Through Ian's Lens: Beyond Olympic China

In June, my wife and I spent 10 days in China visiting my sister-in-law, who was studying there. The trip was an eye-opening experience as we crisscrossed our way from Shanghai to Beijing and finally to Hong Kong. Everywhere we went we were surrounded by people, people and more people. 

China is a country that is constantly on the move, and the newest and biggest craze to hit the population of 1.3 billion is owning a shiny new car. Some groups estimate that 1,300 new cars hit the streets of Beijing every day. Not only that, but many of those new cars are being driven by new drivers. According to the Chinese Automotive Industry Association, China was second in the world, to the U.S. auto industry, with 8.79 million new vehicles sold and 8.88 million produced in 2007. Rough estimates indicate that by 2015 the Chinese will surpass the U.S. in total auto sales, with 17 million. Some say China will pass the U.S. by 2010.

So with the 2008 Beijing Olympics roaring in everyone’s ears this week, I am reminded how insane a country full of new drivers can be. Here is a set of photos from the streets and highways of China, focusing on the roads and the new cars. I personally enjoyed the juxtaposition of the number of cars to the number of bicycles, mopeds and scooters. Chinese roads are filled with all of the Volkswagen Santanas, BMW 518s, and Audi A6Ls you can get your hands on, and many of the city streets have barriers between the motorcycle/moped/scooter lane, the bicycle lane, and the automobile lane. Below is a photo gallery of my trip, with a look at the automotive life there. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Comments

GT-R? Ford Mondeo? China has better cars than we do!

Where are all the Buicks? I thought those were all over the roads in China...

i saw some mercedes and audi and a porsche!!nice !! also that ford looks better than the fusion and focus!!

oh and a bunch of vw!!!!!!!!

Dave,
That GT-R is at Hong Kong. (That Mondeo is in China though)
FYI, the plates in Hong Kong have different formats comparing to those in China.
The plates used in China starts with a Simplified Chinese word meaning which province is the plate from, while Hong Kong's plates mostly starts with 2 letters followed by either 3 or 4 numbers (excluding personalized plates).

many VW's are made in China, and, although there are some Passats etc that are probably the same as those made elsewhere, are often for the Chinese market only...

like many societies, the rich and the poor have a big gap. I also see Enzos etc. on sites featuring exotics spotted all over the world

The pics are pretty cool. They have cars that we don't have like the Ford Mondeo (the reason why the U.S. doesn't have the Mondeo is because of emission standards), hey they even have, though not shown, a better looking Buick Park Avenue. A Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which is our Lexus GX (the white SUV shown on the first picture of the gallery), a Toyota Harrier (Lexus RX), a better looking Honda Odyssey (Asia only availability), Mercedes Benz CLK DTM Roadcar, rare in the U.S., and a Toyota Alphard just to name a few. It wouldn't surprise me if China surpasses the U.S. in automotive sales because the population is huge, one-third of the Earth's population. A lot of VW Santana taxi's too. Since when did the A6 come with an L version? I wonder if the A6L will make it to U.S. shores? Good pics!!!

L.P.

1/5 is what you mean, I think. (1.3 billion / 6.5 billion = 0.2 = 20% = 1/5)

Actually, the first gen Honda Odyssey we had in the states was the same as the Asian version. However, that one did not have great success, possibly due to the fact that it didn't have sliding doors.
The Toyota Alphard over there is just as popular as the Escalade in the US among celebrities.
It all comes down to taste and environment awareness.

Oh, just one more thing to tell the difference between cars in Hong Kong and China.

Take a look at which side the driver seats.
Hong Kong: Right hand drive, drives on the left side of the road. (There are permits allowing people to own left hand drives. I am not familiar how this works within mainland China though.)
China: Left hand drive, drives on the right side of the road.

From what I understand Chinese gymnasts are given free 1998 model year cars but are told to lie and claim that the cars are actually 2009 model year.

Those crafty Chinese only fool themselves.

i hope you meant "2008" because not too many 1998 cars can pass for a 2009 model ...

"those crafty Chinese" are becoming a main powerhouse. that's why the commy government is laughing in our faces when it comes to ignoring some of those "human rights" demands.

i wonder whose smog is worse, LA or Beijing ...

DL:

The smog in Beijing is worse than LA I believe. But LA has it bad too with the smog. In Beijing, there's a lot more traffic. The people tried to decrease the amount of smog a few weeks before the Olympics started. They first started by putting different cars on the road everyday in terms of their license plate number. If the last letter is an even number, than those cars are on the road on that day, and the next day if the plate ends with an odd number, than those cars are on the road on that day, and the list goes on. But in my opinion it didn't have an effect very much. It's still smoggy.

J:

I think you might be right, if you do the math. Kinda makes sense though. Good point with the Odyssey. Yea I remember that first-gen Odyssey not being very successful at that time.

thx LP.

i've been to Beijing several times but not LA. This means to me that we Americans should appreciate more how great we have it and not ruin it -- such as driving a big fat SUV with zero passengers and claim that it's a necessity, then start driving it on more short trips to the store just because gas went down a measly 20 cents. also, not having certain car models may be a small sacrifice for cleaner air.

L.P.

The A6L has been around in China for a while. I believe it is the only country it exists in... they don't even have them in Germany, so I wouldn't hold your breath until they arrive in the US.

I got to ride in a friend of mine's last time I was in China... and they are great. A little smaller than the A8 yet leg room like you wouldn't believe in the back.

He was telling me that the car was specially fabricated for some government bigwig... and then sold to the general Chinese public.

They're great!