Tuesday, March 27, 2007
SIR NICK'S FACTS CHECKED
Super expert global warming researcher Sir Nicholas Stern claims:
“You can’t export an American car to China: it does not satisfy the emissions standards.”
Really? That’ll be news to DaimlerChrysler and Cadillac, both of which maintain outlets in China. This idea that Chinese automotive standards are higher than those in the US turns out to be another leftist item of faith; here’s Seattle’s Joel Connelly:
We can’t sell American cars in China because they don’t meet the Middle Kingdom’s fuel efficiency standards.
And the HuffyPost’s Laurie David:
You can’t even sell many American cars in China because they don’t meet that country’s higher fuel standards. That’s right, China demands better mileage from its cars than we do!
For sure, Laurie and Joel and Sir Nick! When not banning US vehicles entirely, China apparently limits its intake of American road metal to fuel-sipping Caddy econopods:
During a ceremony at Beijing’s Imperial Ancestors’ Temple, a symbol of ancient China, General Motors officially launched Cadillac, its premium luxury brand for modern China.
Three new Cadillac models that will be sold in China - the CTS, SRX and XLR - were unveiled at the ceremony. All three products embody Cadillac’s distinctive bold design, purposeful innovation and balanced performance ...
All three models will start as imports from GM’s North American Operations. They will be built at the company’s Grand River manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, and at its facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
That report is dated 2004, at which point Cadillac apparently first met China’s rigorous emission and mileage standards. Here’s a report on Ford and GM’s export plans from one year prior:
The top two US automakers announced plans to export thousands of vehicles to China as that country moves to open up its market to foreign competition.
By 2006, that export plan was paying off:
Ford Motor Company took another important step forward today in its commitment to grow in China by pledging to export more vehicles from the United States to China ...
In 2005, Chinese customers purchased 2,787 Ford Mavericks, an increase of nearly 50 percent over 2004 and enough to place Maverick among the best-sellers in the Chinese imported SUV segment. And the sales growth continues: Maverick sales in the first quarter of 2006 were up over 30 percent year-over-year. With 423 sales in calendar year 2005, Lincoln Navigator helped define the market for “President Class,” full-size SUVs.
The commitment to continue the export program was marked in a ceremony in Los Angeles attended by a Chinese delegation led by Madam Wu Yi, China’s Vice Premier and Minister of Health, and included a number of senior officials from China’s Ministry of Commerce.
If, according to Stern, Chinese cars are cleaner than US cars, shouldn’t they be easily exported to America? Not so:
Reached by phone in China, an employee of [Chinese carmaker] Brilliance’s export trade department said the automaker wants to export the Zhonghua.
“But right now the emissions criteria doesn’t meet US and European levels,” the worker said. “Getting those certifications is very expensive. Therefore, we don’t have a plan to develop these aspects right now.”
What’s that? Chinese vehicle emissions don’t meet US standards? We’ll need a second opinion:
Chinese carmakers are throttling back plans to export their cars into major overseas markets such as Western Europe and North America, according to research undertaken for a just-auto members’ management briefing.
The study found that Chinese carmakers’ attentions are instead currently focussed on the need to supply a growing domestic market.
Ambitious export plans have been revised in the light of the need to meet relatively stringent crash-testing and emissions regulations in developed markets.
If Stern can be so wrong on elementary matters such as these, how wrong might he be about climate change (which, according to him, will cause gender inequalities and forced marriage)?
(Via Contrail and Dave Surls; earlier post on this here)