"The first Chinese exports of cars produced by a leading manufacturer arrived in Europe yesterday when 150 Honda Jazz vehicles were unloaded in Ghent."
"The left-hand drive sports utility vehicles will now travel from Belgium to Germany, where they will be sold largely through local dealerships. The plan is to expand exports to other countries on the Continent. However, Honda, which has a factory in Swindon, has no immediate plans to export cars from China to Britain. "
"The Japanese carmaker, which has a factory in Southern China devoted to exports, plans to ship 10,000 cars from China within a year. This will be scaled up to 50,000 a year — the capacity of the plant in Guangzhou."
"Smaller Chinese carmakers have begun small shipments of cars to the Continent but Honda’s move is the first by a household name. It is estimated that Chinese-produced cars could capture up to 10 per cent of the European market by 2020."
"China’s labour costs can be as little as a tenth of those in Western Europe."
Source: Christine Buckley
July 28, 2005
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