Shanghai show: not so odd after all

The strangest thing about the Shanghai Auto Show was how... unstrange it all felt, at least to those of us weaned on European and North American motor shows.

A few years ago, Chinese shows were notorious for two things: flagrant copyright-breaching clones (BMWs and Minis seemed particular favourites), and absurd, pod-like concepts with names like the SeaBong Friend Cloud and Great Windy.

But, with just a few outliers - and to my significant disappointment, I'll admit - the bad photocopies and strange design studies have vanished, from the Shanghai show floor at least. We came expecting oddballs, and got mainstream.

The majority of Chinese manufacturers - the BYDs, the Dongfengs, the Lifans, the Fotons - seem to be churning out entirely inoffensive, generic, budget-orientated cars, much as Hyundai and Kia did a dozen or so years ago.

Yes, there's still the odd outrageous rip-off - Landwind's Evoque lookalike was a particular highlight - and a healthy array of weirdness, but mostly the many, many, many Chinese offerings managed the interesting trick of resembling almost every one of their competitors simultaneously, yet remaining utterly forgettable.

Whether they'll survive a 5mph parking shunt without shattering into a million pieces I couldn't say, but I'd suspect so: the majority looked properly built and entirely plausible. Oh, and deeply boring, of course.

While such professional homogeneity is something of a blow to TG's Poke Fun At The Silly Foreign Stuff department, it matters, even to those of us outside the People's Republic.

What it means, essentially, is that the Chinese are coming. It won't be long before these sensible, bland offerings find their way to European and American motor shows, and from there onto our forecourts.

And they won't be entirely rubbish. Just as Kia and Hyundai (and before them the Japanese manufacturers) moved at surprising pace from joke punchlines, though purveyors of faceless white goods, into credible rivals to Europe's mainstream manufacturers, so China's domestic brands will do exactly the same, and quicker than we expect. The rate of improvement is frankly staggering.

The influx will, of course, start with cheap cars, China's plentiful labour and resources, combined with vast economies of scale - and the fact that buyers at the budget end of the market don't place such value on brand heritage - enabling them to quickly out-Dacia Dacia.

Perhaps the more interesting question is if, and when, Chinese manufacturers will start to square up to Europe's premium brands: the BMWs, the Jaguars, perhaps even the Bentleys. That, for now, seems rather less certain.

With the honourable exception of Honqi's glorious L5, China's manufacturers seem content to leave the premium stuff to the Europeans - and, to a lesser extent, the Americans.

I asked bosses at Merc and Bentley whether they regarded Chinese firms as a potential threat to their sales, whether in China or elsewhere in the world. Bluster it may have been, but they seemed unconcerned by the prospect, reckoning their firm's combination of engineering, history and brand should keep them safe for at least a decade, if not rather longer.

But the mass-market scrappers ought to watch out. The Shanghai show proved that Chinese manufacturers are no longer a comedy side-note, but preparing to take over the world...