Chinese Cars Are Good Now and We All Need to Get Used to It | Hacker News Reader

Chinese Cars Are Good Now and We All Need to Get Used to It

carthrottle.com

39 pointsresolutebat21 comments

Personally I’d never buy a car made in China. Related, I find it pretty strange Volvo is trying to establish a luxury brand (Polestar) but instead of building Polestars in Sweden they are building them in China.

I’m more concerned about the Chinese software. I rather like the Volvo EVs.

Oh don’t get me wrong, I test drove the Polestar 2 and liked it—miles better interior than the Model 3—but them being made in China was a deal breaker. I’m trying to buy less things made in China and dropping $60k on a Chinese vehicle doesn’t really fit that goal. Plus the shady software as you mention.

Here in Europe we can get Teslas assembled in China. Plenty of Tesla fans here have told me to get one from China because they are of way better quality than the ones assembled in the US.

Americans have no sense of quality.

Oh, the software isn't Chinese at all. You can trust me on that one. Source: I don't work for Volvo anymore, but I've authored both Volvo and Polestar 2 code, some of it in the latest 2.10 update.

> luxury brand

which goes to show that luxury branding is worthless, if it's all just marketing. I want quality components, quality builds and long lasting performance. I do find that stuff built in china can have all of these qualities, but chances are they don't (and it's deliberate, to reduce costs). Then selling the product at a luxury price to maximize profit.

Definitely don’t agree with this at all. Go sit in a VW then sit in an Audi, or Toyota/Lexus, Hyundai/Genesis and tell me they are of the same quality. They are not.

Depends on how you define quality. A car that feels nice to sit on and drive may not be the most reliable way to get you from point A to point B consistently. The reliability of many (at least older) Toyota models is impressive, while German reliability has been mostly a myth in the 2000's.

They didn't say luxury is all marketing (ergo, the "if"); they said scoping your car as a luxury product while it's not devalues the meaning.

They then provided a specific example and pointed out that most products they've bought/researched from China (so, completely anecdotal) seem to be of lower quality.

I honestly don't know which ones of these are luxury or not. I was in a VW and a Lexas, and many Toyotas. They all felt... totally fine?

It’s not clear to me which brands you’re saying are the highest quality, can you elaborate?

Audi, Lexus, and Genesis are the luxury brands for their respective manufacturer. I think they’re saying that the cars sold under those brands are noticeably better quality than the VW, Toyota, and Hyundai branded cars.

Sit in an Audi, then sit in a Toyota Venza.

Many GM models have been made in China, for quite a few years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAIC-GM

Teslas too, and the ones built in China have a better reputation for quality than the US ones.

Doesn’t matter how good a car is. The question is if they can pass all the necessary tests and regulatory certifications, and with import tariffs be competitively priced. It’s a very large barrier, which is why when a foreign car company places its flag in America (see Hyundai, Toyota, etc.) it’s a big deal because they are going to be investing many billions in advertising, dealership networks, lobbying, and so on. And they need to sustain it for a decade at least.

That's nice. Can you also buy parts and get service for them, or when model is out of production, you can't get parts anymore?

I'm old enough to remember when people said they would never buy a Japanese car because of the lingering resentment over WW2.Some people won't buy Fords because of his alleged anti-Semitism. Some people won't buy Teslas. Times change but many people cling to their biases.

Given China's hostility, I don't think quality makes a difference, they would need to do things that can only be done in China.

Worse cars ever made, by model name, in no particular order:

Trabant

Yugo

Pinto

Gremlin

Vega

Fuldamobile

Goggomobile

VAZ-2101/Lada Riva/Zhigul

Imp

Ion

Cygnet

Polonez

and

Ford Mustang II (1974-1976)

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