You'll Never Guess Which Car Shoppers Distrust Chinese Vehicles the Most

Nah, that’s completely false. You know exactly which car buyers would turn up their noses at the prospect of bringing home a brand new Geely or GAC. (Aren’t these brand names inspiring?)

After becoming familiar names in Europe, new tariffs have made the imminent influx of Chinese-branded vehicles into the U.S. less than certain. Suddenly, the 2018 Detroit auto show, with its big display of shiny new GACs (including a luxurious minivan with La-Z-Boy-like rear seats), seems so long ago.

But pretend for a second that the new tariffs don’t exist, and that Chinese automakers are poised to open up American showrooms tomorrow. Who’s likely to consider one? Who isn’t? A recent study will almost certainly not surprise you.

The survey, published by Wards Auto, found that domestic vehicle owners were the least likely to consider a Chinese-brand vehicle. Only 22 percent of respondents said such a vehicle would be in the running. Owners of Korean cars proved the most likely, with 34 percent saying they’d maybe give one a go. That surely has something to do with the massively overhauled reputation of Korean vehicles, which didn’t get off to a great start after entering the U.S. marketplace in the late ’80s. Now, Korean brands dominate the upper ranks of J.D. Power’s initial quality survey.

Owners of Japanese and European brands split these two groups, with 30 percent of the Japanese crowd and 29 percent of the European crowd saying they’d consider a purchase.

Of the overall group of new car shoppers, 35 percent said they would flat-out refuse to buy a vehicle from a Chinese brand, 27 percent said they would consider one, and 38 percent fell into the mushy middle. Unsure, basically. Given China’s reputation for middling quality consumer goods, and with few Americans ever having had personal experience driving (or even sitting in) a Chinese-brand vehicle, it’s surprising the numbers aren’t stacked even further against China.

Opinion surveys are hardly scientific bedrock, and can hardly be counted on as an indicator of potential demand, though the responses do shed light on how a Chinese brand could pick up followers. It’s all about expectations. While nearly half of all respondents (45 percent) who said they would not buy a Chinese car listed quality and safety as their largest worries, a similar-sized group seemed ready to be wooed by rock-bottom prices.

Of those willing to consider a purchase, 40 percent listed price as the most compelling reason to buy a Chinese car. Eighteen percent listed technology as their top season, with safety coming in at 15 percent.

Both Geely (parent company of Volvo and Lotus) and GAC planned to enter the U.S. market in the next couple of years, but the Trump administration’s 25 percent tariff on Chinese auto imports might kibosh that strategy. In retaliation to Trump’s move, China upped its own tariffs on U.S. vehicles to 40 percent.

How quickly things can change.

[Image: GAC]