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Here's a good (albeit dated) example : Mini Cooper vs F-150. http://paultan.org/2005/11/08/mini-cooper-vs-ford-f-150-crash-test/

While you can't argue with the laws of physics with respect to mass, engineers can (and have) done an amazing amount of work to ensure the energy is absorbed slowly and evenly.

What the hell are you smoking? First of all, the current price is roughly in line with other nations.

Nope, the petrol price in Malaysia is below 2.5 Ringit per litre, in fact it's as low as 1.75 RM. 3.2 RM is 1 USD today.

Further more Petronas runs the government because Petronas is the government (Petronas is short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or in English "National Petroleum Company") and supply Malaysia with fuel. The Petronas board have an awesome sway in government policy. INPEX is similar in Japan but due to Japans larger commercial sector INPEX does not have the sway Petronas has.

Petronas may export at market prices, but internal supply is well below as it doesn't even touch the open market.

Well, if you look at the trends, you'll see it.

    Exhausts got louder, as they've increased the pipes to reduce airflow restriction. Obviously "economy" cars don't get this (and usually don't need it). The coffee can exhaust is not a performance modification, it's a noise maker. Larger displacement engines do very well with reduced exhaust restrictions, which has shown up on late model muscle cars.

    Animal print interiors ... well, I doubt that'll happen, but it could. More customized interiors with added colors have shown up in production vehicles. This may not be in the price range of the average Slashdot user, but the 2006 Lamborghini Murcielago Alpine Edition that could give you a headache (or burn your eyes out). Most manufacturers have stuck with one or two colors. Factory vehicles have definitely been upgraded with finer leather interiors, real wood, carbon fiber, or brushed aluminum dash inlays. This was pretty much unheard of 30 years ago.

    Louder stereos are almost standard equipment now, compared to the earlier ones that had one speaker in the middle of the dash or possibly two. My '00 car has a 8 speaker system built in, which only gets turned up to 25% on the highway at 85mph with the windows down. My moms late model "grandmother" style car has a factory sound system that is far superior to anything built in the 80's or earlier. Some cars come with somewhat serious subwoofers that'll rattle the windows of other cars at a stop light. In some areas, that's follow up by gunfire which sometimes resolves the problem.

    Fluorescent paint job really depends on the beholder. The factory colors change on a fairly regular basis. Is the Hemi Orange too bright for you? How about the Ford Mystic? How about Honda Helios Yellow Pearl? They're all a long way from Henry Fords available colors, or as he said, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black"

    So, compare a 1980's car to a 2010 car, and you'll see how things have changed. Expect similar changes to continue. People don't like to trade in their old car unless they're getting something "better" which is frequently more "bling" and less performance.

This would have been the Chery QQ which GM accused the manufacturer of copying the Chevrolet Spark/Daewoo Matiz.
Check out
http://paultan.org/2006/02/18/chery-qq-crash-test/
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daewoo_Matiz

http://paultan.org/archives/2007/10/07/more-details-on-tata-1-lakh-car/

PS: "Lakh" is hindi for 100,000

Try this link:

http://paultan.org/archives/2007/10/07/more-details-on-tata-1-lakh-car/

It looks like a car that's been squeezed. It would never be sold in the US because it's missing all the federally mandated safety features... not to mention that the thing looks like it'll flip over if it goes faster than 40mph.

What it's going to do is destroy the auto market outside the US. Ford, GM, and heck, even China will have to compete against Tata in the markets that aren't as controlled as the US's is. This is why Volkswagen is making the "UP", which goes back to it's Beetle roots.

It's a shame their internet's down because they won't be able to get access to this: http://paultan.org/archives/2004/11/29/rfc1149-cpip/

Given China's recent record, I expect them to be painted with lead paint, filled with propylene glycol, have a case that falls apart, and kill people horribly when it crashes.

But let's all keep buying these unregulated, untested imported products because, wow, look at the savings!

It is if you use the avian protocol.

http://paultan.org/archives/2004/11/29/rfc1149-cpi p/

So exactly where has China innovated?

Automobiles they have "chery" whose entire line-up are shoddy copies of cars already produced by other manufacturers.

We have Huawei, who has literally stolen Cisco's router code to make a "competing product".

And then we have their military who happened to... yes steal their designs as well (at least the stuff they didn't just purchase from Russia and reverse engineer).

So exactly what are these innovations taking place in China you wanted to defend?

BTW, there's PLENTY more examples to prove how they don't innovate at all, just steal/reverse engineer/copy others if you need them.

You do realize China has been sending things to space since 1970, and modules that could be manned since 1999. So, potentially manned modules for 7 years, does that number sound familiar? The US made it to the moon in 7 years when it *had never been done before*, and you seem to think that it is beyond thinking that China could put people into space within 7 years of first having the capability to do so?

Alot of people said the same about the SMART. Even though the smart is much safer then some SUVs and others.

Actually, looking at the videos and pictures of the Landwind crash-test, it becomes quite obvious that the whole car is one big crumple-zone. The car seems to simply disintegrate.

See for yourself