Chinese SUVs - The European Experience (so far)

[HenryTo]

Low cost isn't everything - but Jiangling could've avoided this just by paying a little more attention to safety issues at minimal cost:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/HH23Cb01.html

[HenryTo]

Safety standards are now met. And for the first time, Chinese SUVs are appearing at the Paris Motor Show:
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Chinese SUV passes crash test

Source: CCTV.com

09-30-2006 10:58
For the first time, Chinese auto makers have put their vehicles on display at the Paris Motor Show, one of the five largest in the world. Their appearance shows that China is emerging as an auto manufacturing force.

Jiangling Landwind Motors Group is the first Chinese manufacturer to appear in Paris. Its sole distributor Belgium auto trading company, LWMC, brought two models--an MPV and an SUV.

Great Wall Motor, China's largest privately-owned auto company, showed off a new pickup and the five-door SUV it has recently begun exporting to Italy.

Thierry Hesse, General Manager of Paris Motor Show said: "All the manufacturers of the world are present here, of course the French, but also the European, the American, and manufacturers coming from Japan and Korea and China, China for the first time."

A number of Chinese vehicles have already met strict European emission and safety standards.

The Landwind SUVs started to drive into the European market last year. At about 17,000 euros, its price is just half that of its competitors.

Just last week, Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Limited signed a sole distributorship agreement with the German auto trading company HSO, to export three thousand of its Zhonghua sedans to Europe. It's the first time that a Chinese auto company has exported its own design to the cradle of the auto industry.

Chinese manufacturers are counting on quality and low prices to get European buyers behind the wheel.