A Volkswagen China ad for the new Beetle. The company is considering a new Guangdong plant to meet demand in South China.
More than 4 billion euros (US$5.5 billion) will be invested in the new facility, due to be completed in 2013, which will make models under Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda brands, The Beijing Times said, citing Winfried Vahland, president of Volkswagen China Group.
Two factories with output capacity of 200,000 units each will be set up by VW’s domestic ventures, the report added.
Since VW entered the Chinese market in 1984, it has performed sluggishly in south China, where Japanese rivals, including Toyota, Nissan and Honda, are dominant.
Last year, VW announced plans to boost sales and raise market share in south China, including the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and provinces of Hainan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian. – read more at ShanghaiDaily.com…
A model poses in front of a car produced by Shanghai GM at an auto show in Shanghai. Am Xin / China Daily
The number of car models in China’s showrooms quadrupled in the past six years, forcing companies to fight for attention by unveiling vehicles at the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing and the Great Wall outside the capital – and by paying Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps millions of dollars.
“It is clear that brands are still in the forming process,” said Joerg Mull, chief financial officer for Volkswagen AG’s China unit. “One of the keys for success in China in the long run is brand building and brand establishment.”
About 83 percent of Chinese buyers last year purchased their first vehicle, said the State Information Center, a research arm of the government’s National Development and Reform Commission.
At stake for China’s more than 130 carmakers is winning loyal customers in world’s largest automobile market.
Sales in the country surged 46 percent to 13.6 million last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. In the US, sales slumped 21 percent to 10.4 million, the fewest since 1982, according to Autodata Corp.
This year, sales in China may rise more than 10 percent to about 15 million vehicles, Chang Xiaocun, head of the Ministry of Commerce’s market construction department, said. Customers choose from 221 models, more than double the total of 2008 and more than quadruple that of 2004, the manufacturers association said.
“You’ve got to create the right image, you’ve got to market it aggressively,” General Motors’ China President Kevin Wale said after the company and Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp launched their Buick Excelle XT in Shanghai.
Car buyers in China tend to be younger than those in the US, Wale said, so the Internet is a key part of an automaker’s marketing strategy. The average Buick customer in China is 28, married and a college graduate. His US counterpart is 66 and doesn’t have a degree, General Motors China said.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp yesterday launched the hatchback in China to compete with Honda's Civic, Toyota's Corolla and Volkswagen's Sagitar in the competitive mid-class car segment in the country.
The MG 6 mid-class hatchback, equipped with a 1.8-liter turbo engine, will be produced by SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Co in a plant in the city’s Lingang.
“There will be market potential for the MG 6 if SAIC prices the car competitively,” said Ye Sheng, an auto analyst at automotive consulting firm, B. Thinking Management, in Shanghai.
The nation’s biggest car maker will also start production of the MG 6 in a plant in the United Kingdom next year as it tries to revive the 85-year history of the British icon globally. It said the MG 6, which debuted at the Shanghai auto show in April, is specifically designed for Asian and European markets.
SAIC has operated the sporty MG brand as its own since the car maker acquired smaller domestic rival Nanjing Auto at the end of 2007. SAIC now produces the MG 7, MG 3SW and MG TF sports car in China as well as the Roewe series that came from the Rover Group of the UK. – read more at ShanghaiDaily.com…
Well-known Chinese model Mo Wandan poses beside an Infiniti auto at the China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition on Nov 23, 2009. (Xinhua)
The theme of GIAE 2009 is “Technology, Trend, Lifstyle”. Visitors can find international automakers including Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen and General Motors, as well as Chinese manufactures MG, Chery, Lifan, Changfeng Motor and Dongfeng Motors.
Shu Qi, a Chinese celebrity, turned up for a Subaru new car release, and Infiniti has Mo Wandan, a well-known Chinese model, as its celebrity representative.
GIAE began in 2003 and is now one of the most comprehensive auto shows in China. It is organized by the Guangzhou city council and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. – read more at ChinaDaily.com
