China to export Class A Motorhomes to the USA

[Bob Maxwell]

From here: http://www.rvbusiness.com/2010/07/chinese-class-as-to-reach-u-s-in-spring/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RvBusiness+%28RV+Business%29

Yutong Bus Co. Ltd., the largest manufacturer of commercial buses in China, expects to be selling Class A diesel pusher motorhomes in the U.S. by next spring, according to RV industry veteran Bill Horvath who is heading up the venture.
The yet-to-be named motorhome will be built in China and initially will be shipped to the West Coast for distribution, Horvath told RVBUSINESS.com today (July 27) from China.

Read it all at the link above.

[ArdraF]

Well, let's see.  With all the problems we've had with products from China, from dog food to toys, I'm not sure I'd want to buy one.  Imagine trying to get service on a Chinese-made motorhome!  Or, maybe they'll be disposable.    This should be interesting!

ArdraF

[seilerbird]

I buy a lot of stuff from China and I find the build quality to be quite excellent. My Chinese guitar is five years old and it still plays perfectly, thanks to WD-40.

[mariekie4]

This is enough to burn me up! As it is we have enough jobs and manufacturing leaving this country and now we want to import some more cheap $%^#& from China??? I just don't get it.

Mariekie

[scottydl]

The only redeeming factor I can see here (in regards to the Yutong being a Chinese product) is that it's made by an already-established manufacturer with an industry reputation in fleet vehicles.  Maybe that means they will be decent rigs?     We shall see.

[34footer]

No, thank you. I'll just keep breathing life into my '88, 34footer.
J

[strikrvs]

I think China should stay in their overpopulated country and destroy their own instead of coming over here! We have too many IMPORTS the way it is that's why things don't "last" like they used to 

[DandS]

Why not ?? They own us now anyway......if they ever call in our debt, we'll all be eating rice for a long time! 

[DonTom]

I buy a lot of stuff from China and I find the build quality to be quite excellent. My Chinese guitar is five years old and it still plays perfectly, thanks to WD-40.

Yep. China can build any quality Americans are willing to pay for. They just know that the first thing most  Americans look at is the price and therefore, they make a lot of cheap junk. If we didn't like to buy so much cheap junk, they wouldn't make so much of it.

-Don-

[seilerbird]

So I am assuming all you folks who hate China so much don't own one single thing that was made in China?

[34footer]

So I am assuming all you folks who hate China so much don't own one single thing that was made in China?

No hatin' here, I just don't think we need to spend huge amounts of money at one time on Chinese goods. I own a lot of foreign stuff, not by choice. We don't make much of anything any more. Plus the Bosch brakes are bad enough.
J

[Pierat]

Free market, anyone>?

[SargeW]

Yep, I am all for free market. However I choose to buy American whenever I can. American cars, American motorcycle, and American motorhome.  I would be buried in my Winnebago before I bought an Chinese RV. But that is just my own opinion, and that tends to be American too........

[seilerbird]

A typical 2011 Diesel pusher motorhome with the standard assortment of bells and whistles currently costs around $200k out the door. So what are all the "I only buy American" Americans going to be buying if there is a Chinese motorhome on the market that is basically identical selling for $39K?

[Rick and Cheryl]

If it costs 39k, it might actually be a good thing,,cus its going to take lots of tools, labor hours, and spare/replacement parts to keep the darn thing going down the road.

[Gary RV Roamer]

Yeah, but for $39k it comes with those great Chinese tires.  The manuals are all in Chinese too, but I'm not sure anybody would notice the difference. Most of the manuals I have seem to have been written in a foreign language anyway.

Seriously, it will be interesting to see how they price out for comparable equipment.  It's a smaller coach, and whether gas or small diesel engine, so we aren't talking the $200k class. You can buy a US built 30 foot coach for well under $100k. A 2010 Winnebago Vista starts at $89k and that is not a shabby rig!

[Tom]

Have no fear, the US government won't let them in, because they have lead in the batteries 

BTW the $39 version doesn't have a motor. Instead, it has holes in the floor, kinda like the Fred Flinstone car.

[34footer]

A typical 2011 Diesel pusher motorhome with the standard assortment of bells and whistles currently costs around $200k out the door. So what are all the "I only buy American" Americans going to be buying if there is a Chinese motorhome on the market that is basically identical selling for $39K?

