Gas guzzlers a hit in China

[chi town brat]

I see so much dark humor in this article it is sickening. Maybe you can see it to. Americans are capitalists’ through and through.

Read this article with this thought in mind, China is a "part" of the reason for the increase demand for oil which has in turn raised the prices of petroleum products here in U.S. Well guess what we just found a new way to add to increase their oil demand by supplying them with these gas guzzlers and making them the new pimped out nation...

To be fair the article does go on to state that the Chinese are willing to pay higher prices for hybrid vehicles as they become available. And GM and others (German and Japanese) companies are jumping in on the bandwagon to increase their sales and will also provide large hybrid vehicles to that market as well.

Gas-guzzlers-a-hit-in-China-where-car-sales-are-booming- Yahoo! Autos Article Page

Gas guzzlers a hit in China, where car sales are booming

BEIJING - High, wide and fuel-hungry, the gleaming black Cadillac Escalade on display at the Beijing auto show is an unlikely car for an era of record oil prices.

But while sport utility vehicle sales in the U.S. are tumbling, automakers are finding that for China's newly prosperous car buyers, bigger is still better.

So General Motors Corp. has made the Escalade a star of its auto-show display and is eager to get it on the market here.

"If you look at the fastest-growing market segments in China, there are two — SUVs and luxury cars," said Joseph Y.H. Liu, GM China's vice president for sales and marketing.

Auto sales in China are booming, with analysts and automakers forecasting growth at 15-20 percent this year. But demand for the biggest vehicles is even stronger, with sales of luxury cars and SUVs expected to surge by 40-45 percent.

The phenomenon is welcome news for automakers seeing little or no growth in the United States, Europe and Japan. They also make fatter profits from sales of high-end vehicles than from economy models.

Sales have been boosted by economic growth that has topped 10 percent for five straight years and a surge in real estate and stock prices that created a new crop of Chinese billionaires.

Buyers of land yachts have also been unintended beneficiaries of a government policy meant to help the poor. Beijing has tried to shield farmers and the urban poor from high oil prices by freezing pump prices for gasoline and diesel, keeping them among the world's lowest. That takes the sting out of filling up a gas guzzler. <-- the government even supports this and our government puts on a dog and pony show yearly after the profits from the major oil companies are posted

Gas costs 5.34 yuan (76 cents) a liter or 20.5 yuan ($2.90) a gallon. State oil companies are barred from passing on rising crude costs to consumers, instead covering their losses out of profits from their drilling units.

Both foreign and Chinese automakers are using the Beijing show to highlight luxury sedans, muscle cars and SUVs. It opens to the public Thursday after a weekend press preview.

*continued at Yahoo!

[redcoats1976]

lovely...while some of us are finally getting smart the rest of the world is getting dumber.only upside to this is the land i own 15 miles from the beach may be beachfront in my grandchildrens lifetime...

[Superluminal]

lovely...while some of us are finally getting smart the rest of the world is getting dumber.only upside to this is the land i own 15 miles from the beach may be beachfront in my grandchildrens lifetime...

Well, we've had a pretty good economy for most of the 20th century and into the 21st. Some of these 3rd world countries are just now getting on their feet. Is it fair to say that about them, when we did the same thing during our industrial revolution?

Sure it's a problem, but they are not going to change their rules and regulations to our point of view to augment their booming economy, when ours is in a slump now.

[Hater]

Well, we've had a pretty good economy for most of the 20th century and into the 21st. Some of these 3rd world countries are just now getting on their feet. Is it fair to say that about them, when we did the same thing during our industrial revolution?

Sure it's a problem, but they are not going to change their rules and regulations to our point of view to augment their booming economy, when ours is in a slump now.

Your not implying that china was a thrid world country, right? That would just be stupid.

[Superluminal]

Your not implying that china was a thrid world country, right? That would just be stupid.

I was generalizing the point.

[Dano Moparo]

Wow , you guys still buying into that bullshit that everything wrong in the world is America fault?

[redcoats1976]

not saying they should...is it right for G.M. to foist off on them what they are having a hard time selling here?

[BlackWind]

i wonder if they believe in "gwobal waaming...

[John]

Wow , you guys still buying into that bullshit that everything wrong in the world is America fault?

no, not everything wrong in the world is America's fault. Everything wrong in America is America's fault. Its time that we all started buying into that philosophy.

[Superluminal]

Wow , you guys still buying into that bullshit that everything wrong in the world is America fault?

Did you read my post?

[BOB]

Is it really a shock that as people have more disposable income in their lives they tend to want more luxurious items?

[K-Train]

*is glad his car isn't fat*

[perdition79]

At China's rate of economic growth, they will face fuel rationing before we do; the resultant hit to their transport infrastructure would make their economy falter. The Chinese should be encouraged to buy as many huge SUV's as they can afford; make them collapse before we do.

[Dano Moparo]

Did you read my post?

Yes, did I quote you or something?

[Miata GT]

lovely...while some of us are finally getting smart the rest of the world is getting dumber.only upside to this is the land i own 15 miles from the beach may be beachfront in my grandchildrens lifetime...

Not to pick on you personally but no one is 'getting smart.' American dumbasses bought Escalades to impress others otherwise they would have bought an Avalanche or a Tahoe for the same utility. Why should the Chinese be any different? A couple of years ago when the last gas crunch hit dealers could hardly give SUV's away. Once gas prices went down the SUV sales went back up.

There was no 'getting smart.'