Is the title of an excellent new book by Karl Gerth
We tend to look west for new consumer markets – think Apple’s IPad and Botox- and that is unlikely to change any time soon
But now we need to look east as the needs of China shapes innovation and pricing. Things will be greener and cheaper because those are both imperatives for Chinese ( government &) consumers.
The book is full of compelling stats and oberservations that show that link between uncontrollable consumer demand in China and its political consequences
China is rapidly developing a car culture-( that most strategically important of industries)
“Car production has become the employer of 2 million people in China and an important engine of economic growth”
“The desire for cars here is as strong as in America but here the desire was repressed for half a century” (Li Anding)
“Cars spew 36 hundred tons of pollutants into Beijing’s air every day making it one of the most polluted cities on earth with air pollution 5 or 6 times the WHO’s safety standard”
“China accounts for for roughly 12% of the worlds demand for energy and its consumption is growing at 4 times the global rate”
“6 % of its oil comes from Sudan and accounts for 60% of that countries exports”
“Poor people around the world are paying more for food because of cars….crops to produce biofuels……millions of acres of cropland for roads and parking lots”
“Chinese manufacturers are are racing with other world car manufacturers to produce electrics low carbon emitting cars”
The world needs to ask of China what it has consistently failed to do itself-embrace cars without producing negative consequences”
The answer will obviously be more electric cars and the imperatives of longer battery life ( not yet achieved) will dictate aesthetics as form inevitably follows function. We will have to learn to fall in love with snub nosed cars
More follows on this book in later posts