China Economic Net - Affected by the global economy, the auto industry has faced more challenges this year, the European market is depressed, and growth of China's auto market has slowed down. All these seem to decide that the highlights of this year's Auto Guangzhou, besides new models, lie in the future growth paths marked out by foreign and domestic auto manufacturers amidst adjustment of the market. Japanese brands are hoping to maintain their competitiveness in the south China market that is of great significance, so as to avert the unfavorable condition they are currently in the Chinese market; home-grown brands whose sales haven't been ideal this year are taking the opportunity to make their appearance, hoping to boost morale for next year; auto companies that are stuck in the European market are hoping to make use of the opportunity to present their new models in the show and make preparation for new sales achievement in China next year; premium brands that have outstanding market performance this year are hoping to go further ahead of their competitors in the Chinese market and have a greater say in the direction of the development of the auto market.
In this year's Auto Guangzhou, the Audi Q3 produced in China and the imported Audi Q3 are exhibited on the same stage. FAW-Volkswagen Audi brings 19 models of its A, Q, and R series to the show, showing that FAW-Volkswagen Audi is offering more diversified product mix to meet more fragmented market demand and to further lead the development of the high-end auto market. An Tiecheng, director of the board and general manager of FAW-Volkswagen, said that: "this year, FAW-Volkswagen Audi bases itself on market demands and has introduced numerous models including the new generation of Audi A6L, the Audi Q5 hybrid Quattro, the imported edition of Q3, and the Audi A4 allroad Quattro. Besides increasing product mix, FAW-Volkswagen has sold more cars in the first 10 months of this year than it did in the whole of last year".
On BMW's exhibition platforms, achievements in the two major fields of "BMW efficient dynamics" and "BMW connected drive" demonstrate BMW's guidance for future direction on the strategic level. The biggest highlights are the BWM active hybrid 3 series and active hybrid 5 series that have been officially put onto the Chinese market. As a matter of fact, BMW has participated in and promoted the development of China's luxury car market in the past decade. Looking into the future, Xu Zhijun, president of BMW (China) Trading Co., Ltd, believes that as a luxury car brand, BMW has spared no effort to challenge the limits of driving performance and fuel efficiency. The "efficient dynamics" strategy is an important cornerstone for the sustained development of BMW. A series of advanced energy-saving technologies, including engine optimization, high-efficiency hybrid power, and purely electricity-powered technology, have been widely applied in BWM's products. Regarding the active hybrid 3 and 5 that have been put on market lately, he said that: "first of all, they are the most powerful and most effective fully hybrid car models in the same segmented market, capable of driving in purely electricity-driven mode; secondly, they are equipped with the most forward-looking intelligent energy flow management technology". Without a doubt, in the field of hybrid-power cars, BMW's technology path is mature and clear, and is having a positive influence on China's new-energy car market.
In exhibition hall 4.1 where many luxury cars are exhibited, Jaguar's F-TYPE sports car, its first two-seat two-door model in almost 50 years, and Land Rover's new generation of Rang Rover, which is a new benchmark of multi-purpose luxury car set by Land Rover, received roaring acclaims the moment they debuted in China. The F-TYPE is built based on Jaguar's fourth-generation light-weighted all-aluminum structure. It has high-strength bodywork and its weight has been considerably reduced. The new generation of Range Rover creatively adopts all-aluminum bearing bodywork weight reduction technology to reduce the weight of the bodywork of the car by 420 kg, a 39 percent reduction in weight compared with the previous generation of Range Rover that uses steel bodywork structure. This improves the car's driving performance and agility, and translates into higher fuel efficiency and lower carbon dioxide emission.
Home-grown brands need repositioning
Compared with the top-notch rivalry of luxury brands, Chinese brands appear rather inconspicuous. This is similar to the condition in the market that sales of luxury brands and joint-venture brands thrive while self-owned brands are quite at a loss. According to statistics, in July this year, the market shares of home-grown brands have decreased to 24.31 percent, the lowest since September, 2008. The year 2012 has undoubtedly been a tough year for Chinese auto brands.
Before the exhibition, news about some Chinese auto enterprises not participating in the exhibition had been heard. On site, we see that BYD's all-new medium-end model Sirui is intending to impact the domestic medium-end auto market with its high-end configuration; Haima introduced its first medium-end model M8; BAIC builds the medium-high-end Shenbao D320 based on SAAB; and Great Wall, who is known for its SUV, also introduced the limited edition H8 SUV that targets the high-end market. Despite everything, all these highlights seem rather unimpressive compared with previous events.
Regarding the predicament that Chinese brands are currently in, experts believe that homogeneous competition of Chinese brands in segmented markets has also inhibited the improvement of R&D capability and the healthy development of enterprises. Dong Yang, standing vice chairman and secretary general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, believes that: "Because of the success of Great Wall's SUV, now every Chinese brand is making SUV. In my opinion, Chinese brands have made too much effort. They all flock in, and, to certain extent, it increases the difficulty for their developments. Self-owned brands should give play to their advantages, doing what they are best at".
At present, what Chinese brands need most in the new market environment is to reposition themselves. After the rapid growth in the first golden decade of China's auto market, Chinese auto brands have also experienced a phase of explosive growth. However, in this phase, enterprises started almost in the same pace as the acceleration of the market. Most self-owned brands follow the strategies of others in order to seize opportunities. They don't have a definite, self-motivated, and future-oriented long-term development strategy. Following in the steps of joint-venture brands has resulted in lack of momentum for growth of Chinese brands in the tough market at present. Therefore, home-grown auto companies should change their strategies, identify their advantages and make full use of them, and take a differentiated development path. Chen Quanshi, professor of the Automotive Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, believes that: "Home-grown brands should not rush to set up production lines. They should take a break and reflect carefully on the core technologies that they are lacking".
