You might want to read this first.
The first Chinese car to be sold in Europe has scored zero — the worst-ever score — in safety tests….
The two-ton 4×4 scored zero stars in crash tests last week by the ADAC, the German automobile club, which carries out tests for Euro NCAP. “It had a catastrophic result,” said a spokesman for the ADAC. “In our 20-year history no car has performed as badly.”
This is a site I would normally never link to, but it’s certainly of interest to those tracking China’s business development. Link is via the Instapuppet who says of China’s auto industry:
“Not ready for prime time. Of course, that’s what they said about the Japanese in 1970.”
Were Japanese cars this bad back in 1970? Anyway, knowing Chinese industriousness, I’m sure they’ll rapidly improve and then have the last laugh.
1
By boo
Instapundit seems to be off by about 15 years.
Toyota got started in the US in 1957. The Datsun 240Z was considered quite a hot product when it was introduced in the US in 1970.
October 18, 2005 @ 9:12 pm | Comment
2
By Shanghai Slim
Fons over at China Herald follows the auto industry pretty closely, has had several pieces on this story. The most recet::
Who knows what the real story is, but maybe it doesn’t matter now that SUV sales are finally beginning to slide.
October 18, 2005 @ 9:12 pm | Comment
3
By richard
InstaP is usually off, which is why I so rarely link to him. Sounds like this story may be a dud all around.
There is a video of the crash test at the link in my post, for what it’s worth.
October 18, 2005 @ 9:19 pm | Comment
4
By oMoM
When TV first came to Malaysia in the mid-1960s, my dad used to love watching re-runs of Dennis The Menace.
On one episode, Dennis gave Mr Wilson a present which pleased Mr Wil ever so much. But then Mr Wil turns the toy over, and reads: Made in Japan. Rolls his eyes. Cue canned laughter.
Of course by the late 60s/early 70s, no one was laughing at made-in-Japan anymore.
BTW: for youse folks not au fait with Asian entertainment, Rain is not a double-entendre. The Korean popster’s blend of blues/rock/soul happens to be uber-hip right now.
October 18, 2005 @ 10:28 pm | Comment
5
By andrea
Imagethief posted on this almost a week ago.
October 18, 2005 @ 11:06 pm | Comment
6
By Sam_S
Saw the video. Looks pretty damn bad. I think Japanese products were still getting some laughs in the 60’s, but the cameras and motorcycles were damn good! I had a 73 Toyota which was amazingly well-built, but their styling was really on the funky side.
October 19, 2005 @ 1:05 am | Comment
7
By Hui Mao
Jiangling Motors is a joint venture established by the Japanese car company Isuzu Motors. The Landwind SUV is identical to the last generation of the Isuzu Rodeo.
October 19, 2005 @ 1:43 am | Comment
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By Wolf
Here’s the upstart: for all of China’s efforts to control the standards that affect its commercial future, there are some that are beyond its control.
China must comply to these standards or forego global markets for the affected products.
October 19, 2005 @ 7:39 am | Comment
9
By Shanghai Slim
I suspect there may be some quality differences between the ones built by Isuzu in Japan/USA, and the ones built by Jiangling in China.
October 19, 2005 @ 7:49 am | Comment
10
By Lanceredstaterant
Richard,
It hurts my feelings that you would not normally link to my site.(he) From your blogroll I can obviously see why. For what its worth, thanks for the link.
Best Regards
Lance
October 19, 2005 @ 10:14 am | Comment
11
By ACB
I came across a dutch page that has a fuller account but the spam filter won’t let the URL through.
October 19, 2005 @ 10:38 am | Comment
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By ACB
I think that German standards are very strict, they have a system whereby every time you make any modification more serious than putting a new set of tires on (with in reason of course), you have ot have your car re certified as being safe. Which makes things like lowering or hotrodding rather beurocratic. Maybe this vehicle would have gotten a higher score if it had been checked in France or some other European country.
When they were introduced, Japanese cars weren’t actually that much worse than they should have been given the price, they just were meant for different conditions and expectations than are found in America (they were small, low powered, and not designed for freeway driving or dusty conditions). They were also not that different when it came to safety form other small cars of the day.
Saying that, I’d buy an American roadster anyday if I could afford it (and the gas), over a Japanese car. But that’s because I watched one to many movies.
Sadly, I wasn’t old enough to drive during the hayday.
October 19, 2005 @ 10:44 am | Comment
13
By ACB
” The Landwind SUV is identical to the last generation of the Isuzu Rodeo”
Yes, and that pair of Nikes that oyu brough at that market stand off ofNathan Road Nikes are identical to the real thing.
They cut corners to cut costs.
October 19, 2005 @ 10:46 am | Comment
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By richard
I had no choice but to block all url’s ending with dot NL. I got literally thousands of spam comments from there (and dot RU).
October 19, 2005 @ 5:37 pm | Comment
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By lirelou
Japanese cars had a deservedly bad reputation in the 1960s, that lasted into the early 70s. This is not because the product itself was inferior to U.S. cars, but because in much of the country the supporting repair and parts infrastructure was not in place to service what had been sold. A Datsun 300Z (?) owner I knew from New Jersey always raved about his car, but my Toyota in Puerto Rico was a horror story. In time, the Japanese realized the error of their ways, and responded with an increase in post-sales support infrastructure, and higher quality vehicles that left Detroit in the dust.
October 19, 2005 @ 6:10 pm | Comment
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By ming
great blog…and yes im thinking about buying a chinese car when they come to US or Canada!! which should be in 2008, check this for more info
http://www.chinacarforums.com
May 12, 2006 @ 10:51 pm | Comment