Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Car shopping in Shanghai

Well, well, very interesting development; no, not me buying a car but Audrey's friend; so I have decided to put in my two-bits for him. He's about 27-ish. Been driving a VW. Now he wants a bigger car to ride. He has settled with a Ford Mondeo. I am always wondering why I don't see that many Japanese cars running around the city; all I see are: Bimmers, Benz, Audi, all the German-made, US-based GM and Ford and French-made. The sentiment is: Hate Japan. That's interesting huh? Same sentiment from another guy I know who is thinking of buying. Too bad Ford and GM cannot capitalized on this sentiment and make some "nicer", sportier, plush looking cars. Rather than selling the also-run types.

This guy, very funny.... he test drove for a total of 10 minutes! 10 minutes! Wow. The customary thinking is "do not want to impose". Yikes. And this guy doesn't even know what is EBD or ESP. ABS hasn't even know how to use it. But at least he knows side impact airbags are good.

The cultural thinking of the younger generation is very interesting. They want something, just buy; I posted a question last night, in Chinese of course, "when do you need this new car?". He didn't know. "Can you wait for another year and save some more for a nicer one". O... That's a great idea. "Are you really need one this year?" Well, if I don't get it, when I am old, I have money but don't want to buy. It was hilarious.

Tomorrow, we'll go do another test drive; I have told him what to look for and all; we shall see. Good Chinese practice for me though.

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