7/11/12
Why Chinese Car Brands are Stuck in First Gear
Publication: The Economic Times Mumbai;Date: Jul 7, 2012;Section: Global Business;Page: 6
SLOW WHEELS
Why Chinese Car Brands are Stuck in First Gear Local brands make up only about 30% of their home market, the lowest proportion of any major economy ike many Chinese, Zong Zhaoxiang wishes nothing but the best for the Chinese car industry – yet he won’t be buying a Chinese car anytime soon. The 52-year-old chairman of a Shanghai chemical company, Zong said he expects Chinesebranded cars to have bright prospects. However, he loves the comfort, quality and image projected by his black Mercedes-Benz S-class, and he said he may buy another Mercedes-Benz model or a BMW in the
…show more content…
But building a luxury brand is difficult and time-consuming – perhaps even impossible, said Philippe Houchois, an auto analyst at UBS. epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_ETNEW&Type… 1/4
7/11/12
Why Chinese Car Brands are Stuck in First Gear
Quality & Tech Gaps The luxury segment may be off-limits, but some Chinese companies have been able to move somewhat up-market. SAIC successfully entered the high-end market in the last few years with the release of “Roewe,” a brand based on intellectual property acquired when British car maker MG Rover went bankrupt in 2005. Geely, a private car maker that acquired Swedish brand Volvo in 2010, has also won market share by gathering its high-end products together under one nameplate, “Emgrand.” Overall, however, few Chinese carmakers have been able to establish a reputation for quality and comfort. Sometimes this is merely a matter of lagging consumer perception, but often there are still quality and technology gaps between foreign and Chinese brands. Analysts said many Chinese companies also tend to face operational challenges. Even if a company has mastered advanced technologies,
One of General Motors key products is the Chevrolet Corvette. The Corvette is made right here in America, and has been around for over 60 years, an there has been six different generations. The Corvette my be built in America, but it is sold worldwide. I believe that the Corvette was at the end of the maturity stage of its life cycle and moving toward the decline. But is now back in the growth state, GM has just come out with the new model of the Corvette, the old model leaned toward buyers that were in their 50s and up, but the new model is designed with leather, aluminum, and carbon fiber, along with a new sleek looking body style that appeals to the younger age. This new look allows the corvette to compete with Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini. The corvette is also just as fast but is half the price which helps attract more customers that are looking for a cheap but very fast and reliable sports car.
Of course people would have to choose between variety of brands and the best among the others, these are some examples of popular Japanese automotive brands; Toyota, Honda, Subaru, and Nissan.
The industry for superior luxury cars is a highly exclusive one with a few automotive makers making their presence felt. The major market share is held by Porsche which is known to have formidable rivals like Benz and BMW. The SUV supercar segment is a highly evolving one where manufacturing style localities and units are the decisive forces that ultimately culminate towards the cost of the car.
With more and more countries taking part in the international trade, the world’s market is expanding in a rapid pace. How to make use of the enlarging market and remain competitive become urgent for those participants. Market diversification is a good way to take full advantage of the resource and improve the efficiency by enlarging the business scope. In addition, it can also ease the pressure of competition and reduce the cost. The report mainly discuss that Australian Holden may enter Chinese market and chooses Shanghai as the target market. The report firstly analyzes the Australian and Chinese market and briefly
Competition is good for producers but better for consumers, more competition in the market means more: ideas, channels of distribution, market stability and competitive (lower) prices for consumers. Ultimately, healthy competition forces producers to offer better products and services at lower prices. Automobiles provide people with “…aspirational value in addition to a basic mode of transportation…” (Reinhardt, Yao & Egawa, 2006) consumers make purchasing “decision based on the styling, color, and concept of the cars in addition to functions and pricing” (Reinhardt, Yao & Egawa, 2006). So far, TMC has been trying to catch up with Honda and Nissan in the ‘innovative’ department. Let’s not forget the criticism the company previously faced for offering its customers “…proliferation of look-alike cars…and following rather than setting a trend” (Reinhardt, Yao & Egawa, 2006).Since, Mr.
