The real issue would seem to be the high cost of safety equipment and testing.

The Mandarins invented bureaucracy.

Several Chinese makers sell cars in Europe, because their laws are simplier (maybe not weaker, but simplier), and match world standards. In fact, the number of automakers that sell SOMETHING in Europe is probably double that of the number in the US, even the though the US market, once you crack it, is bigger and potentially more profitable.

None of the little Chinese players (or Indian, or Malaysian, or whatever) is big or skilled enough to successfully jump through all the hoops it takes to sell vehicles in the United States. Most of the ones who have done so (including the foreign makes) already sold vehicles in the US while many of the hoops were being formed (there basically have been no new mainstream entrants into the US market for at least a decade and a half, not counting the failed entry of Daewoo).

At some point a Chinese car company will have the technical skills and financial stability to jump through all the hoops, and they will succeed. But not any time soon.

I can already hear the Walmart shoppers getting all breathless.

Chery? Chevy? What’s the difference anyhow? I’m not spending my money on either one. I guess Rental car companies will care.

Why not export to US: image, investment requirements, but most of all dodgy quality of Tata and Suzuki. Nano may make for good news, but Tata cars are unreliable, and quality improvements slow. Imagine the lawsuits and recalls if their cars stall on US highways. If they had the quality, they would have been in the US a long time back.

Take for example a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Those cars had some potential when they first came out. The turbo models. Take for example the new ones. No one wants one of those. An expensive dog.

Now say for example the Mitsubishi Eclipse cost the same as a PT Cruiser($9788), and could beat Corvettes in the 1/4 mile. Performance for value.

That’s where the money is. High performance that is affordable and desirable.

If you can’t compete in the internal combustion world; why bother or try? Chinese government subsidizing lithium batteries similar to how the US subsidizes E85?

I would love to smoke Corvettes at every stop light in my ~$10,000, made in China electric car. Any time, any day or night of the week. High performance electric is the future.

Supposedly, several high profile OEM’s have some serious electrics in the works. They know Subaru, Nissan, and Mitsubishi have vehicles in the works(have been shown).

Dealerships are easy to sell.

The greater questions for the Chinese would be…

1) Where would they perform their initial launch? Kia for example chose California and the West Coast for nearly it’s entire first year of operation in the United States.

2) What market would they first attempt to compete? There’s a very good probability that a Chinese company would choose a product that’s simpler to design, manufacture and produce. A small car or a small pickup would likely be the first choices.

3) Will they insist on stand alone dealerships? The larger need associated with this is access to prime real estate. Insisting on a stand alone dealership can effectively leave you out of those areas in certain markets. In nearby Dallas, GA (not a metropolis by any means), Chrysler had to settle for an out of the way location that’s not easily seen on the major road. Five years from now the landscape for this may be different. Then again, maybe not.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of other issues that would need to be resolved as this article points out. Chances are the Chinese will have very good access to industry professionals and although their road may be rocky (not a pun on Daihatsu), they will have greater resources than any other entrant thanks to the Chinese government.

Exporting cars abroad is already a survival tactic for Chinese automakers, but their biggest inhibition is not history, but rather quality. They know that their quality is not up to US or European standards, and they’ll have a tough time meeting safety and emission regulations. For now the Chinese are aggressively expanding into third-world markets like Africa, the Middle East, India, and SE Asia, where they might be able to get away with lower quality.

Once a manufacturer makes the Great Leap Forward and produces a car that meets US/EU safety and emissions standards, and offers the quality and reliability levels their customers demand, you can bet that they will be here in force.