I'm fascinated by Chinese cars. It reminds a lot of the Japanese invasion of the mid-1970s (and the Korean invasion of the late 1990s) and I can't help but think that it's going to be really interesting to watch the evolution of these currently-crapmobiles.
The thing is that the NAIAS booths for Chinese manufacturers (Geely, Hifun, etc.) were absolutely dead. There didn't appear to be any interest whatsoever in these cars. Maybe next year.
But whatever—I got lots of pictures. Featured here is the bizarrely styled Geely Coupe, whose seats look like they weren't quite fitted right (they lean together) and whose door handles felt like they were going to snap in half. Alas, the Coupe was locked, so I didn't get to poke around inside, although I expect it's a lot like the other Geelys I did sit in: functional, but cheap.
So for the time being, these cars are way funky—but I've heard they've already come really far in the last few years, and I'm really curious to see how they pan out in the next decade or so.
Update: It appears this is actually a Geely CD, but adorned with the word "Coupe" as it makes it easier to tell what the heck this thing is.
Agreed, very cheap. I never thought youl'd be able to tell something was so cheaply made, but holy crap. Interestingly though the button for the horn was located on the wiper stock - not in the stearing wheel.
Oh was that what you were looking at? I noticed you fiddling with the wiper stalk but didn't realize the goddamned horn switch was mounted there.
Part of the lack of interest was that they were shoved in the basement, and there werent exactly signs pointing to the crapmobiles downstairs.
I don't buy it. The Geely booth out in front of the main entrance was positioned right next to a bunch of American booths, and it was far less mobbed there, too.