Will "Made in America" sell in China?

PolitiSUCK
1

Good column on Reuters right now: LINK

Over the summer, Chevrolet dealers in China sold 400 bright-yellow Camaros specifically designed to look like “Bumblebee,” nearly one-quarter of the 2,000 “Bumblebee” Camaros the company sold worldwide.

Chinese observers say Chevrolet, though, could have sold vastly more Camaros in China. Chevrolet built the specialized Camaros in the U.S. only after it received specific orders, creating a three-month-delay in delivery that frustrated Chinese consumers.

At the same time, transportation expenses, as well as Chinese tariffs and currency manipulation, make a Camaro cost roughly twice as much to purchase in China — approximately $70,000 — as it does in the U.S.

Choi, the Chevrolet sales director, downplayed the delivery time and said the Camaro sales showed that American brands can soar in China.

“The question isn’t only about how we get more Camaros to China,” Choi said. “But also about how we get more products — like Camaro — to China that inspire and energize the Chinese market.”

The problem i see here is that there are so few consumer products, relatively speaking, that are made in the US and then fewer still will have the cache the Camaro has as an American icon.

certainly hi-tech products from american companies will sell there but they are largely made in China anyways.

I wonder if aspiration brands like Mcintosh (stereo equipment, not computer stuff) or Allen Edmonds shoes will ever find a market in China. The same way we have european brands find a niche in North America

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IIRC Buick is the car brand in China that says you’re doing well for yourself. They sell more of them there than they do in the U.S.
I’ve never been to China, but given the frequency that they blatantly copy our products, I’d like to think American goods can be the standard of quality, like Italian clothes and shoes, German luxury cars, Swiss watches, etc.