BMW: Do not joke about your own joint venture

BMW also wants to promote its own brand of joint venture? It looks like this is true.

After BMW's board member Friedrich Eichiner and BMW's head of Greater China Division, respectively, expressed their position, a few days ago, BMW insiders said that they were discussing with the National Development and Reform Commission about the specific details of the joint venture's own brand.

Although SAIC-GM-Wuling, Dongfeng Nissan, and GAC Honda have successively introduced joint-venture models, joint venture autonomy has gradually become a brand new force in the Chinese automotive industry, but BMW's tail still leaves people with little understanding.

Analysis of other joint-venture autonomies, such as Baojun, a self-owned joint venture of SAIC-GM-Wuling, clearly stated that it is one of the four major brands in China (the other three are Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet) and will compete with the other three. The brand formed a concerted effort, and SAIC-GM-Wuling’s "large-scale" advantage accumulated in the mini vehicle market will be fully utilized.

Sure enough, Bao Jun's price of 62,800 yuan confirms the GM's official statement. Apart from the sharing of technology, once Baojun sells well, at least on the book, it will be a multi-win situation.

However, it is still difficult to see that BMW will launch its own joint venture brand in China and it will be a long-term win opportunity.

BMW successfully succeeded in launching the “JOY is BMW” brand advertisement at its headquarters in Germany in 2009. Then BMW's Chinese team changed the slogan to a more Chinese-style “BMW Hyatt”. With the promotion of a series of brand activities, BMW The brand image that extends driving pleasure and strives to establish deeper emotional communication with consumers is being established. The effect is equally evident. The gap between BMW and Audi is gradually narrowing.

In this juncture, BMW throws up a joint venture autonomy and cannot understand it.

It is hard to imagine what brand new price will appear in the Chinese auto market. If Baojun's low-cost entry into the market has enriched the GM's product line in China, then BMW's joint-venture-owned brand pricing is very slim. Selling at a low price and having a decent BMW, the greater possibility is that the new brand will directly cut the B-class car market in the 150,000-200,000 yuan range.

But in this price range, it is exactly the market that other joint venture brands rely on most. Although there are still some autonomous car companies trying out water in this zone, and it has not been able to form the mainstream, the competition between the joint venture brands has become increasingly intense, and the price reduction of 30,000-40,000 yuan has become the norm. Even with the genes of BMW, it remains to be seen whether the new brand can break through the blockade and find a slice.

Say brand, brand value directly determines the premium ability of the brand. In order to be a brand, even if the MINI brand with more than 50 years of history owned by BMW has entered China in the beginning, it has experienced a period of brand cultivation for 5 years. Hot selling situation.

How many years will it take to create a respectable brand? Looking at the world, after the end of World War II, we know only a few global car brands - such as Hyundai, Honda. Shi Dengke said that the new brand is definitely not a product of the scene and that it will certainly have long-term plans. Does BMW have such a long-term preparation?

Behind the mystery is more likely that BMW is under pressure from the decision-making level of the Chinese government.

From the perspective of government departments, the advantages of the joint venture's independent launch for the domestic automobile industry lies in the fact that the Chinese learn advanced technologies and thus drive the development of the domestic automobile industry. But after years of joint ventures, did our technology really learn? The government’s support for self-owned brands should be justified. Appropriate policy tilts and funding subsidies are not unreasonable for those car companies that are focused on R&D efforts to seek a breakthrough, but whether they can go further and whether their own brand cars should be listed as government procurement vehicles. The first choice, thus driving the national consumption?

Nowadays, there are many brands in the Chinese auto industry, but there are too many. No car brand in a country in the world, like today's Chinese market, flourish. Even if it contains enormous potential, does the automotive industry need to think twice before planning?

Dialectically, the autonomy of joint ventures cannot be completely negated. At least for consumers, the brand connotation can be used to buy mature products at more affordable prices. However, the Chinese auto industry is now more in need of technology. Will the joint venture be autonomous? How autonomous? Who is autonomous? Is China still a foreign party? At least until now, in the joint venture, the weak voice of the Chinese still accounts for the majority.

In fact, there is another doubt behind this matter that has not been solved - why does BMW claim to be a joint venture autonomy? What about Audi and Mercedes? Is it based on the fact that it is not moving or is it in the dark?