Ford's China partner planning to sell in U.S. in 2020
Ford Motor Co.'s newest Chinese partner, Zotye Automobile, is preparing to launch at least two SUVs in the Blue Oval's backyard.
The relatively small Chinese automaker Zotye Automobile International Co. is partnering with California-based HAAH Automotive Holdings to look beyond its home market and form a new sales distribution company in the United States known as Zotye USA (pronounced ZOH-tay) — a tie-up that would sell direct competitors to some of Ford's most lucrative SUVs.
"We're facing a new reality where the Chinese domestic market is slowing for the first time in recent memory," said Michael Dunne, CEO of Hong Kong-based ZoZo Go, a firm that advises automakers on the Chinese market. "Now that things have gone soft, automakers are finding themselves in a situation where they have to export and find new markets. Zotye is possibly the first, but they won't be the last."
Also at MarketWatch and CNET.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Thursday November 15 2018, @05:20PM (1 child)
Chinese companies are perfectly able to produce to any price/quality point that any other country in the world can. What most people have experience with is cheap crap from walmazbay designed to be built for pennies.
(Score: 2) by The Shire on Thursday November 15 2018, @06:40PM
This is actually not the case because the basic mass produced materials like steel and plastics are sub quality, and that's driven entirely by price. And even if they found a way to build at a high quality they would be unable to make it attractive to US buyers due to both reputation and the expense of export and tarrifs.
The auto industry has a lot of competition and I just can't see anyone buying a car in the US from China. My guess is Ford will start putting chinese engines and other components into their own cars instead. This will be as big a hit as when they put Fiat engines into Jeeps.