china cars

[torque2006]

- vehicle prices here are high because the market is small.

- it's ok to offer vehicles with a low price just so long as quality would be ok. you wouldn't really expect top notch stuff if you paid only so much.

- if someone's earning a decent wage yet he can't afford a vehicle, then that means he can't buy a vehicle. that's the way it works. yes, maybe because of chery he can now have a car. but that's only half the problem. you have to maintain a car, and with a car with unknown reputation at that.

- traction control, airbags, etc. are safety gadgets. not all vehicles have them because they are extra safety features that would ultimately increase the cost of acquisition of the vehicle. if you don't want it, there's lot of cars you can choose from w/o it.

- a few chery vehicles actually have airbags installed. but from crash test videos it seems the whole vehicle engine compartment crumples into the cabin on impact of less than 60mph which renders having airbags useless.

Holy Gazooks! :marvin:

I'm not a big fan of China products (unavoidable really), but I think they could give the Big players a run for their money. Maybe China cars aren't the most technically sophisticated or aesthetically pleasing, but at least they got something right here: take your favorite car body/design, hook up low tech mechanicals (therefore cheaper), give it a shiny paint job and voila! Your most-lusted car look-alike costing hundreds of thousands less than the real thing. Even rodders and tuners go for this strategy with their jap cars mimicking the style and performance of more expensive euro machinery. It's not the real thing but hell the driver feels as if he got one. Don't deny this my enthusiast friends.... :drive1:

I for one couldn't justify the super over-priced cars locally offered :***: (because of tax they say) with less gizmos and performance as against the same car offered like for say, in the US. Even 2nd hand cars cost a fortune here! If you buy new the cars are way too unaffordable even for someone earning a decent wage. A lot of cars offer all sorts of features that you really don't need. How many times do you use your rear defogger or a super-traction control drivetrain in everyday traffic? Or 8 airbags? How about 17-inch alloy rims? Nice to have frills I may say.

Now don't get me wrong, I love having gadgets and we may surmise that these save lives and give us creature comforts. Yes they do but my point is, many features offered on cars nowadays add up too much to the sticker price. I'd prefer a bare car unit with the right engine configuration and chassis fundamentals (with airconditioning please) then work my way up from there. China cars offer much less technology that are not so distant from newer high tech. If they can give me an SUV copycat with leaf springs rather than the latest multilink doodads or air suspension for 300k less, that's fine with me. I'll just go for the rebadging at my local auto supply store hehe. If they plunk in a 1.6 litre engine in place of the 2.5 litre unit, then it's still ok with me. At least I still get the look if not the feel of more frivolous machinery.

I think the China cars will fill a nice niche in the local car scene just like the China bikes did to the two-wheeler community. It opened up a whole new opportunity for more people to taste mobility. Nowadays it's a necessity rather than a luxury. :chopper:

[juntzo]

Found this in BusinessWeek today:




[SIZE=2]Auto Innovation—China Style[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2] The first gathering of independent Chinese automakers at a recent conference analyzed ways to create truly local designs[/SIZE]


The 2007 China Automotive Design & Independent Innovation Conference marked the first gathering of independent Chinese (vs. joint venture) automakers getting together to discuss automotive styling. Taking place at the end of August, more than 140 design professionals from First Auto Works (FAW), Dongfeng Motor, Chery, Brilliance, Chana, Guangzhou Auto, Nanjing Automotive Corp. and newcomers like Lifeng from Chongqing and Neoplan from Zhejiang attended the event. Major suppliers Yengfeng-Visteon and local automotive design house Hidea and Ruifeng as well as Industrial Design education institutions like Tongji University and Jiangsu University were also in attendance.
With Nanjing being the geographical center for the automotive industry in China and SAIC, Chery and Geely all within three hours distance along the Yangtze river, the Jinling Hotel in the city center was the natural point of convergence. 'Independent Innovation', one of the hot topics pushed by the Chinese government in its recent five year plan, also influenced the decision to have professional designers participate in a four-day intensive automotive design workshop lectured by instructors from the Art Center College of Design.
The conference began with a presentation from Chang Bing, Chief Designer at FAW, who spoke about his work on the Hongqi concept sedan and how to apply Chinese elements into modern design language. FAW is one of the oldest Chinese automotive companies (established in 1958) and owns several independent brands: Hongqi, Benteng and Jiefang. Their designs cover everything from passenger cars to industrial trucks.
Zheng Su Lin, Design Director at Dongfeng Motor gave the second presentation. Widely considered to be the most prolific Chinese auto designers, with almost half of today's independent makers' production models having been designed by him in the past five years, Zheng's presentation included more than five production projects for Chery and the recent Geely sedan.
Nanjing Automotive presented a full-size hatchback concept, taking its design theme from Nanjing city's symbolic "Pi Xie" statue. Design Director Li-Chih Fu demonstrated an interesting way of blending negative surfaces with stylistic curved edges to create a balance between Chinese decoration and modern solidity. Besides styling development, his presentation also highlighted how the future Chinese youth market value expressive decoration and multi-functional space.
Yengfeng-Visteon's Shizuki Kajiyama presented a concept interior inspired by traditional Chinese dancer's costume and dance gestures. With modern material and lighting technology he attempted to achieve an "east meets west" aesthetic blend. Kajiyama also cited the importance of nurturing a creative atmosphere for young designers in his studio by showing some of the young talent's wonderful fantasy artwork.
Nanjing Arts Institute, a well-known Chinese Art school, was represented by Industrial Design Instructor Zhang Ming. Zhang drew his teaching idea from NAI's music school and asked students to design objects by musical influence. A whole series of product design—created under his guidance—was presented, among them a project which took inspiration from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to create a fluid and elegant 2+1 sports car for the typical one child Chinese family.
The central theme of the conference focused on how to create a suitable shape and image for the Chinese market, not only through interpretation of cultural values but also by creating designs that cater to a fast-paced modern lifestyle. Most participants agreed that carelessly utilizing Chinese elements could backfire but nevertheless, the country's rich cultural heritage is a great source for unlimited creativity. And with China's burgeoning automotive industry, we hope the conference will unleash some of this creativity onto future automotive designs.