Chinese Cars Coming to a Wal-Mart Near You?

For years, we’ve been hearing that Chinese cars are on their way, and despite fair skepticism there have been in-roads. Chinese companies like Build Your Dreams have debuted plug-in vehicles at American auto shows, while the Mexican company GS Motors has imported Chinese cars to sell in Mexico.

Now the industry must brace for the next big idea, which is to sell low-cost Chinese vehicles at big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco. This is how GS Motors plans to sell the F1 Hatchback in Mexico (for a bargain price of $5,500).

BYD wants to bring over the plug-in model it showed off at the Detroit auto show as early as next year, and GS CEO Kathleen Ligocki said she believes that within five years consumers will be able to buy a Chinese vehicle at their local Wal-Mart.

The global economic crisis may slow some of this down (and many of China’s 80-plus auto companies are bound to go under), but the plan has been laid as far as many of the major players are concerned.

So here’s our question: Do you think selling low-cost Chinese cars at big-box retailers will work? Would you buy one? Let us know in the comments.

Coming: Cheap Chinese Cars at Costco? (HybridCars.com)

Comments

i would never buy a chinese car it will probably last me a month!!

I don't know about the reliability about these vehicles, or about the quality, but it will not make Chinese brands look good if they are sold at Wal-Mart, its a punch-line come to life!

selling the cars at places like Wal Mart just speaks about the quality.

awful.

you get a car at a car dealership

you get a lawn mower at a home improvement center

you get a computer from an electronics store

people say that there are no differences in quality, even among brands, but i can honestly tell you that there are.

First Walmart does in major retailers like Sears and Penney's. Now they have their sites set on the major auto mogals. The lower class and most of the middle class have already drank the Walmart Koolaid ...why wouldn't they buy a chinese vehicle that's priced under $10,000. Soon Walmart will rule the world!

i would never buy one; but unfortunately there are plenty of not-so-smart people in this country that will.

I see this being a lot like Hyundai's Excel. It was a huge hit, until the cars quickly started falling apart.

Do you think selling low-cost Chinese cars at big-box retailers will work?

Not in a million years! It's not like people are lining up to by other big ticket items like TV's from Wal-Mart. Oh wait...

What Chinese luxury brand can we expect to see at Target, then?

Many Chinese cars are based on designs of other cars. My Chinese friend told me there is a model that was basically a rebadged Mazda6 that sells for half of the price. It has the same engines and everything. So in that case, the reliability may not as bad as people think. Chinese manufacturers are now ISO 9000 certified so the manufacturing process should be all right. But selling at Wal-Mart is a terrible idea, it will ruin the brand's image regardless of quality.

The more things stay the same - those who look down upon the Chinese cars will be blindsided the same way people were when the crappy Jap and Korean cars first appeared. BYD's plug-ins
are already on sale and are priced about about half of GM's Volt. They also can travel 60 miles on battery power alone, 50% further than the Volt. And , oh yes, they look a hell of a lot better than the usual Toyota stuff. BYD is at least three years ahead of Toyota (and 6 years ahead of Honda). Toyota is still looking around for a battery. No one can compete against BYD in terms of price. I would go anywhere to buy one of BYD's plug-ins - those cars are so far advanced over everyone else that it's no contest. It will be a slaughter, especially when gas returns to $4 a gallon.

Wal-Mart's already bad enough, I'm sure countless entrepreneurs' dreams have been shattered by their low-quality, low-cost, lowlife lifestyle. Adding Chinese cars to the mix just makes it more repulsive.

If Walmart sells Chinese cars then Kmart should sell Chrysler cars. It's pretty much a wash in quality but at least you'll get a better price at Walmart.

ArthurGlen,
I completely agree with your analysis of BYD, they are a very impressive company, if their claims turn out to be true... but however, when these automakers mature in the US market and try to move uplevel, they will indefinitely need to work against this aura of cheapness that they cultivated by selling cars through friggin Wal-Mart.

