The Chinese Are Coming!
Last month, we reported that China’s Great Wall received the EC Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA,) awarded by the UK Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) for their Coolbear MPV, which makes the car legal for sale in Europe.
Since this approval is lengthy (takes about a year) and costly (even when administered by the VCA, which is known for bargain basement pricing,) the announcement was taken as an intention of Great Wall to enter the European market. Here they come:
Initially, the small (and poor) Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be targeted as some kind of a test market. From 2011 on, launches in Scandinavia, the UK and Ireland are planned.
On closer inspection, it now turns out that Great Wall had not received one, but a total of four WVTA certifications: For the Florid, Coolbear, Hover 5, and Wingle 4.
Great Wall is not the only manufacturer who has received WVTA. But WVTA is only half of the bargain. To make the vehicle totally legit, the company must survive what is called an “initial assessment,” an intrusive colonoscopy-like procedure, in which foreign inspectors dissect the deepest secrets of a company, from product management to conformity of production, all the way down to how parts of old cars can be re-used and recycled. In other words: You can’t just present a compliant prototype. You must also prove that you are able to produce it in consistent quality. According to a statement by Great Wall, they are the first Chinese car company to successfully complete such an assessment. Without a positive initial assessment, you have spent a lot of time and money for the certification of a car, and you still can’t sell it freely in Europe.
Great Wall is one of the few privately owned Chinese car makers. The I.M. Group maintains an office in Beijing, employing about 40 people. Coincidentally, the Chinese Rep Office of the VCA is just down the hall. I.M. is in Unit 801 of the Manhattan CNT Building in Beijing, the VCA is in Unit 818.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Scion xB/Toyota Yaris Frontier/Mitsu Outlander? I can understand that they may not have a problem selling this stuff in China, but would there not be some copyright laws or some such to prevent it from being sold elsewhere? Why do automakers not take full-on legal action against this crap, or can they not do that? I'm sure that part if the problem is that they don't want to rock the boat and get kicked out of the HUGE Chinese market, but could governments from other nations not appeal to the Chinese regarding the IP of these companies that are clearly getting ripped off? This is just total B/S!
The Chinese may be coming to... Europe. But not to America, methinks. Judging from Top Gear just about anything with four wheels is allowed to exist (see Clarkson driving that little egg inside the BBC building) but America is the Land of the Lawyer and even the Chinese must know that not even the great and sainted Mao can withstand a typical class-action lawsuit. If Apple and Microsoft can tangle over the "look-and-feel" of the GUI user interfaces, just imagine what our lawyers can do with the typical copycat (If they can do it, we can do it worse!) nature of Chinese "design". Just imagine the legal fees! Besides, judging from the explosive growth in domestic sales, why would the Chinese bother to try their hand in a shrinking American car market?