I was interested to see that you can now buy "Great Wall" utes in New Zealand: http://www.greatwallauto.co.nz/ The prices are pretty impressive with kinda familiar looking twin cab 4x4 ute going for just under $30k - they also apparently going to be bringing in some cars too, which I guess will be even cheaper.

The thing is when Japanese cars first appeared on our shores they were the lepers of the car world, and the first Korean cars in NZ habitually fell to pieces. Many years later both those countries make good reliable vehicles and there's people like me who'll deliberately buy Japanese as their reliability is legendary. On the flipside the U.S. car makers have managed to demote themselves from the best in the world to dribbling basket cases.

For a taste of what will possibly be hitting our shores soon check out their other models: http://www.gwm.com.cn/eng/html/models/models.asp (note the "WIngle" is being sold as the "V240" in New Zealand )

All of this begs the question when do we open our wallets to the temptation of cheap cars from China?

I wouldn't buy a Korean car, let a lone a chinese one

Hmm that ute has faint echoes of Mazda, and Holden Rodeo too... Sorta reminds me of when some Chinese company stole the blueprints to the Honda CRV, and made appalling copies. The Chinese govt originally refused to do anything about it, needless to say, none of this went down well with Honda. I'd like to know if they have designers capable of doing something other than bad tracing?
As for the original question, no thanks.

We have Japanese cars in the driveway now because they're cheapish and demonstrably reliable.

I parked next to a Toyota Corona wagon the other day. It looked a bit fucked - but it was 25 years old, had clearly been crashed at least once, and because it was a diesel I could see on the RUC ticket that it was not much short of half a million kilometres and still going. 470 000 km actually.

When I see Chinese cars still running around at mega mileage like Japanese cars since the 80's have managed, I'll consider buying one. I expect they'll get there. Maybe 20 years?

pushbikerider wrote:I wouldn't buy a Korean car, let a lone a chinese one

Not even the Hover•Π or the Coolbear?

I wonder when mainstream Japanese car brands will be built from China? Everything else seems to come from there.

Coolbear = Nissan Cube!

I'd buy a Nissan Cube. I like cars not afraid to be fugly.

avantibill wrote:I wonder when mainstream Japanese car brands will be built from China? Everything else seems to come from there.

Guy at work has a Suzuki GN250 motorbike that's made in China. Apparently they're a bit crap compared to the 80's Japanese built version.

You can get a kick ass Subaru for 30grand. So no.

The problem with cheap Chinese manufactured crap is not that it's crap - but rather that it's not cheap.

When Macpac moved their manufacturing offshore did their gear get significantly cheaper - like sweatshop cheaper? No. It did not.

How much for a set of sweatshop made Nike shoes? Way more than the $10 they are worth.

I might buy a Chinese made rip off of a Japanese design (like all they currently produce) if it cost $5k brand new. Maybe. But no way would I part with $30k for one at an time in the foreseeable future.

Tama wrote:

pushbikerider wrote:I wouldn't buy a Korean car, let a lone a chinese one

Not even the Hover•Π or the Coolbear?

nope, not until they can make a hatchback with similar power / weight (naturally aspirated) to a Type R integra (or at least 100kw's per 1000kg's) with an engine that if well maintained should last well over 200000 km's

I've figured out what that ute is, its a Holden Rodeo which has rear ended a Daewoo Matiz, hence the imbecilic nose

j2hyde wrote:You can get a kick ass Subaru for 30grand. So no.

But a similarly specced ute (say a Toyota Hilux) would set you back $55k - so the Great Wall Wingle V240 is a pretty good deal in comparison.

j2hyde wrote:You can get a kick ass Subaru for 30grand. So no.

The problem with cheap Chinese manufactured crap is not that it's crap - but rather that it's not cheap.

When Macpac moved their manufacturing offshore did their gear get significantly cheaper - like sweatshop cheaper? No. It did not.

How much for a set of sweatshop made Nike shoes? Way more than the $10 they are worth.

I might buy a Chinese made rip off of a Japanese design (like all they currently produce) if it cost $5k brand new. Maybe. But no way would I part with $30k for one at an time in the foreseeable future.

That is because those companies are not passing the reduction in costs on, I know of a few product were massive savings have been made shifting production and those discounts are not passed on.

Didn't the Japanese really start making cars in the 50's? And they didn't really become that great until the 80's, I think I'll what 30 years before I buy a chinese car

I've only just (as in today) got my head around considering Korean with this piece of hotness http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/news-and-reviews/story/hyundai_genesis_to_arrive/

Pretty sure that Rhys Millen is doing the drift thing in the US in one of these!

But, given that it took the Japanese 25-30yrs to make consistently good, desirable(?) cars, the Koreans half that, the Chinese are likely to be there in 5-6 years. Of course there is a fair bit of plagiarism there. Honda reckon that they put on of their CR-V's in the photo copier and push "copy". Resulted in a lawsuit, but not sure how it ended.