The Chinese Are Coming!
Tuesday, 14. August 2018
When I was a kid if you saw a label or stamp on anything that said – Made In Japan you would assume that it was cheap and cheerful, not meant to last for much more than a day or two. Oh how times have changed, the country boasts car manufacturers such as the massive Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Suzuki. Electronics masters such as Sony and Panasonic and the highly regarded premium tyre manufacturer – Bridgestone – all made in Japan.
So could we see a similar change in attitude towards China? Currently European and car manufacturers from around the world cannot keep up with China’s demand for cars, last year 28.8 million new cars were sold there. So high has been demand that major manufacturers have actually built plants over there and now manufacture in China. In fact, 1 in 4 cars made globally were built in China but to meet internal demand.
However, this growth will eventually start to slow down leaving manufacturing capacity in the factories. With the relatively low cost of labour and raw materials VW is just one company that sees opportunities to manufacture European spec. cars in China and export around the world. They are even suggesting that other countries may be interested in buying Chinese spec. cars. Maybe India and Africa where safety rules are not so stringent.
Jaguar Landrover have similar views. They aren’t looking into this in the short term as the internal demand is so high but further down the line it is very feasible that China could be exporting cars around the world with a variety of badges on the front of the car.
So watch out – the Chinese could be coming sooner than you think! By Graham Hill
