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Chinese automakers target Africa

08/29/2007, 8:31 AM

By Drew Johnson

It appears as though Chinese automakers are focusing in on a new market. With European and North American markets currently unavailable due to strict regulations and fierce competition, Chinese automakers are expanding into Africa.

Until recently, Africa’s car market has been primarily composed of used cars shipped from Europe. But now, many Chinese automakers, such as Great Wall, Chery and Geely Group, have begun exporting their cars to Africa, undercutting the used-car market by thousands of dollars. Faced with the choice of buying a more expensive used car or a cheaper new car, many Africans are buying Chinese vehicles.

The transition to the African market was an easy one thanks to lack of competition and lax emissions and safety standards. “The performance-price ratio of our products is high so African people like our brand,” says Zheng Guoqing, who handles Africa sales for Great Wall. “The emissions standard is not particularly high there. The requirement for safety is also not high.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, several African countries have adopted laws preventing the import of cars over five years old in an effort to eliminate cheaper used cars and spur on new car sales. In Senegal, one such country that has enacted this law, Chinese car imports have risen from $434,000 to $7.9 million in just four years. In contrast, many European car exporters have seen a two thirds decline in the African market.

It appears as though the African shift to Chinese cars will only continue to grow as there are a very limited number of new-car alternatives. Elir Odio, a new car shopper in Africa, commented of the situation by saying, “European companies need to come to us, or we’re all going to buy Chinese.”

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08/29, 9:34 AM

posted by:

jJayC08

Ha! I love it how LLN says “Strict Regulations”!

And I even like it more when Zheng Guoqing says the performance to price ration is high! I guess so, figuring you can’t keep your greedy hands off of other designs that have had hundreds of hours put into them, and then you cut every corner!

08/29, 10:03 AM

posted by:

RicardoHead

What a joke. Those poor people will need to face the option of dying in a civil war or fleeing in a Chinese death-trap.

Somehow a sick but realistic thought.

08/29, 10:08 AM

posted by:

Commodore

Aren’t enough people dying in Africa already from HIV/AIDs, civil wars, etc…now they will die from cheap, undeveloped cars.

08/29, 10:37 AM

posted by:

Deanster

Horrible, but that’s the way the ball bounces.

I would venture to say that an old diesel Benz from the 70’s might be safer than a Chery microcar. I’ve heard that driving in subsaharan Africa is xxxxing crazy – the worst drivers on the planet.

08/29, 10:39 AM

posted by:

global_lightning

So why was my post deleted?

08/29, 10:41 AM

posted by:

A4

sweet! it looks like theyve found a new medium for population control!

08/29, 10:55 AM

posted by:

55amg

This is bad!!! China you know your unsafe underenginered bs will kill people. The most of the world dont accept your xxxx so now u go target poorer countries. Great. Curse you!!!

08/29, 12:09 PM

posted by:

Madcapp

Excellent choice.

08/29, 12:24 PM

posted by:

1c3d0g

That’s just incredibly sad. Mobile coffins for poor people, well done China. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.

08/29, 1:37 PM

posted by:

sik59rt

i guess they figure that if they kill these people with their shotty products, no one would care.

08/29, 2:11 PM

posted by:

jamaicandude

That’s xxxxed up… but that’s business. All they’ve done is found a potentially profitable marketplace. It’s on whoever’s in charge over in those African countries to say “we don’t want your crap either”. Cigarettes kill people ever day. Nobody gives a xxxx. The solution is not to smoke. If they insist on selling those rolling death traps: Don’t buy ‘em.

08/29, 3:40 PM

posted by:

1c3d0g

Valid point, jamaicandude.

08/29, 3:49 PM

posted by:

anonymous 2

Hey if I make 10 dollars a day and the only thing I could afford is a chinese car I would buy it, screw the standards, that for rich and spoiled fat happy westerners. In poor countries of the world survival of the fitest(luckiest) don’t just apply to the animal world.

08/29, 3:53 PM

posted by:

Jordan

poor africans, those chinese vehicles are horrible when it comes to safety…

08/29, 4:16 PM

posted by:

Mitch Bangowitz

The dummy… , if you look closely, actually has a look of pain on it’s face!!!

08/29, 7:17 PM

posted by:

RicardoHead

HAHAHA! What’ll be great is when the Chinese cars fail even African safety standards.

08/30, 12:37 AM

posted by:

Mclaren19p

What are they trying to do, lower the population????? This is seriously not cool at all, and these people are going to be in for a shock as their first experience in a car will probably be their last, and not in a graceful way at all. How about the Chinese, who build great buildings and other stuff, build a proper car which can survive the crash better than a pedestrian???

08/30, 1:14 AM

posted by:

Got Handling?

Wow, Leftlane gets political – That’s not the first photograph I would think of when writing a story about new manufacturers importing cars into Africa.
.
Perhaps next time they run a story about a western manufacturer’s new crash test results they could show a photograph of the damage it causes to a five-year old car involved in a collision with it.
.
Rapidly increasing safety standards and crash protection for new cars is leading to greater weight and making those cars more dangerous to the cars around them and more damaging to the environment . As long as you are wealthy and can afford to keep buying the most recent models you have a good chance of survival, if you collide with another vehicle. Conversely if you are not wealthy and can not keep buying the most recent models, your car is more and more likely to make a nice crumple zone for someone who is. Improved safety and the efforts of manufacturers to create a “secure” feelng in a car makes drivers more likely to be careless.
.
Don’t believe me? Imagine yourself driving the car pictured above on a highway crowded with trucks, would you be on your mobile phone, or would you be keeping a very close eye on what was going on around you?

08/30, 3:52 AM

posted by:

AgmLauncher

“The emissions standard is not particularly high there. The requirement for safety is also not high.”

I love that line. Basically saying

“Since we can’t manufacture cars to any reasonably high standard, we’ll just sell them to people with low standards. They won’t know the difference.”

LOL. Total garbage. And yes, they’ll be selling ripoffs of well made Western products in the process :S

China can **** itself.

08/30, 5:05 AM

posted by:

Mr.Lude

Quote: “Hey if I make 10 dollars a day and the only thing I could afford is a chinese car I would buy it, screw the standards, that for rich and spoiled fat happy westerners. In poor countries of the world survival of the fitest(luckiest) don’t just apply to the animal world.” -Anonymous 2

If I make $10 dollars a day I wouldn’t spend it on a Chinese car that will almost certainly breakdown or catch on fire. I’d rather buy a donkey that will kick me in the chest once in a while if I get too close to his rear quarter panel. =)

08/30, 8:23 AM

posted by:

RicardoHead

Maybe they can sell a Chinese car to the guy in Africa who keeps spamming me wanting to give me 13 million dollars so he can die, finally.

08/30, 8:47 AM

posted by:

Hari

@Mitch Bangowitz

I can’t stop laughing at the picture after you posted that. I’m at work almost crying with laughter. LOL literally!

 
 
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