Filed under: Products and services, Industry, Competitive strategy, DaimlerChrysler (DAI), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), China, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Next large thing, AutoNation Inc (AN)
Five Chinese manufacturers are fielding display cars at the 2008 North American Auto Show. Amid a flurry of drab Chinese displays, misspelled promotional materials and one unscheduled auto tour through an ongoing press conference, China is presenting automobiles in the hope that the American auto-buying public will take them for real. I wonder how they feel about this at General Motors (NYSE: GM), Ford Motors (NYSE: F), Toyota (NYSE: TM), and Chrysler.
This influx of Chinese auto manufacturers represents a 400% increase in their presence at the auto show over just two years ago. Should the big auto makers be scared yet? This blogger hardly thinks so, yet the above picture is the Geely-Beauty Leopard, an automobile of Chinese manufacture which has been marketed quite successfully in Europe since 2002.
Based on a premise made integral to auto manufacturing by Henry Ford, China is attempting to provide inexpensive transportation to the masses, but they might yet lack expertise in the realms of design, form and function. Go take a look at how your child’s Tonka trucks are built as a potential example of Chinese car construction: die-stamped parts with slot and tab construction and nary a weld to be found. That’s the trouble with cheap cars, you have to cut corners somewhere.
This is a situation wherein our feeding of federal activism through taxes shall play a key role. China shall first need to satisfy our EPA before they sell too many vehicles here. The Consumer Product Safety Commission will surely also take a hard look at Chinese motor automobiles. Then, we’ve the insurance industry which shall mercilessly crush dozens of Chinese vehicles in the effort to protect us from substandard crap. Finally, the ultimate decision shall rest with consumers who will decide whether or not to buy cheap Chinese-made cars. Remember also that those automobiles will need replacement parts, those coming on a slow boat from China.
As one who staunchly defends the rights of free enterprise and the tenets of honest competition, I have no place in my thinking to simply deny the Chinese an attempt at our auto market. Let them come. I have no concern over auto manufacturers who have yet to figure out that the buyers of affordable cars are looking for cup holders and dual windshield wipers, or do I?
There’s just one thing that I might add to the cheap auto discussion in the interest of informed consumerism: It is my distinct desire that each auto China imports into this country must obviously be painted bright blood red, lest we forget our past experiences with the Chinese.
But that’s just my own democracy-loving opinion.
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