China will produce 11 million vehicles this year, the overwhelming majority
of which will be sold locally within the country. This amazing figure is
more than both the US and Japanese and will make China the worlds largest
car maker. With lots of cheap labour to call on, China and another Asian
powerhouse, India, are capable of building cars that are very competitive
on price and this means we could see fuel efficient vehicles priced lower
than today. The main problem these two Asian countries face is the level
of build quality they're able to deliver in such a budget fuel efficiency
vehicle. It remains to be seen whether their cars will appeal internationally.
We will soon see many new fuel efficient vehicles from China and India.
Car production from these two countries is rapidly expanding and one area
they are going to concentrate their resources on is the economical car market.
China will become the worlds largest car producer this year which is remarkable
considering we don't really see any Chinese cars on our roads at the moment.
China wants to change this and if they are successful in selling cars abroad
their car output will expand at an even faster rate. India built 2.3 million
vehicles last year, and are also looking to break into the overseas car
market.
China and India are in a good position to be successful in overseas markets
because cheap fuel efficient vehicles are one of the few growth areas in
an auto industry struggling to survive, and these type of cars could easily
be produced by these countries. China and India cannot compete with high
end and luxury vehicles such as BMW's and Audi's, but they could rob car
makers like Hyundai and Suzuki from sales. They just need to come up with
some cheap good quality economical cars.
This article touched on the essential point earlier. Build quality. Chinese
and Indian manufacturers have historically struggled in this area and they
really need to produce a few decent quality cars to change their image.
If a car doesn't reach a certain level of build quality and safety it won't
sell internationally, no matter how cheap it is or how fuel efficient. There's
a grand total of forty seven car brands in China and many of them build
poor cars that have low levels of safety, build quality, handling and performance.
Cheap parts are sometimes used which aren't fit for the job. Some are not
even fuel efficient vehicles even though they are small in size and have
small engines.
The next few years are very important for China and India's car industries.
A lot depends on the next cars to be released to the international market.
If all goes well for them expect to see a big shake up in the fuel efficiency
vehicle sector.