General Topics
General topics about life on and travel to the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico
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Chinese built SUV to be built in Mexico for US market
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Chinese built SUV to be built in Mexico for US market
Several Chinese auto manufacturers are looking to build fuel saving cars, trucks and SUVs in Mexico to be sold at very competitive prices in the states, taking advantage of the renegotiated trade bill between the US, Canada and Mexico.
This could be why China might be willing to spend a lot of money on building and managing the proposed Colonet port project as these assembly plants just south of the US border with Mexico could offer some very low priced options to compete with the expensive new US built vehicles.
Take a look at the Baic BJ40 model SUV, it comes very well equipped and with very high end interior and features. The vehicle competed in the Dakar Rally this year and got a lot of attention:
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13 Replies
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We went to mainland China (Jiangmund City) to visit my brother who was teaching English over there in 2004. At that time you could buy a Chinese made 125cc motorbike for $125 USD! Problem was shipping costs back to the states.
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Do you remember the brand by chance? Some of those Chinese motorcycles are making some headway in the US market.
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Reading this triggered a memory that at the time of the negotiations a stipulation was inserted that a certain percentage of auto parts or assembly had to be sourced from US companies for qualifying importation. Not sure but it seemed this was to appease the US car production companies/unions.
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“The new trade deal, which replaces the 26-year-old North American Free
Trade Agreement, will require 75% North American content for light
vehicles compared to 62.5% under NAFTA and 40% content for such cars
from “high wage” areas.The new trade deal, which replaces the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, will require 75% North American content for light vehicles compared to 62.5% under NAFTA and 40% content for such cars from “high wage” areas.”-
Isn’t “North American” Canada, Mexico or the US?
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So if most of the parts are manufactured in Chinese plants located INSIDE Mexico, wouldn’t they qualify as per your link?
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I wonder what the quality of their cars is like, how do they hold up? Baja is a very rough test for even the best made vehicles.
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That’s the question. I’d like to take it for a test ride.
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I never had the opportunity to drive one yet but friends that have tell me that their vehicles were full of problems a few years ago but are slowly improving. But before you criticize them too much, those Japanese brands like Nissan and Toyota that have stellar reputations in the car market today were considered terrible when they first hit the US market back in the 60’s.
I’ll never forget a common term that circulated to describe them – “jap crap”.
Nothing crappy about them today and I’d wager that we’ll see the Chinese make dramatic improvements to their car build quality as well over time.
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But are they safe to drive? Airbags and such?
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I saw another video review of it and it said it has all the safety equipment but I am still not convinced this thing is really off road ready
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The vide review above stated their were some problems he encountered in his test drive and mentioned the brake system feeling weak and undersized for the vehicle weight.
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Maybe in a nother 10 years.
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