Chinese Cars

Chinese cars have become very popular in Asia lately for one reasonly only: they are dirt cheap! But when it comes to quality......

According to the latest China Automobile Customer Satisfaction Index, the number of faults per 100 cars made in China rose from 246 in 2005 to 338 this year. Four out of five cars now experience a problem in the first six months of ownership. But with average retail prices falling by $1,250 a year, producers are racing to cut costs, not improve quality. Intense competition is also forcing them to accelerate development cycles. Carmakers acknowledge that this means they are being forced to use lower quality materials and spend less time on testing. So reliability is likely to deteriorate further. -- The Economist, Nov 25 2006

The statistics are from China itself. As we all know, China is notorious for covering up stuff like inflation rate, economic growth etc, so if the authorities say the situation bad, it must be REALLY bad! The Cherry may be cheap, but it won't be worth the money if it gets out of control and becomes a squashed Cherry!!