[Kelvin]

Did anyone watch ABC last night. Very interesting program about the automobile industry in China. They went inside the Daimler/Benz factory there. It is huge!!!. Yep you see heaps of new Mercs coming of the production line with apparently lots of pride and care in production. Also to be seen on the production line are heaps of 300C's. All models, all nice and new. Is this the future?

 

[300c Touring]

Did anyone watch ABC last night. Very interesting program about the automobile industry in China. They went inside the Daimler/Benz factory there. It is huge!!!. Yep you see heaps of new Mercs coming of the production line with apparently lots of pride and care in production. Also to be seen on the production line are heaps of 300C's. All models, all nice and new. Is this the future?

You beat me by 2 minutes :scared:

Great minds think alike

 

[Stockholm 300C]

Over a billion people hungry to drive like Americans. Now! It's both exhilarating and scary at the same time. I hope there will be enough hybrid batteries available for us all.

 

[Rambit]

You beat me by 2 minutes :scared:

Great minds think alike

Haha!!! That's exactly what I said. Now I'm really getting freaked out...

No, but two members posting the exact thing two minutes apart with the exact thread title is of great significence. What are the odds of that ever happening again? It's freaky!!!

Bernie

 

[SWORDY]

As I was watching last night I got the impression that if you drive a car in China you have to leave the plastic covers on the seats.
Must be something to do with pollution

 

[300C-CRD]

Saw part of the programs, very interesting, I only saw the left hand drive cars they were making, probably for local market only. I wonder if the spare parts are cheaper in China for 300C in the near future? The program shows having a carbon trading scheme in Austalia is absolutely pointless if China is not doing it.

 

[Northern Rider]

The personal wealth that some are accumulating in the 'new" China is mindboggling. Don't expect OEM parts for luxury cars such as the 300C to become cheaper any time soon.

Carbon trading schemes will only put more of our money into the pockets of relatively few people in China - government officials and "so-called" environmental companies - some of which have Al Gore as a major stakeholder. (see Al Gore to 'green' top venture capital firm - BusinessInnovations )

Invent a new religion (global warming), scare everyone into having their governments give "carbon credits", then create companies to "manage" the credits.

Gotta give Gore credit for really big picture thinking . . .

 

[johndiesel]

Hi Kelvin
Did’nt see the show but I can give you an on the ground report
as I am in China and spend a lot of time here mainly in Shanghai.

See very few 300C’s these days and I am looking for them!!
The China new car market is super competitive and I think Chrysler will have a tough time getting a viable share here.
All segments are very competitive

Luxury is dominated by Mercedes S class, BMW 7 series, Audi, large GM and
also Lexus is now getting very popular.
Medium is Japanese Toyota and Honda plus euro makes such as VW etc
Small is Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Euro makes.
I think the 300C is physically too big for the Chinese driver and also for the roads and traffic conditions etc

john

 

[Kelvin]

Thanks for that info John. I also got the impression cars were extremely expensive there also. It showed a new Toyota Camry and its price was $54000 US. Its still amazing how many cars are on the road there. Considering less than 2% of the population have a car.

 

[Michaelr]

Does China have a "one car" policy?

 

[Northern Rider]

Does China have a "one car" policy?

Maybe they "snip" your tailpipe after one car . . . :biggrin:

 

[bruno]

Does China have a "one car" policy?

Now, that was funny! You have such a quirky sense of humor, Michael!

bruno

 

[300C-CRD]

Please God, imagine if China has "one car policy"??? The traffic would be much worst than it is now.

 

[Thunder Child]

Does China have a "one car" policy?

Yes and tragically many cars without extended tailpipes are simply aboandoned at the dealer's gates as the cultural preference is for longer tailpipes. Many are now being adopted by wealthy first world couples: Angelina Jolie is rumoured to be looking......

 

[Spectre]

just out of interested, i took a look at the pricing of these chinese made 300Cs and this is what i found:

now i know pretty much all of you can't read chinese so here's the translation and some conversions i did:

apparently the imported ones go for 30-50% higher than the domestically made ones. makes the american ones look like a bargain, hell it even makes the Australian sold ones look like bargains.

btw, don't ask me about the mileage units, i don't get it either.

 

[Thunder Child]

Hey Spectre!

You haven't been able to track down where we can buy the rear arm rest from the Chinese 300C have you? Supposedly made under licence by Chery?

 

[Stockholm 300C]

You haven't been able to track down where we can buy the rear arm rest from the Chinese 300C have you? Supposedly made under licence by Chery?

Yes, why do we not have this? Where can this be purchased? I wonder if it's an easy remove and replace item.

Anyone knows?

 

[Spectre]

sorry guys, i did a search on google and couldn't find a chinese parts vendor. it looks like someone will have to get in touch with a dealer although from what i've seen, the parts for chryslers are suppose to be cheap in China (services cost about 1/3 of what a service for a Audi is) i'll be in china later on in the year if someone is interested, or maybe talk to johndiesel? he's always over there

 

[Thunder Child]

More specs on the Chinese 300C here

http://pic.auto.163.com/index.html?url=http://pic.auto.163.com/show.jsp?topicid=01EU0008

 

[Stockholm 300C]

Those rear headrests and the armrest should be available for Americans!!! What the...?

Also, I really like the classy look of charcoal carpet with the light seats.

Don't know about the trunk badge, though. Not for me.