December 23, 2005]

Geely say they can beat Bricklin to U.S. market

(Chicago Tribune (KRT)) Will Malcolm Bricklin be the first to market Chinese-built cars in the United States?

Bricklin hopes to start importing Chinese vehicles into the United States in the summer of 2007, six months later than planned.

Whether he meets that revised deadline or not, the folks from Geely (Gee-lee) say they will be the first Chinese automaker to exhibit a car at a North American auto show when they trot out the 7151 CK in Detroit in January.

The feat, however, should carry an asterisk ((ASTERISK)) because the 7151 CK will be displayed only to the media during the Jan. 8-10 preview and not when the show opens to the public Jan. 14-22, said John Harmer, vice president of Geely-USA Inc., of Salt Lake City, which will import the cars from China.

"We'll be in Detroit simply to introduce the car to the media and let them know who we are and that we are serious and committed to bringing the Geely car to the American market," Harmer said.

The car, which lacks a name for North America (it won't be 7151 CK), will be a 4-cylinder, four-door mini with a target price of less than $10,000. No volume estimates as yet, Harmer said.

The vehicle also will not be the exact one Geely hopes to sell here.

"The 7151 CK is the third generation of the car and by the time we bring it to the U.S. it will be the fifth generation, so we'll be two generations beyond this," Harmer said.

"Our present strategy is to have a vehicle in 18 months that will be able to enter the U.S. in compliance with all safety and emissions standards. We have our engineers working on that now and have 10 cars undergoing testing in the U.S."

Unlike Bricklin, who is trying to set up 200 dealerships in the United States to market a $19,000 sedan produced by Chery Automobile in China, Harmer said they will be sold only in one dealership in Puerto Rico initially.

That's so the cars can be brought back to the dealer once a month for inspection and testing to ensure everything is working properly.

"It would be six to eight months after we open the dealership in Puerto Rico that we'd start to solicit dealers in the U.S. That would put the car in the U.S. in 2008," he said.

If Bricklin can bring his plans to reality, he'd beat Geely to market.

"If he beats us, that's up to him. We aren't going to be distracted by any sophomoric competition," Harmer said.

Speaking of distractions, Geely markets a sports car in China that comes with a built-in karaoke machine.

If Geely is the first to export Chinese cars to the United States, it would be remarkable, considering it was building refrigerators and motorcycle parts in the mid-1980s. Geely didn't get into cars until 1996, when it bought a failing Chinese minivan maker.

Actually, it's not so important who is first, as it is who offers the best cars first, because that's the one who will last the longest.

So, this is a race between a pie-in-the-sky washup who couldn't sell a half-dozen other vehicles in this country before this and a 10-year-old car company who intends to sell a nameless sedan...in Puerto Rico...and bring the cars back monthly to make sure they didn't fall apart.

This is like the Space Race if Chris Farley and David Spade were involved.

Is this crap really coming here??

Frightening isn't it?

Heh. Notsomuch. Just funny.

Is this crap really coming here??

not if bomb the boats bringing them over. Missiles would be fine also.

Seriously.

Edited January 9, 200620 yr by regfootball

tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc

The Geely isn't actually all that bad for a cheapo car. Don't expect it do be a Lexus...or even a Chevrolet, but it's a good inexpensive little car. They say it'll be priced under $10,000 when sales begin. If it's like the one I sat in, it had better be closer to $9,000, but it would do okay. The press information on it said that the one sold in the US will be TWO generations from the one I sat in. If this car is the third generation and the US market will get the fifth, then it'll be a good little $10,000 car.

.....uh....does everyone REMEMBER THE KOREANS?

I guarantee you.....WHEN the Chinese get here, they will start on a much STRONGER foothold and with better product than what Kia and Hyundai did....

interesting little S-Class ripoff.

we don't need em

we don't need em

I don't, you don't, but maybe others who are looking for cheap cars do...

I don't, you don't, but maybe others who are looking for cheap cars do...

there are plenty of cheap enough cars out there

Yey! Support Communism.... it's the new American way.

.....uh....does everyone REMEMBER THE KOREANS?

I guarantee you.....WHEN the Chinese get here, they will start on a much STRONGER foothold and with better product than what Kia and Hyundai did....

.....uh....remember DAEWOO?

Good cars, sold like crap, and left three years later to return as a subsidiary of GM.

Chinese cars have to be dirt cheap, very reliable, have a real support network. So far, I see little luxury car knockoffs with sisters like the Landwind to represent safety.

On the Today show this morning they were talking about Geely and the spoke to an American rep for them and the best he could say about the car it's cheap.

This is going to be a big problem for the US and Japan, Toyota/Honda sould be working with GM/Ford to get some tariffs going.

On the Today show this morning they were talking about Geely and the spoke to an American rep for them and the best he could say about the car it's cheap.

This is going to be a big problem for the US and Japan, Toyota/Honda sould be working with GM/Ford to get some tariffs going.

If the US government is dumb enough to single out the Chinese for tariffs guess what will happen to GM cars sold in China ? Yep you guessed it.

If the US government is dumb enough to single out the Chinese for tariffs guess what will happen to GM cars sold in China ? Yep you guessed it.

Not that I'm defending tariffs, but almost all GM cars sold in China are BUILT in China. Tariffs are a tax on imports.