1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

[shelbylovesmelby]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

Geely, a Chinese car manufacturer, is poised to introduce the first Chinese car to the US market in two years.

American automakers are worried because the car, aimed at the small car market, is priced at under $10,000. How can they do this? Because Chinese auto workers get paid $3 an hour compared to the $29 an hour the average American auto worker gets.

This may force American car companies to offer more competitive rates. Good news for car buyers.

this is what aired on ABC last night http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1491210

but they failed to mention the wages that they listed in last nights broadcast. I think they said US auto workers make up to $65/hr & China's $3.50.

[Ima saver]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

Twins, my husband and I are "car people" too and looks are extremely important to us. even when I was young and could not afford a classy sports car, I drove around in a little convertible spitfire. We bought our first vette in 78. It was classy looking then and it still is.

[Russell]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

Sorry for the delay in responding...I'm vacationing in Hawaii with the family and high speed 'net access is still a novelty here.

Anyway back to the subject. Well I suppose it depends on where you live. In Los Angeles Denalis, Escalades, the new Chrysler 300M sedans scream gold chains than anything else on the road. They are usually all blacked out, have 22" chrome rims on them and are driven by gansgters with huge Raider stickers on them. I suppose ghetto would be an incorrect term since they are clean new trucks...just my observation.

I see your point about needing an SUV for various reasons (although its been proven many times that the cars are still safer than SUVs - do a google search to see what I'm talking about) and that's perfectly fine with me. Its just that I'm not convinced that every other person needs one. In fact, in CA you see way more trucks and SUVs than cars.

I agree, I too would rather have a Z06 than a corolla - no one's arguing there. Just remember why you're driving one when the gas prices go up (and they will) that's all.

I'll join you in the conversation next week.

[Fern]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

[QUOTE]. I drive my SUV and will continue to because they're bigger and safer for my children to ride in. [QUOTE]

Really depends on what you call "safety." Many studies have shown now that SUVS have a higher mortality rate due to their proclivity toward rollovers Cars are more stable due to lower center of gravity.Let's face it,
Just as with the vast majority of car drivers out there, I don't often see SUVs filled with children...it's usually 1 or 2 people at most.

Anyone who thinks SUVs are "classy" is just being sucked in by the massive amount of advertising dollars by Madison Ave. execs. Why are Americans so hung up with image when buying simple transportation, anyway? I don't "identify" with my car..it simply gets me where i want to go.

[mccartygirl]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

By safe I mean - if I am in our 2nd car, Malibu Maxx, and get rear ended by a Dodge Ram the car will be pretty much totalled. If I'm in my SUV I have a better chance of not sharing the front seat with my 2nd row, 3rd row or cargo space. They are more prone to rollovers but you also have to look at the driver a bit for that. A lot of people that drive SUVs don't learn how to drive them safely and know what to do when you have to make a sharp turn. Size alone they are safer when in an accident then a car, especially a smaller one. You can have all the airbags you want in a car but when it's size vs. size, the smaller size will lose more times than not. There aren't very many cars here and as soon as our lease is up on the Malibu were getting a Yukon.

[Russell]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

I'm back

OK, I see what you're saying and I somewhat agree with you depending on the type of accident you're involved in. However, let me qualify myself before I continue. I spent 7 years of my life at the race track (real car racing not drag racing) trying to learn car control, vehicle dynamics. I spent a good bit of my life on modifying cars and suspension to get faster and competitive. In the begining of my racing hobby I spent lots of hours and money on racing schools as well. So I know a little about cars. The hype around the SUVs has been the mass. Sure a 6000lbs SUV colliding a 3000lb Accord will do a lot of damage to the Accord, its like a 300lb man falling on 100lb kid. However, what most fail to realize is accident avoidance is whats even more important. The 100lb kid is a lot more mobile. Where a 6000 lbs SUV has to come to halt in an emergency situation it has that extra 3000lbs of intertia to fight against. To give you an idea, in racing 30 lbs is the difference between winning and losing. Racers go to great lengths to loose as much weight as possible. The lighter the car the better it'll handle and brake.

You might be thinking, well I'm a good aware driver and I give myself plenty of room between cars so it doesn't really affect me all that much. Not so...why ? because everyone thinks SUVs are safer and the more people buy big SUVs the less safe the roads become for everyone because not very many people are good, aware and responsible drivers.

