Car of the Year: The Chinese are here

It is interesting that Chinese cars are distributed not by one of the well-known dealers, but by a newcomer in this field, whose field of activity has been related to vehicles, but on a slightly different level – it is the car wash company “Auto Rings”. It does not cooperate directly with the Chinese, but with Chinese car wholesalers in Germany, from which it then takes cars. Half a dozen “Made in China” car models are already offered in Latvia, but two of them, which we will talk about, have been nominated for the title of “Latvian Car of the Year”.

BASIC X55 II

It looks like it will be a while before I learn the names of the Chinese car manufacturers by heart, so I’ll have to look in the notes for now. BAIC is the name of one of the largest automotive companies, which also has a strategic partnership agreement with the German “Mercedes-Benz”. Of course, the X55 is not a “Mercedes” in terms of design or comfort, but it also costs a lot less. If it weren’t for the inscription “Beijing” on the hood, it could be considered a car made in Korea, because there is something elusively Asian in its design. There is no fault in the interior either: the plastic parts may not be of the same top quality, but the seats are quite comfortable and there is enough space in the back. There’s a proper gear shifter, not one of the miniaturized lumps that’s so common lately, and a medium-sized screen in the center console. The buttons on the steering wheel give an impression of sophistication, they look like they came from a twenty-year-old “Mercedes”.

The car is powered by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder turbo engine with 177 horsepower. It is quite enough for normal driving, but it will be in vain to expect some kind of sporty dynamics here. More than one of the people who have tested the car has commented quite critically about the lane assistant, which behaves rather nervously, and I have to agree with that. Driving does not create practically any emotions – neither positive nor negative. In a word, a car that you take and simply drive from point A to point B. The fuel consumption is high for a car of this size – the specification mentions less than 8 liters per 100 kilometers, but in reality you can add another liter.

What could be the prospects of BAIC X55 in the Latvian market? To tell the truth, quite hazy, because you have to count on the caution of potential buyers. For now, this car is very much like a cat in a bag, because only time will tell how the dealer will deal with all the service functions and warranty obligations (the car has a three-year or 100,000 km mileage warranty) and how durable or not durable the vehicle itself will be on our roads. In addition, although the X55 is only offered in the maximum configuration in Latvia, the price – less than 32,000 euros – is still high. I really can’t even imagine what the reasoning should be for choosing this Chinese product, instead of paying a little extra and taking something from the much better known Koreans.

JAC 8 PRO 4×4

The second contender for “Car of the Year” from China is a thoroughbred country car – the JAC pickup truck. Don’t ask for the correct pronunciation, as even the dealers weren’t quite sure whether “jak” or “jak” was more correct.

Piece by piece, the car looks convincing. The giant inscription JAC on the radiator grille literally radiates power and reminds of something from the world of American large pickups, but this is a deceptive impression, because in terms of power, the Chinese lags behind the Americans – here we have a four-cylinder gasoline engine with 201 “horses”. However, for driving through the fields and forests, it is quite enough, especially because here we have both all-wheel drive and a manual gearbox.

When you get closer, it is confusing that there is a gap between the hood and the body of the machine, in which you can almost stick a finger. At first I thought that maybe the hood was not completely closed, but no – the gap is really there. When you start driving, the feeling is that the car came to us from the beginning of the 2000s – a bit archaic, shaky and loud. Yes, there is a huge screen here, which should give the impression of modernity… but not everything. There is even a front camera, which is very useful for this type of machine, but it automatically turns off if you go faster than 13 km/h through the obstacle course, which is a bit annoying. It’s as if the car does everything, even drives up a sandy hill, but still doesn’t make a convincing impression.

If the price could somehow be lowered by a couple of thousand, then maybe JAC would find its buyer in Latvia, but almost 34,000 EUR seems a bit too much. On the other hand, there is currently a rather large deficit in the pick-up market, so the “Chinese” has certain chances. It would be interesting to talk to a person who bought this car and drove, let’s say, 20,000 kilometers after a year – how the JAC behaved during this time and whether there were any problems. However, in general, the fact that the Chinese automobile industry is finally represented in the Latvian market is not a bad thing, because competition does not harm.