[KharbandaKartik]

Originally Posted by Ovais

So, the final thoughts. The build-quality of the car gives a reasonably premium feel overall but there are some design cues that could’ve wouldn’t mind a daily driven vehicle which is this quite and smooth, yet it packs a punch if you need to flex.

You've introduced me to a new brand of automobiles, which I never knew existed.

Great pictures and well written.

Please keep sharing!

[vredesbyrd]

OT:

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

There were a generous sprinkling of European and Japanese cars

Especially that black Vellfire-esque MPV. That front grill looks like what BMW have in mind, few years down the road.

But if I am being really honest, as a sedan, Chasing Light looks stunning. Replace the electric drivetrain by a no-nonsense V6 petrol and I will fall head-over-heels for this thing.

[GKR9900]

Great effort by the OP in familiarising us with these cars from an alien land. I never knew such brands existed. Thank you Ovais!

About 10-15 years ago, while taking a stride through some of the busy city centers, one could spot these cheap Chinese phones that had almost everything that mainstream mobile companies of those years provided, at half the price. Sure, their OS was terrible, and they never lasted as much, but they were really intriguing. Fast forward a few years and now we have big names like OnePlus, Realme, Oppo etc providing quality smartphones at affordable prices, some even nudging flagships. I see a similar landscape evolving in the automotive sector. Heck! I just converted the price of this Voyah into INR and it's almost 45L. That's tremendous VFM for something that does 0-60 in sub 4 seconds. And with all those cool and gimmicky features, it's a steal! Simultaneously, I couldn't help comparing our Indian stalwarts Tata and Mahindra with these Chinese companies and how they have revamped their models and grown over the past few years.

Ovais my friend, you have provided a first person perspective of an exciting automobile market that ordinary people like myself might never come across. Thanks again!

[Ovais]

Thank you very much everyone for appreciating my efforts Being an automobile enthusiast myself, after coming to China, every other day, I find something that I believe would be interesting for fellow enthusiasts as well, therefore, after filtering through a lot of stuff and only picking out the most interesting of vehicles, I share them here. As this is an automobile forum, and one of the largest ones with a lot of following, the intent here is to share with the brethren, vehicles that we normally don't get to hear about. I for one, did not know about a lot of these vehicles before coming to China, even though I quite actively follow the automobile sector and my view about them has drastically changed, seeing the current offerings.

Originally Posted by bijims

Yes, I agree with you, here in Muscat too, Chinese cars have begun becoming best sellers with Changan, MG, and the like bringing in good numbers. Their cars look good, have all the necessary features, and are cheap as well. Definitely value for money! A few years ago, nobody would even consider them, now they are welcomed and are a regular sight on the roads. If the conditions in India weren't so prohibitive, MG and BYD would have been instant successes were they able to bring their best portfolio to India. they could have been able to produce Value for money cars that the competition couldn't even dream of, but the restrictions of the government curtailing Chinese investments and the like have curtailed their growth to a major extent. Moreover, the anti-China sentiment is also not in their favor.

P.S. I am not supportive of the Chinese manufacturers nor am I against the government's policies.

Agreed. Value for money is definitely one of the most notable features of these vehicles. I think the anti-China sentiment is also gradually shifting, it may take a lot more time to accept this, but I guess these manufacturers are here to stay.

Originally Posted by GTO

1. On Team-BHP, we usually prefer it this way = if you don't have anything nice to say about an OP's efforts, better not to say anything at all .

2. Many of us closely follow the global car scene and like to stay abreast of developments. China is the global king of EVs today. Threads & Previews such as these tell us what's hot, what's not and a lot about the local car scene there.

3. If the thread doesn't interest you, there are about 200,000 other discussions on Team-BHP that you can browse .

@ Ovais: beautiful report. Thank you for sharing! We will add it to our homepage in the coming days.

Thank you very much for the appreciation!

Originally Posted by puntra800

Chinese have upped their game in manufacturing ,I am not sure about the mechanicals of this car but clearly they have aced the software and electronics in this car. What does not work for the Chinese manufacturers are the pre conceived notion that "Chinese Maal" is not good when investing on expensive products. I believe it holds good even in phones as well, the Chinese manufacturers do make decent phones but they are yet to crack the premium end of the market since people hesitate to spend on them and same holds good for the cars as well, had the Hector or the Gloster in India been priced say around the 15Lakh on Road it would have sold like hot cakes and people would have even gloated about their cars as well like how people gloat over the features in Korean twins(I doubt people use even 50% of those features).

I agree, the notion about the Chinese Maal does interfere with accepting these vehicles at first. But looking at how a major portion of all devices and merchandise are now being manufactured in China, they must be doing something right. However, while there is good quality stuff coming out of China, there still is a portion that produces substandard goods and the same can be seen in the automobile sector as well. This portion however is not huge now as far as I've seen, compared to even 5 years ago.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

GTO, Thank you. You spoke my heart. Very well put. Last night when I saw this thread, I gave myself a mental note to pen down exactly such a post in the AM only to find you said it better. It needed to be said. Prejudice is not to be encouraged.

