Just finishing my first sojourn into China and cannot resist commenting on the cars I've seen.
Firstly, there are lots of them, clearly car ownership is growing, I went past the headquarters of Geely in a taxi too. Almost gridlock in town at 6-7pm.
I think fuel is a standard price so there's no pricing shown at petrol stations.
But what of the cars ?
Very few hatches, lots of VWs and Citroens/Peugeots but some strange models to my UK eyes:
Peugeot 206 with a Citroen front
Citroen ZX saloon
Peugeot 307 with a saloon boot grafted on - a truly Frankenstinian horror
Roewe 750s - actually look quite nice the rear has been tidied up a bit
Lots of Hyundais
Lots of Fords, mostly Focus II/III saloons, Mondeos have a Lincoln-esque front grafted on
VW Jettas, Boras (appear to be a last-model Polo with a boot), LWB Passat and new model Passat.
Skoda, Octavia with a proper boot plus old generation Superb
Many cars have very dark tinted windows to prevent you seeing inside, with a clearer-stripe by the mirrors on the front windows.
The first advert I saw was for Porsche, I've seen a few Cayenne's, Audi Q7s and one Rangey.
Driving standard is generally similar to that I've experienced around Rome, almost no seatbelt (or crash helmet on bikes) usage and for most drivers smoking at the wheel appears to be de rigueur.
I don't think I'll drive myself around here.....
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Wed 24 Nov 10 at 06:48
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New car sales in China are going through the roof, according to reports. I think I read that BMW and VW are showing huge increases YTD, boosting profits handsomely.
When I was there 15 years ago a lot of the taxis in Beijing were Daihatsu Charades or Suzuki micro-vans - bet that's changed?!
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Ling's sister and her new Skoda Superb plus a bit more on the Chinese car market...
www.lingscars.com/mini_blog/my-sisters-chinese-skoda
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Plus all the Chinese car websites in one place...
www.lingscars.com/chinese-cars.php
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Apparently there is a Chinese Smart Car clone - even the doors are interchangable.
If foreign manufacturers don't set-up there they just have their vehicles copied anyway.
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>> Apparently there is a Chinese Smart Car clone - even the doors are interchangable.
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>> If foreign manufacturers don't set-up there they just have their vehicles copied anyway.
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I'm not sure I saw too many clones, I don't doubt that most cars are manufactured locally though.
I wondered whether the locally designed cars have the same standards of crash protection etc.
However, I suspect that they do, China is an industrial power house with an improving standard of living for many of its citizens, I don't see that we can begrudge them this.
The west exported its manufacturing to China 15 years ago and until 2007 enjoyed price deflation in real terms as a result, now (I suggest) the west needs to get used to the new world order - where China designs its own cars (and buys ailing western manufacturers).
We made our own bed and now must lie in it.....
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>> Ling's sister and her new Skoda Superb plus a bit more on the Chinese car
>> market...
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>> www.lingscars.com/mini_blog/my-sisters-chinese-skoda
>>
>>
Just shows the Chinese economy is getting stronger while ours is getting weaker and weaker.
The article states that Ling's sister started out with a Suzuki alto that cost almost the same price as the Skoda Superb.
Last edited by: diddy1234 on Wed 24 Nov 10 at 14:31
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First trip to China - Auntie Lockbrakes
