Overclocker

By ALYSHA WEBB | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
AutoWeek | Published 07/17/06, 12:15 pm et

BEIJING -- Chinese automakers are about five years away from matching the quality ratings of cars sold in the United States, says Jamey Power, executive vice president of international operations for J.D. Power and Associates.

"They realize there is a quality gap (compared to cars in the U.S. market now)," says Power. "But they don't know how to close it."

The Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers has partnered with J.D. Power to change that. Jamey Power was here for a one-day seminar co-hosted by the association. Executives from two dozen domestic auto companies attended.

J.D. Power has measured customer satisfaction for vehicles and service in China for six years. "We are trying to help them become aware of what they need to understand to be successful in (western) markets," Power says.

A number of Chinese automakers want to sell cars in the United States. The largest, Chery Automobile Co., originally said it wanted to launch U.S. cars in 2007. But privately, executives say 2009 is more likely.

Zhejiang Geely Automobile Holdings Group aims to start in 2008. Great Wall Motor Co. has not set a date. Nanjing Automobile Group is looking at selling MGs in the United States.

They will rely on U.S. and European suppliers of parts and assembly equipment to meet quality, emission and safety standards.

They already realize they can't compete solely on price in the United States, says Power. They recognize they must compete on what the Chinese call xinjiabi, or value for money.

The current generation of Chinese cars isn't ready for the United States, he says. But the next generation could be.

Chinese automakers know they could harm the perception of all China car brands if they bring a substandard model to the United States, says Power. But he adds: "They don't have to come in with Toyota-like quality. If they come in with the industry average on our surveys, it wouldn't do any harm to their reputation."

Source: http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...41/PROMOBLOG01

mmarshall

Well, I guess it is fitting, then.......one of the first Chinese-made cars to actually arrive here in the U.S. will be the new MG sports car....a car long known for driving fun but, like most British sports cars, rather poor quality. After MG-Rover folded in Britain last year a deal was made for the Chinese to get the production rights for it. I don't know all the details yet as I'm still reading up on it, but apparantly the decision has been made to bring it to America for a second go-around. MG's were last sold here about 25 years ago.

A modern-day British sports car imitator, of course, is already sold here with GOOD quality....the Mazda Miata, ( and to a lesser extent the Solstice and Sky ) but the new Chinese-made MG promises to vastly undercut all three of them in price. But I hope, of course, that it not a classic case of you get what you pay for.

CHIS350

Does that seem almost treasonous on the part of JD Power?

Lexmex

We still have those MGs and Rovers rolling around south of the border. One of the best feeling shifts I have ever felt was in the final model of the MG roadster sold here, but they most certainly do have quality problems. Rover actually was sold here, left, and then came back under BMW a few years later.

Chinese should test their products here in Mexico. I guarantee you if they can survive Mexico City, they would do just fine on U.S. streets.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

sure, i am waiting to see that

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Forget quality. I want to make sure that if I drive the thing and get into an accident at 20 mph, I won't die. Have you seen the crash test results of most of these cars?!?

Safety supercedes quality.

Lexmex

That´s a good point about safety. In Mexico, we get a lot of vehicles that don´t show up in U.S. markets. My uncle made the point when I first moved down here by showing me banged up beyond all belief vehicles in his shop and on the road. Makes one think twice about a Smart.

mmarshall

You also end up getting a lot of vehicles that FIRST show up in U.S markets......if you know what I mean

Lexmex

Quite true unfortunately, and I see them all the time on the roads down here.

2jzgte

That's the problem. The mainstream consumer does not know enough about cars, they will buy whatever these so called experts tell them to. The biggest problem for Chinese automakers is not quality. There are several Chinese companies contracted out that make their own versions of Bentleys, BMW's and Benzes among other brands-much like how there are some Korean companies Lexus allows to coachbuild final gen LS400's. The biggest problem they face is this same -for lack of a better word- stupid, consumer. It's all about image, which is what the Chinese reps were alluding to. Chinese cars have a horrible image in the US. Their image has to change before their quality ever does, because nobody cares how well built your car is when you have no market demand. It's easier to build a good car than it is to sell any car.

mmarshall

No, it's not necessarily easier to build quality car than to sell junk. Hyundai proved that in the 80's and 90's by selling the poorly-built Excel ( which was actually a rebadged Mitsubishi Precis ) like hotcakes. You have to remember P.T. Barnum's famous words " There's a s* * ker born every minute "....for the most part that is true. I cautioned people in 1986-87, when Hyundai first started selling here, that unlike well-proved Japanese cars, the Excel was new and untested, and that I was VERY unimpressed with it on a test-drive ( though I didn't know it was in fact a Precis).
People will often buy on price alone, even if it is junk...the Yugo ( an already 15-year-old Fiat 128 built under license ) also proved that. And, to me, it is no conicidence that the people who are planning to bring the untested Chery products here are the same people who brought us the wonderful Yugo.....and the ill-fated Bricklin sports car.

On the other hand, sometimes you just don't know in advance. Companies with poor reputations can suddenly and unexpectedly untroduce good, well-made new products.....as GM did with Saturn in 1990. And you never really know how well a vehicle will hold up until it is actually sold and driven for while ( Consumer Reports usually waits at least one year for enough data ) . But, of course, it also means that SOMEBODY has to end up being a guinea pig to GET those figures.

BTW...my comments about the incoming Chery cars may or may not apply to the new MG sports car that will be Chinese-built.....I don't really know much yet about that deal or its specifics, only that it is coming here.

2jzgte

That;s your mistake right there. Look at the conditions under which the Excel or Yugo-hell even the Pontiac Le Mans if you remember it- were sold under. It was industry analysts all ballyhooing about how the next big thing had arrived. To the general consumer this was the way to go.