let's measure the standard of living with auto sale, instead of GDP

[GS Zhou]

Let's "SAY IT WITH DATA"

I made a slide to show the relationship between "GDP per capita" (Y-Axis) and "new car sales every 1,000 persons" (X-Axis):

• In general, the higher the GDP per capita, the higher the penetration of new car sales.
• But there are still some countries showing very interesting behavior: China, Iran, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. They all greatly falling below the trend line, which means:
  • for a given GDP per capita, they could achieve a much higher new car sales penetration than usual
  • or, for a given new car sales penetration, the required GDP per capita of them are much lower than usual
• the explanation to the unusual behavior of China, Iran, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea are their concentration on own manufacturing industry sector. They all have indigenous car business, which means they could offer their own citizens with more affordable cars, i.e. higher living standard than other countries with similar GDP per capita.

 

[cnleio]

Except U.S, totally (1.4bil)Chinese own more cars than Japan/Spain/Germany etc, China still a big automobile market for new cars sale. Thanks for our 'Made in China' to cost down car price in China, domestic car selling cheaper 1/2 or 1/3 than imported foreign car.

This is not for 'RMB is seriously undervalued', reason is selling many 'Made in China' car to normal Chinese family with cheaper price than imported car, 'Made in China' improve Chinese living standard, even domestic cars.

2. China is a exception, its per capita auto sale is more than many countries with higher per capita GDP( Poland, Turkey, Greece, Mexico,Romania..etc), because RMB is serioulsy undervalued.

China's GDP Growth: An Important Rebalancing Milestone

Read this thread, u will know why 'Made in China' selling more cars to Chinese.
LandWind vs RANGE ROVER, XiaoMi HuaWei vs Iphone

 

[mike2000 is back]

1.yes ,indeed. before CHina's per capita auto sale catch up with USA, CHina would still be a developing country, no Chinese deny it.

2. the comparation above is not only China VS USA, but also China vs other countries.
such a comparation can help where China stands on the earth.

3. CHina aeverage car cost is not as low as you think.
most family car costs is between 100M-300M RMB(18-40M USD),because CHinese cars are taxied more than USA.
Golf costs 60% higher in CHina than in German
in fact, BMW and Mercedes are sold in CHina more than in USA.

Seriously you are comparing living standards car ownership? You do know that many ultra developed countries in Europe like Finland, Sweden, Norway, etc have excellent public transport , hence they dont need/ buy alot of cats right? In fact in highly deveoped countries (even here in Britain) people dont see owning a car as a sign of wealth/high livibg standard. Lool unlike in developing countries. We paased that stage of seeing car as a sign of wealth long ago. Developing countries are merely catching up. So its useless using such this as a method of comparing living standards. it should just be used as one(and not even the most important) of the many(more important) factors in measuring lving standards.

 

[badguy2000]

Seriously you are comparing living standards car ownership? You do know that many ultra developed countries in Europe like Finland, Sweden, Norway, etc have excellent public transport , hence they dont need/ buy alot of cats right? In fact in highly deveoped countries (even here in Britain) people dont see owning a car as a sign of wealth/high livibg standard. Lool unlike in developing countries. We paased that stage of seeing car as a sign of wealth long ago. Developing countries are merely catching up. So its useless using such this as a method of comparing living standards. it should just be used as one(and not even the most important) of the many(more important) factors in measuring lving standards.

1.In China, your above word would usually be labeled as "Zhuanbility"!

2. it is usually because they can not afford it that people give up something expensive.
if one Rolls-Royce is priced as much as one Golf, most of normal guys would chose Rolls-Royce.
Most people now chose glof, simply because they can not afford Rolls-Royce.

 

[GS Zhou]

In fact in highly deveoped countries (even here in Britain) people dont see owning a car as a sign of wealth/high livibg standard.

If that's the case, how you explain that people in developed countries have a much higher new car sales penetration (defined as # of new car sales every 1,000 people) than developing countries? You can read my previous post that showing a picture for the comparison!

 

[AndrewJin]

1.In China, your above word would usually be labeled as "Zhuanbility"!

2. it is usually because they can not afford it that people give up something expensive.
if one Rolls-Royce is priced as much as one Golf, most of normal guys would chose Rolls-Royce.
Most people now chose glof, simply because they can not afford Rolls-Royce.

Zhuangbility, lol

 

[AndrewJin]

If that's the case, how you explain that people in developed countries have a much higher new car sales penetration (defined as # of new car sales every 1,000 people) than developing countries? You can read my previous post that showing a picture for the comparison!

Actually that French guy of zhuangbility is right to some extent, owing a Volkswagen or Citroën is of course not a sign of wealth in China. I don't have a car but I don't think I am poorer than a guy driving a Citroën to work.

