[RevJ]

Voted No.

In the long forgotten automotive world, "European" meant build quality, agility, engineering. "American" meant muscle, top speed and more muscle. "Chinese" meant cheap, copycats and plasticky.

Not to be stereotypical, but now there are American car which handle good and have respectable economy, European cars which are well, they got better.
And Chinese, they have JV with most of the renowned brands and they have been manufacturing cars for them for decades. So it was only a matter of time they picked up the knowledge and capability (Like Hero picked up for Honda, Tata from Mercedes, Maruti from Suzuki) to make one of their own. And by the looks of it they are making pretty decent cars loaded with technology. All boils down to personal preference, I wouldn't call that patriotism it is just how a product appeals to one.

[silvercloud]

At the end of the day, it is your money and what you do with your money (legally) should bring you happiness and satisfaction; no matter how flawed your logic is.

Any transaction you make in India will benefit India irrespective of the origin of the product.

Besides, China indirectly has a hand in auto-parts fitted in Indian cars through their investments.

My opinion is to keep out politics from your buying decision;

[Col Mehta]

Last year, went for a movie show. National anthem time - everyone stood up and showcased their patriotism. One particular guy, in front of us, was very upbeat and expressive about his patriotism. Felt good to see him. Show ended, we went to the parking lot and while getting in the car saw the same guy (he had a unique shirt on so was easy to recognize) driving his (Tata Nexon - Indian car) off the parking lot. We happened to follow him while getting on to the main road and what we saw after a few seconds was just as baffling as it could get. This Mr Patriot, very conveniently, rolled down his window and tossed a plastic bag right in the middle of the road and drove off.

Would have preferred somebody with a Chinese/German/American or whatever car but with a better civic sense. That would have been a better version of patriotism than thumping chest during national anthem and disrespecting the same country later.

[KMT]

This thread was started to discuss Chinese cars, not Chinese underwear, not Japanese cars and not English toilets and here is why.

In this laissez faire world, is VFM the sole determinant of ALL our purchase decisions?
I would think this approach is applicable to run of the mill daily consumption goods.

A car is a representation of a ones personality, it says something about you. This is particularly applicable to members of this forum.

Attributes like brand, colour, cleanliness, damage/condition, country of origin etc do say a little bit about you.

Most other products do not enjoy the unique position an automobile enjoys in this regard. No one judges you by where your socks are made or where your fridge comes from.

With a car you are wearing your heart on your sleeve.

If SAIC-Wuling launched the SIAC Baojun 530 it would have had only limited success, primarily due to country of origin and quality perceptions in India.

But does slapping on an anglacised MG sticker cleanse it of its Chinese roots in the eyes of (a) an average Indian carbuyer and (b) in the eyes of an Indian petrolhead.

If it is cheap it will succeed in India in the mass market. I wanted to get an idea as to what proportion actual petrolheads(ie TBHP members) in India will be factor in China being the country of origin into their purchase desicion.

Of course it is a deeply personal choice paid for by hard earned money and there is no right answer to this but I think there are shades of grey and we need to draw the line somewhere.

In the case of a country which is openly condescending and nasty to India and actively sells arms to our enemies should we sell out to the cheapest/most VFM product?

Does GST and import duty wash all that away?

Due to international trade agreements India cannot deny the Chinese the right to set up shop here.

Anyways, it is food for thought and as usual the forum discussion and arguments are of a great standard.

I thank all of you for sharing your thoughts on the matter.

[Ragasruoban]

I don't think its unpatriotic to buy a Chinese car or stereotype it based on the Chinese products that we use in day to day life.

When we go to check out a product from any manufacturer, a prospective buyer would check out its features, specs, prices, reliability and maintenance. He wouldn't mind from where the manufacturer is.

Say, if we ask a group of Hyundai owners(non-petrolheads) the origin of Hyundai, I am pretty sure a majority of them will be guessing "Is it China oh no no.. it's Japan right?"

Now can we answer these questions: Why did people buy JLR cars inspite of knowing the fact that british ruled us for close to 90 years? Did patriotism go for a toss here? After an Indian automobile manufacturer acquired JLR, did people in UK stop buying JLR cars? I am sure we have got the answers for these.

So my point is if MG motors can deliver a competent product into the market, I don't see any 'patriotic' reason in skipping it just because it's from a Chinese group. Any sorts of ugly relationships with other countries, our government is there to handle it. For now, let's not bring it in our sector.

[Dhiwakar92]

Personally, I believe that one should always purchase a product based purely on the merits and demerits of the product. We cannot and should not factor the country of origin, the current geopolitical tensions into account when making any purchase since that doesn't directly affect your day to day life, at least, not as much as the car or product itself will.

