Team-BHP - Is it unpatriotic to buy a Chinese car?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayek (Post 4573220)

I don’t think Auto Buying or Buying most other goods is a place to display patriotism...

Agree completely. It’s become
fashionable to signal one’s patriotism in all kinds of ways these days but I think that outside of defence, international affairs and maybe sport (that too limited to supporting your national team) the concept of patriotism has limited applicability.

Quote:

However, I don’t see myself buying a Chinese car in the foreseeable future since most of their cars (Chinese brands) are decidedly mediocre - even in China, anyone who can afford a German brand car buys one.

The first thought I had when the MG news broke was “Oh goody...more cheap Chinese crap!” Given that traditionally Chinese cars (and products in general) have followed a simple yet successful formula of knocking off superior products at a substantially lower price, no reason to suspect this will be any different.

Quote:

There is one segment where I would not buy Chinese products unless the nature of their State changes - IT products. The fact is that all Chinese phones (and computers) probably have back doors that let the Chinese Mega Firewall see everything written on them. The same applies to Chinese telecom equipment.

This is actually a good reason to avoid their cars then. As we enter the electric era, more and more data will be shared and stored about you and your car. In fact the MG Hector will come with its own SIM card pre-installed, if reports are to be believed.

Is it unpatriotic to buy a Chinese car? NO.

Too much nationalism and patriotism can be bad. It creates an "us vs them" mentality that divides cultures.

One might want to examine the histories of Europe, America etc to understand this.

(I don't want to go into deeper philosophical questions like 'What does patriotism ― regardless of what country you're from ― give you, really?')

Also realize that there's a fine line of difference between the people of a country and the government of a country. While I was a student in the US, I had plenty of opportunities to interact with fellow students from China (and many other countries). Trust me when I say they were so kind and friendly and couldn't possibly have had any grudge against India.

All else being equal, I don't think buying Chinese product is any more unpatriotic than buying an American product.

And you only live once ― I wouldn't refrain from buying that V8 Mustang if I had the money :D

On a similar note, if you have Chinese colleagues, would you be rude towards them in the name of patriotism?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rovingeye (Post 4573163)

Now, coming to Chinese automobiles, I won't buy them because I trust the Chinese to install spying devices deep within the engine bay (remember the Huawei executive who was recently arrested in USA or Canada).

+1 to that. Even some of their software has been shown to be spyware. Case in point is the QQBrowser, QCBrowser etc. These software/apps are mostly used by the Chinese people themselves; so you could say their government is censoring and controlling the internet usage of their own citizens. This page lists some of the academic research that has uncovered the aforementioned information.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 4573094)

Unpatriotic to buy Chinese? Doubt if buying Japanese, Korean, American, French, German, Czech or Italian would make us any more patriotic than buying Chinese.

If patriotism is the primary criteria - buy TATA Motors or Mahindra instead. I would say that is the right approach rather than targeting any particular brand for their country of origin.

I think you have put it well .

I have expressed this opinion in a few other threads where similar questions were raised. I would personally put my money on a Tata or Mahindra as long as it mostly fits my requirements ( doesn't need to fit 100% ).

However, I will stop short of going the whole way of avoiding anything Chinese. This is difficult in these days. Also, you never know. One day, you might suddenly wake up to the news that some Chinese player owns a majority stake in M&M or Tata through a series of foreign equity investments. Do we then call them Chinese cos ? So this patriotism thing is a dicey subject. Having said which, do what best you can to support local manufacturing and local jobs.

Just four points:

1) Being economically Integrated reduces the chances of conflicts! One of the major goals of the EU & NAFTA (USMCA soon).

2) If you really want to be patriotic improving ones own-self is a smarter way to do so than boycotting (individually or as a nation). Find out what we are good at or can be good at and sell sell sell (China is too big a market to ignore). Fight for equitable access to their market rather than restricting them from ours.

