China's Drivers Stick It To The Police

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

In the alleged police state China, speeders are not hunted down by testosterone-driven cops. Hey get fined through the mail. A system the Chinese have copied from Europe. Some Chinese have taken to using a little camouflage.

Some drivers use toothpaste. This lady used a sanitary napkin on her Mini. It did not take long for this trend to be commercialized in utterly capitalist China. Carnewschina reports the emergence of license-plate-number stickers that subtly and surreptitiously alter the original.

The stickers can be bought at car markets for as little as 5 yuan (80 cents U.S.) each. The standard traffic-fine in China is a modest 200 yuan ($32). The penalty for using the stickers however can be more painful: Up to 15 days in (an, ouch, Chinese) jail, 1800 yuan fine, and the driver’s driving license will be revoked.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

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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  • LALoser LALoser on Apr 01, 2012

    ....*alleged*.....*utterly capitalist*....

  • The Comedian The Comedian on Apr 02, 2012

    I like that the "F" and the 8 are upside down in the packaging. I wonder if is an uncontrolled process or some Engrish that flipped them?

    • See 1 previous
    • Davemh10 Davemh10 on Apr 02, 2012

      @redsweater Also, can anyone on this blog tell me why my new car has a 710 spout? That is obviously where you put the 710 fluid. (oil) I actually had a customer who lost her "710" cap and came in and asked for one by name.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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