Posted on 01/13/2010 6:43:49 AM PST by blam
Warren Buffett's Chinese Cars Will Start Killing The US Auto Industry As Soon As This Year
Vincent Fernando
Jan. 13, 2010, 7:12 AM
BYD, the upstart Chinese electric car maker Warren Buffett famously has an investment in, is planning enter the U.S. market as soon as the second half of this year.
Considering the U.S. market entrance by multiple new auto players (from Chinese firms BYD and Geely, to India's Tata and even U.S. upstart Tesla Motors) expect auto industry competition to get far more intense than it already is.
BYD just showed off their latest e6 model and while BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu was short on details, he hinted that BYD first target could be both U.S. companies' and the U.S. government's vehicle fleets:
WSJ: In China, where the e6 will first go on sale, BYD—which stands for Build Your Dreams—expects to sell vehicles for city use by the government, utility companies or fleets of taxis, according to Mr. Wang. BYD expects it could be used similarly in the U.S., while a later, plug-in hybrid vehicle may be more appropriate for individual American consumers.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“No US industry can compete against workers in 3rd world countries willing to work for $1 a month.”
If an unskilled, under-educated American worker cannot do better than a 3rd worlders, then he should be content with that 1 dollar, or do something else....such is life. Or do we subject paying incompetent people more just because they are Americans?
Remember that China is younger than the US right now, but in 20 years, this will reverse.
If it takes them 20 years to get it right, their labour costs will have skyrocketed anyways.
China is doomed, between the vise of population control and poverty.
They once said that about Japanese cars........
And FWIW, look at the impact of the Korean vehicles Kia and Hyundai.............
Every day I laugh at the saps who bought one...
“poor quality” — already asked and answered.
Look at the sales of other foreign car producers. They cannot sell squat in the US until their product is equal to or better than American cars in quality. Price isn’t everything as Kia, Daewoo, Nissan, Toyota, Renault, Yugo all found out.
“No US industry can compete against workers in 3rd world countries willing to work for $1 a month. “
Nor can 3rd world countries compete on any other area thats critical to production.
Labor rates in India have gone up a great deal.
mark for later
You are correct however you presume the quality will be inferior. We don’t know that yet, especially for the highly engineered cars.
“You are correct however you presume the quality will be inferior.”
Sure, the quality could be better than Toyota or Mercedes. Really it could!!
Only time will tell. However, the incredibly fast rise of Christianity in China (in secret, largely) is perhaps a signal that things are changing at a fundamental level.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.