China has a problem. Although it has the financial and material resources to compete with the world’s automakers, it lacks the design and engineering knowhow.
The solution – to companies such as BAIC, Dongfeng, Chang’an and others – is to seek talent abroad; in Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and USA. Research and development centres are popping up in Nottingham and Detroit and recruitment fairs are being held in Munich, Stuttgart and Aachen.
With hundreds of thousands of engineering students graduating from Chinese universities each year, one would think that the nation’s automakers would have a wealth of talent to choose from. Not so.
One thing that engineering graduates lack, according to the Chinese carmakers, is global experience and management skills.
Bill Russo, of Beijing automotive consultancy firm Synergistics described the situation to the Financial Times thusly:
“Sure there are many engineers in China. But the talent pool is fairly shallow. Chinese companies are finding that there are many engineers who have been educated in the West, including overseas Chinese who are anxious to work in such a dynamic place as China. This allows them to fill talent gap that they are unable to fill with domestic recruiting.”
By recruiting and setting up R&D centres overseas, China’s automakers hope to improve their domestic marketshare while simultaneously allowing them to expand abroad. And although it costs more in the short term, companies like SAIC believe that moves such as these will help long-term profits.
Whether Beijing or Shanghai will become the “New Detroit” is a question that can only be answered by time. My only hope is that they model themselves off Detroit The Boom Town, not Detroit The City of Government Handouts and Cynical Rebadging…
By Tristan Hankins
