[VOA]

I’m pretty sure Chinese cars crappy quality and materials - regardless
of style cue thefts - are going to be easily differentiated from BMW.

Give 'em time.
Because similar things were being said about "Jap junk" only a couple
of decades ago.

I remember our apt discription of the exhaust note of Japanese cars
(compared to our Mustangs, etc.):
"Sounds like a squirrel farting into a tin can".
But things changed.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

When my dad was buying stuff for the Army & Air Force in 1950s Far East, a manufacturer offered some machine parts that were made in USA. Usa was a tiny Japanese fishing village that might have had three or four hibachis but no manufacturing capability...

[mgc1122]

Give 'em time. Because similar things were being said about "Jap junk" only a couple of decades ago.

LOL ... well, as just one example - the ChiComms have been trying to manufacture an AK47 knockoff for decades, and to this very day, it's still crap and likely to be that way for the foreseeable future.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

But you could see incremental improvement in everything the Japanese did with autos. The Chinese seem to be approaching things in a haphazard manner. Obviously they are unconscious of the PR impact of their blunders (killing household pets with poisoned dog food ingredients and putting lead paint on children’s toys?). I’m not sure they are on a path paralleling the Japanese yet.

[JasonC]

Yeah. I recall the Chinese were only making stuffed animals and sneakers and plastic junk for WalMart. Then I looked stuff up, and as of now China makes 1/3 of the world's steel (up from 13% ten years ago - that is when they passed the US, which has gone from 13% to 8% in the same period - I kid you not) and 1/3 of the world's aluminum. Just little things you know, like that.

The closest actual parallel isn't even Japan in the 60s, it is more like the US itself in the 1890s to 1910s. The US passed Britain as the world's leading industrial power first, passed in total econ next, and a generation later in world power. Here's hoping China gets democratic and nice as fast as it gets big.

[steve86]

Give 'em time. Because similar things were being said about "Jap junk" only a couple of decades ago.

No, there's a difference. The Japanese were on a learning curve, leading to the best manufacturing capability in the world.

The Chinese deliberately use inferior materials and skip QA/QC steps.

All the difference in the world.

[jpl]

Because similar things were being said about "Jap junk" only a couple of decades ago.

The difference is that these claims were greatly overstated about Japan back in the day, largely due to lingering bitterness about the war and stuff, whereas in the case of China it is completely true. The Japanese were manufacturing planes during the war that in many ways were superior to the ones we made, and they have always taken pride in their work.

There was never any serious epidemic of Japanese products killing people, animals, etcetera.

[mad_as_he$$]

Yea now it sounds like the squirrel is running around in the can.