Attracted by the tremendous growth of these segments, many multi-national brands are expanding their product portfolio into smaller segments. Examples include the Ford Focus Hatchback, Chevrolet Cruze, PSA 207 Hatchback, Hyundai i30, VW Polo Sport, Toyota Yaris, smart Fortwo, and Kia Soul. Attracted by the desire to raise their brand image, and achieve higher margins, the Chinese carmakers are also expanding their product portfolio – into larger segments. Examples include Chery’s Rely V5, Riich G6, Dongfeng’s S30, BYD’s S8 and M6, Geely’s Dihao and Yinglun and the Brilliance Zunchi.
Dec. 3 , 2010Interview of Earll Murman, Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics & Engineering Systems Division, MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)，Director of Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI)
Nov. 30 , 2010Automotive companies in China are today finding themselves confronted with a different set of challenges from what they were just a few years ago. From the demand side, Chinese consumers are becoming more selective and are making more diverse and personal choices: making their own individual choices, not just for their family. Meanwhile, demand growth is increasingly driven by lower-tier (Tier 3 and below) cities more than large and mega cities. The Chinese government has also released more restrictive regulatory requirements for safety, environmental care and foreign investment. From the supply side, almost every international player has recognized China as their largest source of future profit and has thereby committed significant investment. Additionally, Chinese local brands have never been so aggressive in fighting for market share than today. All these challenges are pushing global as well as local vehicle manufacturers to alter their thinking and adopt new strategies to play the game.
Nov. 25 , 2010Multi National Coproprations (MNCs) are gaining competitive advantage by leveraging core strengths across both geographies and partners. From a geographic standpoint, this could be termed “horizontal capability building” where capabilities resident in China, India or other markets are leveraged in the other respective markets and beyond. For example, across the China-India geography, there is a full value chain of low-cost capabilities with the opportunity to achieve scale within those two markets. These scaled-up capabilities can then provide the foundation for successful global market expansion. For foreign MNCs, local partners in the Chinese and Indian markets can evolve from “market access partners” to “low-cost-structure-providing go global partners”. In the case of Chinese and Indian companies looking to go global, foreign MNC partners can evolve from “technology and know-how partners” providing competitive advantage in the local market to “brand-and-distribution-providing go global partners.” From either perspective, partnering provides an opportunity to accomplish far more than either party could accomplish alone.
Nov. 16 , 2010iwis engine systems (Shanghai), a subsidiary of the German iwis-Group, has officially inaugurated its new plant in Nanhui, Pudong district, on 28th September 2010 and has already started production. Currently, the new plant has plans for a production capacity of more than a million timing chain systems, including tensioners. We can equip about one million engines with our products. Our main customers in China are the car manufacturers SAIC, DongFeng, Foton, Geely, Great Wall and also BMW.
Nov. 8 , 2010