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Baojun brand marks roll-out with 630
By Vivian Jin |
August 22, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE launch of the Baojun 630, the first model of SAIC-GM-Wuling's new passenger car brand, marks the minivan maker's official expansion into China's rapidly growing passenger car market.
After building a strong presence in the commercial vehicle segment, the diversified business of SGMW, a three-way venture between General Motors, SAIC Motor Corp and Guangxi-based Wuling Motor, is a logical step to continue growing momentum after the minivan market slowed down.
SGMW manufactures a range of Wuling brand minitrucks, minivans and Chevrolet Le Chi minicar.
In the first six months this year, the car maker sold a total of 640,000 units, decreasing 5.4 percent from the same period last year as central government phased out incentives on cars with small engines this year.
SGMW unveiled Baojun last July, which will also be one of the four brands being offered by General Motors's joint venture partnership with SAIC in China, joining Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac.
Shen Yang, general manager of SGMW said the model, Baojun 630 sedan is developed from matured technology of General Motors but is also tailor-made for Chinese consumers.
The launch of the model has been postponed for nearly four months as SGMW made more than 24 improvements on practicality and spaciousness to the interior.
The development of Baojun 630 is supported by GM's engineering facility in China, the PATAC, which is also establishing a branch in Liuzhou to contribute to further product engineering for the brand.
SGMW said about 120 dealers for Baojun are ready to start operation in eight cities like Chengdu, Nanjing and Zhengzhou.
By the year end, the figure will increase to 150 to help achieving a sale of 20,000 units of Baojun 630 this year, Shen said.
Although SGMW eyes aggressively toward the Baojun brand, there also remain challenges including lifting the brand awareness, expanding sales network and improving services.
Shanghai Daily sat down with Matthew Tsien, vice president of SGMW to have an insight view into the venture's strategy for the Baojun brand and its future plans.
Q: How do SGMW position Baojun on the market and who are the target consumers?
T: Our product is targeted at the affordable entry-level market. We really want to make sure our vehicles are highly reliable, attractive in styling but very affordable. So the kind of customers we are targeting are young professionals, young families, early successes who will certainly have a lot future success. In China, we can see over the couple of past decades, there has been tremendous growth and in many second-tier cities, population is emergent and very significant.
Q: What's the primary focus for your product roll-out plan for Baojun?
T: The Baojun 630 is the key product in the mid-class segment in China, which is now the single largest market segment. Other sectors I think are very attractive are the A0 segment (compact) and A00 (sub-compact) segment, because there are demand from fist-time consumers like young collage graduates I think different body styles can be considered as well, like crossover and SUV. As the market grows, I think there's going to be a clear variety.
Q: What's the biggest challenge when rolling out the brand in China?
T: Customers with awareness. The dealership is all new but all tested and we think we've done all the preparation. Our sales marketing organizations also put a huge amount of focus on Baojun dealership and service preparation. But it's a new brand and not known to the customers. That's why I think we really need to work on one customer at a time. Let the reputation build.
After building a strong presence in the commercial vehicle segment, the diversified business of SGMW, a three-way venture between General Motors, SAIC Motor Corp and Guangxi-based Wuling Motor, is a logical step to continue growing momentum after the minivan market slowed down.
SGMW manufactures a range of Wuling brand minitrucks, minivans and Chevrolet Le Chi minicar.
In the first six months this year, the car maker sold a total of 640,000 units, decreasing 5.4 percent from the same period last year as central government phased out incentives on cars with small engines this year.
SGMW unveiled Baojun last July, which will also be one of the four brands being offered by General Motors's joint venture partnership with SAIC in China, joining Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac.
Shen Yang, general manager of SGMW said the model, Baojun 630 sedan is developed from matured technology of General Motors but is also tailor-made for Chinese consumers.
The launch of the model has been postponed for nearly four months as SGMW made more than 24 improvements on practicality and spaciousness to the interior.
The development of Baojun 630 is supported by GM's engineering facility in China, the PATAC, which is also establishing a branch in Liuzhou to contribute to further product engineering for the brand.
SGMW said about 120 dealers for Baojun are ready to start operation in eight cities like Chengdu, Nanjing and Zhengzhou.
By the year end, the figure will increase to 150 to help achieving a sale of 20,000 units of Baojun 630 this year, Shen said.
Although SGMW eyes aggressively toward the Baojun brand, there also remain challenges including lifting the brand awareness, expanding sales network and improving services.
Shanghai Daily sat down with Matthew Tsien, vice president of SGMW to have an insight view into the venture's strategy for the Baojun brand and its future plans.
Q: How do SGMW position Baojun on the market and who are the target consumers?
T: Our product is targeted at the affordable entry-level market. We really want to make sure our vehicles are highly reliable, attractive in styling but very affordable. So the kind of customers we are targeting are young professionals, young families, early successes who will certainly have a lot future success. In China, we can see over the couple of past decades, there has been tremendous growth and in many second-tier cities, population is emergent and very significant.
Q: What's the primary focus for your product roll-out plan for Baojun?
T: The Baojun 630 is the key product in the mid-class segment in China, which is now the single largest market segment. Other sectors I think are very attractive are the A0 segment (compact) and A00 (sub-compact) segment, because there are demand from fist-time consumers like young collage graduates I think different body styles can be considered as well, like crossover and SUV. As the market grows, I think there's going to be a clear variety.
Q: What's the biggest challenge when rolling out the brand in China?
T: Customers with awareness. The dealership is all new but all tested and we think we've done all the preparation. Our sales marketing organizations also put a huge amount of focus on Baojun dealership and service preparation. But it's a new brand and not known to the customers. That's why I think we really need to work on one customer at a time. Let the reputation build.
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