Three wheel people carriers - 650cc microcar?

[Barry]

http://trade.e-to-china.com/company-cBFB6/Dongying_Monde_Golden_Horse_Motorcycle-pBGB1E1/650cc_three_wheel_motorcycle.html

I have seen these in China - £2000 new it seems.
7-8 seats
Safety?

[marcus]

Yup, I too have seen it but did not know it was for SEVEN TO EIGHT people!

 On just 250 cc!

That much weight is at least going to prevent it from going very fast, but if it did eventually get up to any speed and had to brake hard in a corner it could only be catastrophically unstable. Ridiculous, and I love it, but from a distance!

[Barry]

 I read 250cc first Marcus but if you look closely it says >250.  It is actually a massive 650cc.
There seems to be a smaller one which is less than 250cc.

http://trade.e-to-china.com/company-cBFB6/Dongying_Monde_Golden_Horse_Motorcycle-pBGB16F/Three_wheel_motorcycle.html

[Big Al]

Somewhere there is a you tube clip of one of these getting into difficulties. With the larger engine I thought quit interesting but as with anything from China you worry about quality.

[Barry]

Don't worry about poor quality from China, be certain of it.  At the moment.....!

This three wheel people carrier is fit for purpose in China.

China produce some fantastic quality products  but almost always using designs and systems enforced and controlled by big Western customers.
When they go it alone they fail.

This used to be the case with product design but they are now getting better.  Attention to detail is improving, they are no longer just copying the West..

Soon they will have implemented the necessary controls over quality.

You know what happens next............

[marcus]

Yup, they are learning fast!

[Big Al]

You know what happens next............

The world will be to bankrupt to buy the good quality stuff and we go back to the dark ages because the lights go out and Allah wills it?

[AndrewG]

I'm old enough to remember when 'made in Japan' was considered as proof of poor quality, suitable only for children's toys.  That's not quite true today, is it?

And then is was Taiwan - that makes some beautiful bicycles. And then it was South Korea - whose cars have some very happy owners.

In twenty years' time people will probably be giving things fake Chinese names (like Dixons did for their own-brand label) to give them an aura of quality......

[Jim Janecek]

I know someone in the States who invested heavily in a line of these variants with the intent they would sell "like hotcakes".
They did not.  He basically lost all the money he had set aside for retirement. He thought this "investment" would be something big he could pass down to his grown kids.
He was also a big 3-wheeled vehicle fan to begin with, so I am guessing that clouded his judgement.

For the USA, it is really the only "modern" microcar available, some of them have 250cc motors and they are sure are based on scooters.