With NAC MG having recently been sold off to SAIC some people are claiming that NAC has failed, others, including the majority of the Chinese media suggest that NAC’s MG experience has been a great success. So which view is correct? The answer is rather complicated and made even more complex by the fact that NAC and SAIC themselves describe the event as “Integrated Cooperation” instead of a takeover and in fact “Takeover” is clearly wrong as part of the agreement involves setting up a joint venture company with NAC owing 25% - clearly NAC must still exist! The following series of articles will present some of the facts and try to dispel some of the myths…
Starting on a positive note, recently I was reading an article on the automobile industry web site www.HC360.com analyzing the results of a survey into NAC MG’s car sales. Despite the recent sell out they were still using words like “Astonishing success”! After reading some of the articles in the western press this may seem rather strange but looking at the figures presented it is hard to argue, the figures speak for themselves.
Apparently when asked if they were satisfied with their newly purchased MG, 98% had said “Yes”, an amazing figure for an established company but for a brand new company building its first car in a brand new factory with new workers is truly remarkable. OK it is an established, proven design using existing components but most of those components are being sourced from new far eastern suppliers and many of the remaining components are now being produced in their suppliers far eastern factories rather than from their previous sources. I guess a reasonable comparison would be with the same figure for the Roewe 750 which in a separate survey achieved a still respectable figure of 77.5%.
Maybe even more amazing, when asked if they would recommend the purchase of an MG7 to their friends 96% had committed to a “Yes” answer. It is often said that in China the main reason for people to choose a particular car is down to recommendation from friends and family, clearly NAC MG have achieved a major success on this particular target.
Finally in the article was an analysis of what type of people had bought the cars. Not surprisingly, since in China the average person can’t actually afford any type of car, they were bought by “higher income business owners, civil servants, white-collar workers, professionals and executives” - often the sort of people most difficult to satisfy!
The conclusion from the article - an exemplary performance from MG in 2007 and confidence of a high performance and more surprises in 2008.
No one want’s to admit to buying a crappy car. Not saying that the MG is but I’m sure that is part of the reason for the high satisfaction figures…….plus the MG plate has some brand recognition and snob appeal, more reason not to diss it publicly. Everyone wants to feel good about their new purchase.
And lets not forget statistics can be skewed and manipulated.
I think you are seeing a bit of consolidation at the top of the domestic market and SAIC possibly trying to position themselves as the Chinese version of GM….if they buy Land Rover and Jag they can rename themselves Chinese Leyland
Well lets hope they don’t get Land Rover and Jaguar. Tata seems to be the beter bidder as they know what they want to do with the brand and have money to invest in it. In addition if Tata wins it’ll help the Fiat Group and Alfa in particular.
As for MG. Yes it has the name but it hasn’t got the products. The MG7 (nee MG ZT) is an old car and is looking it. It was launched at the same time as the Jaguar S Type and that has just been replaced with the gorgeous XF. Yet MG want to launch this car (again) into Europe as a new product. It desparately needs a re-skin, without this MG will go the same way as Rover (no more!).
Not dissing the cars, but I am wondering how discrimination the buyers of these cars are. How many cars have they owned? This car purchase is probably a (big) step up from their first car. It is “supposed” to be good. They were told that. They repeat that! I see that mentality all the time.
Most of the models are not current world models so an MG that is dated is no different and really it’s new, cause it didn’t really get imported, so to some it’s a ‘new’ model…….I ‘m not sure it’s such a big deal for the Chinese (at the moment) as is to buyers in the “West” to have the latest greatest. Look how well the 1st gen Santana sells !
Since the Chinese car industry is in its infancy, in order to guarantee its success, buying chinese cars should be mandatory for central and local government agencies. Japan and Korea did it. So can the Chinese.
Does this not go against the free market economy then?
Free Market Economy is just 3 pretty words. The United States, the biggest preacher of all, imposes quotas on textiles and subsidizes farm products. What I am suggesting is that the auto industry requires a tremendous amount of investment. It cannot succeed alone without government help. The Chinese government should nurture its auto industry until it reaches maturity by buying Chinese made automobiles in the government sector.