Brewster Fong view: flat | tree
Subject: [BOB] Re: The Sizzle of Consumer Purchasing
Date: 4/7/2011 11:07:39 AM
List: Internet-BOB


On Apr 7, 10:33=A0am, Steve Chan <sychan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 9:38 AM, Brewster Fong <bfd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Don't know about India, but I was disappointed to see that the Chinese
> > weren't following the Europeans and using the latest most modern and
> > advanced diesel engines to take advantage of the new ultra clean
> > diesel fuel that burns cleaner and uses less gas than a gasoline
> > engine. May be the Indians are using diesel engines in their cars?
>
> =A0 =A0 Maybe things have changed, but my own observations of Chinese
> culture (as an American Born Chinese visiting Taiwan and Hong Kong and
> also in conversation with friends of a similar background) is that
> personal accountability for the condition of public spaces is pretty
> far down on the list of priorities. There are different social norms
> at work (barring outliers like Singapore). I think this might feed
> into a lack of consideration for how much pollution their vehicles
> generate. In the same way, Americans may seem like shameless slobs to
> Japanese and Bavarians.

I agree. In HK, you could see the excess on the streets. People rode
around in BIG MB limos and S-Class cars were common; BMW's latest 7
Series were prominent; and I saw and heard at least 2 Ferraris and
several fancy Porches screaming down the narrow streets!

In Beijing and Datong, cars of all types were everywhere with black
Audis being *the* car to be seen in.

In the other thread, someone responded who is living in another
smaller city in China (which probably has at least a couple of million
people), said that many of his co-workers still commuted by bicycle,
but they were planning on buying a car as soon as they could save
enough money!

Pollution, Global Warming and environmental impact doesn't appear to
be on the top of too many people's list in Asia.

> =A0 =A0 The other issue may be that the low sulfur diesel may not be
> available in China. The better German diesel engines weren't really
> usable in the US because you couldn't get the cleaner diesel in the
> US.
>
Agree. even here in the States, the new ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD)
fuel has only been available since about 2007. It will take time
even in the US to convert its older transportation fleets and other
machines that run on diesel. I was hoping that China would follow
Europe and develop their infrastructure to use diesel fuel. Doesn't
appear to be happening that way.

MB, BMW, Audi/VW now offer diesel engines designed to take advantage
of ULSD. However, unlike Europe, the US infrastructure is not designed
for diesel. i.e., you can't get diesel at every station like at Costco
and thus, makes another barrier to using it here.

On a bicycle note, :), I did check out some of the bikes in China and
most were utility (3 wheelers hauling stuff) or commuter bikes. Saw 3
mtbs with the riders interestingly using a helmet. I guess the
utility/commuter riders rode too slow to need a helmet....Good Luck!

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