Thanks JK in California; you're a gem for sending these to me. NJC, freezing her butt off while you're in sunny California. Must remember that your area is earthquake-prone -- have to keep that green monkey off my back.
Updates to the posts below:
Update 1: The China Conference Website -- April 18 & 19, 2005, Westin Bayshore Resort, Hosted and Principally Sponsored by the Port of Vancouver, BC
The China Conference is the FIRST and PREMIER North American-based conference dealing specifically with China-North America shipping and logistics and is targeted at those either getting into, or those already engaged, in commerce with China.
Less than a year after first setting up shop in China as a self-professed "environmental consultant", Kyoto Protocol architect Maurice Strong is a mega Chinese car salesman.
Among the 250,000 cars the company in which he’s a partner will export to the United States is the enviro dreaded SUV.
[. . . . ] Strong’s main mission in China was to replace the United States of America with China as a world leader on ecology.
[. . . . ] "China will soon be the No. 2 economy in the world. That will put huge pressure on the environment."
[Search today's posts, one on the CCBC, for Earl Drake who said this.]
And Maurice Strong will make money selling cars? In the West? How Liberal -- talk about the environment while acting to make money. Or am I being unfair? Too harsh? Too ready to see through our emperors' new clothes?
First Chinese cars to hit U.S. shores -- Malcolm Bricklin, the man behind the Yugo, to lead new import wave in 2007. -- Maurice Strong member of Bricklin's team -- a NB connection here
NEW YORK -- A newly formed company led by auto entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin and the investment banking firm Allen & Co. has signed the first-ever deal to import cars made in China for sale in the United States.
[. . . . ] United States, where Asian automakers have been steadily taking market share from Detroit's Big Three [. . . . ]
The deal marks a stunning return to the industry for the 65-year-old Bricklin,. . . going bankrupt building his own ill-fated Bricklin sports car in the 1970s. [a New Brunswick, Canada, story; he was not the only one to suffer monetarily!]
[. . . . ] Other partners in Visionary Vehicles include Maurice Strong, a former senior adviser to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan; Norwegian shipping magnate Per Arneberg; and New York construction executive John Cavanaugh.
[. . . . ] He said the goal is to price the vehicles 30 percent below competing models in the U.S. market.
Automaker's global plans
[. . . . ] Bricklin moved on in 1972, founding his own auto manufacturing company with funding from the Canadian government and the province of New Brunswick.
The Bricklin SV-1, a futuristic sports car with gull-wing doors, went into production at a Canadian plant in mid-1974. Within a year, the company was bankrupt, running up $32 million in debts after producing just 2,800 cars.
It cost New Brunswickers a bundle, if I remember correctly. Perhaps he would now consider paying back some of the money to Canada and to NB? Yes, I jest. Government grants, forgivable loans just help those with the right connections -- the better networks. Well, read all of today's posts and you'll know.
[. . . . ] Bricklin's business model -- using low-cost Chinese labor to hold down vehicle prices for entry-level U.S. models -- convinced Allen & Co. to back the effort.
[. . . . Chinese goverment control -- an auto show in North America ]
[. . . . ] Bricklin said that Chery has engaged the Italian design houses Pininfarina and Bertone to design its U.S. models, and has contracted with the Austrian engineering firm AVL to develop new engines. [. . . . ]
Now, what is your next thought? No? Wait for design and automotive tech "breakthroughs" in China next year. Keep scrolling.
Bricklin's team
Key players in Visionary Vehicles' bid to import Chinese-made cars to the United States:
* Malcolm Bricklin, CEO of Visionary Vehicles. [. . . ]
Ex-Premier Richard Hatfield, now deceased, was involved in the Bricklin fiasco in New Brunswick.
* William J. vanden Heuvel, chairman of Visionary Vehicles. He is a former deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations [. . . ]
* Allen & Co., investment banking firm.[. . . ]
* Maurice Strong, chairman of Visionary Vehicles' Technology and Environmental Advisory Board. He is a former senior adviser to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and adviser to the president of the World Bank. [among other things -- scroll down.]
* Per Arneberg, transportation coordinator. The Norwegian shipping magnate will oversee transportation of Chery vehicles from China to North America. He previously headed up transport of Toyotas and Yugos to the U.S. market.[. . . .]
No wonder Paul Martin is in such a hurry!
There are related reports:
Chinese carmaker ambitious, controversial
Timeline: Malcolm Bricklin's path to China
Driven abroad: A study of the economic forces behind the loss of U.S. auto industry jobs
Road to China: Big rewards, big risks
Chinese carmaker ambitious, controversial -- GM has accused Chery Automobile Co. of copying Chevy design, plans to sue.
GM has not given up the fight against Chery -- one of a series of disputes over rampant trademark and patent violations in China. In December, GM said it would sue the automaker in a Chinese court in a case expected to draw worldwide attention.
[. . . . ] GM first brought Chery to the world's attention in 2003, when it accused the carmaker of copying the Chevrolet Spark, a hatchback based on GM's Daewoo Matiz. [Check the photos on this site.]
Chery denies the charge, but the QQ bears a striking resemblance to the Spark and also outsells it.
There goes the business. Get your resumes ready for positions as "greeters", hash slingers and call center jockeys. Your next company may get a government handout--forgivable loan--if one of the big boys owns it. If it is headquartered in Quebec, mais oui!
PS: Don't plan on having a large family nor that your wife stay home to look after the children and the household's needs. Come to think of it, retirement will be a bit dicey, too. Die early.
[. . . . ] It now sells four cars -- the Fengyun, Qiyun and Son of East sedans, and the QQ. Next year, it plans to launch a sport utility vehicle, a new sedan and a crossover.
Canada's Prime Minister, the Industry Minister, assorted other government lads, hangers-on and the big corporations which have received Canadian taxpayers' $$$ largesse over the years are pushing China's interests in--designs upon-Canada's resources, research and development, various companies, et cetera? -- And their own interests? What about Canada's? Think about it. Then, read on.
