Chinese cars in USA, GM cars in China (#25; Topic B)

USA Today carries a half-page story on "First Chinese model bursts on scene in Detroit" in its 1/12/06 issue, complete with a photo of a compact sedan on display at the Detroit Auto Show, now in progress. The car, Geely (which, in Chinese, means Good Fortune [my translation]), seems to be able to meet safety and anti-pollution regulatons "more quickly than anticipated," according to John Harmer, COO of Geely-USA; he plans to ship the first 2,000 Geely cars to Puerto Rico next year. The story continues by saying that "Chinese vehicles will be a threat to established U.S. auto sellers because vehicles from China are likely to be cheaper than those from Europe, Japan, or North America." However, a couple of days ago, I read that the sale of GM cars in China increased by 25% (over 2004), and that, in so doing, GM has replaced VW as the most popular auto manufacturer in China. Indeed, as a result of this piece of good news, the price of GM stock was up by $1.61 on Monday, 1/9/06, and helped the Dow Jones industrial average (of which GM is one of 30 components) to close above 11,000 for the first time since June 2001. So, it seems to be a win-win situation on both sides of the Pacific.
Posted at 11:00 pm, Thursday, January 12, 2006