The biggest problem faced by Chinese carmakers in their efforts to become players on the global market is the perception in the minds of the Western car-buying public of poor build quality - especially with regard to safety.
That perception has been fuelled by a number of scary crash-test videos and a well-publicised incident some years back when a Chinese manufacturer was asked by the organisers to close its stand at the Frankfurt motor show because the cars it had brought in for display couldn't pass a roadworthy test.
But before you say, “Yeah right, Chinese cars ARE rubbish”, ask yourself when last you drove one - and what the Chinese are doing to change people's perceptions of their cars.
According to reports from China, one of the things they are doing is a comprehensive overhaul of the China New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP), due to be implemented in July 2012.
The new standards will low-speed crash testing and whiplash protection parameters, as well as measuring the safety of rear-seat pasengers for the first time. Believe it or not, up to now Chinese safety standards have not included rear-seat passengers.
Driver aids such as stability control, which are starting to appear on Chinese models, will also be taken into account for the first time, as C-NCAP requirements move closer to the acknowledged gold standards of crash testing, the Euro-NCAP star rating and the US National Highway Transportation Safety Adminstration criteria, including really tough testing such as the 64km/h offset frontal crash scenario.
It would seem Chinese automakers still have a long way to go. Since 2006 only 59 cars - less than half of new models released in China - have earned five stars even under the current, lower standards.
However, If they want to sell their cars in Europe or the US, they will have to pass Euro-NCAP or NHTSA respectively, so it can only help if Chinese domestic standards are just as strict.