Jinan Qingqi

[GJN]

ha. i work for Changan Ford (through a series of subsidiary contracts and outsourcing).

1) its under new management
2) it currently has a 6% market share (looking to increase)
3) Ford would never import their vehicles into the Chinese market - this would raise the price of all Ford branded vehicles into the 'premium' range, and Chinese consumers do not/will not view Ford as a luxury brand. It will maintain its current JV arrangement with Changan Motors and manufacture its vehicles (with the exception of its new engines) domestically.

[GJN]

And as long as we are going off-topic, could anybody help answer this question? Its from an old friend of my finishing up his Ph. D back in the states.

I was hoping that I might ask you for a small favor that would really help me out with a research project of mine. It goes like this: I am interested in how the license plate number allocation system works for those who own cars registered in Beijing. I presume you know a few people who have cars registered in Beijing and I was hoping that you might informally ask them how the process went when they were down at the DMV: what sort of choice were they given in terms of the license plate number they could get for their car? If they had a choice, did they choose in light of some of the recent restrictions on what days they could drive (i.e. based on trailing license plate numbers)?

If you know a few folks who you could just informally ask, I would be appreciative. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. At the moment, I just want to see if the system works the way it is supposed to according to the descriptions on the GongAn Traffic Bureau Website.

Sweet, thanks much Jon.

Yes, the interest is currently with automobiles. The basic idea is something like this: since April 2010 you have had so-called "no driving" days in Beijing in order to control traffic and air quality. The system has been Monday - Friday, and each day automobiles with plate numbers ending in a pair of digits are not supposed to take to the road (ex. if your license plate ends in 1 or 6, then you cannot drive on Monday; 2 or 7, Tuesday; etc.). However, underlying preferences can severely effect the efficacy of such a public policy measure.

As I said above, this measure is designed to control traffic and air quality by hypothetically taking 20% of the automobiles off the road on any given day. However, this result is based upon the assumption that the distribution of license plate numbers (in terms of the trailing digit) is uniform. But what happens when Beijingers/Chinese choose cell phone numbers, apartments or anything else with a numeric sequence? Many actively avoid choosing sequences with 4 or 7 and actively seek to choose numbers like 6 8 and 9.

As a cultural specific preference, this may very well feed into the selection of plate numbers (presuming there is meaningful choice about your plate number). If this occurs on a broad enough scale, it should result in a non-uniform distribution of plate numbers on Beijing automobiles. Furthermore, the effect may be measurable in terms of outcomes like daily air pollution measures that pick up vehicle exhaust, traffic volumes and other information that is available down to the daily level within the city. Start plugging that up to something like daily hospital intake rates for respiratory conditions and you have an interesting story.

[MJH]

The Ford Taurus sells in China for $37, 284.41 and its a 2.0 liter and comes with a turbo and offer 240hp and has a six speed transmission.

That is about $12,000.00 more then the base model Taurus sold in the USA, which is a 260hp V6.

[MJH]

I want one of these


I want a mini-truck, but I want the 1.3 liter version, with 60kw.

[MJH]

Scarcity is when demand out paces supply, that’s economics. Scarcity can be contrived Rolex has intentional scarcity in both its products and also in its distribution system. It can be incrusted with diamond and made of titanium both materials have degrees of scarcity, as raw materials the scarcity increases the costs. Then you can only get them in certain stores and in limited numbers.

Its also very important to discern between a cost and a price, real instances of scarcity effect costs as in raw materials and even skilled labor, the scarcity adds value to the goods that require those, value as monetary value or you could say they require a higher price.

Before they fuck with your head and convince you that you have to have it there are actual real variables that define and actual and real pricing model. Covering all costs breaks even, not covering them takes a loss, excess makes a gain.

Without being able to see it, the actual variances…you could be making somebody rich that really is not doing anything else but gaming the market.

Consider the Ford Taurus one made in China the other made in the USA, am I incorrect or is the 2.0 liter turbo not made in China? I really do not know but the lesser version sold in China is priced $12,000.00 more then a better version made and sold in the USA.

Why is that? Is it because the price of the Taurus made in America sounds like a Mandarin expression for up until now you have been paying too much? It must be a bitch pricing things in china if pronunciation of certain number sounds like other word. Can you imagine?

If the Taurus is 12K more because it is imported it makes sense, but if it is not something is not correct.

[MJH]

I want a mini truck soo bad…




I do not care if it has no crumble zone or any airbags!

[MJH]

I want the one with the BMW grill....

[MJH]

The mini trucks are offered with four wheel drive, they are being sold today in the USA primarily for off road use. I can see utility in them within the Polaris line and I can see them hauling small motorcycles to remote areas. So then I can see a line of Polaris adventure motorcycles.

I like the GS125 and would like to see it with a larger wheel base and an adjustable suspension.



beefier tires and black rims with chrome spokes….what else?

[MJH]

Think about little vehicles docking at remote train stations….that are high speed, that’s another aspect of china and its future.

[GJN]

All the new engines are being imported. Domestic R&D/manufacturing isn't quite capable of delivering the kind of high quality final products that Ford needs to build its brand. Also, a major issue involves supplier quality. There have been several instances of faulty cars being delivered to dealerships due to low-quality sourcing.