Archive for the ‘Chinese’ Category

We're not entirely sure that this Chinese print ad for the Volkswagen GTI is for real -- and if it is, we're even less sure what it might be saying. The copy along the bottom translates as "It will go fast". That could mean "It will go so fast that you'll spill all that hot, delicious coffee from McDonald's right in your lap". Or it could mean, "Yes, the GTI will go fast, but not fast enough to get to that rest area in time". Either way, something's gotten lost on the road to translation. [Copyranter]

A week ago, Bengt Halvorson mentioned the federal government's plan to impose a 35% tariff on tires imported from China. In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, China has now begun laying the groundwork for retaliation: according to the AP, the Chinese government "is carrying out a probe of some imports of American-made autos", allegedly at the request of unnamed Chinese automakers. We don't know the focus of the investigation just yet, but would anyone be shocked if it resulted in new taxes on vehicles imported to China from the U.S.? [BusinessInsider]

Just when you think the auto world is ending in an onslaught of grim grey Korean econoboxes ... life gets better. And sometimes you just can't make this [stuff] up.

Take last Friday's little news item from WardsAuto, for example. A Russian company that was supposed to assemble copies of a Japanese Toyota from Chinese kits has instead been building and selling the little Tiggos itself. Oh, the horror.

We can do no better than to excerpt the salient points of a few sentences that lay out the dastardly deed:

"It has come to our attention that...entities in Russia have been assembling and/or distributing Tiggo vehicles without our...