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Anthony Mason: The buzz in Detroit today wasn't for some sexy new American sports car; it was for a bland Chinese Sedan. This is the Geely CK.
Interpreter: Geely is the only privately operated Chinese auto manufacturer.
Anthony Mason: Geely's founder, Shufu Li, whose portrait hangs Mao-like in the company booth, wants a piece of the American market.
Anthony Mason: Do you have a dream of how many cars you can sell here in the United States?
Interpreter: I do have that dream, but it's just a dream now.
Anthony Mason: That dream is to sell 100,000 cars a year here. The son of a Chinese peasant farmer, Li started Geely just a decade ago.
Anthony Mason: So he is a classic entrepreneur.
Wayne Xing (Publisher, China Automotive Review): He is.
Anthony Mason: Wayne Xing is the publisher of the China Automotive Review.
Wayne Xing: He started by just making refrigerator parts and then building refrigerators.
Anthony Mason: Geely's 10, 000 workers earn just $3.50 an hour, and now build 200,000 cars a year.
Anthony Mason: The Geely destined for the US is Spartan with a bare bones interior, no sunroof or heated seats. But if the styling doesn't capture your eye, the price will. Geely is hoping to sell this car here for less than $10,000.
John Harmer (Geely USA): This is just a basic fundamental reliable pragmatic automobile.
Anthony Mason: There are more than 100 automakers in China, and some are aiming higher.
Malcolm Bricklin: What we are planning on doing is developing models for the United States market that are going to go up against Audi and BMW and Mercedes.
Anthony Mason: Malcolm Bricklin who brought the Yugo and Subaru to the US is working with China's Chery Company to build low-cost luxury cars for the US market, his target: 250,000 cars by 2008.
Anthony Mason: You think you can sell a quarter of million cars in this country from China?
Malcolm Bricklin: Oh, I think I can sell the cars. My problem is how do I do all of the logistics, bringing them over in the shipping and making sure they are all good when they get here.
Anthony Mason: Higher safety and emission standards will also be obstacles, but the flag dropped in Detroit today. The race is on, and the Chinese are on their way.
Anthony Mason: Anthony Mason, CBS News, Detroit.
Note------------
Spartan: spartan conditions or ways of living are simple and without any comfort; 简朴的、节约的或严格的.
pragmatic: dealing with problems in a sensible, practical way instead of strictly following a set of ideas; 实际的，实干的.
logistics: the practical arrangements that are needed in order to make a plan that involves a lot of people and equipment successful; 后勤学, 后勤. |