A "report" initally published by Gasgoo has been widely circulated around the Internet. As a result, we have been graced with punchlines such as "Chinese automakers still can't lick quality problems" from USAToday, and also Autoblog's "Chinese car quality complaints on the rise".

Because there's nothing like good, old fashioned China bashing, right? Unfortunately, due to the lack of ethics or pure laziness from these so-called "journalists," it's up to CCT to debunk the myths and right the wrongs. Instead of making further research or using common sense, it's easier for a quick, dirty and cheap sneer at Chinese automakers.

According to Gasgoo's report, "Complaints about cars that had quality problems within six months from the day of purchase accounted for more than 60 percent of all the complaints in the first quarter, up 9 percent" and "complaints over safety risks and carmakers' production defects rose nearly 15 percent".

The first logical fallacy of the argument resides in the fact that China's car sales have gone up by astounding rates of over 60% year-on-year. It is obvious that with an increase in sales, there is going to be an increase in the number of complaints. In fact, if sales are up by more than the complaints, it's indicative of an improvement in quality. Regardless, yours truly went to the bottom of this and read the original report published by CAS, the China Association for Quality. The report is here (in Chinese).

 Perhaps the most interesting observation is on page 6; the manufacturers against which the complaints were lodged. Foreign automakers (producing cars under joint-ventures in China) account for 81.2% of the complaints, up from 78.1% in 2009. Indigenous Chinese automakers are down to 15.8%, from 17.2% in 2009. Surprised? The best is yet to come: foreign cars have a market share of 50-60% in China. 81.2% is way disproportionate with this number.

Finally, the report concludes its analysis with customer satisfaction on the resolution of the complaints. The best ranked automakers were: Shanghai Volkswagen, Chang'an Ford, Geely, Great Wall Motors and Hafei. What automaker with major participation in China is conspicuously missing from this list? I'll give you a hint: It's a company that filed for bankruptcy and still owes over 50 billions dollars to American taxpayers, in spite of their claims that the loans were "paid". (Yes, I know it's equity). Conclusions:

• Common sense tells us that complaints will rise with rising sales
• Foreign automakers account for the majority of the complaints
• Statistical analysis can't be made in a vacuum. There are many other factors are in play. For example, Chinese consumers are getting more savvy and demanding.

That's why critical thinking skills are necessary when reading the news. More so when writing them.