 

[mike2000 is back]

If that's the case, how you explain that people in developed countries have a much higher new car sales penetration (defined as # of new car sales every 1,000 people) than developing countries? You can read my previous post that showing a picture for the comparison!

People who buy cars here is out of necessity rather than luxury unlike in other developing countries. For example me and my wife only bought a car after we had our first child, since it was a little bit inconvenient for her to commute with the baby everyday, its not like we couldnt afford to buy a new car before that Lol
In fact, even today i still ride my bicycle to work more than i drive to work. Its more convinient for me. Doesnt means i cant easilly afford to get another new car. As i said before, car ownership doesnt have much to do with the way we view wealth here. Unlike in many developing countries i have been to who view having a car as a sign of wealth, Having a car here doesnt really means you are rich/wealthy. Since i personally know a few colleagues of mine a work(even a few above me in rank) who dont own a car but have bikes, doesnt means they cant afford one(believe me they can afford more than 4.lol), meanwhile i have seen a few people here who i cant really say are wealthy but who own quite nice cars. Lol. As i aid car ownership doesnt really determines weath/living standard in many developed european countries.

 

[GS Zhou]

As i aid car ownership doesnt really determines weath/living standard in many developed european countries.

That's because developed countries are already close to "every adult has his/her own car", therefore you no longer view car ownership as a sign of high living standard!

Take an example, we now can eat as many meat as we want, but none of us will think this is an unusual thing that worth brag. But if I could go back to 1950s' and show the meal today to my father who was 10years old then, he would be completely shocked by that!

 

[AndrewJin]

People who buy cars here is out of necessity rather than luxury unlike in other developing countries. For example me and my wife only bought a car after we had our first child, since it was a little bit inconvenient for her to commute with the baby everyday, its not like we couldnt afford to buy a new car before that Lol
In fact, even today i still ride my bicycle to work more than i drive to work. Its more convinient for me. Doesnt means i cant easilly afford to get another new car. As i said before, car ownership doesnt have much to do with the way we view wealth here. Unlike in many developing countries i have been to who view having a car as a sign of wealth, Having a car here doesnt really means you are rich/wealthy. Since i personally know a few colleagues of mine a work(even a few above me in rank) who dont own a car but have bikes, doesnt means they cant afford one(believe me they can afford more than 4.lol), meanwhile i have seen a few people here who i cant really say are wealthy but who own quite nice cars. Lol. As i aid car ownership doesnt really determines weath/living standard in many developed european countries.

I don't really think a car is a sign of wealth in China, as I said, a Citroen locally manufactured in my city is insanely cheap. But a good car is! When I went to Perth, WA, my host family has 3 cars and a yacht, he said doctors drove luxurious cars. I had to drive in Perth because the bus is like every half an hour or at weekends 2-3 hours. In my community, driving some lame car is "no face", better to not drive. The nearest bus stop has 20-30 lines, and metro is every 3-5 minutes.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Most people in China only buy the German cars and American cars.

• China: monthly passenger car sales by origin 2015 | Statistic

Although it doesn't make clear how many of cars with an origin of China are actually locally produced foreign cars.

 

[cnleio]

• China: monthly passenger car sales by origin 2015 | Statistic

View attachment 272815

Although it doesn't make clear how many of cars with an origin of China are actually locally produced foreign cars.

Most Chinese families afford the cheap car (most r local manufactured), few afford luxury car (imported from foreign factory).

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Most Chinese families afford the cheap car (most r local manufactured), few afford luxury car (imported from foreign factory).

Yep! I would expect the same pretty much anywhere. This goes back to my original argument a few pages back where its hard to judge anything by car sales if you don't even know the average price paid which is affected by where most of the cars originate from. If some local Brazilian company makes $500 cars you are going to see a huge spike in sales compared to if they import everything and the average price is $50K.

 

[GS Zhou]

Yep! I would expect the same pretty much anywhere. That goes back to my original argument a few pages back where its hard to judge anything by car sales if you don't even know the average price paid which is affected by where most of the cars originate from. If some local Brazilian company makes $500 cars you are going to see a huge spike in sales compared to if they import everything and the average price is $50K.

The average car price in China is about 120k CNY, or 20k USD.

 

[cnleio]

Yep! I would expect the same pretty much anywhere. This goes back to my original argument a few pages back where its hard to judge anything by car sales if you don't even know the average price paid which is affected by where most of the cars originate from. If some local Brazilian company makes $500 cars you are going to see a huge spike in sales compared to if they import everything and the average price is $50K.

Of course, the key for auto sale is the price for most customers need consider ... but 'Made in China' car isn't a bad-quality car ... in my thread had showed good quality 'Made in China' cars with cheap price, Chinese welcome them.