Chinese cars make record sales in Australia

[oldel]

By the time electric cars are commonplace and affordable I bet they're mostly chinese made. Not many trust their mechanicals, but the western world's corporations made them the global electronics/electrical powerhouse already.
Apparently selling phones for over $1k with cheap components didn't leave enough profit for apple and google to make them in the US despite USA's low wages and high manufacturing capability. They, and many other companies, would rather give away IP and support the Chinese regime than have local jobs. We treat them as the worlds factory and wonder why they treat us as merely 'the dirt farmers' and not as a fair and equal trading partner. The hole we've dug leaves us as serving them as subordinates.

[yanknbank]

No one but no one, should be buying ANYTHING from China at the moment with what’s going on across the planet, let alone buying cars. The CCP? Duplicitous arseholes.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

MG has gone ahead in leaps and bounds last few years - solid competitive cars now. But they sorely need to pony up with a hero model like the 86, Stinger, N30, etc. I'm sure they can afford it. Just dial 1800-Pinanfarina/Touring/Zagato, drop $50 large and job done.

You can't leverage 100 years of British heritage and expect to get away with it with just SUVs.

https://mgmotor.com.au/show-and-shine/

FairmontGS obviously on CCP MG Payroll cause insider information

MG will launch its all-electric sports coupe in late 2021, according to a new report from the December 9, 2020 issue of Autocar magazine.

What's more, the report specifically states the model will be offered in right-hand-drive markets including Australia.

The MG brand – which was synonymous with small and affordable sports cars throughout much of the 20th century – is yet to build a performance-oriented product under current Chinese SAIC Motor ownership.

The upcoming model will reportedly be heavily based on the 2017 E-Motion concept (shown at the bottom of this story), and is expected to feature a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain.

However, the initial concept's butterfly doors are expected to be dropped for mass production, due to their complexity and cost.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/910758/...tralia-report/

0-100 in the 4 second range sounds alright, even if it sounds like Melbourne's E class tram.

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

FairmontGS obviously on CCP MG Payroll cause insider information



https://www.caradvice.com.au/910758/...tralia-report/

0-100 in the 4 second range sounds alright, even if it sounds like Melbourne's E class tram.

Damn, that's a good-looking thing and 1/3 price of a T3?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

Damn, that's a good-looking thing and 1/3 price of a T3?

The current range of EVs is fine for anyone traversing inner suburbia, it would be absolutely perfect for someone living in apartment complexes.

The only problem being how do you charge your car in your car park in the concrete bowels of one of those monsters?

Does anyone here live in an inner city apartment building? Do you have 240V access at your car park?

Could anyone here make an EV work? I probably could, my daily commute is 110km so I could just chuck it on charge overnight all the time.

Posted from my 'office' on my Nokia 3315

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by yanknbank

No one but no one, should be buying ANYTHING from China at the moment with what’s going on across the planet, let alone buying cars. The CCP? Duplicitous arseholes.

I agree but most Australians don't care, they buy on price. We make good quality **** but everyone's like I can get it for $2 on eBay.

Regardless we can do one offs and turn it around within a few days, China eBay special costs SFA.

I'm a sales scumbag in our manufacturing industry based in Melbourne - pray for Franco 🙏

#doingtheLordswork

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Ford wasn't sold to Chinese ownership and their brand continued on slapped on a car made in China.

Apples and oranges, strawman argument.

Would MG's cars be so popular if they were some Chinese brand like BYD or something else that has zero brand recognition in Australia?

Unfortunately ... this is what happened to the Territory name plate

https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/chi...-becomes-an-ev

[LG17]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

Damn, that's a good-looking thing and 1/3 price of a T3?

Real sports cars don't have a roof...

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by UTXR8

phew....just as well Ford dont build Rangers in Asia....iconic brand, and all....

Yeah but they do design and engineer them here. What Australian input do any of these chinese sheetboxes have?

They probably use ground up leftover body parts from harvested dissenters in the carpets.

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by LG17

Real sports cars don't have a roof...

Hmmm. I'm more like "convertibles are just coupes, ruined"

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

Hmmm. I'm more like "convertibles are just coupes, ruined"

Agreed - leave the convertibles for hairdressers.

[39ClevoUte]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

Hmmm. I'm more like "convertibles are just coupes, ruined"

Or is it "hardtops are just convertibles ruined"...

[39ClevoUte]

If you sell billions of $ of raw material to someone......what are you going to do with their cash?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 37Clevo

If you sell billions of $ of raw material to someone......what are you going to do with their cash?

