Retaliatory Carmaking: Dongfeng Makes Ersatz Cadillac SRX. Thank You, Mr. President!
A (hecho en Mexico) Cadillac SRX costs between $67,700 and $91,000 once it’s sold in China. It doubles its price compared to the U.S. because of a monster tariff in China. Soon, there will be a more affordable version. A much, much, much more affordable version. Except that it won’t be from GM.
The monster tariff was made in the U.S.A. The U.S. had enacted a hamfisted punitive tariff on Chinese tires. Not a single additional tire was produced in the U.S., instead tire production moved from China to Thailand. As a tit-for-tat, China slapped a retaliatory tariff on (mostly) American cars and trucks.
Now, the monster tariff helps sell Chinese trucks. A still nameless SUV will be sold by Chinese government-owned Dongfeng. It looks like a Cadillac SRX that had too hot a car wash and shrunk a bit. In China, it will go for between $12,600 and $18,900, says Carnewschina. It probably won’t take long until one can buy Cadillac SRX badges in China to do-up the Dongfeng.
Once you are on the inside, the trucklet will also look familiar. The inside looks like a last gen Kia Sorrento, Carnewschina says.
Dongfeng did not have to look far for inspiration and possibly tools and parts. The last-gen Kia Sorento is still made in China by a Dongfeng-Yueda-Kia joint venture.
To turn it even more into an international affair, the engine is suspected to be a 2.0 liter 4-cylinder from Nissan, Carnewschina says. This ubiquitous engine is can be found in many Nissan’s that are made by the Dongfeng-Liuzhou-Nissan joint venture. According to the usually well informed Carnewschina, “it is very unlikely that either Kia or Nissan know anything at all.”
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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And Mr. President thanks you for the continued coverage of GM in non-GM related articles. I have to say you are quite creative in the many ways you do it. I miss your earlier work when you were speaking about your experiences and how, in your estimation, the industry works. I have to say I am not a fan of your constant GM bashing. It cheapens the site overall.
GM is not being picked on. Look at what GM has done, is doing, and plan to do. Their corporate culture inbreeding has been going on for so long and is entrenched so deeply, even the cockroach has evolved more pogessively.