China 2015: The 10 Most Impressive Chinese Carmakers at Auto Shanghai (Part 1)

Consistently loud: Foton

We ended our last overseas adventure, the Trans-Siberian Series, in Mongolia with an exploration of the best-selling cars in this cold country. I’m resuming my exploration of this part of the world, leaping South to Shanghai in China where the biennial Auto Show took place in April.

Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to investigate the plethora of Chinese carmakers at the show (over 40) and trim it down to the 10 most impressive. It’s an abashedly subjective ranking. However, know that many aspects were considered to establish it: from interior/exterior quality and design of the models revealed, the number/validity of new cars, concept cars, brochures, staff availability, savviness and friendliness, as well as whether or not they improved since last year at the Beijing Auto Show.

In brackets are the ranking I gave these manufacturers at the Beijing Auto Show in 2014.

Discover the carmakers ranked from #10 to #6 below the jump…

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  • ToolGuy The only way this makes sense to me (still looking) is if it is tied to the realization that they have a capital issue (cash crunch) which is getting in the way of their plans.
  • Jeff I do think this is a good thing. Teaching salespeople how to interact with the customer and teaching them some of the features and technical stuff of the vehicles is important.
  • MKizzy If Tesla stops maintaining and expanding the Superchargers at current levels, imagine the chaos as more EV owners with high expectations visit crowded and no longer reliable Superchargers.It feels like at this point, Musk is nearly bored enough with Tesla and EVs in general to literally take his ball and going home.
  • Incog99 I bought a brand new 4 on the floor 240SX coupe in 1989 in pearl green. I drove it almost 200k miles, put in a killer sound system and never wish I sold it. I graduated to an Infiniti Q45 next and that tank was amazing.
  • CanadaCraig As an aside... you are so incredibly vulnerable as you're sitting there WAITING for you EV to charge. It freaks me out.