While You Were Sleeping: July 7th, 2014

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Succeeding Suzuki, Chinese Cadillacs and ton-up Teslas…here’s what you missed.


Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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 6 comments
  • Land Ark Land Ark on Jul 07, 2014

    I really have no basis for thinking this as I have no real understanding of the Chinese economy, but part of me thinks that investing in luxury cars there will be akin to investing in body-on-frame SUVs in America in the early 2000s. Let's hope I'm wrong. Do GM, Ford, or Toyota do these types of investigations regularly? With so many more cars on the road I would think it would be more difficult and the crashes a more common occurrence.

    • Luke42 Luke42 on Jul 08, 2014

      What you need to know in order to put this in perspective is that the top 20% of Chinese consumers is bigger than 100% of American consumers. That means that China has a USA full of rich people (by Chinese standards), to our a USA full of people across the economic spectrum. Even I'd the rich Chinese aren't all that rich by American standards, their top 20% probably looks a lot like the whole US market in terms of buying power. Income inequality in China is dramatic, of course, but if you're selling luxury goods in China, you can just ignore the majority of people who are just thrilled to have upgraded from a dirt floor home to one with a real floor and a modern stove. Selling to the majority of Chinese would be a much harder problem for an American or Japanese company. A USA-sized population of rich people (by Chinese standards) is a pretty attractive target market. The sheer size of the Chinese population makes it so, despite the income inequality.

  • Thelaine Thelaine on Jul 07, 2014

    It's about time we got a new Sonderklasse Pullman. The old ones were getting stale. I hope the new one has frikin' lasers.

  • George B George B on Jul 07, 2014

    Wouldn't the Chinese luxury car market prefer long wheelbase Cadillac sedans instead of a coupe?

  • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on Jul 07, 2014

    An Art and Science design Cadillac has more curves than Chinese model.

    • NoGoYo NoGoYo on Jul 08, 2014

      Ouch dude, it's gonna take a whole jar of salve to treat that burn.

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