The Automotive Industry Changes Chinese Society
...otor vehicles. And to make up for the shortages, China’s central authorities allowed for the importation of a large amount of new and used foreign built motor vehicles, most of which were of Japanese origin. At that time, taxies appeared on roads, and they were very convenient to people’s lives some times. Taking taxies was still expensive for most people, and they took taxies since they had emergency. More and more companies began to use vehicles to improve their work efficiency, for example, companies had their own couches to pick up their employees to workplace and home. A few people could have their own cars, but for most people, buying a car was still a dream; some people cannot even dream to own a car. The distance between rich and poor was getting further and further. Various kinds of vehicles were more and more on the road; the government had to keep editing the traffic rules and building new roads to control the traffic problems. Vehicles have gone into people’s lives, and people realized the importance of vehicles. Several Western automotive companies started to explore joint ventures and cooperative production arrangements with the Central government and local authorities in several regions of China. The first, and for a long time only, foreign automobile company licensed to build passenger sedans in China was Volkswagen. Working through a joint venture with the Chinese-owned Shanghai Automotive Industries Corporation, Volkswagen is by far the largest car manufacturer in China, selling more cars in China than in Germany. Volkswagen/Audi has roughly 40 % of the Chinese market and sold 600,000 VWs and Audis in 2003. During the past few years, new joint ventures with foreign partners have led to a major expansion in automotive manufacturing in China. Arrangements for the first joint venture with an American company to produce a passenger sedan were completed in March 1997. This $1 billion deal between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industries will result in the manufacture of up to 100,000 Buick Regal and Century automobiles at a new assembly plant to be built in China around the end of the decade. Ford reached an agreement in October 2002 with joint venture partner Chang'an Ford, to further invest US$1.5 billion to expand the annual production of Chang'an Ford from the current 20,000 units to 150,000. By 2007, Ford plans to have four locally made vehicles. In September 2003 Daimler Chrysler announced a new agreement with Beijing Jeep. The partners plan to invest 1.2 billion to modernize and expand the Beijing Jeep facilities. (Gallagher, 2004) Huge investment from foreign countries brings thousands of jobs for Chinese. The jobs we considered not only from automotive industry but also from other industries that related to auto industry. Today, automotive industry uses 20 per cent of the world’s steel production; 10 per cent of the aluminium; 35 per cent of the zinc; 50 per cent of the lead and 60 per cent of all natural rubber (Facts & stats on cars, 1997). In addition, over a third of all the world’s oil consumption is accounted for by vehicles. Many factories extend to supply materials for auto industry. It increases the nation’s economy and reduces certain pressure of employment rate for the government. With the automobile, people no longer needed to live so close to their workplaces. They could live miles away from the pollution and noise of the factories and the city, yet still work at a factory. They could buy a bigger and newer house rather than a small, old and expensive apartment downtown. They could enjoy the fresh air and peace. They could travel wherever they pleased whenever they pleased. They don’t have to go shipping everyday, once a week is enough. Shopping centre could build out of town to reduce the cost. People could even get better communities than before. They could go to gyms, restaurants, cinema or sports arena more easily than whenever before. All of these are just a part of the better life that the automobile brings to us. While the automobile brings us the better life, it also brings us some crises and problems we have to face. China was a low carbon dioxide emission country a decade ago. Now it comes second after the United States in the production of carbon dioxide. Air pollution in China is incredible, in many big cities 50 percent of the air pollution is coming from cars. The Chinese government has since tried to tackle problems posed by the growing number of cars as well. Bus and rail systems have seen recent and ongoing improvements, and some cities have unveiled cleaner-fuel-burning buses and taxis. Leaded gasoline was banned and largely replaced within a three-year time frame. Emission standards, which were unknown in China before 2000, are now in place. While the standards lag those of Europe by a decade, government officials are trying to play catch-up. Although there’re so many ways to control the air pollution, the huge number of vehicles and the rapid growing tendency are still the serious problems we have to face in a long term. In 2002, 770,000 highway accidents occurred across the country, claiming 109,000 lives (Hua, 2003), which has aroused great concern among the public. Every day in China at least 300 people are killed in traffic accidents, ranking the country top in the world for both the dea...