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January 27, 2008
Big 3 Face Another Challenger (Detroit Automakers)
by Jack Lee
The above car is currently featured at the Detroit auto show for 2008. Would you believe this is a hybrid? And here's the real kicker, it's made in China.
As Detroit struggled to pay for all the lavish retirements’ union workers demand and the massively bloated executive salaries and still turn a profit, China is prepared to be a world player in the car market and do whatever it takes to gain market share. China currently produces a number of economy type cars priced well under 12k and also a fleet of commercial trucks that have proved to be cheap and reliable. They should be... they are based on our technology from about 20 years ago, but it meets the needs of many customers, especially in India where Chinese trucks outsell American 10 to 1. .
One Chinese vehicle that caught my attention recently was an amphibious jeep, priced around $7600. It reminded me of something akin to a Range Rover, but it's not for sale here, nor is any Chinese made cars that I am aware of, however it won't be long. China can produce a copy of our Hummer (military version) for about 15k. American made is well over $77k and this is just a stripped down 4X4 that has remained basically the same since the 1980's.
The HMMWV is produced by AM General. A factory rebuild costs about $25k, still much higher than a new Chinese copy of the HMMWV (Hummer) shown in this photo. Sure looks like our HMMWV doesn't it? Some parts are interchangeable too.
Wonder what the unions will think about the cheap Chinese cars coming to America? Unions have pretty much tied the hands of GM and Ford and put them at the mercy of the world market. That world market, especially Asia, is filled with experts and cheap labor to rival Detroit and that can't be good for the survival of US auto industry..
Posted by Post Scripts at January 27, 2008 07:58 PM