Chinese cars?!

[supermousie]

[For those who can’t be bothered to read: pics are at the bottom.]

They've been around since the 90's(?), not doing much. But now companies such as Chery and Great Wall Motors are getting serious with engineering, manufacture, and export.

As we may know, China is notorious for its rampant piracy, and surprisingly, cars are no exception.
The Great Wall X240 looks suspiciously like the Isuzu Rodeo, GM sued Chery for its QQ model looking too much like its Korean-made Chevrolet Spark (Note the names Chery and Chevy), and so on. Even the bloody badges are slightly altered versions of well-known brands.

China, being a highly industrialsed nation, also has the advantage of cheap-ass labor. Chery plans to manufacture around one million cars a year, with 40% being exported to western countries such as Australia, Great Britain and North America. This is bad news for pretty much every other manufacturer, as the customer base for their cheaper vehicles are being drawn away to their Chinese 'twins', if you will. In the current economic state of the world, (i.e. ****ed) many people are trying to spend as little moolah as possible, and these Chinese cars are very, very cheap. Much cheaper than an equivalent Japanese, European or even Korean car.

The saying "You get what you pay for" applies here, but maybe not in the way you'd expect. Most of these cars come decently equipped with leather, ABS, TCS, airbags, alloy wheels, blah blah blah… Standard Euro car crap.
The big difference is, an old, second-hand Mercedes ML320 costs about the same as a brand new Chinese 4WD which is $15-$20k. Would you choose a new car? Or a used one for the same price, with roughly the same trim?
You’d choose the new car of course, and then instantly regret it. All of the interior plastics will be made by the same stuff as the plastic used to keep your chocolates in place.
The engine will be weak, asthmatic, and exposed wires will electrocute you every time you put your foot on the clutch. You’ll be so preoccupied trying to work the control panel, which will be in Chinglish, “To empower number radio transmitter frequency, stroke furry circular shape of black with silver whale line”, and you’ll also be distracted by the 12v shocks you get to your left leg every time you go for second. That means you’ll let your eyes stray from the road, and your McChinese car is going hit a small sapling. Which will destroy 90% of the car and make your legs fall off.

It’s all very well that China makes cars, but I think they make too much of the world’s products already. Pens. Electronics. Clothing. DVDs. Egg-Salad- Most of which is imitation.
The worst part? It’s an unstoppable force.

Your thoughts?

The badges...
Attachment 25059

The crash tests...
Attachment 25060 Attachment 25061
---- Versus a Japanese hatchback...
Attachment 25063<Also at 64KM/H