All,

Whether we like the Chinese or not they are roaring ahead in every respect in car design and manufacture. They are already leading in EVs in some respects. It is only a matter of time when some lead designs pioneer in China rather than in the West. Only a matter of time. The whole EV scene will upend a lot of accepted positions, hierarchies, listings and notions of what is good and what is great.

Very nicely put. That is true, the dynamics are changing very fast. It is quite like when the Japanese started manufacturing vehicles and it was a sudden shift towards them with of course a huge portion of the population still not completely accepting them, and today, they can be considered as one of the leaders in the automobile industry. Today however, the competition is a lot tougher, with all players having access to and developing newer, more efficient forms of technology. We can only watch and see how it all unfolds.

Originally Posted by JojyKerala

Thank you for the excellent write-up, Ovais.

I've never heard of VOYAH or Dongfeng before but your article shows the strides some Chinese brands have made in the automotive sector. Looks like this vehicle is packed with some impressive features, including the extra screen at the bottom to control air conditioning.

Looking forward to more of your write-ups. And I've subscribed to Funcari as well.

Thank you so much for the appreciation and subscribing to Funcari I will soon have more to share.

Originally Posted by the_real_slager

Beautifully written and well detailed. I have always been curious about the auto scene in China and your writings give a first hand view of it.

Appreciate your effort and please keep sharing more about your experiences, automotive or otherwise from there.

Regards,
Kiron

Thank you so much for the appreciation! I will continue to share more

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

Correct. I was in Shanghai a few weeks ago. This was after 8 yrs. back in 2015, I was finding my amusement spotting 'Copy-Cars' of which there were plenty.

This time around, I was in awe of the strides they have made to move away from the copy-car segment. Truth be told, I was in Shanghai and most of the copy-car market has moved away from the big cities.

There were a generous sprinkling of European and Japanese cars but more importantly, sharing the same space on the roads, were several Chinese cars which, I must admit, have started to look attractive. Squint and one can always find quirks here and there but all-in-all, they are getting there in the Big leagues.



Trust me, there are more new car companies sprouting up in China than we can keep a track of. by the way, these are words of my Chinese friends who I hung around with during my trip.

That is completely accurate. I have also seen that the copycat manufacturers have moved away from the bigger cities. I've been in Wuhan for a few months now and I've hardly seen any of them here. The only vehicle I remember seeing is the Landwind X7 which is a copy of the Range Rover Evoque.

Originally Posted by KharbandaKartik

You've introduced me to a new brand of automobiles, which I never knew existed.

Great pictures and well written.

Please keep sharing!

Thank you very much for the appreciation!

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

OT:


Especially that black Vellfire-esque MPV. That front grill looks like what BMW have in mind, few years down the road.

But if I am being really honest, as a sedan, Chasing Light looks stunning. Replace the electric drivetrain by a no-nonsense V6 petrol and I will fall head-over-heels for this thing.

That MPV is the Voyah Dreamer, I will share more about it soon as well. Quite a well-built MPV I would say and while I'm not a fan of what BMW and Lexus have started doing to their grilles, this doesn't look as bad in real life as I imagined.

I am also a die-hard petrol engine fan as well and the engine sound and feel matters a lot! I have been racing in the Desert with a 2JZ-GTE powered BJ60 Rally Vehicle and the engine sound is one of my favorite things and I have started believing in electric cars after experiencing them

Originally Posted by GKR9900

Great effort by the OP in familiarising us with these cars from an alien land. I never knew such brands existed. Thank you Ovais!

About 10-15 years ago, while taking a stride through some of the busy city centers, one could spot these cheap Chinese phones that had almost everything that mainstream mobile companies of those years provided, at half the price. Sure, their OS was terrible, and they never lasted as much, but they were really intriguing. Fast forward a few years and now we have big names like OnePlus, Realme, Oppo etc providing quality smartphones at affordable prices, some even nudging flagships. I see a similar landscape evolving in the automotive sector. Heck! I just converted the price of this Voyah into INR and it's almost 45L. That's tremendous VFM for something that does 0-60 in sub 4 seconds. And with all those cool and gimmicky features, it's a steal! Simultaneously, I couldn't help comparing our Indian stalwarts Tata and Mahindra with these Chinese companies and how they have revamped their models and grown over the past few years.

Ovais my friend, you have provided a first person perspective of an exciting automobile market that ordinary people like myself might never come across. Thanks again!

Thank you so much for the appreciation! The appreciation helps keep me wanting to come back to share more of what I experience. Yes, the price point is one of the most notable features of these vehicles. And I agree with the earlier mobile phone producers, a friend bought a very early rendition of a resistive touch screen Chinese phone some 15 years back and compared to a nokia of the time, it was a joke. Today however, most of the phones are manufactured in China, with some of their own brands in the top ten manufacturers with amazing phones. I guess in the years to come, the same may be true in the automobile sector as well, as can be seen in some of the markets that they have already penetrated into.

[14000rpm]

Since we've anyway gone sideways in this thread and are now discussing Chinese cars in general, might as well add pix of the BYD cars I saw today in a neighborhood mall.

