Our First Chinese Car Is Here For The Week
Today was a historic day in my automotive life; I drove my first Chinese car.
As previously mentioned, TTAC has gotten their hands on a Chinese-made Honda Fit. It’s nothing special; Canada has been getting Chinese-made Fits for the better part of a year now. Europe has been getting Chinese-made models (sold as the Jazz) for half a decade. At first glance, quality issues seem to be non-existent, though the choice of paint color made me chuckle.
Some commenters suggested that a Chinese made Fit was actually a non-story, but I respectfully disagree. That North America’s first Chinese car came from an established OEM rather than a Chinese brand trying to get a foothold in North America is important in itself. Honda couldn’t have greater connotations of Japanese engineering superiority if it tried, and the Fit has always been a Japan-made anomaly in a field of North American built competitors. Whether the Fit is still competitive in a field of newer, more advanced subcompacts is another matter.
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You have to laugh at the people defending Chinese product quality by citing I-products, TV's and laptops. The last time I checked, most consumer electronics were fundamentally disposable, instantly obsolete crap that would make Alfred P. Sloan blush. If Kreindler was really serious about demonstrating the quality of Chinese products, he would politely ask Honda if he could drive it into a wall at 30 mph. I went to a house auction a few years ago, for a couple that was downsizing and moving to Florida. They had a lot of antiques for sale, but by far the most interesting thing they had was the 50-year-old Westinghouse chest freezer in the basement. Opening it up let out a blast of cold air that would have made an Eskimo shiver. The old man proudly informed me that besides a new belt for the compressor in the 90's and the occasional grease job, every part on it was as new as the day it came out of the factory. You couldn't buy an equivalent today, because there's no money in marketing appliances built to last a lifetime. I would have taken it off his hands then and there, had it not weighed the better part of 600 lbs. The sale of this car should be suspended until Honda can prove, through certified crash testing, that it meets all applicable Canadian standards. Poorly made consumer electronics are a nuisance. Unsafe cars are a public menace,
"the Fit has always been a Japan-made anomaly in a field of North American built competitors." When the Fit was launched in the US in 2006, it was competing against Aveos, Rios and Accents made in Korea, and a Scion xA and Toyota Yaris built in Japan. Nissan started building the Versa in Mexico, and Ford didn't have a subcompact at that time. The only things that have changed since then is that GM now makes the subcompact in Michigan and Ford has launched a subcompact built in Mexico. Hyundai, Kia and TMC still produce their subcompacts outside of North America. I would presume that Canada is being used as a trial balloon to test North American acceptance of Chinese-made cars. If Canada embraces them, then they may very well try to expand the effort to the US.
There was zero evidence that Americans could build high quality cars until Honda set up shop in Ohio.
What I find interesting is that Honda makes the Fit for export only. It's a low-budget version of the Honda Jazz which has the same body, but much nicer interior and many more standard features - and better engines. They're making the Fit in China, Thailand, (and other countries) and US Fits will be made in Canada soon. The Jazz is made in Japan. I've been doing some research into these; it's about time for a new car here to replace the Jimny, and the Jazz is at the top of my short list. They're pretty nice. Something that I see over and over again is that in the US, small cars are cheaper in every way. Cardboard door panels, bare minimum interiors, tiny engines. The auto companies go out of their way to make them undesirable - leading consumers to "upgrade" to larger vehicles than they need to get something reasonably well appointed. I keep wondering what would happen if smaller "right sized" vehicles were built with all the "good stuff" that's currently reserved for the larger cars. The Japanese (and Germans) know very well how to do this and these vehicles would probably sell well; they wouldn't be a lot cheaper than the larger cars at purchase, but they'd use a lot less fuel.