European auto makers, already having rivals among low-cost Japanese and South Korean brands, may soon face another threat - Chinese cars. And U.S. auto makers will be monitoring the situation.

A growing number of European importers are cooperating with Chinese auto makers to bring Chinese cars to European market this year, which testifies to the fact that the world’s second-largest automobile market has become more competitive as a result of dropping trade barriers. Moreover, there is a tendency to bring Chinese cars to the U.S. market within several years.

The joint efforts by the Chinese producers and the European importers make evident China’s desire to turn into a major global exporter of automobiles. Though this prospect has perturbed Western auto makers who feared the advantage Chinese companies would enjoy having lower manufacturing costs.

While Chinese cars are not widely sold in Europe, they are starting to appear in Russia, one of Europe’s fastest-growing car markets in recent years. At the beginning of the year some Russian car dealerships sold sport-utility vehicles produced by Great Wall Automobile Co. at prices that are as much as 35% below those of other Asian imports, even after accounting for the high tariffs on imported vehicles in Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, a U.S. importer has disclosed plans to bring cars made by Chinese auto maker Chery Automobile Co. to the U.S. market by 2007, which would be the greatest effort to bring Chinese-made vehicles to the U.S.
The possibility that cheap Chinese-made cars enter Europe and the U.S. has risen a concern in the auto industry mainly among the unionized workers of Western manufacturers. Labor costs in China are unbelievably low – an average of 95 cents an hour in the auto sector, compared with around $26 in the U.S. and $36 in Western Germany, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Chinese auto makers will have to persuade American and European consumers that the Chinese-made vehicles can compete with new and used models from more-established brands, being almost as well made and safe.