Cheery Chinese car maker makes splash with EV hatchback

Cheap Chinese leccy goods are one thing but

Would you trust your life and that if your brats to this UNLESS it scores REALLY well in the NCAP tests? Plus it looks like Postman Pats unattractive alternate vehicle when his pat mobile is being fixed.

That said maybe we would all be better off with some squished eco mentalists...

Keep going...

I enjoy reading the Leccy Tech articles, mostly for the comments, so this time I'll get in early before my blood boils too much.

Slagging off companies for at least trying to progress new technologies is Luddite in the extreme. When horseless carriages came along over a century ago people said similar things. And they were right; the 'cars' were clumsy, difficult to drive, unsafe, prohibitively expensive and didn't involve horses! Fast-forward a hundred years or so and we'd be lost without them.

I like the look of this effort. If it catches on then, perhaps in another hundred years, we'll be lauding its descendants over the new wave of [insert as-yet-uninvented propulsion technology here]-powered perambulation.

NCAP tests are for wusses

and IPR is a concept of the actual Western imperialist running dogs - not their lackeys who simply do the bidding of their WIRD masters.

Cheese

I still can't find a mechanic that would recommend a Chinese built vehicle.

Unlike American and European vehicle's which have nuts and bolts that are made out of a metal so soft you could serve it in a fast food restaurant as cheese, the Chinese make all the components out of this cheese like metal, as a result they are very cheep, and look like a real car but after a couple of thousand miles they fall apart, and need to be super glued back together every couple of miles.

Confusing article... are they partners with these companies or copying?

Ok so first, damn that car does look a lot like the Suziki Splash.

So when you say the Eastar is a Daewoo Magnus with a Chery badge on it... are you exaggerating the likeness or did they have a deal with Daewoo for joint manufacturing (happens all the time.)

Then you go on to say they are working with Lotus, Bosch, and Bertone. But this came as a surprise as there was no mention of that in the article. Or is it just your wishful thinking they will start making clones of classier designs?

I'm so confused now.

Cherry + 15 years = ??

"Unlike American and European vehicle's which have nuts and bolts that are made out of a metal " - Coward

What better material to use in order to limit the lifetime of a product through corrosion?

American automobiles are built to be sold to S.U.C.K.E.R.S. who are too stupid to know any better.

As to the quality of Chinese automobiles, the claim that they are built badly has some merrit I believe. But so too did that claim when it was made against Japanese automotive products in the 60's. By the mid 70's Japanese automobiles were built better than American made cars.

So too it will be with Chinese made cars. What is lacking is not the ability, but simply the quality control.

Meanwhile the American Automotive industry is bankrupt, along with the failed American state.

Good luck with that.

@Luis Ogando

"Slagging off companies for at least trying to progress new technologies is Luddite in the extreme."

Ahem. They aren't slagging Chery for "trying to progress new technologies". They're slagging them for making a direct goddamn ripoff of a Suzuki car, only in extremely cheap materials so that it's half the cost and one-third the safety.

Seriously--they're doing an exact copy, down to the dimensions, only they're replacing strengthened steel with recycled-soda-can aluminum. This is NOT A SAFE VEHICLE. You might as well be riding in a motorcycle.

Imagine if normal cars were spec'd like electric cars...

Pump gas for half an hour and drive for 55 miles... sign me up!

@AC

Just to clarify, the Chery Eastar is an exact copy of the Deawoo Magnus. Chery where in talks with Daewoo about a license deal when Deawoo went under in 1999/2000 but a deal was never agreed. Chery just went ahead with development and production and so GM took legal action.

We are not sure what, if any, parts the Suzuki Splash / 2nd Gen. GM Agila and S18 share, just that they look very, very similar on the outside. Certainly there is no deal between Suzuki and Chery - the latter is punting the S18 as all its own work.

Looking at Chery's current model range (http://www.cheryglobal.com/chery-cars-index2.asp) it's hard not to be hit by a slight feeling of deja vu.

Chery's dealings with Ricardo, Lotus, AVL et al are all preparatory to it attempting to break into the US and European markets and have yet to bear actual fruit, at least as far as I know.

By the by in 2005 Chery was upgraded to the ISO/TS 16949:2002 auto manuf. standard so its basic production quality shouldn't be all that far behind the European/US standard and certainly shouldn't be in any way dangerous.

Chery had also recently entered into a partnership with Chrysler to produce small cars for the United States and European market though the more recent deal with Fiat may have an impact on that.

"Luddite" AC here.

OK so it may not be made of soft cheese...or even a hard cheese?

But it's an exact replica of a car I would frankly not even vomit on let alone buy.

FFS a Daewoo Magnus? Get real if you want Mr & Mrs Average to buy this pile of cheddar then copy something more mainstream. Fiesta, Focus or Clio or Nissan Note etc. Not a Daewoo clone - just look at Autotrader to see nearly new Daewoo Lacetti's (and assorted odd metal) trading at peanuts compared to the more mainstream offerings. There's a reason for this, people don't want them unless they are DIRT cheap - thats why.

Luddite....makes a change from being referred to by my peers as a gadget freak. But I was in earnest about that NCAP rating. I've bought lots of new cars over the years and IMO family cars live and die (no pun) by their NCAP rating.

@Al Taylor

Thanks Al for the clarifications! I can sleep easier now.