A growing number of Lifan vehicles on the road – according to today’s driver the components are shipped to Ethiopia and then assembled here. From some quick and dirty interviews with taxi driver’s (for that is worth) there’s mixed feelings about the wave of Chinese and Chinese consumer goods here – on the one hand Chinese compaies are bringing local goods into the marketplace; running construction projects at a price that companies from other nations seem not able to meet; and at the other extreme they are destroyers of local markets e.g. dumping clothing on the market and destroying the indigenous market’s ability to compete; offering up shoddy goods; and living in compounds separate from the local populace.

Notably – RMB were not easy to change.

Lifan has a decent enough reputation.