Chinese EVs - would you buy a Chinese made or Chinese branded EV?

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#3120660 26-Aug-2023 19:40

MikeB4:
alasta:
I only buy cars from manufacturers with reasonable market share and a long history of selling in the NZ market, e.g. Hyundai, Mazda, Volkswagen, etc.

The consequences of a car purchase going wrong are just too great to take a gamble.

GWM through their various brands are gaining market share rapidly. China will be to the vehicle industry what Japan was during the 80s. The other big player in the wings is India

SAIC is even bigger.

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#3120662 26-Aug-2023 19:52

alasta:
I only buy cars from manufacturers with reasonable market share and a long history of selling in the NZ market, e.g. Hyundai, Mazda, Volkswagen, etc.

The consequences of a car purchase going wrong are just too great to take a gamble.

Interesting that you mentioned Mazda (number and collapsing sales) and Volkswagen (outside top 10).

robjg63

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#3120663 26-Aug-2023 19:52

People who dis Chinese cars should have a look where their precious 'Euro' cars are actually built these days.

If they arent actually built in China, then a substantial amount of the parts will be.

Even a few Japanese models are built well outside of Japan and likewise, they have components made in China.

The Chinese have been building cars under joint ventures with VW,Audi,Mercedes,Toyota,Mazda, GM,Ford etc etc for quite a few years.

They have learned, copied and improved and are in the throws of rapidly doing what the Japanese did from the 1970's.

ie produce sharper priced, well built cars and they can react quicker to what the markets want (e.g. EVs).

They no longer need the joint ventures.

The Japanese have turned into the dinosaur companies that the US companies were in the 1970's and seem unable to react to the market quickly anymore.

I am actually pretty pleased that my Model Y was built in China, because apparently they have less problems and better QA than the cars built in Berlin or Freemont USA.

Regarding security - Don't really know. We have all sorts of appliances snooping on us these days with data going to all parts of the world....

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Obraik

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#3120671 26-Aug-2023 20:38

Tesla is an American company using a factory in China...like nearly everything you buy these days (eg, most likely the device you're using to write/read this post). The car might be made there, but it has no connections to China post-shipment.

As for the other brands, I'm less likely to buy them due to the performance of their infotainment units rather than anything to do with their country of origin. People used to have the same concerns about Japanese and then Korean vehicles and nowadays the brands from those countries are respected.

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#3120719 27-Aug-2023 09:26

Obraik:

Tesla is an American company using a factory in China...like nearly everything you buy these days (eg, most likely the device you're using to write/read this post). The car might be made there, but it has no connections to China post-shipment.

As for the other brands, I'm less likely to buy them due to the performance of their infotainment units rather than anything to do with their country of origin. People used to have the same concerns about Japanese and then Korean vehicles and nowadays the brands from those countries are respected.

This. There are Chinese EV's and then there are cars made in China. Don't touch the former.

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Spyked

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#3121246 28-Aug-2023 15:25

robjg63:

People who dis Chinese cars should have a look where their precious 'Euro' cars are actually built these days.

If they arent actually built in China, then a substantial amount of the parts will be.

Even a few Japanese models are built well outside of Japan and likewise, they have components made in China.

The Chinese have been building cars under joint ventures with VW,Audi,Mercedes,Toyota,Mazda, GM,Ford etc etc for quite a few years.

They have learned, copied and improved and are in the throws of rapidly doing what the Japanese did from the 1970's.

ie produce sharper priced, well built cars and they can react quicker to what the markets want (e.g. EVs).

They no longer need the joint ventures.

The Japanese have turned into the dinosaur companies that the US companies were in the 1970's and seem unable to react to the market quickly anymore.

I am actually pretty pleased that my Model Y was built in China, because apparently they have less problems and better QA than the cars built in Berlin or Freemont USA.

Regarding security - Don't really know. We have all sorts of appliances snooping on us these days with data going to all parts of the world....

There's also a lot of us who are uneasy buying Chinese product because so many of their companies are owned fully or in part by the CCP whose stated aims and behaviour with territorial claims affecting surrounding countries are expansionist and not at all friendly.

Neither do I like or condone their use of slave labour (mainly Uighurs) under horrendous working conditions.

I'll buy their product if there's no other choice but am happy to pay a bit more if it means buying from India/Vietnam/Taiwan etc. I don't like the bully tactics they employ.

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Obraik

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#3121250 28-Aug-2023 15:29

Spyked:

There's also a lot of us who are uneasy buying Chinese product because so many of their companies are owned fully or in part by the CCP whose stated aims and behaviour with territorial claims affecting surrounding countries are expansionist and not at all friendly.

