Re: A8 everywhere but US?

[ti@bazooka.amb.org (Ti Kan)]

Psychos 'R Us writes:
> > > Of other interest was the numerous Audi 100's in Beijing. But then
> > > the local people we were working with indicated that there is a plant
> > > located near Beijing and one can actually find "knock-off" Audi's on
> > > the road. Gee, I wonder what's under the sheet metal.
> > > 
> > Several months ago I read about Chinese knock-offs of Jeep Grand 
> > Wagoneers.  Supposedly they're pieces of junk underneath the 
> > sheetmetal.  Can you imagine living with such slack trademark laws?  
> > It seems awfully bizarre to me.

The Audis in China are legit.  Audi operates a plant in China
and produces Audi 100s and some 200s (previous generation body)
for consumption within China (mostly to government officials, etc.)
as well as for export to some Asian countries.

I will not speculate about the quality of the China-produced Audis,
but they are not knock-offs.

Similarly, Volkswagen has a plant in China that produces VW Santanas
(aka old Passat/Quantum), and possibly other models too.

> Quite common. There's a mfr named Yue Loong, they've been making clones 
> of Nissan, Toyota, and Honda for loooong time. Supposedly these are under 
> license, but I think it's more like 50-50 (50% are licensed, other 50% 
> are not). Of couse, no tech support or quality gurantee...

You are confusing countries.  Yue Loong is based in Taiwan, not China.
Yue Loong had traditionally been producing Nissan clones with license
from Nissan.  In recent years they have designed their own car models
but none of them were ever exported.  They have not made any Toyota
or Honda clones.  Tech support or quality guarantee?  Sure, if you
live in Taiwan and bought the car from an authorized dealer, you get
all that.  Note that this is not at all different from the situation
with the Korean car makers (Hyundai, Daewoo, Kia).  The only difference
is that the Korean cars are now being exported to many countries
worldwide.

-Ti
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