Chinese auto manufacturers are refocusing their attention on Australia- It’s part of an effort to capture a greater slice of the global market.

CGTN’s Greg Navarro reports.

Jason Pecotic is a big fan of MG vehicles, originally started by a British company known for making sports cars.

MG is now owned and manufactured by Chinese company SAIC. Pecotic said he’s so confident of SAIC’s future success here, that he’s working to establish his own MG dealership.

“It’s the only Chinese brand that comes out of China that has history so I see the MG or the resurgence of MG in our country as a positive – hence wanting to be involved in it,” Pecotic said.

Great Wall and Haval are also trying to entice consumers with entries in the SUV market – which account for more than 40 percent of all vehicle sales here.

In 2016, sales of Chinese-made vehicles here rose by more than 20 percent. Chinese made vehicles account for less than .2 percent of Australia’s market. Out of the roughly 100,000 imports sold here in the month of March, only 321 were made in China.

One of the challenges is overcoming the stigma that Chinese manufactured products are cheaply made.

“The weakness in Chinese car manufacturing is quality and supply chain management and there is a shortage of qualified managers in that industry,” Antoine Hermens, associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney explains said.

And a 2010 recall involving about 24,000 Great Wall and Chery vehicles didn’t help – fitted with gaskets that were found to contain asbestos.

Chinese manufacturers are trying to change that perception by tailoring vehicles for Australian consumers.

And with the exit of auto manufacturing in Australia – they see an opportunity to help fill a void.

Jack Perkowski from JFP Holdings talks Chinese auto brands

For more on the growing impact of Chinese auto brands around the world, CGTN’s Rachelle Akuffo spoke with Jack Perkowski, managing partner of JFP Holdings.