![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Great-Wall-Image.jpg\" "\\"Great")
<\/a>\nGreat Wall is the most successful Chinese brand in Australia, ranking in the top half of all imports, and is continuing to make significant inroads into the Australian market. So, are the press, and the motor repair trade justified in getting het up, or is it just a media beat up?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at the facts-and it\u2019s all about the asbestos content in the engine bays of these cars:-
\n\u2022 Asbestos was frequently and almost universally employed in motor vehicles for brake pads, engine gaskets and other parts for many years.
\n\u2022 Use of asbestos was banned for all motor vehicles sold in Australia in 2004
\n\u2022 Ateco imports Great Wall and Chery cars into Australia. They were given \u2018written assurances\u2019 that these vehicles complied with Australian design rules (and therefore did not use asbestos) before they signed the import licence agreements in 2007.
\n\u2022 But that was not the case, as it appears that these vehicle did have asbestos in them, thereby contravening various regulations.
\n\u2022 The ACCC was therefore brought into play to determine what action should be taken.
\n\u2022 Repairers called upon the ACCC to issue a full recall and replace all offending parts immediately. That would have cost many millions of dollars.
\n\u2022 The ACCC demurred, instead directing that warning stickers be attached to the offending parts at the next scheduled service- a much more watered down solution that some demanded. The ACCC said that the gaskets were sealed within the engine and presented no risk whatsoever to drivers.<\/p>\n
But asbestos is deadly so is the ACCC acting irresponsibly?<\/p>\n
The \u201cYES\u201d lobby says they are because the dangers are exemplified in later years when mechanics and possibly handymen owners start to mess around in the engine bay. Stickers may have come off, and owners\/mechanics will have a false sense of security as they would be thinking that asbestos is banned, and therefore not a problem.<\/p>\n
The \u201cNO” \u00a0lobby says that the ACCC has done all that\u2019s necessary, that there is no immediate danger, and that mechanics have become well aware of the handling requirements of gaskets, and current imports of these cars now comply absolutely.<\/p>\n
But a wider point of view asks how a car maker can be so unaware of the dangers of its own products and is casting doubts on the manufacturers themselves. The automotive press have got stuck into the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for not taking decisive action against Chinese auto makers Great Wall and Chery. Great Wall is the most successful Chinese brand in Australia, ranking in the top half of all imports, and is continuing to make significant inroads into the Australian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2090"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12264,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions\/12264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOf course the competitors to these two makers are happy to join in the fray, as there\u2019s no doubt that Great Wall, particularly, is causing them a headache. Breaches with Customs and Border Protection have even been mentioned, and here the fines could be many, many millions of dollars.
\nWe think the bigger picture is at play, that competitors are using every trick in the book to decry Chinese imports, which prompts us to ask how good they really are? Certainly they have a very big price advantage, but are they value for money, do they perform well and reliably?
\nIf you have a Great Wall or a Chery, or you know of someone who has, we\u2019d love to hear from you.
\nWe also want to know what you think of the ACCC\u2019s initiative, so have your say below. http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/offers-zaim\/platiza-mgnovenniy-zaim-online.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"