With Chinese cars playing an increasing role in the Australian car parc, Transgold is taking steps to prepare

Back in 2017, Australians bought less than 5,000 Chinese-made cars and that was less than one percent of the total car sales for that year.
Fast forward to 2023 and we now see that Chinese-made cars represent 16 percent of sales for the year and China sits third in the country of manufacture table behind Japan and Thailand, but ahead of Korea.
“This has partly been driven by the growth of the EV segment, which reached 7.2 percent of total sales. With a range of government incentives available, early adopters moved in and built the segment,” Transgold Managing Director, Keith Young, said.
“Three models, Tesla’s model Y and Model 3 and BYD Atto 3, made up just under two thirds of these sales last year. All three are manufactured in China.
“A long tail of other models makes up the EV segment, including some 25 brands including MG, GWM, LDV and BYD – all Chinese brands.
“In parallel to this China has continued to build its automobile making capacity and its reputation for reliable, well-built vehicles.
“The MG brand, purchased by the SAIC Motor Corporation (formerly known as the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) in 2007 became a pioneer by leveraging the brand and backing it with well-priced vehicles. It now sells over 58,000 vehicles a year in Australia but has achieved global sales of over 1.2 million vehicles to date. It currently offers eight models, only three of which are electric.
“GWM (Great Wall Motors) has six models on sale, one of which is electric while LDV has ten, four of which are electric. All three BYD models are electric.
“Chinese manufacturers have also taken a leaf out of the Korean brands playbook with very generous warranty and fixed price servicing packages.
“GWM offer a seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty and, on their Haval range, add a five-year fixed-price service program.
“MG offers a seven-year/80,000-mile warranty whilst all new LDV models with a combustion engine have a five-year/130,000-kilometre warranty, except for
the Mifa model where the warranty has been extended to seven years and 200,000 kilometres.
“Electric vehicles will not place the same demands on the aftermarket as combustion engine models but as illustrated above there are a lot of new models on the market that will soon be making their way into Australian workshops.
“So, what does all of this mean for the Australian automotive industry?
“We already operate in a very extensive market. We have had over 50 manufacturers here for a while and now with the Chinese brands, we are up to about 56.
“It makes our job more complex as we have to follow our sourcing process for all these new models.
“Now it might be a few years before repair shops encounter Chinese brand vehicles, but we’ve got to be ready with the appropriate range of parts – particularly across engine mounts, rubber suspension and transmission kits.
“We’ve already started to identify the models, obtain the right OEM specifications, and liaise with our suppliers to get prototype parts under way.
“We’re sticking with our ISO:9001 or TS:16949 certification policy to ensure the Transgold quality.
“We might need a larger warehouse!”

For more from Transgold, visit www.transgold.com.au