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Chinese manufacturers have been known to counterfeit everything from Gucci to Pepsi. But as an article in this week's Economist points out, counterfeit cars, produced by manufacturers like Shuanghuan Automobile and Chery, must be the most difficult. (Above, BMW's X5 and the Shuanghuan CEO. Below, a Toyota dashboard and a Shuanghuan dashboard).
With nearly 6,000 parts in the average car, not to mention the teams of people needed to fit them together in such a way that the car is actually driveable, no one can figure out how the Chinese still manage a profit. A running automobile requires a materials cost that simply cannot be offset by cheap labor alone. As the Economist puts it:
That they can sell these cars for half the price of the originals suggests that something odd is going on. They either do not know their own costs (a distinct possibility), have revolutionised carmaking (highly unlikely) or are being subsidised in some way. For the time being, no one knows.
Until someone figures it out, you can get your Shuanghuan pimped out in Shanghai on the cheap.
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Comments
Where's the link to the Economists article?
I thought the story a year or two ago about the pirating of an entire corporation was pretty amazing. Knock-off cars with parts interchangeable with the original version have been around for years now.
Bigger issue afaic is that people will soon be pirating designs and trading them on p2p networks. Plenty of old discussion about that on the Core forum.
I think for this case you're bias to Chinese product. It does not look like as the same as imitate one. you can see interior and rear view like this in many manufacturing..wake up and accept that the world is changed.
in reply to: phongsathorn L.
I believe you mean the author of the original Economist article has a bias, not the blog author. But I must say, bias or not, the car does look like a knock-off. It's a different world indeed, but in this case, a very sad shift.
i think i actually like the Shuanghuan dash better than the toyota...
There are lots of examples of this. Have a look to the logo of this chinese car alarm company http://www.giordon.cn and then look at the logo of the mexican institute of the social insurance, which was founded in 1943. It clearly has nothing to do with car alarms, because it's an eagle (the mexian symbol) protecting a mother who's carrying a baby. To me, this is not that the world has changed, this is piracy.
Well it is not just for that what happends if a Chinese company makes a Ford Mustang look a like?
If the orginal is better than the fake then it is OK no one will buy the fake one, but if the Chinese fake comes out better quality than the original then we have a problem and off course the Ford Motor Company will have a really big problem that why people will prefer the fake Mustang instead of the real Mustang.
Well I hope that Geely won't come out with Dragon that looks like a Ford Mustang and has a dragon instead of a horse and hope not to come out better than the original when it comes to quality.
I hate to say it but I went to look at the CEO and the dealer said for 5,000 RMB, about 700 US more they will put the BMW rims and logo and numbers on back!
luke, where did you find a ceo dealer? im trying to find one here in the states or possibly get one shipped
These manufacturers are pirating thought--and stealing design. This is counterfeit--even if the design is 'improved' there is no excuse for it whatsoever. Knock-off designs are pathetic, they reflect a lost opportunity for creating something new and a lack of talent to start from a clean sheet of paper. I would never support a company that steals design. Furthermore, take a look at the crash tests of these knock-offs...it is extremely disturbing; they're death boxes. A moderate crash would crush the occupants. Shame on the Chinese for building these products. The saddest part is that I'm sure the Chinese could come up with pretty amazing designs on their own, where is the lack of cultural self-respect? If a German company tried something like this they'd be shamed by their peers and kicked out of the country. Why is counterfeiting acceptable to the Chinese?