China's not yet a threat I'm off to Russia this
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weekend for Comtrans 2013 (Moscow motor show), where the winners of the 2014 International Truck and Van of the Year awards will be announced. This is one of the most interesting events on the show calendar, due to the huge variety of trucks on display— the major western European truck makers compete head-tohead with domestic Russian and Chinese companies. I last attended in 2007 and was shocked by the sheer number of
Chinese truck and van manufacturers exhibiting. One of them told me the Russian market was a stepping stone into Europe, and that several Chinese van and truck makers would take that step within a couple of years. They reckoned that within five years Chinese-built CVs would have flooded the mainland European market. So far, that flood has been no more than a trickle, and if the two Chinese vehicles I recently drove are anything to go by, the floodgates won't be opening for a while. The Foton Auman (CM 11 July) may be one of China's best trucks, but from the driver's seat it felt like a 1980s throwback. Last week, I drove a DFSK van. The steering wheel was on the right-hand side, the
pedals on the left and the seat somewhere in the middle. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but I wouldn't want
to do any great distances in it. My conclusion? British car and motorbike manufacturers used to laugh about their Japanese rivals' products. A decade or so
later there weren't many left to laugh.
It seems that at least European truck makers still have time to react. Will Shiers Commercial Motor — the official UK journal of the International Truck of the Year and International Van of the Year Awards