Chinese cars ‘have head start over Koreans’

THE one-time “father of Korean brands” in Australia, Ric Hull, says Chinese cars are much better developed and ready to sell in Western markets than Korean brands were when they first entered the Australian market.

Mr Hull, who has been responsible for driving the success of three Korean brands in Australia – Hyundai, Daewoo and Kia – said Chinese cars were probably 10 years more advanced than Hyundai vehicles at the same stage of entering the market.

“And the Chinese will cover the distance of the journey that Hyundai took at three times the speed,” he said.

These days, Mr Hull is managing director of Ateco Automotive, importer of Australia's first Chinese-made vehicles, from Great Wall Motors, and - from later this year - Chery.

He said he thought Chinese car-makers would catch Korean and Japanese manufacturers in a vastly compressed time frame because the massive volume base in China would allow them to recover investment in new technology and quality much faster than any other market in the world.

“Firstly, China is now the largest market in the world by a considerable margin. They did 13.6 million vehicles last year and they make roughly what they sell. Imports and exports are relatively modest and they generally balance each other.

“This year in the first quarter they have made and sold about 4.6 million vehicles so they are 72 per cent up again on last year and heading for making and selling 18 million cars, maybe 20 million cars this year which is better than it ever got in North America in their best years.

“Secondly, the Chinese car-makers have had the benefit of technology transfer from the world’s major car-makers.

“They are further ahead of where the Koreans were because there are 47 car-makers in China and they are involved in joint ventures with every major car maker in the world.

“So all of the major marques are represented in China. Every major component producer in the world is represented in China. So in terms of world-leading technology being available within the country, it is absolutely unlimited.”

He said companies like Hyundai has some technology arrangements with other car makers but spent many years developing their own in-house technology.

“Most of what they did was home grown. In China by comparison they have unlimited access to worldwide technology.”

Mr Hull added that the Australian public did not seem to be demonstrating any shyness about buying Chinese vehicles.

“We have been delighted with the acceptance of Great Wall. We could not have hoped for better sales levels and the dealer reaction has been quite astonishing.

“We are well above our expectations. Considerably above. We are of the order of 10 to 15 per cent ahead of where we though we would be at this point.

“I have always though that the Chinese brands might be easier for Australians to accept than the Koreans when they were new (to the market) because so much of what we buy and use on a daily basis is already made in China and it is all pretty good (quality).

“I know that people in the car industry see major complexities when you are comparing motor cars with electric drills but I think that is less of a problem with the public at large.”