China's answer to Detroit is a city you've never heard of — and its cars are already parked in your street.
Episode two of The Big Picture adventure through Hebei Province heads south to Baoding — home of Great Wall Motor, the first Chinese car maker to launch in Australia and now the fastest-growing. They've built a city block around themselves: a headquarters, a car-themed hotel, and a shopping mall where you can buy a coffee, the weekly groceries, and a new car from one of seventeen showrooms. Two llamas were also shopping. Nobody blinked.
Back in Australia, 52,000 GWM cars were sold last year, while Toyota, Ford and Nissan went the other way. The reason, in seven words: come for the price, stay for the tech.
Australia stopped building cars. China didn't.
So here's the billion-dollar question. It's not: will Chinese cars take over the market?
It's: why did you only just notice — and when are you test-driving one?
Don't Break the China!
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