Chinese car maker Hawtai considers local assembly option to help keep prices low.

Emerging Chinese car brand Hawtai is considering local assembly in Australia as part of its plan to sell cars here.

A spokesman for Hawtai, commercial manager Ralf Jiang, told Drive at the Shanghai motor show this week that shipping cars to Australian in CKD (complete knockdown) packs and assembling them in Australia was a being considered as a way to make sure its cars were price competitive in Australia.

"Maybe we can find a local co-operator to build us a CKD (complete knockdown) plant there," Jiang said. "This may be possible ... we can discuss about this with our potential co-operator and see which is the best way to enter the market."

Whether it builds cars here or not - and the likelihood considering all the economic factors is not - it seems Hawtai is committed to selling cars in Australia, but probably no earlier than 2013.

This date is actually a blow-out from an optimistic estimate given by a Hawtai executive to Drive at the 2010 Beijing motor show. Then, there was hope of a mid-2011 launch in Australia, although then there was no mention of local assembly being part of the plan.

The impediment to local sale - as it is with many of the ambitious Chinese brands - is the lack of right-hand drive cars. But Jiang told Drive that issue was being addressed.

"Right-hand drive of all our cars are under development," he said. "We will probably have them in half-a-year to one year."

Jiang confirmed that Hawtai was in touch with two potential distributors and was investigating others in Australia. Negotiations had not progressed far as yet, but a research trip to Australia was planned for late 2011.

"We wait till right-hand drive is finished, keep in touch, and when that is finished we can develop the market together," Jiang said.

Models that Hawtai would bring to Australia as part of a launch range would include the B35 SUV and B11 mid-size sedan, both shown in production form at the Shanghai show. While they come fitted with petrol engines, they also offer the option of turbo-diesel engines (supplied by VM Motori) a rarity for Chinese cars.

"Australia is a very good market for passenger cars and also SUVs and because we are producing these cars I think it is good for the Australian market," Jiang said.

Until releasing its own models Hawtai was best known for its recycled Hyundai SUVs, including the original Santa Fe and the Terracan.

Apart from Hawtai, Haima was the other significant Chinese brand this week expressed open interest in entering the Australian market, joining Great Wall Motors, Chery and Geely.

Most brands surveyed by Drive expressed interest, but cited right-hand-drive and Australian Design Regulations as significant impediments.

Lifan, a brand which last year told Drive it would like to export to Australia and perhaps even manufacture here, had backed right away from that plan this year, citing RHD as an issue for a number of years.

mavisdavis wrote on May 24^th, 2011 at 8:52am:



ha.ha... they will probably incorporate comalco alfoil into the front bumper bar..to keep the price down...lol..

I understand safety isnt a big issue with Chinese cars..