Also, most SUVs don't have to meet the same safety requirements as most passenger cars do because their manufacturers have gone great lenghts to classify them as light trucks. Light trucks don't have the same passenger protection standards as the cars. If you're in a head on (or rear end) collision with a Dodge RAM in your 6000lb SUV you may be OK compared to the Accord but if its a side impact (as in someone running the red light) you're no better off.

A personal close call incident happened about 2 months ago when I (with my wife and my 1.5yr old) was stopped at the red light of a major intersection. The light turned green and we started to move, as we were just about in the middle of the intersection I heard and saw something from the corner of my eye. At the same time my wife screamed 'STOP!!' - I hit the brakes, the ABS kicked in momentarily and we stopped. Then a full sized commercial van screached his way across intersection in front of us and stopped. Missing us by a foot. The driver of the van didn't notice the red light until it was too late, he hesitated to stop and decided to go for it but because it was a large intersection he changed his mind again and hit the brakes but it was too late and he couldn't stop the van in time. Several things played an important role during the incident otherwise the outcome would have been very very bad. If my wife hadn't screamed STOP! or if I hesitated to stop or if we didn't have ABS (I learnt to brake just as well without ABS but as much as I hate to admit it the technology sometimes beats human skills) or if our car was a lot heavier requiring more stopping distance we would've collided.

Anyway, long post and we've gotten off-topic here. I did't mean to come across rude (and after re-reading my original post I guess I did, sorry) but I was trying to make you guys see all my points without having to get into the details.

Goodluck with your purchase.

[mccartygirl]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

I agree with you to a certain extent, you can't just say SUV drivers are the only crazy ones though. There are crazy pickup drivers, SUV drivers, van drivers and car drivers. My husband pointed out that when we are in the car vs. SUV we tend to drive faster and such because it's easier to maneuver and picks up a lot quicker. Also, last time I checked, the last 3 SUVs I've had have been listed as station wagons. I'm not sure where that comes into play when comes into ratings but I will ask a few of my engineer friends. Doesn't hurt to enlighten myself a bit.

I wasn't offended by your first post, just thought you shouldn't group people or the people who drive certain cars into one group. I'm not ghetto and my vehicles are not either. I'm just a plain ole simple suburban wife and mom. I live in 1 of the wealthiest counties in the US and the nuisances aren't the SUVs, it's more so the pick-ups and the rich kids driving Mercedes, BMWs, Escalades, H2s, etc. They drive like their insane - mommy and daddy will replace the vehicle if something happens. But, I'm grouping now. If everyone around me drove a car, I'd get a station wagon.

[Russell]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

Looks like Ford shot itself in the foot by trying to push too many SUVs down the assembly line ?

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. on Monday said it would slash up to 30,000 jobs and shed more than a quarter of its production capacity as it moves to cut costs and stem market share losses, building on a surprising 19 percent gain in fourth-quarter earnings.

Ford also said it would cut material costs by $6 billion in five years, vowing to streamline parts purchasing, even as it rolls out more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles and small cars to respond to consumer concern over high gas prices.

"We must reduce capacity in North America," Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford said. "From now on our products will be designed and built to satisfy customers, not just fill a factory."

On the news Bill Ford was quoted as saying that Ford didn't respond to the customers needs who are looking for smaller and hybrid vehicles due to the concerns of high gas prices. I personally think they domestic car makers were trying to kill the hybrid car market by attempting to get a bill passed that would give SUV owners tax break on buying gas or something silly like that.

It sucks for the 30k workers that will be out of jobs...I wonder if Mr. Ford gave himself a pay cut ?

[Russell]

Re: 1st Chinese Car Priced at Under $10K

I agree with you to a certain extent, you can't just say SUV drivers are the only crazy ones though.

No but the crazy SUV and truck drivers are more dangerous than the crazy car drivers due to a deadlier weapon they're driving.

I wasn't offended by your first post

Thanks, because it wasn't meant to offend anyone, I was stating my general opinion about them based on my personal observation of the people that drive them here in Southern California.

If everyone around me drove a car, I'd get a station wagon.

I didn't even get into the rollover issues with the SUVs. I'm not talking about the inherent rollover problem of the SUVs that occur from careless driving. I'm talking about rollovers on impact. Not just on the side impact but even in front and rear collisions the SUVs tend to roll over due to the high center of gravity. They were also found to not have strong enough roofs to support the weight of the vehicle when they did rollover and crushed passengers to death. Ford was sued several times on this one and they settled the cases. So I really don't see how they're anymore safer than a well built sedan...its really just hype and a false sense of security.

Someone recommended this book to me a while ago but I never got around to reading it : ISBN 1586481231 "High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way (Hardcover)"