Ford has sold Volvo to a Chinese firm, and it looks like SAAB will be selling its 9-5 tooling to a Chinese firm as well.
Now, given that labor in China is significantly less than in Sweden, China could export a Chinese-made Volvo or SAAB, and sell for a lot less.
Suppose a Chinese-made SAAB were to sell for $20,000 (vs $40,000 for a Swedish-made model)-would you buy one?
It is hard to see how the Chinese version would be all that different-of course, the Chinese would probably use a lot of parts from new suppliers-maybe the quality would not be as good as the swedish suppliers.
So, would you buy one? Or are the Chinese Volvos/SAABs likely to be quite a bit inferior?
I would not, since I believe that buying goods from China encourages that country’s human rights abuse, use of forced labor, and opposition to democracy.
Hell no.
I’ve lost count of how much stuff I’ve gotten from China that was blaringly obviously put together wrong. Or made so that it was physically impossible to put together. Not to mention poorly engineered and so on and so on.
They might SELL something that LOOKS like a Volvo or a SAAB, but I’d bet good money there would be plenty of mechanical or electrical time bombs waiting to go off.
Now, there might be a chance if all the Volvo/SAAB engineers go over to supervise and are allowed the power to be assembly line Nazis. But I wouldnt bet good money on it.
Nope, not really for the same reasons above. I’d suspect that the brand will be significantly devalued (fair or not) due to the impression of lower quality controls, etc., of Chinese ownership.
Sure, if I was in the market for one of these cars. I would base my decision on the actual statistics and reviews of car quality, not my preconceived notions regarding Chinese quality, which are less likely to be correct with a company that has a vested interest in maintaining its image. If the quality is legitimately poorer then I would avoid them. Obviously this means I would wait a lengthy period of time for a track record to be built up, but I would do that for cars from any country. For expensive purchases, I am not an early adapter!
It is inconceivable that the scenario as you describe it will come to pass though. Not that it may be made in China, but that they would price differentiate. If the cars have similar features there is no way they are going to explicitly admit to selling inferior products by setting a lower price. They may as well take the brand out back and shoot it through the head.
I’m not sure I see much value in boycotting Chinese industry as a successful mechanism to addressing China’s lack of democracy or human rights abuses. If anything, increased economic power translates to increased political power, and I would expect China to slowly modernize along with their economy. Obviously this is a slow and imperfect process, but I don’t see letting their economy rot yielding any real benefits (quite the opposite I expect). That being said, I am no student of political science, and am open to being told that I am completely off base with a convincing argument.
Here’s a thought. The base price (U.S.) of the least expensive 2010 Volvo is $26,200.
The least expensive Saab is $30,360.
Let’s check back in a year or two and see how those prices compare with the Chinese-built versions.
No and not that I was considering it, but I wouldn’t buy a Hummer (H2/H3) from China either. There’s a reason Buicks are big over there, because they’re solid and well made, unlike many other things made there.
I dont know if I would buy firecrackers or dim sum made in Sweden, either…
I’m sure there is a reason for Buick’s success, but I don’t think it is because the Chinese are avoiding locally made cars. As far as I can tell many Buicks are produced in China.
Not unless I read about how SAAB and Volvo quality control and design staff were hawking the output of the factories and ensuring, on an unprecedented level, how satisfied they were with the quality and execution.
FWIW I would predict that if Volvo is bought by the Chinese that production will not be moved at least in the short term. The capitol outlay to build all new factories in China and shutter the ones in Europe would be astronomical.
Also I would note that when Ford bought Volvo, production did not come to the US, and Tata has not moved jaguar to India, so why do you think the Chinese would move the Swedes?
I just wish the Chinese would make the 9-3 hatchback.
Ahem, the Buicks are actually made in China and have been for about a decade. Here’s the homepage. I bought a GL8 mini-van, which used to be produced here at Shanghai GM built on the Buick platform.
I have also owned a Shanghai Volkswagen Polo.
However, the OP is flawed because at this stage, apples to apples comparison of vehicles made in China cost more to produce than in the West. More accurately, vehicles cost more to purchase in China than they do in the West.
Not surprisingly given lower labor costs, Foregin vehicles made at Chinese 50% owned joint ventures are built using a mix of less automation and more labor. One would assume that this means lesser quality.
The BMW 3 series (maybe the 5?) is fully automated and I’ve watched these being built at the Shenyang factory.
I have to pass on commenting on what the executives have said about quality since those were private discussions.
I’m with Driver8. The amount of personal freedom that the average Chinese has compared with 25 years ago is staggering. Very big component has to be the economic growth and the international exposure/investment.
Well so long as it has quality control to the nth degree, sure. Otherwise if it’s anything like some other chinese-built vehicles, hell no.
On another point, do you honestly think that if it costs Volvo or SAAB half as much to make their cars that they’ll cut the price? Really? You’re sure they’ll pass on the cost saving rather than pocketing the cream as pure profit?
Both companies are trying to establish some useful market share. The new owners are presumably looking long term, so yes, it would make sense to attract as many new owners as possible while keeping quality high.
They have? Nothing in Swedish media about that. SAAB, however, are in negotiations about selling off old technology to a Chinese company.
All in all. No deals are made as yet and besides, I doubt that possible new owners would move production away from Sweden.
As of this morning, it doesn’t look like Saab will be made anywhere.
A friend’s dog died a couple years ago after she fed dog food that was made in China. I have avoided buying anything made there since.
Yep-looks like Spijker dropped out. Pretty sad, but SAAB had been in decline for years (USA sales less that 8000 cars this year).
The car market is consolidating-rapidly. A small Swedish manufacturer of cars has a lot of disadvantages-simply being quirky isn’t enough.
Simply put-there is NO way you can make cars in Sweden, when you are competing with Japan and Korea-and you make less than 100,000 cars per year.
According to Spyker they wanted to go through with the purchase, but the deadline (31 December) set by GM was too soon and they couldn’t set up all the transactions in time. Heh, death by corporate bureaucracy.
I am not very well read on the subject, but from what I read around here, it seems that GM has grossly mismanaged SAAB ever since they bought it. Under better leadership it could have been possible to fill some niche.
What a wonderful Christmas present for the people in Trollhättan. 8000 extra unemployed in a city of ~45k won’t leave many unaffected.