While Geely technically sells cars in North American through Volvo, Chery is planning on taking more direct approach. With the help of HAAH Automotive Holdings—a company that specializes in the business of import automotive distribution—Chery aims to import their line of SUVs and electric vehicles into North America under the newly created “premium” Vantas nameplate, starting with a crossover SUV based …
That American Company from downtown Detroit sells a car here in the US that is 98% made from China and 2% made from US. That is the highest percentage of China content in any car sold in America. The same company also sell the second highest percentage China content car in the US at 26% China and 38% US but that flagship model is final assembled in the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_Envision
Supporting documentation and documentation from other years
I wouldn't own a Chinese car, mostly because I have issues with countries that have human rights problems.
Yes, I am aware how hard it is to avoid buying products from China. Doesn't mean I can't try.
They'll sell. At first only to people looking to get a deal, like Hyundai did. Then, to people looking to be a bit more upwardly mobile. Then, by offering extreme value. Remember, everyone hated the Hyundai Excel. Plenty of people love the sonata.
Unless they can find a partner that already has showrooms and service area it will cost tons of money to get start out ,
I wonder if they use clones of a Japanese motor / trans that use the same service parts ?
Sad thing is i kinda like the looks of the purple one better than most the suvs currently sold here.
Hyundai was the number one import in Canada in the mid eighties after only a year or two of sales.
If they're cheap people will buy them
Sure...I would buy a Chinese car...just not THOSE cars....EVs...blah. SUVs, blah. In the end, Chinese manufacturing permeats the entire world economy anyway, what is the difference?
In reply to Wicked93gs :
I'm with Shawn one decides what hill they're going to do battle on and accepts the gains and losses as they come.
ShawnG said:I wouldn't own a Chinese car, mostly because I have issues with countries that have human rights problems.
What car producing nation doesn't though? Germany? USA? Italy? France? The UK? Japan? I don't even think Sweden is free from those skeletons in the closet but nothing comes to mind right away.
But this post was not meant to flounder, just ask a question is all.
I would buy one, if they prove they're reliable first, price them competitively, we already know the parts supply will be limitless thanks to everything already being produced in China anyway. Cut out the whole "assembled in America" markup and I don't see much difference between them and any other vehicle manufacturer.
Just a personal thing, that's all.
I like that I can complain about my government and not get "disappeared"
I don't want things delving into the political so I'll leave it at that.
My GM UAW Fisher Body 82 year old father-in-law leased a $41,000 Buick SUV thingie that said 100% (or so) made in China on the window sticker.
I pointed it out but he said he didn't care any more.
I'm also with Shawn on this. I buy as few Chinese products as I can, especially on large items where there are numerous other options. I am curious to see one though. We tested a Chinese electric bus a few years ago and it was bus-like but certainly not built to the standard of any other bus we've had.
In reply to RevRico :
don't fall for false equivalence. China and the USA are not on the same scale in any sense when it comes to human rights abuses. We have problems for sure but like anything in life it's a question of degrees. If you had the choice would you burn your fingertip or be set on fire? They both involve heat. Might as well just be set on fire, right?
ShawnG said:I wouldn't own a Chinese car, mostly because I have issues with countries that have human rights problems.
Before anyone else says it, all countries struggle with human rights - even the US. But China had and still has some pretty egregious official policies on the matter.
German cars were not all that when they first hit our shores, then they got better. Japanese cars were pretty crappy at first, then they got better. Korean cars made the transformation faster than anything before. So I have no reason to doubt that Chinese cars won't be a large percentage of the US market sooner than later. My only issue is that all the others started out with affordable options, then went premium after a while. Starting with a premium nameplate may not work. As the middle-class continues to disappear, there is a growing need for affordable cars and I was hoping that China would meet the need next.
The Hyundai Pony we got in Canada wasn't even available in the USA because it didn't meet emissions standards.
If it's cheap enough, it will sell.
If the home appliance industry is any indicator, they will initially sell well to the tight wads, and then be hated by all but the uninformed. LG, Samsung were junk from the beginning, and now hardly anyone services their appliances. GE, Dacor, Fisher and Paykel ALL Trashed as soon as China began funding them. I have watched the plastics and stainless steel progressively become cheesier, and cheesier. I've watched engineering become less and less repair friendly, and lean heavily toward factory worker speed.
the same way will become the Chinese car.
Sure, I'll buy one... when the Chinese Communist Party World Headquarters freezes over. Maybe they'll include a Corona-scented air freshener with each new Chery.
Unfortunately, they probably will sell well to the stupid people that only look at lowest price today, not lowest lifetime cost. Or maybe their quality won't totally suck, in which case I still won't buy one.
In reply to dculberson :
Thankfully most industrialized countries other than China are pretty far from "harvesting the organs of dissenters" bad.
Have they figured out how to make a car pass the crash tests yet?
I worked for Mitsubishi in 2003 when the director of our R&D office left for Chery to try and bring them into the US, and recruited a bunch of the engineering talent from our office. Malcolm Bricklin was behind that attempt. The director later got into trouble with the law I'm told. I don't know what caused the attempt to fail but it will be interesting if this one gains any traction. Where I am at now uses similar parts made in US and China. The China ones are much higher quality right now. If monitored good stuff comes out of there, but it is impossible to ignore the working conditions of the people making everything.
Increased trade may lead to an increase in human rights if the workers in China.
Would I buy a Chinese new car...maybe. Would I buy a cheap Chinese or Indian small truck if it was in my market. I would definitely give them a good look.
Regardless of our thoughts and opinions as enthusiasts and North Americans ( up in Canada here) Chinese automakers will be coming. If not with their own product they will just buy out some existing manufacture and slowly shift production over to China.
Don't tell us you will not buy a car made in China.
It's harder to break into the US cheap transportation market than it sounds. The success stories in my lifetime:
* They got bought by Hyundai, so they get an asterisk here. Maybe this should be only one brand.
And here are the failures that I can remember - every one of these has either planned to bring a street legal vehicle to the US in the basic, affordable transportation category, and either hasn't delivered so far, or imported vehicles for a while but have now folded operations US. There's probably several others I've forgotten. Even the Japanese have a couple that didn't make it. I'm only counting brands that appeared in the US and then disappeared in my lifetime (I was born in 1978).
It's a tough market even without the political baggage.
You forgot Elio 
I think some of those on your list didn't fail, but left the market because they wanted to, or because of other bad business decisions.
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