Chinese-made vehicles: Shanghai Motor Show 2005

Ummm, the invasion will start in 2007.

 

I'm guessing Chery is Chinese for Saturn.

 

With China using most of the worlds gas these days I sure hope they get good mileage.

 

Most of those cars are fuuuugly...

 

looks like they just copied other prototypes

 

I see a copied benz front and rear, infiniti fx45 front and rear, aston martin rear, rolls royce, a steroid induced honda insight among other things. but hey, you have to start somewhere.

 

The LieBao-C1 design looks more of a hippo than a feline to me. I don't think white collar ladies actually dig this car.

 

Some of those look like mutated versions of cars that already exist... do they have auto piracy in China, too?

The first one looks like an ugly rip-off of a Maybach.
The second one (purple) looks like a rip-off of the Nissan Murano.
The third one looks more original, but has the styling cues of a Lexus SC430 in the front.
I don't know what that 4th one is... the green one... looks like a 4 wheeled vegetable. WTH?!

Some of the later ones look decent, though.

 

The Chinese's problem is right now is that their idea of ingenuity is to rip it off somewhere else.

 

Guess you have to be good copiers before you can become good creators.

 

That's not true. For starters copying and adapting is a fast way to get things going and reduce development time. As long as they don't get sued and sentenced I don't see a big deal. The Chinese developed a high end auto model from scratch called "zhong hua" but the company went to bankruptcy for some reasons. Copying is more about business than perception to ingenuity. For things more exposed to the West, look at the Kung Fu movies and acrobatic shows.

To make a conclusion based on an auto show is like saying the Americans like to make up negative stereotypes because one does it.

 

Hyundai... part II

 

Exactly, I think I have seen all those cars already on the streets here in the USA. Except that fugly green one.

 

Hell yeah, with lots of people in China just now getting into cars the demand for oil over there is SKY HIGH... right now all the major companies are trying thier best to get a part of Bohia Bay.. If you live in Houston the Oil/Gas scene is about to get really hot again.. buy conoco-phillips

 

I stand corrected. My thoughts on the issue are based on how American companies are frustrated by the Chinese government's regulations. After agreeing to a loaded deal, like GM has, and mutually building factories and production plants together, there are no assurances that the government won't cut the contract short and build the technology on their own. It's reasonable that Chinese governments want to funnel industry into Chinese firms, but exploiting and assuming foreign know how in the guise of cooperation is a bit unscrupulous for me.

China ripped notes from Japan's book in the 80s and did some tweaking with the plan, but there's no disputing that right now they're doing a lot of copying and in some forms could be construed as stealing trade secrets from other companies.

 

This could be a good thing.

Now that the Chinese get involved, there is a good possibility that we can steer away from gas driven cars.

maybe, maybe no

 

I checked out the Chyrsler Pacifica and Nissan Maxima and it was ~$35K. That's pricey. I'm looking forward to paying $12K at Walmart for quality cars in the future.