The Chinese Car Era Comes To An End In North America

by Derek Kreindler

Published: January 23rd, 2014

the chinese car era comes to an end in north america

With the introduction of the 2015 Honda Fit, the era of the Chinese car is coming to an end in North America. According to Honda Canada, all 2015 Honda Fits for both the United States and Canada will be sourced from Honda’s new plant in Mexico. That means an end to the importation of the Fit from Honda’s plant in China. Who knows what the next one will be for Canada (and the first one for the United States). Any guesses?

#China #Honda #HondaFit #Mexico

Derek Kreindler

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7 of 49 comments

CompWizrd on Jan 23, 2014

My Canadian '10 Fit was built in Japan. Quite a few differences from the US Fit's though. With them both back in the same building, any bets as to how much equipment/options they'll remove for the Canadian versions?

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Turboprius on Jan 23, 2014

One question: What's the first digit of the VIN for a Chinese vehicle? Canadians are stupid and don't post the VINs of vehicles, which deceives people. Why don't they, but every dealer in America does? I asked this on ask.com and never got an answer. You all are car guys. Please answer.

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Mikey on Jan 23, 2014

@ Atum I'd be one of those "stupid" Canadians. Why don't you just "google" your question...just sayin.

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- Pete Zaitcev on Jan 23, 2014
  
  The inability to click the right "reply" button that threads comments may be an indication of something other than high intelligence.
  
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Motormouth on Jan 24, 2014

I was going to say Qoros. Got five stars in the EuroNCAP crash tests. Unbelievable.

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- Geozinger on Jan 24, 2014
  
  I don't know why that's so unbelievable. The Qoros was designed elsewhere (I believe Israel) and is assembled in China. Like I mentioned earlier, the Chinese can assemble anything to a certain price point. The engineering can be done anywhere and the assembly somewhere inexpensive. I'm sure that when Qoros incorporated (2007), it was when China was a cheaper place to assemble. But if I were to do the same thing now, I would definitely assemble in Mexico, because of all of its FTA's.
  
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- Motormouth on Jan 24, 2014
  
  @geozinger I was being facetious. Maybe you recall the Land Wind of the mid-90s that failed to gain any stars. My, how times have changed. I read the other day that wages for auto workers in Mexico are on average half those of Chinese workers. So with the FTAs, access to the US and cheap labour, it's earning the moniker China of the West. I'm not sure about your comment about the Chinese being able to assemble anything to a certain price point. That's possible in any country, so it's a pretty empty statement. The surprise is that there's an OEM out of China that's not trying to sell the same piss poor national engineering in a warmed over package. (Hey, Great Wall, we're looking at you.) In other words, the Qoros could well be the first Chinese-built car that's worth buying somewhere else in the world outside China as it won't dump its residual value all over your driveway.
  
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