/Chrysler I think it's safe to say that new models APPARENTLY from GM and Chrysler are in fact going to be rebadged Chinese cars.

It may take a bit to pin them down, but you can bet that's what they will be!

In the case of the Suzuki deal too - the cars rebadged for ostensibly "AMERICAN" manufacturers were lower grade machines. All three had one less cylinder and piston at first... Options available on the Suzuki Swift were not available on the others.

Does this mean the rebadged China cars may be crummier than front line cars from China? Possibly.

They will surely want to make a name for their home companies. The best ones ( ) will most likely NOT be the rebadged bunch.

-I wasn't always a sceptic, I used to be a pessimist!

 

Chinese car crash test. Not something I want to be hit by a gnat at 70 mph in.

 

That's nothing.... look at this Chinese pickup truck at 40 mph. The two rows of passengers are literally crushed to under 4 inches thick:

Failed Chinese Crash Test*Video

The thing is 5-6 foot shorter after the crash. Imagine an offset at 50 mph! This thing would kill you at 25mph!

They may be in Europe, but they have to meet minimum safety requirements to be sold here, and they don't. Smog and crash standards are what killed off the original Beetle in the USA.

 

Did y'all know that Ford and GM have parts and auto/truck assembly plants in China?

Where do you think the parts and vehicles are being sold?

Right now the vehicles are being sold dang near everywhere but here, and here is where they're coming...very soon.

The parts may be here now, dunno...but it wouldn't surprise me one dang bit.

I remember the customers reaction and what was said, when they first saw Hecho en Mexico on Ford parts labels. What was said cannot be repeated on a family site!

Last year, Chery Auto Group, China's largest automaker, signed a deal with Malcolm Bricklin (yes, that Malcolm Bricklin) to sell cars thru Chrysler/Dodge dealers in the US.

The cars will be here...very soon.

Cheap labor: Both Ford and GM are looking into building parts and assembly plants in India.

Since India's Tata Motors just bought Jag and Land Rover from Ford, it prolly won't be long before Tata's will be sold here.

btw: What's the most popular American car that's being sold in China?

Did you say Buick? Right-o.

I wonder what the age demographics are inre to Buick sales in China?

Here in the US of A, it's 70 plus. Besides the Buick, the Mercury Grand Marquis is another car favored by the old folks.