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I don't like and have otherwise no interest in Tog Gear at all but I might catch the China episode for nostalgia's sake. The pics look interesting. http://www.chinacartimes.com/2011/12/06/top-gear-filming-cold-cold-beijing/ http://www.carnewschina.com/2011/12/07/the-stig-arrives-in-beijing-for-top-gear-china-special/ http://www.carnewschina.com/2011/12/06/top-gear-filming-china-special-in-beijing-updated-story/ http://www.carnewschina.com/2011/12/05/top-gear-filming-in-china/ http://www.carnewschina.com/2011/12/09/top-gear-filming-in-china-part-4-with-movie/ Chinese Stig  Some kind of Chinese copy of the Austin Montego, in fine running order no doubt. Truly the sun never sets on the British (Leyland) empire.   Full line up of vehicles 
Throatwarbler fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Dec 20, 2011 |
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Dec 20, 2011 19:32
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 02:49 |
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quote:I work at a bike shop where we see a lot of Chinese motor scooters in for service, and the thought of cars made in that mold terrifies and despairs me. They are universally horrible and I pity their owners. Look at it another way. If there weren't people willing to buy that stuff, their wouldn't be people making it. If I were an aspiring businessman and my research tells me that there is a market for cheap terrible junk (  take my word for it, there is), where would I make it? Switzerland? Most cheap junk is made in China because everything is made in China, not because the Chinese only know how to make junk, If you are willing to pay a little more for a little better quality, you get iPhones. Otherwise you get exactly what you pay for.The 2 cars they tested, the Roewe 350 and the GAC Trumpchi, both get full marks on the Chinese NCAP which is not surprising since they are based on foreign engineered platforms. The Roewe was primarily developed in Britain by the old MG Rover folks who now work for SAIC and the Trumpchi like Clarkson said is a re-skinned Alfa Romeo 166. I'm almost certain both are much safer than junk like the Nissan Versa(bestselling subcompact car in America). I don't even know what Clarkson's problem is with the 1.5l 105hp engine, that's the same as the engine in a Yaris or a Fit and they come with 4 speed autos, not 3 speed AFAIK. I've ridden in one and they're...just ho-hum economy cars. But then again, they aren't really that cheap either, Maybe 10% or so cheaper than an equivilant Chinese assembled Honda Civic or Chevy Cruze after rebates. Again, if you want cheaper, you can find it, but it will be worse. I highly doubt that any Chinese branded cars are going to be coming to North America, though. Considering how terrible they've been at even gaining a foothold in China. Toyota and Honda didn't start their inroads into the US market when Japan was dominated by VW and GM like China is today. There will probably fewer car makers in the US market as GM/Ford/Chrysler are turning around with a vengence on the back of government assistance and a depreciating dollar. Suzuki and Mitsubishi probably won't survive much longer and FIAT is floundering, and any of them are easily 100x better run than any Chinese company. At best some of the foreign JV companies will start producing in China for the North American market. Honda is already importing the Fit from China to Canada. In that case it's largely because of their terrible luck at having both Japanese and Thai facilities suddenly end up under water at the same time but it shows that they're pretty confident with the quality. Also parts. 
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Feb 8, 2012 02:32
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