Why Baojun is going to be big and the Chinese should be worried

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Shanghai GM is a slick machine, the company has introduced the best selling Buick and Chevrolet brands using models that were cherry picked from GM’s global portfolio, the results can be seen in the monthly sales stats that see Chevrolet’s product line trump Ford’s, the Buick range seemingly does the same as well. Baojun is the product of a three way tie up between Wuling mini vans, GM and SAIC, the Baojun brand and its first model, the 630, had their official airing in Shanghai Auto Show.

The Baojun brand is going to be aimed at low income buyers in rural and suburban areas, the belief behind creating a new brand to target these consumers (and the same for Nissan and Honda) is that although rural consumers have lower incomes than city residents they also aspire to become car owners but perhaps lack the consuming ability to take on a foreign branded car from a joint venture company – JV cars are generally more expensive to buy but also more expensive to maintain due to high service levels.

First impressions of the 630 are good – the whole car is well designed, the rear, the front, the side profile all resemble a car from a much higher brand and price bracket. Moving onto the interior you can see the Chevrolet Cruze influence down the center console and around the binnacles, all of this is extremely well made and well crafted, and certainly not like an economy branded car. Underneath the 630 you will find ‘mature technology’ (this is automotive public relations lingo for ‘older than Moses’) which has served various GM models before, even the 1.6L engine was taken from older GM models but updated to meet 2011’s needs.

If the Baojun 630 is not top of the top 10 selling cars in China in the next six months (and we will check) then there is something seriously wrong with the dealership network or the advertising, as the product is clearly top notch. The 630 is bringing the fight to the local competition in a serious way, it’s a game changer like no other. Chinese manufacturers may well be readying their up market models (see BYD M6 and S6) but once you become known for making cheap cars, it’s incredibly hard to shake that image, even Chevrolet is having difficulties in pushing its brand up market, Geely and Chery were forced to introduce new brands that had peculiar names, but they are working in making sales. The 630’s success will be down to a strong marketing machine, something that GM has perfected since its inception. If GM could get rural Americans into automobiles in the post world war 2 era, then they can get Chinese farmers to do the same in 2011. Baojun is going to be big.