When it comes to Chinese automakers, only one company (BYD Automotive) has been setting up shop at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit since 2006. At best, some of the vehicles have looked unsophisticated and weak against the strong and baroque American, European, Japanese and even Korean brand cars of late. The Chinese have promised for the past decade they would bring cars to the USA but consumers have yet to see that at American auto shows.
Michigan car czar Nigel Francis told The Detroit News he is not surprised at all by this. He accompanied Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on a trip to China — the world’s largest auto market by a wide margin — last year, and said the automakers there are still in a preparation period for their vehicles. The Chinese companies, according to Francis, want to have everything right before they come to the USA to compete with the big boys; they fear of damaging their startup brands.
An executive at BYD was quoted this month that their company plans to introduce four models for the U.S. market at the end of 2015. Key word: “plans.”
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