SAIC has long been losing money on its own-brand cars, which sell under badges such as Roewe and MG (the latter a faded British brand it bought along with other parts of the collapsed Rover Group). In the latest quarter the losses rose sharply, to around 2 billion yuan. A vicious circle has set in: the poor financial performance of Chinese firms’ own brands has sapped their will to invest in research and development to improve their performance on the road and in the showrooms. Little wonder, then, that Chinese motorists spurn pleas for patriotism and covet foreign-badged motors.