Comments on: Haima H1 - Chinas first unique kei car?

By: Ash

Ash — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:33:08 +0000

Slade,

Where are you, Guangdong?

By: Slade

Slade — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:31:22 +0000

I’m from the States, but have lived in China for a long time.
.
Yes, I live in a small city. There is not a lot of money here. A Focus is an expensive car. Most of the big cars are driven by government people and big business owners. Most business owners drive small foreign cars like Palios or Chinese cars.
.
For big cities, YMMV

By: Alirio

Alirio — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:31:11 +0000

It looks like an Opel Astra, a Daewoo Matiz and a Citroen C1 have a orgy and this is the result!

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:26:09 +0000

Correct. All the hard points are straight from the Chevy Spark. This shows that GM’s initial legal work in China was for naught.

By: jackson liu

jackson liu — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:27:46 +0000

thanks man!
where are you from, actually??
.
that explains a lot! Cars are still very expensive for average chinese standards…
I mean..
if a office worker earns from 4k-8k rmb, than 150k is indeed a premium price for just a Ford Focus..
.
I guess Focus, Golfs and Astras are almost considered luxury vehicles, am I wrong?
Let’s call it, instead of the currency, “money units”.
Most places have it’s average car sold within the 20k-30k “money units”… like, in America, it would be a Camry or a F150 for 20-30k USD, in Europe, Golf or Mondeos, in their 20 something euros…
150 k “moneys” are luxury/ultra luxury in any market…
.
that explains a lot! Thanks… now I can see why cars like the QQ sells that much in China… it’s not exactly because it’s cheap… it’s because it’s affordable… affordable for the average…

By: Colin G

Colin G — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:24:30 +0000

It’s quite honest in a “I look like a Daewoo/Chevrolet Matiz with a Mercedes Headlight and VW Polo grille!”. Yup a good old honest chinese car then!

By: Colin G

Colin G — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:23:05 +0000

The lights appear to be off a merc CLK, the polo lights look similar but are in fact separate. I think the technical name for these are ‘peanut’ headlights as that’s the shape of them (like a peanut in a shell).

By: Slade

Slade — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:32:05 +0000

To those who know more and better than me…don’t argue with me.

I’m guessing from conversations and reading. I’m not Chinese so don’t ask my friends all the money questions.
Farmer: a few hundred a month
Factory worker: 800
Small city office worker: 1000-2000
Big city office worker: 4000-8000

10 rmb meal? yeah, per person and not too many meat dishes and not at a good restaurant and not in a big city.

McDonalds - not much cheaper than the States

Rent - in small city 1000 for a small apt for a month.
Rent - large city 2000 for a room in a small apt for a month.

Where I work the salary is approx 1500 per month, most are two to eight years out of University, all are University grads. About 70 people like this - car ownership - a QQ6 and two Fits and two old Geelys. Also husband of one clerk has a Bora.

For most, any car will do, but they really don’t want a Chinese one if they can get a

Electric bikes and scooters still rule.

By: Andi

Andi — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:21:27 +0000

Daewoo Matiz with a Polo front end!

By: Ash

Ash — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:01:55 +0000

Indeed, I was thinking of F1

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:11:51 +0000

This is my first time in here, but I think many chinese support our own nation brand more. Not because of its cheaper but its because our dream is to sell our cars to other countries.

By: jackson liu

jackson liu — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:12:35 +0000

BYD F3 not in another price range??

By: jackson liu

jackson liu — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:06:48 +0000

yep, that was the first thing that came on my mind after seeing these pictures…
C class + polo grille.
The car doesn’t look attractive, but somehow it gave me the impression that it’s quite honest…
it kind of says “I’m simple, that’s all, not trying to fool anyone”.

By: jackson liu

jackson liu — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:03:57 +0000

these questions raised on my mind after reading what Ash has posted above, that young buyers can spend 30k in this car, but not 150k in a Focus…
btw, we have two Focus home.. =)
it’s a great car… IMO, best among all compacts, for sure!

By: jackson liu

jackson liu — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:00:03 +0000

it says here that it’s going to cost 30-40k rmb.
what’s the average income in China??
Can you have a meal with 10 rmb? How much does Big Mac cost? For how much do you rent an apartment in a decent city?

sorry for all these question, just wanting to know what kind of public is this car aiming at…

By: Castro

Castro — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:28:39 +0000

OMFG, another Matiz clone.

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:02:47 +0000

That is definitely not unique.
It is yet another Daewoo Matiz M100 (1998 introduction) clone.
It even has the same wheel trims (presumably without the Daewoo badge) as the M100 Matiz. The doors, handles, glazing, door mirrors, CHMSL, and head restraints are all from the M100 Matiz. I can’t see them clearly in these picture, but the rear seat backs and the instrument panel also look like the M100 items.

By: dragin

dragin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:53:19 +0000

I agree, but Chery, SGM Spark, and the others are seeing falling sales for now. Having said that, I also suspect there will come a day when dad will buy one of these for the kid going off to college.

By: Ash

Ash — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:18:33 +0000

That could be one way of looking at it, but what about younger buyers who dont have the financial means to blow 150k on a Ford Focus, but have 30k to spend on a QQ/BYD F3/Haima H1?

By: dragin

dragin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:07:43 +0000

I agree with the China Daily which recently said, “…the vast majority of consumers still value social status over other aspects like fuel economy and price in terms of buying a car.”, in an article that reported small car sales down last year. And stats also show a rise in salaries of the working man, and woman, as they move from company to company.

By: Jimson

Jimson — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:56:59 +0000

for me it is a copy of the QQ , with merc headlights and a polo grill. Even the back resembles the QQ.

Sword begets sword

Well QQ copied Matiz and now QQ gets copied. Doesnt china have IP at least domestically.

By: Ash

Ash — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:00:45 +0000

Do you think so? I think the mini car segment is going to hot up like a Volcano over the coming months and years as gas prices hike up again.

Will we ever see 70$ barrels of oil again?

By: dragin

dragin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:23:10 +0000

Redundant. And it comes at a time when this market is shrinking in China.

By: Mememe

Mememe — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:15:55 +0000

I agree with the Mercedes CLK lights, but I think it does not really look like the Daewoo Matiz.

By: roewe.co.nr

roewe.co.nr — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:17:40 +0000

Not unique, that’s a Daewoo matiz with Mercedes CLK lights shoved on the front!