Chinese Asbestos in Australia? Blame ‘Quality Fade’
According to a report by Bloomberg, Great Wall and Chery had signed letters to their distributor in Australia, Ateco, guaranteeing that the vehicles were asbestos-free. Further — and this is where things gets strange — representatives from Great Wall said that they had conducted their own in-house testing and concluded that the asbestos was not a danger to “human bodies.”
Chery, for its part, offered the implausible excuse that cars meant for the domestic market (China does not ban asbestos) were “accidentally” shipped to Australia.
If not an innocent mistake, what else could be the cause?
The most likely culprit is a China manufacturing phenomenon, vividly described in the book Poorly Made in China, known as “quality fade.” Companies deliver initial product samples that pass inspection tests with flying colors. In time, however, the quality begins to deteriorate as the manufacturer – often under pressure to preserve profits – introduces cheaper or non-standard product materials.
The more the material is hidden from plain view, the more likely it is to be replaced. Result: Yesterday’s good-looking high-quality sample fades into today’s good-looking-but-flawed offering.
Chinese independent car companies like Chery and Great Wall are under pressure in the home market. Since 2010, they have been losing market share to the more powerful joint-venture companies. This places enormous financial pressure on the companies — the kind of strain that could lead people to act a little less carefully, or even shoot themselves in the foot by shipping asbestos-laden engine gaskets to Australia.
