Complaining that everything you buy is made in China?

Well, it looks like the you won't have to worry about the Chinese auto invasion for a while yet:

China's fast-rising auto makers, enjoying spectacular growth in domestic and emerging markets, are postponing their ambitions in North America as they focus on easier markets in the near term.

The biggest Chinese auto makers, which had earlier signalled that they might enter North America as early as next year, are now admitting that they need several more years to build dealerships and meet regulatory hurdles.

Their sales in China and other emerging markets have soared so fast that they now regard North America as a lower priority. Car sales jumped by 21 per cent in China in the first quarter of this year, showing no signs of weakening after five years of 20 to 30 per cent annual growth. China has become the world's second-biggest car market, behind only the United States, and it could overtake the U.S. within the next decade

[...]

Chery signed an agreement with Chrysler last year to produce a low-cost vehicle to be sold under Chrysler's Dodge brand in North America, but both companies said yesterday that the project is still under discussion and the proposed new car is still being developed...

Mark C.

Damian adds: the Chinese auto industry has a long, long way to go, but at least some of them are really trying. (From this angle, the Geely GT actually looks pretty cool.)

Update: Will China save the mega-SUV?

High, wide and fuel-hungry, the gleaming black Cadillac Escalade on display at the Beijing auto show is an unlikely car for an era of record oil prices.

Although U.S. sport-utility vehicle sales are tumbling, automakers are finding that for China's newly prosperous car buyers, bigger is still better.

So General Motors has made the Escalade a star of its auto-show display and is eager to get it on the market here.

"If you look at the fastest-growing market segments in China, there are two -- SUVs and luxury cars," said Joseph Y.H. Liu, GM China's vice president for sales and marketing...

Posted by markc at April 21, 2008 01:17 PM