Your first member from Shanghai China!!!

[Chopsewwy]

Hi gang! I am new to the forum and let me just say that when I found this site on google I said to myself “ I am finally home!” for those who are interested, I would very much like to share with you my story of my quest to purchase a 300C in Shanghai, China.



Little quick background info about me first. Born in Shanghai, immigrated to the States at the age of 7 and been there ever since. Came back to Shanghai about a year ago to visit some relatives and completely fell in love with the city,(those of you who been to Shanghai in the past year or so back me up on this, the new Shanghai is amazing) quit my job in the states, got a new one here and settled down.



I am a car nut myself, got me a 93 dodge stealth rt turbo and a 2002 infinity QX4 back in the states, both hooked up. Ever since the 300 came out in the states I been digging that car. But figured 3 cars is too much for me. 4 months ago Chrysler opened up sales of the 300 in Shanghai. I saw it as a sign from god for me to get one. ( I cant ship my cars in the states over, the taxes alone is enough for a new car. I will talk more about the taxes later) little did I know what kind of tortures I was in for.



Little quick info for you guys, I see you guys talk about the trims of touring, base , limited, C, and the srt8 or something in these forums. In china it is different. First off, all models are called 300Cs. They all have the 300c emblem. There are three selections, a 2.7 v6, a 3.5 v6, and a 5.7v8. here the trims are simply called the 2.7, 3.5, and the 5.7 besides the engine difference, the 3.5 got a Nav system and a video screen and a parking alarm/meter thingy that the 2.7 doesn’t. and the 5.7 got better rims over the 3.5.



First step, 2 months of paperwork, I mean hell, you have no idea how hard it is for a U.S citizen who has a traveling visa ( an employment visa would have made things much easier) to buy a car in China. We are talking about a mountain of paperwork here. Get this stamped at this department, get that translated at that department, 2 different kind of physicals at two different hospitals that just happened to be at the exact opposite end of shanghai! After all that is done, then you gotta go to the auction for the license plates, see in Shanghai you don’t apply for one. They only give out a certain number of plates per month and you have to go to this auction and bid for them. Mine came out to be 36,000rmb (Chinese money) which is about 4,200 U.S dollars.



After all of that, its time to buy the car. Now here comes the REAL nutcracker….. the import taxes rate for foreign cars in china is something like 120% of the car price. So when they totaled all the fees and taxes up. My car came out to be 600,000 rmb which is about $70,000 u.s dollars. That’s right folks, I paid $70,000 for my 300c. Now, are you guys ready for the real kicker?! My car was the 3.5 v6 trim! I didn’t even get the freaking HEMI!! Why? You ask? Well the 5.7 trim is 800,000rmb or $95,000 u.s dollors or so. I simply could not afford it…



I bet you folks thinks I got bent over pretty bad by now huh? Ya well that’s just the price of driving in a crowded city like Shanghai. Anyways even after paying all that money I still love my 300 and don’t regret buying it at all. And I will tell you why. Those who have been to Shanghai know that there is beamers and benzes on every street here. Everyone and their uncle seem to own a 5 series or a audi a6. to the Chinese people, there is only three luxury cars, BMWs, Benzes, and Audis. But for the 300, there is about 70 total in Shanghai. Needless to say, this baby is a attention grabber and a head turner everywhere I go. Everyone and I mean everyone wants to know what car this is. People drive up to me on stoplights, get out and look at my 300, and then ask me about it.



Sorry about the long post, before I go I want to leave you with this little dialogue exchange I had with this famous rich guy in Shanghai. This guy is the owner of this huge pharmaceutical company, he has an mistress who lives in my building ( glacier meltingly hot!) I don’t know how many cars this guy has exactly but so far I have seen him come and pick up his mistress in a S600, a stretch 760Li, a Ferrari 360m, a porche cayenne, and a hummer H2 ( by the way, the H2 sells for 1.5 million rmb in Shanghai, that’s about $200,000 u.s dollars, how you guys like that)



So first day I pick up my 300c, I get back to my building and he is pulling out in his porche cayenne with his girl. He sees my car, stops and gets out, run over and this is the exchange we had WORD for WORD, translated from Chinese of course.