Nose beers and ladies of poor virtue

[Syndrome]

Price - when two items for sale are identical then price is the main point. Why pay more for the same product which can be purchased for less?

Quality - when two similar items are for sale but the better one costs more because it is superior quality.

Value - when the decision needs to be made on whether the buyer is satisfied with the inferior version, or they see value in paying more for the premium version.

I do not see Chinese cars as good value a the moment. They are cheaper than their Japanese, Korean or Thai assembled competitors. However I'd rather pay extra to get the better quality car.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Price - when two items for sale are identical then price is the main point. Why pay more for the same product which can be purchased for less?

Quality - when two similar items are for sale but the better one costs more because it is superior quality.

Value - when the decision needs to be made on whether the buyer is satisfied with the inferior version, or they see value in paying more for the premium version.

I do not see Chinese cars as good value a the moment. They are cheaper than their Japanese, Korean or Thai assembled competitors. However I'd rather pay extra to get the better quality car.

If you're going to keep it for a long time then parts availability is crucial too - try get parts for a Great Wall V240 ute or what ever they were a decade ago.

I just crapped out the starter motor on my Focus tonight, 10+ in stock around the corner from work, only $350 too.

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by 37Clevo

Or is it "hardtops are just convertibles ruined"...

Well the $ being pulled by coupes would suggest otherwise

[danzvtil]

I test drove 2 MGs today for fun, an MG3 and ZS. Sales guy was telling me they are out of base ZS (1.5 4 cyl) until feb/mar. I guess $21990 DA is too good to pass up. Dealer was busy too.
To drive, they weren’t horrible either.

[Crazy Dazz]

So take out MG and the rest amounts to SFA.

I seem to recall MG advertising that was something along the lines of "The RETURN of an Icon.". So yes, very deceptive.

**** the Chinese.

I'm looking forward to the day their pride backs them into a war with the USA.

[Ben73]

Probably helps that CarAdvice is going to be renamed to MGadvice.com soon with the amount they’re trying to push it down the readers throats

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

So take out MG and the rest amounts to SFA.

I seem to recall MG advertising that was something along the lines of "The RETURN of an Icon.". So yes, very deceptive.

**** the Chinese.

I'm looking forward to the day their pride backs them into a war with the USA.

You need to differentiate between 'China/Chinese' and their government, the CCP.

Your average Chinese bloke just wants shelter, food, an income and a better life for their crotch spawn.

They're not pushing for trade wars, trying to undermine Australia's sovereignty and being a pack of bastards, it's their government - the CCP.

One country, two very different groups of people, if we keep conflating the two eventually the innocent Chinese community here in Australia will be on the receiving end of an attack and that's exactly what the CCP wants and a perfect anti Australian propaganda campaign opportunity would be gifted to them.

I'm all for anti CCP rhetoric but the last thing we want to happen is USA and China coming to blows because we're in their backyard and we'll be involved.

With MG being the most successful Chinese car company in Australia it could be down to a couple factors:

- Iconic brand name (MG)
- Offering a product in the sub $20K price point

In my micro car thread we discuss the lack of options in the sub $20K price point.

I had more options as a 17 year old kid buying a new car in this price point 11 years ago.

While apparently there's no money in that sub $20K price point and established manufacturers are pulling out of it they seem to be forgetting there's a new generation buying cars and an opportunity to snag a long term customer of their brand.

[oldel]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

I had more options as a 17 year old kid buying a new car in this price point 11 years ago.

While apparently there's no money in that sub $20K price point and established manufacturers are pulling out of it they seem to be forgetting there's a new generation buying cars and an opportunity to snag a long term customer of their brand.

I noticed you've talked about this before and had that video linked. That woman at the end had that attitude of "kids aren't buying the cheap cars because they feel entitled". Kind of like the real estate agent that blames low numbers of recent gens buying a house on spending their money on avo toast!

Not many young people buy new cars, historically only ones with upper middle class or higher parents that either subsidized it, bought them outright, or got their kids into a good paying job ever bought a new car - even a cheap one.
Most normal younger people spent under $5k and bought s/h.
I don't know any young person who got a new car, I've only seen the rich person buying their kid a BMW or merc for graduation in hollywood movies. Realistically the person who bought a new car was statring a proper well paid career -A full time career with prospects, not a casual gig - were in their mid to late 20s, and a house -not local but far away in a far flung new outer suburb that was worth moving to - cost under $200k.
All that opportunity (career in a secure full time job and affordable housing) has disappeared along with the cheap first new car buyer market.

