On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:04:59 GMT, PaPaPeng wrote:

I have marked a few paragraphs with ~~~ to highlight the frenetic pace
of development. The business model is affordable modern cars for
third world markets including China herself.


I always find it very interesting the passions stirred up where China
is concerned. Do read this other story at the high end of technology
and engineering competition.

The ultimate global battle
Boeing Versus Airbus by John Newhouse
The jumbo jet is the icon of globalization; the competition between
Boeing and Airbus is the iconic rivalry. A major theme of this
excellent business book is how the US company has had to rethink and
reshape its business practices to match more closely those of Airbus.
On a larger scale, it is not unlike what the US will have to do to
compete with another upstart, China. - Benjamin A Shobert (Aug 24,
'07)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_.../IH25Dj03.html

Quote: Second, by outsourcing large portions of the 787, Boeing sent
a strong message to its workforce about what the company was prepared
to do in case it had labor problems on its hands again.

Newhouse expands on this second point when he writes, "There is no
evidence, however, that Boeing is saving much money by outsourcing the
787's wing or sections of the fuselage. Japan is not a cheap labor
market. To the contrary. Neither is Italy. But the outsourcing does
send a message to the unions that Boeing deals with. It says: 'If you
mess too hard with us, we can always outsource your job to another
place'" (p 169).