But.

This quote:

He said the small vehicles, used as basic people-carriers and vans in areas of China outside the large cities, were not appropriate for developed markets.

Is from here:

http://mwprices.ft.com/custom/ft-com/story.asp?siteid=ft&dist=ft&guid=%7B74493606%2D0891%2D4D3C%2D90E9%2D3A49E0343035%7D

Why? do cheap cars hold up better on crappy roads? Duh. Sounds like total bull***** to me.

What say you?

Take an army truck or even a unimog. Well, it gets you from point A to point B. However, in it's present state, I wouldn't want to drive it for any long distances. It is uncomfortable. What he is trying to say is that the American public will not accept it without the creature comforts that China will. Hell, with so many bicycles, they would consider a stripped down Yugo as a luxury while we are used to higher standards.

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Well, I don't know who "we" are --- but I would love a bare-bones vehicle that can get me from point A to B. I don't need all the bull***** that these cars come with today. Do I like them? Yes. But you're talking to a person that has a stripped down Jeep sitting next to a loaded Passat and Benz. I like what I like when I like it. And many times I want a point A to B car that I don't have to worry about -- and so does my dog. (She doesn't go in the Passat).

Pete

there is more money to be made on loading them up with doodads they can claim up the value of the car.....personally I could do without a lot of them too as they are costly to repair down the road.

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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"We" is not you obviously. It is the American Public. Look around. Gimmicks sell since everything else is there. What else is there that distinguishes one car from the next to the public?

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
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03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I was in China a few weeks ago and I should have taken more photos of the Chinese cars there for reference but I did see the Geely cars which looked like a previous generation W202 C-Class from the front and and a Daihatsu rear. The Jinbei vans looked like the 1980's mid engine vans and the subcompact Dodge Omni looking cars had strange alphanumerical names some were literally A3454B478....looked like a PIN number to identify you car amongst the other millions of identical ones. GM Shanghai cars were Century's and Minivans which are pretty low on the bling scale and occasionally spotted and so I presume people are buying them....perhaps because they don't have much of a choice in terms of BIG cars.

I think the GM division is hesitant because appearance is everything and if they turned out more cars like Aztecs they would lose compared to better looking European marques. In the cities, there's also no space to park that car since there is no underground parking and very little street parking and so the sidewalk is often a parking lot. I regularly saw 6 people jammed into a Daihatsu groundskeeping van going down the freeway at 45mph with a truck tailgating it loaded with scrap wood loaded 10 feet above the cab.

People there were just LOVE to have a car but they dont' aspire to a Chinese car....just yet. The upward moving people want Volkswagens. 70-90% of the taxis in Shanghai are Volkswagen Santana 2000 and 3000 5 speed manuals which look like the old Audo 5000's the rest are Hyundai Elantras with 5 speed manuals. In Beijing it's Santana 2000's Jettas which are the old boxy 80-90's jettas which they apparently were producing until a few years ago with a different rear end and Elantras and Citroen XM 5 door cars.

The few people we talked to, like the luxury appointed cars. One person we met drove a 1991 LS400 and they like the luxury despite it being and older car. A lot of families buy Golfs and Polos, if you have more money they get Jettas and Passats beacuase as far as I know there are no financing or leasing options!

I think GM is getting at the people who are starting to make money and living in the cities where cars don't go faster than 50mph and that's for 2 blocks of distance since traffic is always horrendous. I think they might be able to capitalize on the single track homes being built outside of the big cities but the people that can afford those will want something better than a $5000 car. They want AMG S55's and RR Phantoms. Doodads and visor TFT panels do sell and are popular but so are strobe lights and whelen horns (all apparently legal on personal cars). But then again people work their cars to death and do need transportation and so a $5000 car may be perfectly good for some.....and $5k would be about right since that is an annual salary for a college grad.

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