Reuters recently published a commentary on "Guangzhou Auto Readies First Turn in Detroit, USsales still a dream for Chinese", and quoted analysts' views that Chinese auto companies It will catch up with the world level around 2018 to 2020. The following is a full-text translation.

From the middle of the last decade, Chinese car companies began to push the door of the Detroit auto show more and more frequently, highlighting the ambition of Chinese local car companies to sell cars in the United States.

In 2006, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group participated in the North American International Auto Show held in Detroit, followed by BYD, a battery and car manufacturer.

This year, Guangzhou Automobile Group came to Detroit. This is a state-owned auto company and has established joint ventures with Toyota Motors, Honda Motors and Fiat. This time, Guangzhou Automobile from Guangzhou, South China, participated in the Detroit Auto Show for the first time.

According to information provided by GAC, the company will display several "newly developed" models, including three new energy vehicles: the four-wheel drive hybrid transmission sedan that will be put into batch production, the Chuanqi GS5 electric SUV prototype, and a E-jet extended range hybrid concept car.

GAC stated on its official website: "These models belong to energy-saving vehicles and new energy vehicles," and they represent the concepts of "Making Fine Cars" and "Detailing-Greatness". As well as the positive attitude towards vehicle electrification, these have made GAC different from Other Chinese export vehicle companies."

Regarding Reuters' mention of whether there are targets for entering developed markets such as the United States and Canada, GAC executives have not answered. However, some experts and industry sources disclosed that some Chinese car companies have already reached this goal.

At least they think that these Chinese car companies have quickly filled in the gap in product quality, in the next five years may be theoretically ready to enter the United States or other mature automobile market.

Jacob George of JD Power and Associates is one of the analysts.

According to Jacobs' analysis, JDPower's analysis shows that by 2018, the "basic" quality of vehicle design and manufacturing by Chinese self-owned brand car companies will catch up with that of American, European, Japanese, and Korean counterparts.

The so-called "initial quality" refers to the level of quality that a car's new car can achieve and JDPower conducts large-scale sample surveys for new car buyers in major global markets.

George said that this means that Chinese local car companies should be able to start seriously considering selling cars in Western developed countries from the end of this decade. However, it also stressed that this is theoretically speaking. This is because if a car company wants to sell vehicles in a mature market like the United States, the issue to be considered is not just the basic quality of the new car.

In George's view, “We will see that Chinese car companies will be able to compete with global car companies in quality in 2018, but in terms of actual sales and brand public recognition, they also need to work harder than quality. According to its explanation, Chinese car companies need to cultivate consumers' trust in their brands and products, while ensuring that vehicles will not be damaged in the long term, that is, the long-term reliability and durability of the products.

However, George also stated that, as far as the reality is concerned, by the year 2020, that is, the early next decade, it is unlikely that Chinese automakers such as GAC will be preparing to sell cars in developed countries such as the United States.

These Chinese local car companies are increasingly able to produce good vehicles, enough to achieve the annual sales of millions of low-cost cars overseas, mainly in emerging markets such as Egypt, Indonesia and Ukraine.

According to JDPower's survey, most of the vehicles manufactured by Chinese local automakers are below the industry average, but car companies such as Geely and BYD have significantly narrowed their distance to the world level and are close to the industry average. However, it is not yet known how close vehicles produced by GAC in China are to the average level of the world’s auto industry.