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Post by tigeruk on Aug 23, 2004 19:18:10 GMT -5
Nope...that's the production version of the Hafei Saibao. If you look carefully, you'll actually see it looks a lot like the last-generation Honda Civic sedan. Still, the Chinese are coming up fast. There's a rumor in today's AutoNews that Shanghai Automotive is in talks to buy all or part of MG Rover--which would give them a distribution network both in Europe and North America (MG sells in Mexico) to distribute cars under, not to mention a respected nameplate. Buying MG-Rover won't get them very far, a pre second world war factory and a dealer network thats very small, Hyundai sell 3 times the cars in europe that MG-Rover do and even outsold MG-Rover in the UK a few months ago. They sell so few cars that the dealers are giving up in droves, MG-ROVER directors are buying dealerships themselves to keep the network in some areas. As for a respected name plate, its the least respected car brand after Lada. They only have one good model the 75(A BMW financed car) all the others are 10 years old and have terrible reliability.
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Post by Brian Gluckman on Aug 23, 2004 20:37:00 GMT -5
Hmmm..... I think I would have to disagree on one thing. MG-ROVER cars, I believe, as you say, do not DESERVE a good reputation, although I still think that to quite an extent they have a good one.
Their cars aren't great, but still, it wouldn't be a bad name to sell cars under.
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Post by tigeruk on Aug 23, 2004 21:33:34 GMT -5
Hmmm..... I think I would have to disagree on one thing. MG-ROVER cars, I believe, as you say, do not DESERVE a good reputation, although I still think that to quite an extent they have a good one. Their cars aren't great, but still, it wouldn't be a bad name to sell cars under. They are a national joke at the moment, bringing out their latest car (City Rover) which is made in india by Tata, its vastly over priced & its quality (in fact everything about it) is dreadful. The BBC motoring program 'Top Gear' never fails to include a few jokes every week about Rover. Sales were down 48% in June in a growing market !
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Post by davidleeis14 on Oct 12, 2004 14:15:59 GMT -5
Hyundai should worry. Daewoo is changing its name to Chevorlet in the UK. There new model line up looks exciting and may deter Hyundai buyers to buy Daewoo. There new 4x4 looks nice and I am ashamed to say it.
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Post by davidleeis14 on Oct 12, 2004 14:16:12 GMT -5
Hyundai should worry. Daewoo is changing its name to Chevorlet in the UK. There new model line up looks exciting and may deter Hyundai buyers to buy Daewoo. There new 4x4 looks nice and I am ashamed to say it.
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Post by Brian Gluckman on Oct 12, 2004 14:51:51 GMT -5
"and I'm ashamed to say it" ...you should be
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Post by bgluckman on Oct 12, 2004 20:00:30 GMT -5
Why should he be ashamed to say he likes the looks of the new Daewoo/Chevrolet SUV? After all, it looks just a rip-off BMW X3. ;D
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Post by davidleeis14 on Oct 13, 2004 10:03:53 GMT -5
I think the BMW X3 looks horrible, it looks like somebody has sat on it, same with the one series.
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Post by Sonata on Oct 13, 2004 14:52:59 GMT -5
ever since Bangle's mangle, BMW's have never been the same...
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Post by hjr on Feb 8, 2005 1:02:46 GMT -5
OK. I finally drove one of these "Suzuki/Daewoo/GM" cars before Christmas. I drove the Suzuki reno(forgot what Daewoo used to call this small car, about size of an Accent). Good: Good looking, except for the "1997 Ford Escort" looking front end. Handled fairly well on back roads(got to drive by myself for 20 minutes). Useful design: 5 door hatches(that do NOT look like a "wagon") are great. Inerior was not too bad.
Bad: Low HP(with automatic=lack of take off power and NVH when flooring it , to get the thing to 0-60 in 10 seconds!). msrp: Uhhh, a bit high, considering that it came form the same country as Hyundai and Kia, and for 17K msrp(about that for a loaded model) you could get a Sonata, or an Optima or Tiburon(3 door hatch, another good design/useful). \If they would do 3 or 4 things: 1) Boost HP to at least 135HP(vs 126) that may take a second or so off 0-60? May also help with the loud engine noise when trying to accelerate? 2) Lower MSRP say about 1,000 dollars, at least, to be more competetive with Scion/ HyundaiKia. 3) Slightly better interior materials would not hurt Suzuki's image. 4) Better dealerships: the one I went to had maybe 25 vehciles on it, and 3 in the showroom...it was about the size of a "large" used-car lot! They had 2 reno's, a few Aerio Sedans, one or two of the other Daewoo cars, and the rest were SUV's. I had actually went to Two dealerships, and one had No Reno's on the lot(it Shared a bldg that sold Mobile Homes in one section, and about 15 Suzuki's, the other bldg sold Buicks, and another Pontiac stuff). I have NEVER seen such a group of small- New Car- Dealerships. I liked the reno enough that if they had one loaded say with a rebate and bargaining it down to say Under 15K, I might have considered one. It seems nicer than the Scion xA.
Anyhow, I read on detnews.com( think it was detnews.. I read about 5 sites a day, minimum) that GM said GM-DAT will bring out 5(?) new models in 15 months ( for Europe) then to USA, I guess, shortly there after? Maybe they'll rework the reno by another 18 months, as a "refreshened" model?
Sorry to digress. HyundaiKia ain't in dire straights with the way the cars from GM/Daewoo/Suzuki are as of now.
Maybe with that "fit/Jazz" from Honda coming here foir 10-12K loaded(Accent sized?)... for 06, that might give Hyunka a tiny bit to worry about.
Any way ya look at it, in the next few years, smaller cars, designed to be acceptable, for a "cheap" price, are coming back, and we, the consumers, will all win! More choices(and ya know HyundaiKia will NOT rest on their laurels with Nissa/Scion/Honda trying to "out-do" HyundaiKia , or GM-DAT trying, also).
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