Chinese gov't approves plan to build M-B vehicles in Taiwan

by Associated Press posted January 2, 2007

TAIPEI (AP) - Taiwan's China Motor Corp. said Tuesday that China's government has approved plans for its joint venture with Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG.

China Motor is constructing a factory in China's Fujian province as part of the joint venture. The venture is expected to make 40,000 recreational vehicles a year under the Mercedes-Benz brand, with mass production expected by the end of 2008, China Motor executive vice-president Hsu Li-Min said.

China Motor is Taiwan's second-largest carmaker by market share after Hotai Motor Co., which makes Toyota models.

"We first have to build the factory from scratch, and bring in the car parts, therefore mass production won't begin before 2008," Hsu said.

China Motor said the factory is expected to be completed in the middle of 2008.

China Motor holds 16.33 per cent in the joint venture and DaimlerChrysler 33.67 per cent. The remaining 50 per cent is owned by Southeast Motor, a 50-50 joint venture between China Motor and China's Fujian Automobile Industry Group.

Link to article - http://www6.autonet.ca/News/story.cf...134582-ap.html

 

QC is definitely my biggest concern....

 

I said it before. Watch China as they will be stealing car manufacturing from other countries due to cheap labor.

Also, with 3 billion Chinese, once you give them a job, they have money to buy cars.

Did I say 3 billion?

 

They have been building BMW's (3 & 5 series the last time I've heard) in China for at least a couple of years . . .

 

Audi's too are built in China (for local consumption only)

 

VW and Audi built cars in China for years. There's a long-wheelbase version of A6 sold in China, and were used by Chinese government executives.

 

As others have mentioned, China has been producing cars for their domestic market for quite some time now. Chinese factories already make Audis, VWs, MBs, BMWs, and even a Chinese designed Buick. QC is quite good. The problem for China isn't going to be producing a quality product for export; the real problem will be a lack of qualified mechanics and shops who will be able to service all these cars within China.

 

Let's NOT turn this into a Taiwan/China discussion guys. Although a valid discussion, it is not what this thread is really about. You guys are mature enough to distinguish the intended topic vs the semantics of some of the words. Thanks.

 

*** off-topic political issue edited out . . .

i think the news writter made a mistake

China Motors is a Taiwanese company
and it is building a plant in China to build these MBs for the contracts it won

so construction takes place in China not Taiwan

which is prob worse for the quality of MB
i thought MB realized their problems with their cars and are working hard to fix them now
guess not

 

Domesticating European luxury brands in China might hurt their image regarding quality, but it cuts costs drastically, enabling the vast Chinese market to be able to afford them.

Audi is enjoying tremendous success in China as Hameed pointed out. BMW and Mercedes is going that route now.

 

Except that the only thing the Audi A6 (for example) shares with the rest of the world is the name "A6". All the plastics, wood and leather are off lower quality.

 

well i wouldnt mind them building watered down versions of the cars for the Chinese market
but making them in China and exporting to North America and Europe is a whole new deal and i just dont think it goes well with luxury car brands that are supposed to have quality as part of the brand's image

 

couldn't get any worse, look what the US manufacturing did to MB quality. This could be an improvment!

 

OT: I found this to be the case in London, England. The leather in BMs and MBs was reminiscent of a Ford Explorer rental (a little better of course). That and of course the lower engine options (S320 and 730 diesels) made for many more luxury cars on the road. It didn't seem quite right to me.