Detroit 2008: Tang Hua, a mighty wind

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As if Detroit didn’t have enough to worry about, the Chinese are quietly, steadily -- one might even say serenely -- working toward selling cars in the U.S. market. Seems fair, because U.S. and European automakers, General Motors chief among them, are selling millions of cars in China. Here at the Detroit show, five Chinese carmakers have displays. Among the most fetching, and far-fetched, is the Tang Hua, which might be thought of as a cross between a SmartCar and an inflatable life raft. Tang Hua means ‘Book of Songs,’ and ... well, I’m already feeling like joining the nearest Shaolin temple.

The Tang Hua has a 72-inch wheelbase, reaches speeds of about 30 mph and has a range of about 100 miles. The design prototype I sat in also set some kind of record for toxic outgassing. Curiously, it also had what looked like a picture of Chairman Mao on the steering wheel.

Some many be comforted by the evident lack of polish and execution in Chinese cars. They do seem rather hapless. But the Chinese presence worries me on two fronts: One, it will only be a matter of a few years before the Chinese auto industry, cross-pollinated with the larger global car market, becomes a low-price threat. Two, these companies threaten to put a billion Chinese behind the wheels of cars. The oil-based transportation system that we in the U.S. have found to be only barely sustainable will prove wildly unsustainable in greater Asia.

The all-electric Tang Hua is a dopey, adorable reason to hope that our mistakes will not be written in much larger type.

-- Dan Neil