Yipes...
Mao tried to copy Marx and Engels, and they've ended up with a cross between Stalin and Mussolini.
So Brilliance follows suit in response to Mercedes and Lexus, and gets a cross between a Coke can and a dumpster.
Snark aside, the BS6 appears to follow a familiar pattern of PRC incompetence.
Holy crap. I don't even drive, and I'd probably move if someone down the block bought one of these. Is it just some kind of "life is cheap if there are a billion of you" sort of thing, but why is everything from toothbrushing to driving potentially fatal with Chinese goods? Is it some kind of subconscious death wish? I'm confounded by this.
Posted at 2007-06-28 07:10:38 [PermaLink]On a more positive note, pedestrians will be much safer crossing streets.
Posted at 2007-06-28 08:10:42 [PermaLink]That's assuming the drivers didn't come with the car, J.B. ;)
Posted at 2007-06-28 08:39:37 [PermaLink]Gee, the carbon belching Trabant from East Germany would have held up just as well!!
Posted at 2007-06-28 10:48:43 [PermaLink]One of the differences between the Japanese and Chinese car manufacturers is that China has to compete with the Japanese, who provide a much better product than the U.S. manufacturers did when Japan entered the market.
And with the Koreans improving their quality (or, at least Hyundai improving), this makes entry into the global car market even more difficult when your product is worse than the Model T.
The Chinese are designing their cars for a different market. Once that market is saturated they can worry about building cars to western standards.
Posted at 2007-06-28 14:46:47 [PermaLink]Rick - I take it as a sort of undisciplined hurry to achieve effects before understanding causes.
Ultimately the 'market' will be the teacher. Heh - I remember as a kid when "made in Japan" was pejorative.
They're over confidant because they're likely stripping foreign cars and blueprinting all the pieces. With all the sheet metal in hand they can produce a reasonable facsimile of a well made car, until it has to distribute crash energy. Then your welding strategy, techniques, and quality come into play, not to mention materials, which they may be cheaping out on.
Japanese cars started small. With a small car you can have much better control over your quality of assembly and develop good processes. Also, smaller lighter cars allow you to begin your crash protection designs from a lighter, less energetic platform.
It's the false head start, straight into SUVs and luxury sedans, which is causing this embarrassment. I can't say they don't deserve it, I only hope their "design team" gets a good employee discount and cheap gas. Maybe the next batch of Chinese car manufacturers could do their own damn work.
"Maybe the next batch of Chinese car manufacturers could do their own damn work."
Yeh, that'll happen...
Lead paint on toys, plastic in pet food, poisonous toothpaste, chemical and hormone laden shrimp, and now collapsing cars. Is there anything coming out of that country that is reasonably safe? I'm getting to the point where I'm not sure I want to import clothing from China.
Posted at 2007-07-01 08:09:03 [PermaLink]