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Q: Will the day ever come when Chinese prefer China-made cars over German ones?
It's not news that Chinese love to buy German cars. Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Porsche...you name it. But with China trying to push its own automobile industry, do you think consumers here will make the transition from buying imported cars to domestic ones? In my personal opinion, this shift can occur but it will take at least ten years to happen and even then imported cars will always be popular among a certain group. It's part of the "brand-name" obsession, not so different to people wanting to buy designer hand bags.
10 years 47 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
Yes, when the German and all the foreign brands stop manufacturing cars.
Lots of people prefer Chinese cars, specifically those who cannot afford foreign cars.
They prefer our cars because they can show off how rich they are. Chinese cars are cheap and not much worse (maybe safety is worse...)
The german cars are produced in china and are most like shit as well.
I admit i wouldnt buy a german car here because they are just too expensive and i cant rely on "its german", because its not, still made in china and i know how the people work here.
Actually dom, this isn't the case. I had the opportunity to visit several fabrics here, one of them was Mercedes and they have quite strict quality controls in place. I would even suggest, that maybe even stricter controls, as I am pretty sure, they know how things go around here. I don't know whether quality is the same as in Germany, but would definitely not define it as a shit.
What is absurd though is that German cars are the most expensive in China comparing to all other countries.
Now to the original question, yes, they just might prefer China made cars over German, considering they don't care about quality much. I seriously doubt though, that opposite will ever be the case.
Exception to this is of course, people with the money, because good German car gives them face.
dom87:
well i m working in quality control, just saying.
now why is bmw not producing their flagship x9(?) in china? because they cant hold the quality for their cars.
my company has 6 german cars and they all are rather trash, had breakdowns after some month etc.
might be because the chinese drive like shit and the hell out of the cars, dunno
Scandinavian:
I have to back up Dom here. Have a mate who is running a service dealership handling government cars. He says that the Mercedes and BMWs imported are generally a lot less error prone than the ones built in China. Some of the cars you will be able to see that e.g. a model that once was imported will keep its value better than an identical car produced in China.
McDominic:
Nobody is saying that quality of German cars in China is better than in Germany, not at all.
I will be bold enough to say though, that German car, made in China is still way better in quality, than Chinese car, made in China.
Have you ever bought motorbike, ebike, bicycle here. I bought brand new ebike, the most expensive in that shop, and visited service over 20 times in a year. I mean, seriously, why dfk I have to change cables every month, why some plastic just simply fall off, why speedometer just stop working, why, why, why...
Nessquick:
As I talked about this elsewhere (CS) , the localy build BMW are really much different. as first look, it is cheaper. beside of our complex, there is a huge parking lot for maybe 2-3000 cars. most are bmw. they bring them in and out everyday, so while them on truck , i can see the bottom of each car, just when i pass around for my shopping. It is much different, and really cheap feel . My uncle had have 733i some years ago, and we renovated it, so almost every single part i have in a hand...
dom87:
yes can say german cars made in china are still better than chinese cars made in china but they also cost 3-4 times more. so if the german car holds 10 years and costs 300k and the chinese car only holds 4 years and costs 100k, the chinese car is more valuable.
but here is the big deal at least i am concerned about chinese cars: SAFETY
I saw a Ford Focus brand with the name wrongly spelled .(FOCUS= FOCSU)...I can't stop laughing, isn't that too obvious? I wonder how the owner can't even figure out the wrong spelling. Anything with four wheels manufactured, assembled or produced here is no go area for me, I will prefer to use my e-bike till Jesus comes .I have my ride waiting for me anytime I am out on vacation.
cooter:
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess the misspelled logos are the results of Chinese body shops not caring too much about how they repair the cars damaged in the numerous accidents here.
I bought a Mazda 2...amazing so far! I saw the copy the other day - Haima 2...didn't know it existed hahah, looks almost identical.
I think the day will come when China builds really good cars of their own. I can remember when Japanese and Korean cars were crap. Early Datsuns were good for one Canadian winter.
McDominic:
Well, at that time, one will probably be able to buy flying car in Germany..., powered on water. 
TedDBayer:
They abandoned trying to make hydrogen powered cars in NA,,, for now. I'm happy with a scooter, they're perfect for city, wish I'd brought a DOT helmet, maybe some armour. I had one of those stupid car driver, scooter, wall, ankle days.
By the way, we'll know when the day is getting near when a car designed and built in China can be sold in Germany without too many giggles.
Considering the high percentage of Turkish workers in German, I actually wonder what percentage of "German cars" are "German" at all, whatever that means.
For the locals, it's just new-money prestige. As someone wrote here, indeed the "German" cars are mostly made and assembled in China -- in Shenyang and in Shanghai.
It's kind of the "if you have it, then flaunt it" mentality.
Nessquick:
"Turkish workers" in Germany ? As far as I know, big majority of this Turkish do not have proper work for any German company. mostly they open kebab shops and so on, and taking advatage of the social system. there are even stories, about they stay there for 12 years, unable to talk any german and complaining about reducing social pays. they living mostly in the communities, like chinese...
VW have plans to open at least another 7 factories in China. So I doubt it!
Nessquick:
you know, when you have a company with many branches, and suddenly some of them are not making profit, you can deduct this loses from your taxes ... So, if they make 10 factories, invest lot of money and after 5 years, the market drop a lot, they can come to this scenario. I do not think, personally, the market will ever grow up with the numbers of past years. When I was 1 year in china, I predicted for about 5 years later and export / economy will shrink a lot. it does happen. read this post after 5 years and will see if its valid :-)
