Will we buy China’s cars?

I thought China had an enormous, locally unmeetable, need for steel. How could they manufacture for export on any scale if they are struggling for raw materials even for internal use?
As for the environmental impact of moving steel from producing countries to China to make cars to export to Europe….

I think Geely’s acquisition of Volvo is an interesting step towards making Chinese cars more palatable for European customers. It’s unclear how much manufacturing will shift to China (not doubt some parts at least), but from now on, if you buy a Volvo you’re buying into the Chinese automotive industry. It’s certainly possible more famous European brands could go this way in the years to come.

Another aspect of this deal is that China needs to raise the safety standards of its domestically produced cars (as those shocking Landwind and Brilliance crash videos show). Who better to bring safety expertise to the table than Volvo?

Back in the 60’s, people were wary of buying Japanese – look how they are doing now. Latterly, people were unsure of Korean cars, but they, too, are proving successful. Keen pricing and good equipment levels, plus strong reliability has helped to establish these Eastern manufacturers and now the Japanese are producung cars all over the world (because labour is cheaper than in Japan and they also get round import quotas). Given the vast manufacturing capacity of the Chinese and the current cheap labour market, exports to Europe, USA and beyond is certain to happen, if quality meets expectations at keen prices. We might be a little slow to embrace these products at first, but we will certainly be buying, especially at the cheaper end of the market. With vitually no true British manufacturers, loyalty to our own industry is not an issue, though many will prefer to buy Japanese to preserve British jobs. We are already buying many Chinese sourced domestic products, so country of production is becoming less of an issue, especially if we can seek to balance trade in other forms.

Alan 6/8/2010

I do not believe for one second that the Chinese mindset is anything akin to the Japanese. The Japanese learned very quickly in the 70s that the need for quality is paramount for Europe and the USA. During the 80s were fast becoming recognised for their engineering expertise. Now almost every Japanese manufacturer is recognised as an engineering and quality innovator and are brand leaders in many categories.
Conversely since the mid to late 90s the chinese have been exporting vast numbers of Japanese scooter and light motorcycle clones, which were absolute rubbish! Many would fail an MOT after 3 months. Here we are at the end of 2010 and they are absolutely unchanged!!!

Whatever car you drive it’s highly likely that it already has some Chinese made components.