Posted on 01/09/2014 4:22:31 PM PST by nascarnation
Chinese automakers have been making noise about entering the North American market for years, stretching back a decade or more. A combination of factors – from the disjointed nature of the Chinese auto industry to lingering quality issues – have kept that from happening, but the day when Chinese cars roam the Great American Road may finally be upon us.
Following aborted efforts by such automakers as Geely and Great Wall, it's BYD that appears to be leading the charge this time. The company backed by investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate is now targeting 2015 – just a year away from now – to start selling cars in the United States. It wouldn't be the first time BYD has talked about entering the US market, though. It previously targeted an American launch in 2010, only to end up missing that target. Following a three-year restructuring plan led by its billionaire chairman Wang Chuanfu, however, BYD is looking to be in better shape.
The company already has a presence in North America, selling electric buses, and is preparing to begin manufacturing them in California within the next few months. Whether it can use that foothold to springboard into cars we can buy and drive by next year (like the above-pictured E6 it displayed at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show), however, remains to be seen.
Buffett! note that he can finance the purchasers with his Wells Fargo Bank and he can deliver the cars to them by his Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway
he can even give them a box of chocolate in their new cars, from his Sees Candies
he’s all set up to market the Peoples’ Republic “Slave Factory” automobiles to America!
Do you think he really cares very much about unions?
Well Warren and the UAW are both Obama partisans.
I’m going to enjoy the confluence...
is BYD one of the companies making knock-offs of foreign cars?
Is this the company who imported Chinese labor to California and paid them $1.50 an hour?
that is an interesting observation...
(by the time the cars really start coming in, in volume, though, Obama should be out of office ... assuming he actually leaves of course!? )
still, yes, the UAW will complain for sure...
(since cars have been priced so terribly high in recent years, the Chinese have a tremendous market opening here...)
See #8
The first thing I notice is the crappy hood alignment.
I remember seeing that, some company even tried to copy the Hummer
Can’t wait to see these on Top Gear
Right. Probably made of tinfoil with a 50hp engine under there
Don’t under-rate them.
They are making progress in quality and design at a rate far faster than the 60s era Japanese and the 80s era Koreans. And we know what kind of players those folks are today.
Largely due to the widespread low cost technology available and a large corps of technical personnel educated at good US schools.
I suppose our scrap yards can handle the extra inventory.
I have seen very little come out of China that left me with the impression that they were improving their quality and design. Quiote the contrary, it feels like they are purposely producing inferior quality and poorly engineered garbage. They are light years away from japanese engineering quality.
Most of the vehicles produced in the US already contain 70-80% chinese sourced components and materials, so why not take it to its ultimate conclusion?
That’s what all of the GOP free trader Buffett worshippers want, right? Free trade at all costs? If you want the US to go down that road, then don’t even think about whining about unemployment, welfare, unions, regulations, high taxes, and loss of productivity, because it was a disaster of your own making.
The systematic looting of the US economy comes with a high price. Enjoy those NYSE fake bubble dollars while they last, and don’t complain when the whole thing comes crashing down on you.
Will I want to buy another one in a hour?
Good one. Maybe not an hour but definitely next year, if you live.
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