Jan 17: Go China go!

Used to be that the Chinese cars could typically be called a pile of junk, much like this tower of cars art(?) sculpture somewhere in China. I  remember, probably about six years ago, a visit to the Detroit auto show, where one Chinese car manufacturer was dipping their toe in the water by showing three or four of their cars, testing the market for interest. Boy, were they bad. Forget that their designs were outdated, the quality of the cars on display was abysmal. No, that's wrong, their quality was embarrassing. At the time, I wondered why they hadn't sent them to a US company ahead of time to fix the mismatched parts. It's still a mystery to me, as was their sales literature, which had been translated, well, let's just say, "literally" to be kind. Lines like, "Makes you want to kick light hearted dance in the streets", might have been better translated into English. If you are just starting out with your swimming, why pick one of the biggest pools in the world?

Anyone with half a brain (my hand is up), knew this would only be a temporary situation, after all, look how far and how fast the South Korean cars had come. So flash forward to this week's Detroit show and who shows up, but very recent newcomer to the Chinese market, GAC Motors. Recent, like only started in 1997. Yes sir, that is recent. Sure, they had some nothing special designs, like this one........

.......but, they also were showing off others, like this very interesting looking smaller suv, the GS4, which went from this designers sketch.......

......to this in real life.......

A vehicle like this could sell anywhere in the world, good looking with very up to date styling cues. Quality? Who knows, but I'd bet it would be reasonably good and getting better. But no, I wouldn't want the first one on my block.

Like something a little smaller? The trend these days is to even smaller city runabouts suv's, so something like this GS3 is a fitting addition to any new car line..........

Another solid design. Pretty good for a company that in broad time terms, started basically yesterday. But look at what the are showing as concept vehicles.......

A larger sedan, for what is rapidly becoming a shrinking market, as suv's take over the world like Donald Trump's inane tweets. Again though, GAC has nailed the design. Derivative? Maybe, but show me a design these days, that doesn't seem to borrow elements from someone else's winner.

And what about those strange sedan/coupe/sport ute aberrations (BMW X6, numerous Mercedes), that are starting to become a bigger part of the market place? Who would have thought that a newcomer like GAC Motors, would be showing their conceptual version at the North American International Auto Show? This has got to be one of the best examples of the breed so far........

So where do GAC and those other Chinese car companies go from here? To date, we have vehicles from Volvo and Buick being made in China and being sold here. And you'll see Chinese cars in Cuba, Russia and some other areas, but nothing (to my knowledge) in Europe. And obviously nothing in North America.

You know that they are coming, but who will make the first move? Who will be the first to open their dealership in your local auto mall?

Another stay tuned moment, my friends.

Until next time......