They can keep it, even at an even trade for my 1988, or my old 1975 if i still had it. The bells and whistles probably won't work very long anyway.
J

[Wizard46]

Keep in mind that on the news last week, I think it said that GM sold more cars in China than the US.

[34footer]

Keep in mind that on the news last week, I think it said that GM sold more cars in China than the US.

Don't matter to me, I still wouldn't buy one for all of the tea in China.
J

[SargeW]

AND there is still something called the import tax.  That's why Honda's and Kia's still cost as much as Chevy's and Fords. The Chinese RV won't be 39K. Probably $139K.  Welcome to trade balance.  I buy American when I can because it keeps Americans employed. No big mystery. There will always be some folks to buy the Asian product. That's OK. I'm not on a soap box. Just personal preference. 

[BernieD]

Keep in mind that on the news last week, I think it said that GM sold more cars in China than the US.

And most are Buicks built in China

[Marc L]

I don't see much difference either way.  A lot of the components are already made in China or other countries overseas.

We complain about the quality of a lot of imported items, but often they are built for a North American company to certain specs for a certain price.  So if the Chinese built it to spec, we need to blame whoever came up with the specs.  There are a lot of quality products coming from China and a lot of crap. All need to be evaluated individually, we can't generalize.

[34footer]

I don't see much difference either way.  A lot of the components are already made in China or other countries overseas.

We complain about the quality of a lot of imported items, but often they are built for a North American company to certain specs for a certain price.  So if the Chinese built it to spec, we need to blame whoever came up with the specs.  There are a lot of quality products coming from China and a lot of crap. All need to be evaluated individually, we can't generalize.

I was playing ball with my grand kids today. The ball was new and warped, it was Chinese.   If they can't make a round ball......
J

[strikrvs]

Like your comment Tom    And I agree with Sarge.  I too buy American whenever I can, we have enought unemployment in our country so the more we can buy "at home" the better chance people can have at keeping/getting jobs.  I don't hate China, just think it's time our country take care of itself and stop worrying about everyone else for a change. 

[PancakeBill]

Not sure where the 39k price tag came from, I think just a comment that seemed to grow to a price tag.  28 to 30' DP's are being asked for.  I know I hear it all the time.  Folks want DP but now want shorter coaches.  There may be a market.  May have to perform chinese guitar maintenance on them, spray and wipe down with WD-40.  Just guessing.

[seilerbird]

39K was just a figure I pulled out of the air for a theoretical question. We have a some people here who claim they would not buy Chinese goods no matter what. I was just wondering how patriotic they would remain if they went shopping for an RV and found two almost identical RVs sitting side by side. The US version was 200k and the Chinese version was 39k. Which one would they buy? I see some are claiming that everything the Chinese make is total junk but they have absolutely no proof. I don't know how they can come to that conclusion. I own lots of Chinese goods and I can't think of one thing that was junk.

I have a Chinese guitar. Cost me $99. It is 5 years old and it has never given me one problem. Fantastic quality. An American made guitar that would be it's equal would easily cost $500 or more. And it would not necessarily be as high quality.

[DonTom]

BTW the $39 version doesn't have a motor.

Motor not needed in a China made RV:

 http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/DonTom3/ChinaRV.jpg

-Don-

[Tom]

Does he have a hand cranked generator Don? 

[scottydl]

I buy American when I can because it keeps Americans employed.

The opposite can be true too.  Many of the Mitsubishi's driving around middle America are built at the factory close to me in Normal, IL.  Nothing but American workers there.  In fact a good friend of mine worked on the line there for 18 years.  He would have stayed, but current economics forced the factory to drastically cut back production and drop an entire shift.  He decided (wisely) to find another job before he ended up being laid off.

On a related note, the Dodge Avenger we had several years back was simply a Mitsubishi Eclipse with a Dodge body bolted onto the Eclipse chassis.  It even had the "diamond star" Mitsubishi symbol on the doorjamb sticker!  Chrysler/Dodge didn't even try to hide it.    There is a lot of spillover these days as far as where domestic and foreign car makers build their products, and the parts that go in them.