These days it's even worse, maybe many kids deciding to do without due to draconian laws making it harder to get a licence, making it less useful to even have one (curfews on passengers), harder to keep it (extended P plate time with higher fines and penalties). I know if the cops could impound my car I'd rather be driving a sh!tbox than a new car I paid 20k+ for.

On top of that higher rents or if they are ambitious doing without a car in order to save for a house deposit. Or they live at home longer in an older suburb close to public transport unlike back when young people moved out at 18y/o to the sticks and needed a cheap car.
All that plus if you like playing on your phone like younger people do then PT suits better and the worse place to do it is in your car. But you'd had to have a real pressing interest in cars to put the phone down and many younger people are more interested in social media than spark plugs.

Everyone wants their captive market: manufacturers, gov coffers/looking like doing something (100hr L plates, 3 year probation, higher penalties for P platers, curfews). But eventually a target market switches off and don't want any of that. Houses and rent are too expensive to spend money on a car the gov is only going to penalise you for E: Not to mention insurance rates. If you spend 20K on a new car these days i hope you are willing to pay $5k a year insurance. - Nah, save the fines, save the car loan, save the insurance costs and save up for a house.

I'm not blaming this on manufacturers, they have to price something that as you said, hooks new customers but doesn't lose money. It's not their fault - they removed cheap cars because no one was buying anyway. Due to all the other crap they've removed 'first car ever' to concentrate on 30s and older market ie 'first new family car ever because we're having a baby and need a suv'

[Franco Cozzo]

I'm certainly not from 'upper middle class' or 'rich', I just landed a job at 15 and managed to save up a ****load by the time I was 17

I don't think it's that uncommon to see young kids/adults getting around in nice cars around Melbourne.

Maybe it's on the hook for finance, maybe they're just doing what I did, or as you say have parents with some money behind them.

Maybe younger millennials (millennials at their oldest are nearly 40) and Gen Z prefer to travel rather than spend money on expensive things like cars (pre COVID shenanigans), they go to universities and rent in the inner suburbs close to public transport to get to and from school.

I'm noticing a trend from the younger employees where I work, the professional ones in the office won't consider work that's not located near public transport or that's in outer metropolitan suburbs due to requiring cars.

Same with where they live, they're choosing to live in inner suburbia or the CBD and won't consider outside of a 10KM radius of the CBD.

It would be interesting to compare the spending habits of regional millennials and Gen Z compared to their metropolitan counterparts.

I suspect the ones staying out regional will have cars and nicer ones than their metropolitan counterparts.

Asking our resident millennials or Gen Z here (do we even have Gen Z members?) probably would return skewed results, we're on a car enthusiast forum.

Our resident Boomers and Gen X, be interesting to see what your (non car enthusiast) kids think

[oldel]

If you didn't work so hard maybe your first car could have been a second hand under $2k 1970s sh!tbox worth heaps right now
My first car was a $1400 RX3 and I don't regret owning it, but do regret getting rid of it.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by oldel

If you didn't work so hard maybe your first car could have been a second hand under $2k 1970s sh!tbox worth heaps right now
My first car was a $1400 RX3 and I don't regret owning it, but do regret getting rid of it.

I should have bought a VN/VP SS or the R34 Skyline I was looking at

1990s JDM is drug money now

[oldel]

Also to add there were no speed camera back then, I got my licence after 3 lessons and a driving test just going around the block, P plate period was 1 year, I had 6 points before loss of licence, fines were lower, no impounding. IE it was fun and easy to drive.
Now it's not. Like I said before the new entry market is catering to 30 year olds that need a SUV because they want something safe and new because they're having a baby.

It doesn't seem like fun any more to be young and buy your first car as a 19 year old, plus their interests are online which isn't compatible.


E: My youngest brother is a millenial. He got my hand me down cars when he was young - I used to buy any 808 or 929 I could find cheap in order to have cheap glass and panels for my RX3 and RX4 and he just drove those older piston engined mazdas.
Then he got my dual fuel EA falcon after I was done with it on my around australia trips. When I took them all away he did the camry and VW thing like n00bs do but he never really cared about cars; often didn't have one as he worked in mining, spent a million on real estate and doubled his money, then overseas round the world trips and moving to London.

Now he's spending all his money trying to escape London with his family due to covid. He's never really cared for cars but I guess he was lucky because he could borrow one on my spares? His camry and his VW were both unreliable too so that put him off cars entirely.