They look and feel quite good. Choice of materials for the interiors are good too. The Tang is a 7 seater BEV the size of a KIA Sorento and is being sold for the same price as a PHEV KIA Sorento. All similar sized BEV SUVs are currently only 5 seaters and priced way higher. The Tang is really in a niche and priced quite well.











Didn't get to see the HAN up close but price-wise seems a tad high but very attractive in relation to the Model S with which it is most comparable.





@mods: please feel free to move this post elsewhere if needed.

[Ovais]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

Since we've anyway gone sideways in this thread and are now discussing Chinese cars in general, might as well add pix of the BYD cars I saw today in a neighborhood mall.

They look and feel quite good. Choice of materials for the interiors are good too. The Tang is a 7 seater BEV the size of a KIA Sorento and is being sold for the same price as a PHEV KIA Sorento. All similar sized BEV SUVs are currently only 5 seaters and priced way higher. The Tang is really in a niche and priced quite well.



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Didn't get to see the HAN up close but price-wise seems a tad high but very attractive in relation to the Model S with which it is most comparable.

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@mods: please feel free to move this post

elsewhere if needed.

Both of these vehicles are quite commonly seen on the roads in China and I really like them. The front is inspired quite a bit by Audi but generally they are very nice vehicles. I've had the chance to ride a Tang and the drive felt quite good. It was well-insulated and the material used on the interior felt quite premium. And I agree, the Han looks more impressive than the model S because there are so many Teslas on the road, they have become a little monotonous. One thing they could improve with the Han is the wheel size and the size of the arches. They are a little small for the overall vehicle.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by GTO

1. On Team-BHP, we usually prefer it this way = if you don't have anything nice to say about an OP's efforts, better not to say anything at all .
2. Many of us closely follow the global car scene and like to stay abreast of developments. China is the global king of EVs today. Threads & Previews such as these tell us what's hot, what's not and a lot about the local car scene there.
3. If the thread doesn't interest you, there are about 200,000 other discussions on Team-BHP that you can browse .
@ Ovais: beautiful report. Thank you for sharing! We will add it to our homepage in the coming days.

Got reminded of this thread of a year ago after spotting GTO's post in the 'This Day Last Year' section of the 'Most Thanked Posts'.

Several of us, me included, with good reason, harbour some antipathy towards the Chinese, for geo-political reasons. But the way I see it in 10 year's time some of the best cars will be coming out of China's stables and who knows in after sales service they will go the way of the Japanese and Koreans and not the less than desirable way of the Germans and the French. Just going through this thread once again a year later reminded me of the quality the Chinese now deliver on especially in their higher end vehicles.

It is a shame, IMHO, that after 20 to 25 years in India VW Group and to a lesser extent the Mercedes Benz cannot deliver reliable cars and top notch ASS to their customers in a repeatable and reliable way. What a pity. Just think what it reflects about their leadership and top down attitudes. Makers such as Renault and Citroen cannot find their way around a brown paper bag in the world 4th largest auto market because in my prejudiced opinion their attitudes and headset towards India is literally spinning wheels in 1974.

Where Chinese cars in India go, I believe they should be encouraged to set up factories here, invest in the whole 9-yeards of EV infrastructure and build the battery manufacture capability. The Chinese EV makers and Tesla are the only ones with the muscle and risk taking ability to do this. So long as a car is built in India, so long as that factory creates jobs for Indians and pays taxes in India and adds to our GDP the nationality of the logo should not be something our Govt gets its knickers in a knot. That is exactly the pragmatic approach the Chinese took towards the West from 1979 to circa 2015.

Making Chinese car makers such as MG cut their stake in their investment in India has very little political impact, other than publicity, when China is our largest trading partner in FY2023-24 at US$ 118 bn and most of our industries are dependent on imports from China. Actions like these while triggered by incidents on the border send a wrong message to all FDI investors of the fickleness and fragility of our policies. Businesses hate uncertainty of policy. No wonder our FDI inflows as a percentage of GDP (1.46%)* in FY2023-24 is the lowest since 2005 barring 2012. In 19 years, our attractiveness as an investment destination remains where it was in 2005. And our kitchen knife wielding Govt, with its on again off again policies is to blame in the largest part.

As a nationalist I don't like the political games the political Chinese Govt plays but we need to separate Chinese economic investment in legacy industries such as auto, steel, chemicals, etc while being cautious of their forays into telecom for example amongst others.

Originally Posted by Ovais

What is called the Voyah Chasing Light for the rest of the world, is known as the Voyah Zhuiguang in the Chinese Domestic Market. Voyah is the luxury brand of the very popular vehicle manufacturer in China, the Dongfeng Motor Corporation.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Whether we like the Chinese or not they are roaring ahead in every respect in car design and manufacture. They are already leading in EVs in some respects. It is only a matter of time when some lead designs pioneer in China rather than in the West. Only a matter of time. The whole EV scene will upend a lot of accepted positions, hierarchies, listings and notions of what is good and what is great.

*Global FDI inflows as a percent of GDP typically have ranged between 2% to 4% in the last 20 years barring the pandemic period.