Car dealer Hughes leads way with Chinese cars

tony1984

Car dealer Hughes leads way with Chinese cars    (澳大利亚汽车经销商Hughes开始对中国汽车感兴趣了）
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=159979

4th August 2009, 6:00 WST
Two decades after pioneering the importation of Korean cars, 73-year-old WA car dealer John Hughes is about to try his hand with a Chinese brand.
  
In February, he will ship into Fremantle 500 of the Geely MK hatches and sedans, cars the size of a $22,000 Toyota Corolla that will sell for about $13,000.
  
They will be followed by a smaller hatch called the Panda, which is likely to compete to be WA’s cheapest new car.
  
The signing yesterday of the Australian distribution rights for Geely will escalate dramatically the availability of Chinese cars in WA.
  
Now only Great Wall utes are available and a Chery small car is due by Christmas.
  
Mr Hughes is confident the cars will quickly allay concerns about quality and safety.
  
“I’ve been around a while and I know my cars and compared with the early Korean cars, the Chinese cars are streets ahead,” he said.
  
“It’s chalk and cheese. “I believe we can get a far quicker acceptance of the Chinese cars, partly because people can already see that in a lot of product areas China is already world class.” Initially, the Geelys will be sold from Victoria Park, with other dealerships in WA and the Eastern States to follow. Hangzhou-based Geely is China’s ninth biggest car maker. It has four plants in China, nine around the world and sells cars to 11 countries. In 1986, Mr Hughes and partners, including Alan Bond, were first to import the Hyundai Excel to Australia. It became a long-time bestseller.
STEPHEN WILLIAMS

吉利熊猫即将登陆澳洲，在经销商Hughes眼里，比起早期韩国车，中国汽车还是可以领跑街头的！当然，让澳洲人接受吉利还是要有一段时间的！