E2: But it's plain to see the best thing he ever did was not care about or spend any money on cars when he was young. I think most younger people have also figured that out too, especially with all the downsides I have mentioned that governments brought in to punish young drivers.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

You need to differentiate between 'China/Chinese' and their government, the CCP.

Why?
**** the lot of them.

And to be honest, if there are Australians stupid enough to identify themselves as "Chinese" because they share a few genetic traits with the Chinese, then **** them too.

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

With MG being the most successful Chinese car company in Australia it could be down to a couple factors:

- Iconic brand name (MG)
- Offering a product in the sub $20K price point

It's both
People like cheap prices, but most are "smart enough" to stay away from cheap unknown brands when it comes to cars.
The irony being that true MGs were notoriously badly built and unreliable, but it's brand recognition.

The new cars were advertised heavily through certain channels, and I must confess that upon seeing their ads my first thought was "Nice, MG is back."
Obviously for me, my literal 2nd thought was "hmm, I wonder who is making them? I hope it's not another iconic British marque sold to the bloody Germans."

Followed by the inevitable horror and outrage, when told it was the Chinese.

Sadly, many people don't get that far.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Why?
**** the lot of them.

And to be honest, if there are Australians stupid enough to identify themselves as "Chinese" because they share a few genetic traits with the Chinese, then **** them too.

It's both
People like cheap prices, but most are "smart enough" to stay away from cheap unknown brands when it comes to cars.
The irony being that true MGs were notoriously badly built and unreliable, but it's brand recognition.

The new cars were advertised heavily through certain channels, and I must confess that upon seeing their ads my first thought was "Nice, MG is back."
Obviously for me, my literal 2nd thought was "hmm, I wonder who is making them? I hope it's not another iconic British marque sold to the bloody Germans."

Followed by the inevitable horror and outrage, when told it was the Chinese.

Sadly, many people don't get that far.

Because its recognising the difference and acknowledging the issues and problems are being caused by their government (who they don't have a choice in) rather than Chinese people.

The 'average' Chinese person or person of Chinese heritage in Melbourne or Sydney has nothing to do with whats going on with their government back home.

Wrongly targeting these innocent people is a massive own goal and a victory for the CCP - they WANT you to start acting out against our Chinese community in Australia.

Its absolutely ridiculous and ironic that its me who is explaining this concept given I'm probably the least tolerant Millennial (and most typecast as a 'racist') to the short sighted monoculturalism (we're not a 'multicultural' society like thats advertised, see 'ethnic ghetto') that's plagued Melbourne for the past 80+ years and yet I can see what the CCP is trying to achieve here.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Because its recognising the difference and acknowledging the issues and problems are being caused by their government (who they don't have a choice in) rather than Chinese people.

The 'average' Chinese person or person of Chinese heritage in Melbourne or Sydney has nothing to do with whats going on with their government back home.

Wrongly targeting these innocent people is a massive own goal and a victory for the CCP - they WANT you to start acting out against our Chinese community in Australia.

Its absolutely ridiculous and ironic that its me who is explaining this concept given I'm probably the least tolerant Millennial (and most typecast as a 'racist') to the short sighted monoculturalism (we're not a 'multicultural' society like thats advertised, see 'ethnic ghetto') that's plagued Melbourne for the past 80+ years and yet I can see what the CCP is trying to achieve here.

They are brainwashed from birth to serve their masters. They are mostly too far gone to accept as anything other than one and the same as the ccp. They are programmed to never question the ruling party. And if you do, you won’t last long.

The ccp get their tentacles into them deep.

[oldel]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

They are brainwashed from birth to serve their masters. They are mostly too far gone to accept as anything other than one and the same as the ccp. They are programmed to never question the ruling party. And if you do, you won’t last long.

The ccp get their tentacles into them deep.

Bloody ridiculous. Have you not heard of protests Chinese people have held, Do you not know history at all? Plenty of Chinese born people here and elsewhere in Asia want nothing to do with the CCP, that's why they (or their ancestors) moved out of China.

The way you write you would suggest chinese prisons are empty because everyone follows the party line, no one ever emigrated - except to be a spy - not for excape.
Learn a bit of history and the protests in 1976 - 1979. The democracy wall, the people jailed. Tiannanmen Sq, Hong Kong (not just recent but 2014 too)

Opinions like yours are what often led to their persecution in Australia in our history as well, even pre CCP. EG "All chinese are like this..."

Not to mention simple minded people calling all asians "chinese" and treating asians all the same.