Throughout the 20th century, GM, Ford, and Chrysler have held a firm grip on the U.S. car market. GM even was even able to control 50% of the market until about 1980. Ford and Chrysler also did considerable well during that period. However, globalization allowed foreign carmakers to maneuver their way into the U.S. market. Intensified competition then began to threaten the market shares of those leading companies. German companies entered the market with cars like Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW. They now currently own Porsche and Audi. The Japanese car industry have the luxury of owning cars such as the Honda, Toyota, and Nissan while Koreans have joined the market with
General Motors has always had a reputation of diluted products. They had many vehicle lines with many differend brands. This idea was to offer a product that appealed to many different target markets. They have since simplified their product lines by selling off certain brands. Oldsmobile, Saturn, Saab, Hummer, and Pontiac have been disbanded and the new General Motors is a tighter more organized business as a result. Cadillac and Buick have seen steady growth within their sector and have been marketed very well to date. Cadillac is seen as prestigue symbol and has a larger pricetag than any of the other models. Buick is showing phenominal growth with an introduction of new products that is taking the focus of
General Motors enjoys a major market share in global automotive industry. One of its major strengths is its strong branding and market position. General Motors can be considered as one of the pioneers of modern vehicles. As per data monitor, GM had a leading share in North America and South America and in Europe it held fifth position. Similarly, it holds second position in other major segments. GM bears a strong branding. A lot of prestigious brands are provided by General Motors such as Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac and Opal. Like Toyota, GM also has various production facilities in 31 different countries. This strong global presence allows GM to have access global markets way easily as compared to manufacturers with centralized structures. Thus, GM relies less on exports, manufactures its brands locally and is also involved in
Over the years, the U. S. auto industry's market has been experiencing fluctuations due to many reasons including: price, quality and foreign competition. General Motors Corporation (GM) which had been the leading car and truck manufacturer had been experiencing declining market share and facing stiff competition from both U.S manufacturers and foreign imports such as the Asian auto producers that included Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The main reason for increased foreign competition was that foreign cars were more fuel efficient, smaller, less expensive, and often more reliable than their American counterparts.
It has made its name in the global market and has given a good competition to other companies in automobile sector.
BMW operates three business segments namely: Automobiles, Motorcycles and Financial Services. BMW is the parent company of the Mini and Rolls-Royce car brands, and, formerly, Rover (car)/Rover. The company's slogans in English are "The Ultimate Driving Machine" and "Sheer Driving Pleasure". The company produces, and markets, a varied range of a higher end sporty cars and motorcycles. BMW has also manufactured the first passenger car running on hydrogen ready for common use, although the production figures are limited by the lack of a respective filling station net. In addition to cars and motorcycles, BMW operates an aircraft engine division under the brand name of Rolls Royce.
China has long been considered a nation that produces poor quality products. All Chinese products have long had “a reputation for shoddy workmanship” in the eyes of overseas consumers and the abysmal failure of the “Landwind SUV, made by Chinese automaker Jiangling Motors,” during its international “safety test that scored 0 out of 5 in passenger-cab protection” surely didn’t create an exception for their automobile products (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, 2010). This puts Geely automotive at an extreme disadvantage when compared to their industry competitors (such as Toyota, Chrysler, and Volkswagen etc.) in overseas markets as they will need to work hard to differentiate their brands from the detrimental brand recognition of other Chinese product-based company’s. They have not attempted to remedy this weakness directly (by advertising industry crash test comparisons, promoting the life span of their vehicle in comparison to competitors etc.); however, they have attempted to work around it by focusing on their research and development which increases product innovation and gives Geely unique and hard to imitate competitive advantages. This weakness of perceived poor quality by their overseas consumers will
BMW is one of the most widely know luxury class car manufacturers in the world. They have great branding strategy and technology but the entrance of Japanese manufacturers in the U.S. auto market creates a problem for BMW. Japanese companies have luxury cars that are lower in price and maintenance and they have the technology to compete with these German vehicles.
The Chinese automobile market has grown by 1/3. This means that there is a lot more room for automobile companies like Honda to expand and grow. Honda will be able to increase its production and sales as the market will be bigger.
However, due to its unique targeting strategy, it has not win compatible brand recognition among the public. Although Audi enter much earlier than BMW and Benz in the luxury car market, its marketing strategy limited increase of public brand recognition even Audi has over 100 years’ history. Besides, although its styles are highly accepted by the targeting customers, there are a growing number of people who can afford luxury cars for family use in China. Lack of vitality is limit of its further market expansion. On the contrary, its major competitor in China, BMW, has launched a series of marketing strategies to promote its high-performance, manoeuvrability, as well as stylish design to attract young people (BMW, 2009) in order to expand its market share. Therefore, although Audi has achieved success in the targeting market, it may consider further development through diversification in product line and advertising campaign.