As predicted…and many GM supporters said would NEVER happen…
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-buick-china-20151204-story.html
I may have to eat my words but I will not be buying any import vehicle from China nor Russia at this point.
I’m not surprised. As Cyndi Lauper said, “money changes everything”. GM imports vehicles from Europe, South Korea, Australia, and I think South America. I don’t consider Canada or Mexico imports with NAFTA in effect. It isn’t a surprise that they would try this. There will be buyers if the MSRP is low enough compared to SUVs in the same class. This will be fun at least twice: discussing it now and then again after it has been on the market for a year or two.
Not concerned at all, GM has been building in China for, what, over 25 years now? The Chinese know how to put it together and supply many parts both OEM and aftermarket in the US. What’s the beef?
@Mustangman The early Korean cars were pretty pathetic (Hyundai Pony) but they learned fast. Having said that the Daewoo cars like the Aveo were very substandard for North American standards. I’m sure the Chinese are on a fast learning curve and as soon as Consumer Reports has good reliability reviews I’m ready to buy one., Until then I’ll let others develop the market.
There are some" all Chinese" mainstream products on the market now like Haier TVs, fridges, and freezers. As well as Hisense flat screen TVs. In many countries Hisense is outselling traditional brands such as Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and LG.
My iPhone works fine. I imagine Chinese Buicks will be no better/worse than other GM cars. Lots of stuff made in China for lots of first-line companies.
I’m with you on Korean cars, @Docnick. I have a buddy that is a vehicle development manager at Hyundai in California. They hired experienced people from the industry to tune their cars to the US market along with everything they learned about reliability from the Japanese and built in the US. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a Hyundai or Kia. The GM Korean products from the old Daewoo have also come a long way but reviews would keep me away. Many Chinese products are quality, many are not. I’ll wait for the reviews myself.
“In many countries Hisense is outselling traditional brands such as Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and LG.”
That may well be true, but many consumers make their buying decisions solely on the basis of a low price. When somebody can demonstrate that Hisense products are outlasting those made by Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, and LG, then I will give them due consideration.
I may have to eat my words but I will not be buying any import vehicle from China nor Russia at this point.
You may not buy a vehicle made in China…but you’re probably already buying vehicles with
Chinese parts.
IMO . . . there’s a big difference between building individual parts, versus building an entire car, making sure everything works correctly, fits well, etc.
I’m quite interested in what the various car magazines have to say, once they get their hands on one
CR won’t be able to predict reliability, because it’s a new model. But they can make remarks about build quality, ease of use, etc.
I suspect this mystery suv will use a powertrain that is common to stateside GM vehicles
Well, the more sophisticated / educated posters will probably disagree with me, but this just makes me sad. Further evidence of the hollowing out and collapse of the US industrial base. Of course, had it not been for the bailout, all of GM would today be a fully owned subsidiary of the People’s Republic of China.
Would you put your wife / kids in a safety critical product (a car) made and assembled in a communist police state? You just know they’ll put in a little extra love… . .
I’ll bet that most of those who are today babies in America will grow up to work for the Chinese, either in Chinese owned factories or in the form of heavy taxation to pay them interest on all the Treasury bills owned by the Chinese Gov’t. (On the other hand, who knows? Maybe all of us really can become very rich selling each other bratwurst. Stranger things happen.)
On the other hand, maybe the cars will be really really crappy. That would be fun. We haven’t had any really bad cars like the Vega, the Volare, the LeCar, or the Yugo or the Dauphine for quite a while in this country. It can be really fun reading all the stories about cars that were crap even when brand new.
Didnt you forget the “Alliance”?(way overpriced) Wong-Mart(oops,meant Wal-Mart)gets my Goat,the products are for the most part cheap and sometimes you are not saving much money.Uncle Sam(Walton) wouldnt have thought much of the current doings at Wal-Mart,it seems to me like we are going to have to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US,to have a viable economy,everybody cant work in service jobs.I would like to be able to afford a new practical car.
yeah, if we had let GM and the corrupt and unwise financial institutions fail, china would have been the owner of bankruptcy, debt and failure and would have enjoyed the full benefits of capitalism.
plus, ford would have been fine, and we all know that ford is better than chevy anyway… 
we saved their bacon and ate their crow.
our non collegiate youth is in a bad spot. the manufacturing jobs have been exported and the construction workers have been imported.
the revolution will be televised…
@VDCDriver Agree; I just mentioned that there are now completely Chinese companies that are selling around the world. Our next TV will not likely be a Hisense, but its quality is already better than those manufactured in China by Thomson of France and sold as GE and RCA through Walmart and other discounters.
"Our next TV will not likely be a Hisense, but its quality is already better than those manufactured in China by Thomson of France and soled as GE and RCA through Walmart and other discounters."
Yup!
For a number of years, the bottom-rated TVs have been the ones made by Thomson of France, utilizing the GE & RCA brand names.
Didnt you forget the "Alliance"?(way overpriced) Wong-Mart(oops,meant Wal-Mart)gets my Goat,the products are for the most part cheap and sometimes you are not saving much money.Uncle Sam(Walton) wouldnt have thought much of the current doings at Wal-Mart
Corporations are the problem with products from China… One of “The Donalds” dumb speeches (Oh there are so many)…was he wanted US consumers to buy American made products again. Typical Trump - NOT REALIZING that we the consumers don’t buy products directly from China. We can only buy what the AMERICAN companies import for us to buy…or the foreign companies that are allowed by congress to do business here in the States. I can’t go on EBay and buy a vehicle made in China.
“Typical Trump - NOT REALIZING that we the consumers don’t buy products directly from China. We can only buy what the AMERICAN companies import for us to buy.”
And, part of his hypocrisy lies in the fact that his crappy Trump brand shirts and ties are made in–guess where?–Mexico and China.
I’ll buy a car built anywhere in the world, as long as it’s established at least a ten year track record of reliability and durability.
And I will NOT buy a car made anywhere in the world that has not.
When somebody can demonstrate that Hisense products are outlasting those made by Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, and LG, then I will give them due consideration.
Sore spot for me. Having bought mostly name brand stuff for many years, I bought a 55" LG TV some years back. Nothing cutting edge about it. The panel took a dirt nap 1 month outside the warranty period. Never had a TV that died so quickly. When I wrote to LG seeing if they would do anything out of goodwill regarding a TV that dies 1 month out of warranty, they basically said we appreciate your being a loyal customer but go suck eggs…not even a coupon for a few bucks off let alone a- sorry for your bad experience.
I wrote back and told them I had just bought a new house and was in the market for a new fridge, several TVs, washer dryer etc. I don’t know what manufacturer(s) I will choose yet but I do know which one I will not. In fact, I will never buy another product from your company. I actually go out of my way to NOT buy from them. I spent >$30k on new appliances etc for the house and kept true to my word.
Deciding not to spend so much on name brand TVs, I bought a 60" Hisense to replace it. It has a better picture than even my Sonys and has well outlasted its mfr initial warranty period even considering it is now in the kid’s playroom and so runs constantly (the LG was in a spare room and only ran occasionally). It came with a bunch of high end features at half the price. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one. Unfortunately, I do not have any more LGs so it may be awhile…
I think most of it is the manufacturing process and quality control. Could be done anywhere. All car companies are doing it. I understand the distaste but your average car buyer does not know where their car was built. They are just buying the brand name.