Marketing Automotive

There are many things you should know about this booming market.

It is the biggest world market. In 2009, 13,6 million cars were sold in the Empire of the Middle. It is expected that 2010 will finish with more than 17 million sales.

The n°1 brand is Volkswagen with 1,4 million cars in 2009. What’s more amazing is that the brand sold twice the number compared to its national German market.

Local brands represent only 29 % of the total car market.

The hit model was the F3 sold by BYD with 291.000 units at an average price of 6.400 euro (290.000 yuan). BYD concentrates its efforts on the electric car market It looks as if BYD has the best battery technology available to-day. Do you know that the BYD brand stands for “Build Your Dreams”?

The Chinese Government has put the objective of 40 % for Chinese brands to be reached in 2011. The biggest challenge will be to over bridge the quality gap but trends are encouraging.

Today, 10 Chinese car manufacturers are on the market. It is expected that after a consolidation period 3 to 4 will remain. The winners will need to build at least 2 million units a year.

It is expected that 200 million vehicles will be on the roads and streets by 2020.

The Nano is the world’s cheapest everyday car. It is a fuel-efficient, $2,500 four-seater that the company plans to export to Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

In fact the car is the result of an unlikely — but public — promise that Ratan Tata, the company’s leader, made in 2003, setting to work a team of engineers charged with rethinking how cars could be designed and made. The result, which went on sale in 2009 lis the a tiny, two-cylinder model that gets 55 miles per gallon and meets all of India’s vehicle emissions and regulatory requirements.

The car, which costs about half as much as the next-cheapest Indian car, has caused a worldwide stir since its launch.

The Nano, came about because the leader of the Tata Group (*), Ratan Tata, wanted to build a four-wheeled vehicle to compete with the country’s ubiquitous motor scooters, which often transport multiple passengers despite the dangers in doing so. In an exchange with journalists before the Nano was born, Tata discussed how cheaply the company could build the car, throwing out the figure of $2,500 as an example. Though he hadn’t said definitively that would be the car’s sale price, headlines the next day trumpeted the figure. Instead of backtracking, Tata took that as a challenge whose public nature would motivate employees toward success.

Sunil Sinha, an executive in Tata Quality Management Services, told a Harvard audience on Tuesday Oct. 12, 2010 :

“If you want to innovate, take a bold challenge, make a public announcement, and it will happen” .

Years of work resulted in a low-weight, low-carbon vehicle with many innovations, Sinha said. The Nano is powered by a two-cylinder, all-aluminum engine and weighs just 1,300 pounds. It emits just 103 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer driven, compared with its nearest competitor, which emits 130 to 150 grams per kilometer. Innovations were needed all along the production chain, from parts suppliers to dealers.

(*) For those unfamiliar to the Tata Group, the Mumbai-based company Tata is a major international corporation and India’s largest company. It has subsidiaries that operate in the automotive, information technology, steel, communications, power, tea, and hospitality industries. Tata Motors not only produces the Nano, but also owns the well-known British automotive brands Land Rover and Jaguar, purchased from Ford in 2008.

Mercedes-Benz celebrates the upcoming 125^th anniversary of inventing the automobile with a new global TV commercial. Carl Benz is widely acknowledged as the father of the modern automobile when he filed his petrol-operated motoring patent in Germany on January 29, 1886.

In honor of that occasion, Mercedes-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler, is calling for a declaration of January 29 as the worldwide “Day of the Automobile.” He also believes the car, as we know it today, is poised for reinvention.

His message at 2010 Paris Auto Show: “The automobile is heading for the biggest changes in its 125-year history, according to the company that put the world on wheels. Daimler believes technology changes, together with exploding global demand and environmental pressure, is forcing all carmakers to re-think every area of their business. »

Since launching in 1997 as the original four-passenger hybrid sedan, the Toyota Prius has sold more than two million units worldwide. And it remains the icon of the hybrid-vehicle market around the globe. But with the flurry of new hybrid and electric vehicle introductions, Toyota is concerned about Prius getting lost in the growing crowd.

So many observers from the automotive industry believe that Toyota plans to add some models to its four-seater version and expand Prius into its own brand. That would give Toyota a fourth brand moniker in addition to Lexus, Scion (*) and, of course, Toyota.

The company won’t say much officially other than to reaffirm that there will be additional Prius models and that the first new one will be introduced at the Detroit Auto Show,  in January 2011.

(*) Scion is a brand of Japanese cars, founded ex nihilo, in 2003 by the automobile group Toyota. The Scion brand is present only in the U.S. market, and targets a young clientele.

Its range includes three models:

• The xB, renewed in 2007; compact, initially twin of the Toyota bB and Japanese during the second generation, twin of the Toyota Corolla Rumion Japanese.
• The xD; small car that replaces the xA, a twin of the Toyota Ist Japanese renewed in 2007 (hence the Toyota Urban Cruiser sold in Europe).
• The tC coupe, one specific model Scion, launched in 2004.

General Motors and Ford have been drastically reducing brands — they’ve sold or killed eight brands in recent years — with the thinking that fewer brands means more efficiency in advertising and dealer support, as well as more clarity for consumers.

Chrysler, by contrast, split Ram trucks from Dodge during its 2009 bankruptcy, giving the Fiat-controlled company four brands to manage – Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram – with more brands on the horizon.

Starting end of October 2010, Chrysler will select about 200 dealers to sell the diminutive Fiat 500 later this year. In August, CEO Sergio Marchionne also said that as many as five Alfa Romeo models could be offered in the U.S. beginning in late 2012.

Chrysler’s newest brands – Ram and Fiat – are distinct cases. Ram trucks already had a relatively distinct identity in truck buyers’ minds. During the next few years, Ram will sell a new Fiat-based small commercial van that will compete with the Ford Transit Connect.

Fiat, which will initially sell just one car in the U.S., the 500, represents Chrysler’s effort to sell competitive small cars, a segment from which it has been absent.

The integration of Chrysler and Fiat technology and product development is an essential element in the government’s rescue package. Launching the Fiat 500 in the U.S. gives Chrysler a much needed toehold in the subcompact car segment.