Wow you bought an Bentley?

Erm… no this is a Chrysler 300c

A what?

300c, its pretty rare, maybe you never seen one.

It is a beautiful car, very dominating looking.

Thank you!

How much is it?

600,000 rmb

don’t play with me kid, I know cars and this is a 2 million rmb car!

No man I am serious, look it up.

Where did you buy it?

Why you want one? Trade you for your cayenne.

Hahahhahaha no way.

Here I will give you the dealer’s number.



I bet I will see him with a 300 soon. 600,000 rmb is nothing to guys like him. Now I could have driven in there with a S600, a Audi A8 or even a Ferrari and this guy would not even have looked in my direction. But the 300 got him out of his car and over to me.



Thanks for reading everyone. And I hope you will welcome me in to your family as your first Shanghai member. I see some sick mods and rims on your pictures and I am sure I will have questions for you guys soon. Performance mods are illegal in china so that’s out. And the car shops here can only do window tints and rims and tires( they got some ugly rims too) I sure would like one of those mesh grills that I see on most of your rides. Gonna be a pain trying to order one from china tho......

[HEMEEE]

Welcome to the family Chopsewwy! Great story, thanks for sharing and I hope you find the info you need here... I know you'll find friends

[Model 57]

A big welcome from the membership!!! I think that you will find the answer to about any question that you can think of here. The membership is a great bunch; I think that you will like them.
Congratulations on joining a great group.

[crhemi]

Wow, I almost feel like we should chip in and send this guy a mesh grill.
But I can't speake for everyone.
Thanks for the good read.

[Lik2race]

Originally Posted by crhemi

Wow, I almost feel like we should chip in and send this guy a mesh grill.
But I can't speake for everyone.
Thanks for the good read.

Good Idea...I'll kick $10 to start.
Good show of the true Christmas spirit,helping someone "less "
fortunate than us ( those that CAN order easily).
Anybody else up for this Christmas Project-"The China Grill " ?

[Logan214]

Originally Posted by Lik2race

Good Idea...I'll kick $10 to start.
Good show of the true Christmas spirit,helping someone "less "
fortunate than us ( those that CAN order easily).
Anybody else up for this Christmas Project-"The China Grill " ?

That's a great idea, but how much is shipping the grill? 400,000 rmbs

[Irwin]

I enjoyed your story very much. I also learned a little about China.

[BobCav]

Ni how Chopsewwy!! Hun gao shin lun su ni!! Whua du mean tzu chow Bob. Whua whey shwo e dien-dien zhongwen! Whua cuh e guh ni tsuo panyo ma?

Sorry for the phonetic Chinese, but I'm learning some Mandarin from some Taiwan Navy sailors that I'm training. LOL... My pronunciation is very good, but that's as far as it goes!

Welcome to the board and the family and most of all CONGRATULATIONS on your new 300! I've had mine since april 15th and LOVE driving it and just went over 11,000 miles!

If you ever consider getting an SRT-8, just let me know. You can send me the cash and I'll pick it up for you MUCH cheaper that in Shanghai and hold it here for you until you get back to the states. I PROMISE I won't drive it! (Yeah right!)

PS....Northern Rider Wei Ho Lan!!! LMAO.....

[GoofyTimL]

I am semi-scheduled at this time to go to Shanghai in about a year for a project start-up in Changsu. Maybe there will be some time during those three weeks to meet and bow, er, greet!

[srt8danno]

Welcome Chopsewwy….. your name makes me hungry for some reason. Very interesting read from an area of the world that most know little about. China is a fascinating study- the way they balance a burgeoning free market economy mixed with a totalitarian political state. I wish you the best and hope to read many more of your posts. Enjoy your ride!