I'm not buying any Chinese car until it becomes more clear which companies will survive and which won't.

And Happymantis has a great point. Eventually another country such as India or Indonesia will supplant China as the low-cost producer, but the Chinese brands will be stuck for decades with the reputation of making Wal-Mart grade products.

Since when is Walmart associated only with selling low quality goods? I bought my Honda mower there, my Dell computer, and recently my Sony flat screen. You people need to get a life! There's no need to be jealous of Chinese cars just because your stuck driving a GM product. Jeez!

Most people would not buy a car from a retailer that could not service it - and Wal-Mart really doesn't service anything. I would never consider 1) buying a Chinese car and 2) buying a Chinese car at Wal-Mart or 3) buying any major purchase at Wal-Mart, where price is the only attraction and service is simply not part of the equation. It's not how I like to purchase anything, whether it's a blender, a car, a lawn mower or anything else.

No way! I would rather buy a used car

Brilliant, maybe a rebadged Yugo.

Anything that most would consider "high dollar", I would NOT buy from Wal-Mart. Don't get me wrong, they are great for toothpaste and toilet paper, but I work on computers and it almost seems that the Wal-Mart computers and other electronics are designed to break right after the warranty runs out. I once owned a $54 gas weed eater (given to me) purchased at Wal-Mart. It was so cheap and eventually tore itself apart in a cloud of smoke and melted plastic. My next one was a Stihl FS-250 that I bought for myself and it cost about 10 times the $54 Wal-Mart model but I have never had one complaint.

Wal-Mart sets up contracts with companies to sell them equipment as cheaply as possible. Products, whether it be a weed trimmer or a computer, often have special model numbers that designate they were purchased from Wal-Mart. These products are made as cheaply as possible and may look the same as the same brand computer purchased elsewhere but are not. There is a reason they are cheaper at Wal-Mart.

As for computers from Wal-Mart, I like to pick on the E-machines desktop for $300 and the Toshiba Satellite laptop. Both these models are the most problematic in their respective categories and the most common repairs usually exceed half the new cost of the computer. In the case of the E-machines, the $300 machine usually costs around $250 to repair so it is essentially completely disposable. The sad thing is that if they had spent $15 more on these computers, they would last like anything else. I can just see it now... The $5000 Chinese car from Wal-Mart needs a $3000 transmission or engine and is trashed.

The person who indicated that Wal-Mart doesn't service anything they sell is absolutely right. The one exception to this is cars. Many Wal-Marts do have an auto center but that is usually restricted to tires, oil, batteries, and other simplistic tasks.

Anyways, If I wanted a cheap, disposable car that I could simply walk away from when it breaks down and let it get impounded, a Chinese Wal-Mart car sounds great. On the other hand, you can get a decent used car for $5000 or less. I would plan on buying this for the warranty period and then selling it for scrap after that.

Walmart = cheap products, questionable labor practices.

Buy at Walmart and you are not supporting the best interests of America or Americans. Support independents and save a quality American job.

NO WAY I WOULD BUY CHINESE CRAP

Will they sell toy cars or real cars?

Chinese may not make the good cars in USA, but I don't see that GMC or Ford did. Many USA people complained Japanese or Korean cars last 20 years ago, but on today, they are the best!!
What about GMC?? Shame on you guys.

Well, I agree. Was it not GM that came out with the electric wheeler chair for 2? Tried to sell the idea to the American public that it was a cheap source of transportation for $11,000. I personally hope the Chinese do this very exact thing, to force America to come down in prices. It is not the Chinese fault that we over price our labor and they are cheaper. GM was thinking of having Buicks made in China, before filing bankruptcy. How is that helping America? Chrysler was thinking of buying Chery cars and selling them here in America. Again cutting American's throats. As far as I am concerned, Welcome the Chinese and do away with the Big 3. They are greedy!!!!!!