3) If you think the Chinese are the only ones with back-doors in their software, then less said the better! Even though the Huawei CFO was arrested here in Canada, I can still go and buy their phones from almost all major telecom providers.

4) If you think there is very little trade between India and Pakistan, then you might want to consider Dubai. Many an Indian and Pakistani businessmen parked there just to relabel things and ship back to their respective countries.

Just my 2 Paisas, to each their own!

I will have no issues buying Cars from any manufacturer, irrespective of their origin country, as long as it satisfy my criteria. However I would be sceptical about owning "connected" cars, more so from Chinese, because I am sure there are no policies or laws in India that is going to guarantee my personal data protection. Until then no "Connected" cars for me.

We are not in a state of war with China, nor is China our enemy. Its only that certain ideologies don't match. Dont want to get political with the terrorist issue.
If it is unpatriotic, then the Government of India must stop imports and stop Chinese investments.

On the other hand, I do avoid Chinese products mainly due to quality. But there are many products which are labelled "Made in India" but are actually Chinese, especially clothes.

Pay your taxes honestly buddy, keep your surroundings clean, obey law and order, do something around your immediate vicinity to make a difference to lives of poor people and last but not the least, drive safely obeying the traffic rules... The list is endless for us to show our sense of patriotism.

Buying an Indian brand of car with dishonest money and/or driving it like a moron on public roads is surely more unpatriotic.

The trade relation with china is regulated by governing bodies primarily. So long as they provide us goods as VFM I don't find any harm in buying it. After all, it's a legally available stuff in Indian Market, be it a small Rs. 50 toy car or a real car.
Also, the tax they pay, and the job opportunities they create are to be considered. And most importantly in case of China, they keep the price of goods checked. Else the Indian brands itself or the other global players will freely increase the price since we, the end consumers don't have other choice.

As a buyer, I couldn't care less where the car is from as long as it suits my purpose. However as an investor, I think we should have a choice of claiming profits from the company. For example, I can buy shares of Maruti Suzuki, Tata motors, Bajaj, TVS, Hero etc and then the profits earned by these companies are for Indian investors as well. However, non-listed companies such as Toyota, Honda, Hyundai etc take out all the profit after paying the cost of goods sold & tax here in India.

I think 'Indian brands' should include those companies that are listed in the Indian share market as well. Till that time, profits from your car are going out to different countries, be it Japan, Korea, US or China.

Buying products which are locally produced by investing in the country should be the right criteria. Does not matter where the parent company is based. FlipKart or PayTM started out as home grown brands but majority is now owned by MNCs in both.

We actually should learn from China: for every Google, WhatsApp, FB they have Baidu, Tencent, WeChat etc. that is how their economy is growing.

Support those who invest back in the country.

It might sound childish/immature, but I'm against chinese invasion of Indian products market.

It is a matter of (lack of) quality as well as cheap & hazardous material flooding our markets (not just automobiles).

We've option of buying better quality products from other OEMs based in India itself or foreign (although a majority of them now outsource their production to china for obvious reasons, so indirectly my money might reach china only even if I buy Japanese or Korean or American or German products), but this is above such considerations and at an emotional level !

We all know who is making the pakistani monkey jump to their tunes in kashmir and other insurgent places in India. At a larger level china is behind all these.

So, atleast for an emotional solace I prefer to shun chinese products.

Now, as someone pointed out like shun western toilet and use only Indian ones -- when something is not a matter of $h!t, rather a matter of my country's safety & security, I will go with the latter happily at the expense of being branded hyper-nationalist or outright silly. At least I will have the conviction that my money doesn't get used to wage war against my own country !

I think its the Government's job to put policies in place to encourage companies to invest in the country. Also the government's job to make sure that any security risks are looked into when giving approval to companies that are setting shop here.

If we were to stop buying stuff just because it was not manufactured by an Indian company, we would be left with very little to buy.

I think we should be more worried whether a company is ethical. I would avoid companies that take advantage of child labor for example.