Thoughts from the Curb

Aug 11, 2008 - China Has Better American Cars Than We Do

I'm sure you've seen the Russian crash test of a Chery Amulet, where the Chinese sedan crumbles apart as if constructed entirely out of fortune cookie. Ditto Chery's little QQ. That leads most to believe that Chinese cars are horrific in engineering quality and I won't argue. However, after watching Ted Koppel's documentary on the growing Chinese automotive industry, I noticed something: China has better Fords than we do.

Judging by pictures on their Web site (my Chinese is a little rusty), they sell the Ford S-Max, the Ford Mondeo, and the European Focus sedan and hatchback. What, no Fusion, no Escape, no three-time worked-over Focus??? Of course not, China gets the best cars Ford Motor Company has to offer because those best cars can make a profit in China -- because they're built there with cheap labor. As Ford has claimed many times, a Mondeo or Euro Focus would be far too expensive in the United States -- so therefore we get substandard merchandise.

So I guess it makes sense why the Chinese get better Fords than Americans do (GM's offerings are less impressive), but that doesn't mean it's not depressing.

-James Riswick
(Go Team Canada!)

8:29 am | Categories: car news commentary Permalink | Alert Administrator

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