It is irrational though completely understandable when someone prefers one product over another simply because it's made by a company which is from the same country as they are.

With that being said, hypothetically speaking, let's say Pakistan was home to some really famous and amazing automaker who is planning to sell their cars in India. Assuming all other factors such as our tensions with Pakistan, how most Indians might feel about Pakistan etc. remain same, would you still go ahead and buy a car from a Pakistani company even if the car has everything you're looking for ?

As long our relations are either neutral or positive with a country, we should't factor it in our purchasing decisions but if our relations are pretty negative and badly viewed by fellow citizens, it makes sense to boycott the company as these tensions might have economic repercussions as well.


I'm not saying we should boycott Chinese cars since our relation for the most part with China is mutually beneficial but if we felt about China the same way we did about Pakistan, I'm pretty sure the outcome of the poll might be different

[mxx]

I voted for "No". I do not think buying a Chinese car makes us unpatriotic, when even the government has not placed any bans or restrictions on its sale.

Let me quote CrAzY dRiVeR:

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

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.

[r0ckstar.1]

I voted "No", because Indian Govt hasn't issued any bans on Chinese products and also for the fact that some of equivalent alternatives are not manufactured by Indian companies. I would infact think thrice before buying anything English than Chinese!. But again, the common Indian inclination towards "Angrez" will pull the customers towards the MG showroom. Even my wife is excited about MG brand because they got "Sherlock" to advertise for them.

[redcruiser]

Patriotism is something which varies from people to people.
I am sure the actions from CHINA are most of the time anti India.

Just the other day I was reading how Chinese people stopped using Iphones after the Huawei chief was detained in Canada.

For more see here-
http://https://www.washingtonpost.co...=.9a25e173d1e8

I think, weather you buy MG or not, will not make much difference. But if you seriously want to inflict damage on China then everything from the dragon country should be banned.

As far as govt policy goes then being a WTO member it can't put a blanket ban on any items instead can raise the duty.

[giri1.8]

People buy what they desire, other reasons are added only to justify the purchase.

Let a Chinese brand launch a V8 sports car at 10L and you will see everyone queuing up to book it.

There is nothing wrong in having policies that will protect the local manufacturers, end consumers shouldn't be affected by such policies. If we didn't have tax for CUB cars, we won't have local car makers thriving, but most of us would have had the chance to get a well built and safe car for the price we pay.

[pratyush6]

I don't get this consumer Patriotism. Patriotism by all measures implies one loving and supporting your country which by extension is its people. Buying a Chinese car or a product does not make anyone less patriotic.

On the economics front though, it is imperative that home grown businesses are propagated. If we have to get anywhere in this world we should be doing far more to make our policies business friendly.
I have friends who have their startups fail in the last 4-5 years because the policies are so unfriendly despite all the brow beating by the authorities. I wonder what they think of patriotism.

[soji]

Is this thread even relevant on this forum? If China or rather any country think the same way, then Indian car sales in that country would be in the drains.

[porsche_guy]

Voted No.

It definitely isn't unpatriotic to buy Chinese cars. Afterall, don't we buy Japanese, Korean and European cars too?

As long as these manufacturers conduct business ethically, I see no reason to mix politics and business together. We should judge the products objectively rather than getting one because it's made by a manufacturer from a particular country.

Even the general public agrees with my opinion or else Tata and Mahindra would be at the top spot in the sales charts

Cheers!

[for_cars1]

Do we have a choice?

Look around all the gadgets in every Indian household and they are all chinese made. Even if the brand name is non-Chinese, the product or majority of its components will have its origin in China.

Even Volvo is Chinese made now.
Even the Tatas and Mahindras source a lot of parts from China for our 'Indian' made cars to stay competitive.

There is nothing unpatriotic about using Chinese made stuff. Its a Global market, anyone who has the ability to offer the best stuff at the most cost effective price wins the customer. Eg: can anyone else other than Chinese make a toy that does so many things with acceptable quality and yet cost less than 100 bucks? No!

Ofcourse, there is always a sense of Pride whenever I hear or see 'Made in India' products. There is scope for us to learn from the Chinese and mass produce acceptable quality products at reasonable rates and get competitive rather than whine about it or attempt to paint a 'false' patriotic flavour to it.

[handsofsteel]

I can see the executives of mg motors going through this thread and rubbing their hands in glee.
This fact that in India, price is still the king, will ensure mouth watering prices from mg. I think, it will soon break into the top 10 sellers.
Btw, might be irrational, but I have voted against buying a Chinese car. Deep rooted prejudices I guess. Let's see whether the market agrees with me.