Neither do I like or condone their use of slave labour (mainly Uighurs) under horrendous working conditions.

I'll buy their product if there's no other choice but am happy to pay a bit more if it means buying from India/Vietnam/Taiwan etc. I don't like the bully tactics they employ.

I don't mean to dismiss the things the CCP does...but the same could be said about the USA who have done similar things. We tend to ignore those because they're an old ally, though.

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#3121287 28-Aug-2023 17:24

tehgerbil:

I'm just saying while China has had a poor reputation, Western companies have a very unenviable track record of their vehicles causing significant death and carnage with many paying the fine as a cost of business, but we still like to beat on Chinese cars as lower quality, or potentially using cheaper components.

China wants to be great. Back in the day, Made in China was synonymous with poor quality. These days, I doubt that's the case, and I believe many non China brands are fully/partly manufactured there including some Euro brands. As well as LOT of non car products. Like anywhere else you can buy premium, normal, or cheap.

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#3121352 28-Aug-2023 19:01

Hence the movement to repeal the 13th Amendment in the USA. Apparently Florida thinks it can't afford to maintain it's ditches without it.

MikeAqua

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#3121490 29-Aug-2023 09:31

I try to send as few dollars China's way as I can (quite difficult in practice). That has nothing to do with the people of China and everything to do with their government, which I see as risk to global security, not mention being perpetrators of numerous atrocities and crimes against humanity.

Mike

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#3121562 29-Aug-2023 12:10

They're at the same stage as Japan in the 1960s... I'll give them another 5 years before I even consider it. Even then, they need to up their QC game and fix the corruption that undermines it.

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#3121605 29-Aug-2023 14:45

frankv:

They're at the same stage as Japan in the 1960s... I'll give them another 5 years before I even consider it. Even then, they need to up their QC game and fix the corruption that undermines it.

Japanese cars in the 70s and 80s also weren't great with rust. I would consider Chinese cars a bit like Korean cars were in the 90s and early 2000's until they lifted their game. ALthough some do look ok, some of the plastics and finishing looks a bit cheap. They are winning business due to undercutting on price. But my issue would be getting parts over time for them. Where as with a brand like Toyota and Lexus getting parts is often not an issue.

turtleattacks

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#3121796 30-Aug-2023 10:08

MikeAqua:

I try to send as few dollars China's way as I can (quite difficult in practice). That has nothing to do with the people of China and everything to do with their government, which I see as risk to global security, not mention being perpetrators of numerous atrocities and crimes against humanity.

This is pretty much my only reason why I would think twice about buying Chinese-branded cars.

Nothing against the nice people of the country but their govt I have a big issue with.

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ezbee

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#3121825 30-Aug-2023 11:29

mattwnz:

frankv:

They're at the same stage as Japan in the 1960s... I'll give them another 5 years before I even consider it. Even then, they need to up their QC game and fix the corruption that undermines it.

Japanese cars in the 70s and 80s also weren't great with rust. I would consider Chinese cars a bit like Korean cars were in the 90s and early 2000's until they lifted their game. ALthough some do look ok, some of the plastics and finishing looks a bit cheap. They are winning business due to undercutting on price. But my issue would be getting parts over time for them. Where as with a brand like Toyota and Lexus getting parts is often not an issue.

It was New Zealand assembled CKD that were rust buckets.
Everything from needing protectants on the panels shipped from Japan.
Not cleaning this off properly. Terrible welding quality.
Terrible application of undercoats and paint, with oh that protectant you did not clean off properly underneath.
This was all good old New Zealand lack of quality, perhaps learnt from our UK CKD assembly experience.

Japan assembled were great, and all the stories about you can't leave cars out in rain etc evaporated
when first Japan direct imports were bought in by enterprising individuals.

frankv

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#3121839 30-Aug-2023 12:09

mattwnz:

frankv:

They're at the same stage as Japan in the 1960s... I'll give them another 5 years before I even consider it. Even then, they need to up their QC game and fix the corruption that undermines it.

Japanese cars in the 70s and 80s also weren't great with rust. I would consider Chinese cars a bit like Korean cars were in the 90s and early 2000's until they lifted their game.

Yes, same thing really. There will be issues of some kind or another with Chinese built cars for some number of years. I don't think they'll be at the same state as the Japanese for at least 5 years, but more likely 10 to 20.

To compete, the Chinese will need to sell their cars for considerably less than the Japanese & Koreans. I don't think they'll be cheap enough to tempt me for at least 5 years, maybe never. But I recall the die-hards of the 60s and 70s who vowed and declared they would never buy Japanese, many as much for ideological reasons post WW2 as for quality reasons... I wonder where they are now? Probably most of them are dead.

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