[Real_I_Hate_China]

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002985070

Wrong Turn: China Automaker Hits Roadblock


August 10, 2006

By Steve Miller

DETROIT -- Chinese automaker Geely will not import its CK sedan in the U.S., as it had promised to do, after the small car failed to meet safety and emissions standards here. Instead, the company will develop a new sedan with planned delivery for 2009, entering the North America market a year later than previously planned.

Geely sent 12 CK sedans, accompanied by a team of engineers, to the U.S. earlier this year for testing—and hoped-for approval—for market placement.

“These cars did pass on much of the criteria,” said Rick Zhang, project manager, Geely International Corp. in Shanghai, China. “But the model that we have wanted to put on the U.S. market, the CK sedan, may not be able to pass the standards.”

U.S. standards for safety and emissions are higher than many other countries, imposing higher costs on fledgling foreign automakers.

Geely, which showed the 7151 CK Geely sedan during the media preview at the North American International Auto Show in January, will instead develop a new car to enter the market here, Zhang said.

The plan is now to sell a midsized sedan rather than the $10,000 CK. Parts for the new model are “roughly” ready, Zhang said, “and now we are looking at where to assemble it.”

The move on the part of China’s government to bring Chinese-built autos to the U.S. has spurred furious development projects there and, in some cases, impediments such as Geely’s.

“Some of these [car companies] are going into the export markets without doing all of their homework,” said Ashvin Chotai, director of Asian automotive research at Boston-based Global Insight. “The CK was only launched in China last year and is one of Geely’s first self-developed products. They are trying to squeeze into five years what the Japanese did over 15 years, and they need to get to know the U.S. standards better. And to fail tests with a dozen vehicles is very much testing the waters.”

Geely had previously announced plans to hit the U.S. market in 2008, a highly anticipated foray from a country in which the hourly auto factory assembly pay averages $2 an hour compared to $60 for wages and benefits in the U.S., which would allow the companies to offer cheaper-priced cars than their American counterparts.

Several other Chinese automakers, including Great Wall Automobile Holding, Zhongxing Auto and Chery Automobile Co. have plans to bring their cars to the U.S., although their timelines, once set on 2007, are now changing, like Geely’s.

All are facing formidable U.S. bureaucracy as well as trepidation from domestic automakers, which are well aware of previous car invasions from Asia, including those from Japan and South Korea.

“I could have told you that Geely was not going to succeed in the crash tests,” said Malcolm Bricklin, the feisty U.S.-based auto entrepreneur who pledges to import cars made by Chery into the U.S. at the end of 2008. “Geely showed how inexperienced they are. They just took their cars here and put them through crash tests. The safety standards are so different here.”

I wonder if Malcolm ever saw Chery crash test videos....

 

[gr8]

I wonder if Malcolm ever saw Chery crash test videos....

one things for sure, Malcolm is a smarter man than you are

 

[DOS]

I wonder if Malcolm ever saw Chery crash test videos....

He did, that’s why he is not importing those vehicles and is instead developing a new line just for North America. Malcolm is not working with Chery because he thinks they have a remarkable lineup (sarcasm), but is instead offering his experience as well as the experience of some of his knowledgeable associates to a young company that is starting to define its own policies. Furthermore, just like Subaru was backed by Fiji industries, he feels that Chery, as well as any other competent automotive manufacture will be backed by the Chinese government (meaning that the Chinese government is probably in control of any information coming out and will give stringent quality control so that they will not be humiliated internationally), who unlike Fiji Industries is not in for profit, but rather saving face for itself. I could be wrong, but I am quite certain that Paul Lambert, John Dinkel, William Vanden Heuvel, and the dealership network owners should not be stupid enough to follow a con man that is trying to sell the current lineup as BMW competitors.

 

[jmsteiny]

Think about this..........

