Houston Partners to Bring Chinese Vehicles to Texas
Four Houston partners will be exclusive dealers for two major manufacturers of Chinese cars for the entire state of Texas, with the first dealership scheduled to open in the city this summer.
The manufacturers and dealers are hoping Americans will embrace these new import brands like they did the Toyota -- as opposed to, say, the Yugo, a Yugoslavian import that came to the United States in 1985 with high hopes but flopped so badly it became the butt of jokes.
Cars will sell in the range of $7,000 to $11,000.
Their names are Solo, Deer, Leopard, Safe and Sing, and thousands of them are on a boat headed this way.
U.S. car buyers will soon have a new option: very-low-priced Chinese cars, trucks and SUVs.
Four Houston partners will be exclusive dealers for two major manufacturers of Chinese cars for the entire state of Texas, with the first dealership scheduled to open in the city this summer.
China Motors of Texas will import automobiles made by Geely and trucks and SUVs made by Great Wall, China’s leading manufacturer of such vehicles.
Cars will sell in the range of $7,000 to $11,000.
The manufacturers and dealers are hoping Americans will embrace these new import brands like they did the Toyota -- as opposed to, say, the Yugo, a Yugoslavian import that came to the United States in 1985 with high hopes but flopped so badly it became the butt of jokes.
Auto industry observers say that any consumer love affair with these Chinese products will not develop overnight, no matter how good the vehicles are.
But Ken Rams, CEO of China Motors of Texas, is optimistic.
"We feel the timing is perfect for this," he said.
"Most of the other manufacturers have abandoned the low, entry level of the price market," said Rams, noting: "Chinese car makers are committed to becoming a world force."
Geely and Great Wall are privately owned companies in mainland China.
There will be 24 other China Motors dealers in 13 states.
Rams gave some speculation on pricing. The Geely sports sedan, called Solo, will cost $10,888 fully equipped with leather seats, power windows, a remote control entry system, CD player and wood trim. A fully-equipped Solo sedan is $8,888.
Some pickup trucks sell for $7,900, and subcompacts cost $6,900. The prices for the SUVs have not been announced.
Geely offers 3-cylinder and 4-cylinder engines, made in China, as well as a V-6.
Like a charming immigrant still learning the culture, the Web site for Geely USA offers some delightful car descriptions.
For example, it notes that the Solo gives its drivers a special feeling, "making you relaxed and happy. Uneasy no! Lost, no! Fashionable life, and fashionable car!"
As for the Geely sports car, the Leopard: "The infinite vital force and the excellent driving feeling heats up your endless enthusiasm in your blood vessels."
Geely’s U.S. operation is so new that the English version of the company’s Web site still identifies the cars by their Chinese names: The Leopard is called the "Beauty Leopard," and the Solo goes by "Merrie" and "Haoging."
How enthusiastic will Americans be for these Chinese vehicles?
"There have been many successful foreign car arrivals in the U.S., but we also remember the Yugo," said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association.
The ability to inspire confidence in the durability of the vehicle and the availability of service networks are the keys to winning acceptance among American consumers, Taylor said.
"The Koreans (Kia and Hyundai) dealt with it by giving very long-term warranties and low pricing," he said.
Low-priced Korean vehicles like Kia and Hyundai compete mostly with used cars, Taylor noted.
China Motors vehicles should appeal to consumers who want a new car and warranty at "a low, low price," said Brian Moody, road-test editor at Edmunds.com, a Web site for car buyers and sellers.
The Chinese vehicles won’t be competing with Japanese products because manufacturers like Toyota and Honda have moved up-market: "The Civic and Corolla were once bargain-basement priced, but they’re not cheap anymore," Moody said.
"Now it’s Kias, Hyundais and the Dodge Neon that are among the very inexpensive products. That should be where the turf war is with the Chinese cars."
Winning over car buyers will be an uphill battle for China Motors, Moody said.
Their vehicles may be first-rate, he said, but they’ll be entering a U.S. market where they’re unproven, and car buying is greatly based on reputation.
"Just ask people at Kia. The Kia Optima is a great value," Moody said, "but the public’s perception of the car lags far behind the actual quality of the product."
China Motors cars and trucks are made in China at new plants using state of the art technology, Rams said.
All vehicles come with a free 36-month or 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. For $495 the buyer can get 36 more months, Rams said.
China Motors will have a service department, and any auto shop that repairs Japanese cars will be able to fix Chinese vehicles, said China Motors partner Ted Jonick.
After opening the Houston dealership, most likely near The Woodlands, the partners plan to open a San Antonio operation, followed by the simultaneous openings of two more Houston dealerships and one Dallas showroom.
Rams is a 42-year veteran of the car business. His Ford and Dodge dealerships were in California and Michigan.
In 1985, he gave up cars for greeting card distribution and consulting.
Over the past few years he’d been wanting to get back into the auto trade but said he could not find anything that had significant potential.
Through the Internet he learned that Geely and Great Wall were headed this way, and he contacted the distributor.
His other two partners are Randy Fernandez and Bill Kesler.
David Shelburg, 75, is an executive the North American division of China Motors, based in Phoenix. His son David Shelburg Jr. is president of the company.
The elder Shelburg was previously a dealer for American Motors, and going back much further, the Kaiser. He also helped bring the Subaru to the United States.
Shelburg has visited the Great Wall and Geely factories, and he noted that at the plants, only women do fitting and finishing work on interiors because in China, he said, it is believed that women are more precise than men.
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