Chinese auto makers face road blocks on the EU road
Quite a good article from the Shanghai Daily expressing the issues that Chinese automakers are facing as they attempt to crack Europe.
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CHINESE car makers seem to be driving into road blocks in trying to exhibit their models at international auto shows, and industry watchers have said this could be due to a perceived gap in standards and quality between the domestic auto industry and their global peers.
For example, China’s Brilliance Auto is the only car maker to display a complete product line-up at the 62nd Frankfurt Motor Show, which opens tomorrow - one of the top five international auto exhibitions.
What a contrast compared to two years ago when four Chinese car makers, including Geely automobile Co Ltd and Jiangling Automobile Co Ltd, appeared at the same show.
Then Geely provided an eye-catching performance with models dressed in costumes of traditional Chinese characters from the Four Beauties and Monkey King classics to announce in a big bang the arrival of price-competitive Chinese-made models in the European market.
This time around, officials from Geely, China’s leading private car maker, said they dropped an earlier plan to take part in this year’s motor show because the exhibition hall is not ideal.
“We were disappointed when we were arranged to share the exhibition area with some unknown auto part makers,” the official, who preferred not to be named, complained.
“We paid a lot of attention to the display hall, especially for an A-class auto show, as a way to help build brand image before we launch a marketing campaign to enter the European market.”
Brilliance, the car making partner of BMW AG in China, was allowed to set up their platform in the same exhibition hall with Toyota and PSA Peugeot Citroen for this year’s show.
It booked the area through its European dealer HSO and would display its mainstream Zunchi and Junjie sedans, M3 coupe and a brand-new small-engine cars.
A senior official at a Chinese car maker, who did not want to be named, said he believed various hurdles are in the way of their participation.
These road blocks include domestic models failing crash tests and also perceived impression of poor quality of Chinese-made cars which are then exploited by the foreign media.
In addition, the huge investment needed to take part in such shows also prompted Chinese car makers to be more cautious in their participation, he added.
Another shadow that has cast a dark cloud on possible participation by Chinese car makers revolve around Shuanghuan Auto. The firm had planned to exhibit its two controversial models at the Frankfurt show but withdrew after strong opposition and threats of a lawsuit from German rivals for alleged patent infringement.
Both DaimlerChrysler and BMW threatened to take legal action against Shuanghuan’s Noble subcompact and CEO sport utility vehicles for allegedly copying the design of Mercedes-Benz’s Smart Fortwo and BMW’s previous generation of X5 SUV.
Some industry analysts also said there could be a move by overseas car makers to bar Chinese models out of their markets as they fear the low-pricing strategy would harm their market domination.
Media reports said the Noble is expected to cost about 7,000 euros - the lowest price for a small car on the German market.
Shuanghuan exports the CEO to eastern European markets as well as African countries.
It also signed contracts with dealers in Italy to export 2,000 CEOs in addition to 1,000 Nobles in the near future if the controversial models could pass relevant tests.
But the dispute with global counterparts is casting a shadow on the car maker’s sales strategy and may even prompt Shuanghuan to promise to sell the CEO only in Asia and Africa while the Noble will be sold only in China.
“They (the CEO and Noble) really share similarities in body design with its overseas counterparts. The weakness (in design) is used by overseas parties to block Chinese cars while Chinese producers have been long criticized for lacking intellectual property rights protection,” said an industry analyst.
“To build up an up-scale car brand on the international markets rather than just make a copycat, Chinese car makers need more efforts to improve research and development capability,” he said.
Fascinating article. The Chinese are definitely developing a strategy on entering more lucrative markets. I really do hope Brilliance is able to engineer safer cars, they’re one of the few Chinese domestic manufacturers that’s not blatantly copying other manufacturers designs. I remember Brilliance was allegedly reengineering the BS6 to pass European crash tests after dismal results. Any news on that?
I think from one of the German site i read it cited the main fault of the Bs6 being its safety cell was not re-enforced and was hence too weak which meant it does not function as it should. Evidently it was pushed-in in the ENCAP test. Secondly, their cited the BS6 lacked side impact bars for which it was deducted 1 star. You would thing such safety cell designs BS would have an idea about since its almost certain they would have studied the sturdy BMW they assemble. So what would really be interesting to know is whether or not they purposely under-built (design and material)the BS6 to save costs? or are they just not up to it technically yet (again, this would seem strange).
To be fair, it was the first model they mass produced.
What was the first of anything like?
BS4 + coupe have to be pretty good, right ???
hahahaha…….. silence….i dont want to put my house on it though, mind you it cant get any worse. a 0 star rating would be unthinkable
Put your house on it or that wonderful caravan?
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/09/12/afx4108441.html
BS6 passes crash testin in europe
So was the car modified? Spain is part of the EU and has to adhere to the same safety standards as Germany. Has the vehicle been reengineered that quickly?
Brilliance’s BS6 also has a low rent interior, yet it cost’s more than a Mondeo. Why would anyone in their right mind buy one? Also consider this. The MG 7 will launch with prices starting at just £11,500 in the UK. That’s bargain basement territory, cheaper than many other smaller and inferior Western cars. Yet it’s interior is well appointed, it’s got 5 NCAP rating and a Euro 5 compliant engine. Surely this is the standard other Chinese car makers must now match. It’s what we want from China over in Europe at least.
Those prices were taken from Auto Express, who probably took them from this site:
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/210269/mgnanjing.html
http://www.chinacartimes.com/2007/08/23/good-lord-mg7-to-start-at-170000rmb/
I think the UK prices of the MG7 will be higher than the Chinese prices.
i’d have to say so, its just happened so i’d have to say they must’ve re-enforced the safety cell. 3 Star isn’t too bad. I’d love to see the video
They will have to charge more for the car in the Uk for several reasons.
1. the added cost of business in terms of freight, insurance, advertising, dealership hikes, the added cost of warranty etc.
2. I am not sure if there is a local contents rule for Britain as there is in Aus, but if there is then thats another factor.
3. safe guarding the prestige of the brand by keeping the price above a certain level. Often times that is decided based upon the perceived competitor models the MGs will be going up against. i.e the Mondeos, and even to some extend the BMW 3 series? But obviously that consideration will be weighted against the desire to sell big numbers of the car, so lets wait and see. But it’ll definitely be more than 11K quid.
Just on the note of safety, the transfer of title to a new manufacturer, does that mean the car necessarily keeps its previous safety ratings?
?When you start developing a better car than maybe they give a fucking hall. Until then, STFU.
You are right, I think the brilliance is the ONLY brand that can make it to the European market, if they reach the security standards. The design of the brilliance cars are not only original, they are also pretty good looking, although we must recognize that the look of this cars are a bit behind in time compare to the rest of european brands.
The rest of the brands are trying to fill some shoes way too big for them. Bad quality, low security standards, poorly copied designs. I don’t think europeans would not even think about own one of this chinese cars, no matter how cheap they are, when they can still afford the original ones.
The chinese car companies have a lot to LEARN AND CREATE before they think about a place in such a tough and exigent market as the european vehicle market!
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