Bricklin's comments are a bit harsh, but nevertheless true. However, I look at it this way:

To NOT TRY is failure.
To TRY (and not pass) is not FAILURE, but a valuable lesson learned and priceless experienced gained. Geely at least TRIED - and instead of tucking their tails between their legs, they are now more determined than ever and will try just that much harder. Sometimes a tough lesson is the best way to learn. Geely earns a LOT of respect from me because of all this..........and they ARE gaining respect and market share in their home market. I have seen TWO new dealerships open in Nanning in just the last 6 months - a solid indicator of rising sales. Geely WILL pass the necessary tests in the USA, and they WILL be selling cars in the USA in a few years. It's impossible to predict how successful they will be, but one thing you can be sure of - they are going to TRY, and they are going to try VERY HARD to prove that their product is worthwhile and reliable. :thumb:

 

[BringIt]

Exactly. Kudos to Geely for trying and adjusting plans accordingly.

 

[Real_I_Hate_China]

Malcolm is not working with Chery because he thinks they have a remarkable lineup (sarcasm), but is instead offering his experience as well as the experience of some of his knowledgeable associates to a young company that is starting to define its own policies.

So you misunderstood the relationship between Malcolm Bricklin and Chery.
Beside, nobody appreciates Malcolm's experiences, just ask Subaru and Yugo...

as well as any other competent automotive manufacture will be backed by the Chinese government (meaning that the Chinese government is probably in control of any information coming out and will give stringent quality control so that they will not be humiliated internationally)

The communist central government is not involved in any of Chinese automakers. All Chinese automakers are essentially communist-style regional job programs funded by their respective city governments.

I could be wrong, but I am quite certain that Paul Lambert, John Dinkel, William Vanden Heuvel, and the dealership network owners should not be stupid enough to follow a con man that is trying to sell the current lineup as BMW competitors.

Well, one of dealers featured in the promotional video seem to be impressed by Son Of Orient, cough cough. Of course they have been had by Malcolm's impossible promises. Two million dollars flushed down the toliet each...

 

[oo4load]

Well, one of dealers featured in the promotional video seem to be impressed by Son Of Orient, cough cough.

So would you if you had seen one in real life. Maybe you ought to get off your butt and smell some fresh Shanghai air for a change. :thumb:

 

[DOS]

The communist central government is not involved in any of Chinese automakers. All Chinese automakers are essentially communist-style regional job programs funded by their respective city governments..

Lets see, in the United States the state governments get a large percentage of there annual budget from the national government and the local government gets a large portion of there budget from the state governments, so in a more unnaturalized government with more of a command economy with a history of transferring money from all over the country in order to create spectacles in order to project an image of wealth and gone through significant lengths just to save face ( lets see covering up the break out od S.A.R.S, covering up the Tianan Men square massacre, and rejecting foreign relief after the Tang Shan earthquake), such as the current Chinese government, I am suppose to believe that the state is not funding the company that is trying to carry out there policy of establishing an automotive manufacturing base, because the company is listed as being owned by the local government. Furthermore, for someone who finds China corrupt and is angry at there military spending, it surprises me that you would even find Beijing's, Anhui province's, WuHu's, or even Chery's budget reports creditable.

Well, one of dealers featured in the promotional video seem to be impressed by Son Of Orient, cough cough. Of course they have been had by Malcolm's impossible promises. Two million dollars flushed down the toilet each...

So if you are a business man who is best known for his failures in importing a Yugoslavian car and your own failed sports car line who is trying to get people to invest in your company, which is using a new sales strategy to sell vehicles manufactured by a company, who at the time is at least a generation away from being able to build vehicles at your desired specifications, you are going reveal the shortcomings of your pre prototype vehicles?

On a side note, will the people who are posting information on Chinese cars by getting information from either this forum, cheryforum, or mychery please not post the information on general automotive forums. The people on the forums do not car about Chinese cars, have no interest in them, and probably already forgot about them if you had not reminded them. Until Chery or Visionary Vehicles officially shows the world te vehicles that could be imported its invalid. Right now the manufactures have not reached the levels neccessary for exportation, so t is probably best to keep Chinese cars in the shadows.