Comments on: Chinese automakers target Africa

By: Hari

Hari — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:47:16 +0000

@Mitch Bangowitz

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

By: RicardoHead

RicardoHead — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:23:46 +0000

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.

By: Mr.Lude

Mr.Lude — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:05:09 +0000

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. =)

By: AgmLauncher

AgmLauncher — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:52:13 +0000

“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.

By: Got Handling?

Got Handling? — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:14:58 +0000

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.
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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.
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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.
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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?

By: Mclaren19p

Mclaren19p — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:37:07 +0000

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???

By: RicardoHead

RicardoHead — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:17:39 +0000

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

By: Mitch Bangowitz

Mitch Bangowitz — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:16:06 +0000

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

By: Jordan

Jordan — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:53:36 +0000

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

By: anonymous 2

anonymous 2 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:49:58 +0000

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.

By: 1c3d0g

1c3d0g — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:40:20 +0000

Valid point, jamaicandude.

By: jamaicandude

jamaicandude — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:11:33 +0000

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.

By: sik59rt

sik59rt — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:37:06 +0000

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

By: 1c3d0g

1c3d0g — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:24:48 +0000

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

By: Madcapp

Madcapp — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:09:57 +0000

Excellent choice.

By: 55amg

55amg — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:55:44 +0000

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!!!

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:41:36 +0000

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

By: global_lightning

global_lightning — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:39:29 +0000

So why was my post deleted?

By: Deanster

Deanster — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:37:06 +0000

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.

By: Commodore

Commodore — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:08:09 +0000

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

By: RicardoHead

RicardoHead — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:03:02 +0000

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.

By: jJayC08

jJayC08 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:34:39 +0000

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!