Post by jeffolie on Nov 21, 2011 12:59:04 GMT -6
China's intimidating, bullying, Communist 'socialism capitalism' now includes mass production of fake, real cars in China by Nissan, GM & soon Hyundai to hide the identities and lower their price.
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[ from: The Truth About Cars » Branding » China » Japan » News Blog]
Nissan And Dongfeng Show First Production Venucia Car: What A Muda
November 21, 2011
We have been following this phenomenon for a while. Joint ventures in China create faux Chinese brands. Because? Because it’s the right thing to do, at least as far as the Chinese government is concerned. Officially, the reason for those fake Chinese brands is to make cars more affordable. Off the record, automakers roll their (slanted and round) eyes at this reasoning. A new brand doesn’t miraculously make a car more affordable. In the contrary. To establish a brand costs money. To establish dealer networks costs money. To build new cars costs money, even if they are on passé platforms. But you’ve got to do what China’s bureaucrats think you’ve got to do. Possibly, all these joint venture brands, from GM’s BaoJun on out, will end up in nice statistics that prove that homegrown Chinese brands are selling, and that exports are up.
Why the rant? Nissan and Dongfeng show the first production model of the faux Chinese Venucia brand at the Guangzhou auto show. It is a mid-class sedan, allegedly engineered at Dongfeng Nissan Technical Center,” it is called D50 and will be introduced to the market in the first half of 2012.
Chinacartimes agrees with Carnewschina and most of China’s plentiful auto press that the car is a repackaged Nissan Tiida (a.k.a. Versa), down to the old 1.6 liter Tiida engine.
When the D50 launches in 2012, the plan is to have 100 exclusive Venucia dealers across China. Died-in-the-wool subscribers to Japanese production methods will shudder at the muda (waste, uselessness) of this operation: 100 new dealers, with only one car to sell. At least, “Venucia dealers plan to share parts of service operations with certified Nissan dealers.”
By 2015, the dealers will have more to do and sell, because “five new models will be launched under the Venucia brand by 2015.” By that time, Venucias will be sold through 250 dealers nationwide. Dongfeng Nissan is targeting annual sales of 300,000 units with these five models.
Back in Chengdu, Pangda’s Chairman Pang Qinghua also thought that these new Chinese brands are “muda,” or whatever the Chinese word for it may be. “Chinese customers expect to pay 20 percent less for Chinese brands. For foreign brands, they often pay above list just to get them early.”
Carnewschina has pictures of the car taken at the show. Ours is from Nissan.
www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/11/nissan-and-dongfeng-show-first-production-venucia-car-what-a-muda/
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Hyundai Hops On The China Brandwagon
November 20, 2011
Hyundai, which has a flourishing and fast-growing joint venture with Beijing’s BAIC, is jumping on the bandwagon of fake Chinese brands. Probably not on Hyundai’s own volition, and probably with a lot of gentle urging by the Chinese government which thinks that the answer to China’s cluttered market is brands, brands, and more brands.
Carnewschina has it that the new brand of the Hyundai/BAIC JV will be called “Shouwang.”
Google Translate claims it means “Number one watching”, but it is unlikely that the car is targeted at people who watch other people go to the bathroom. There is probably some deeper meaning, inaccessible to us longnoses.
Carnewschina has pictures of the first Shouwang, a BHCD-1 in mild camo, as it is rolled into the Guangzhou Auto Show. The show will open its doors tomorrow, should you be near Guangzhou, you can see a Shouwang in the flesh.
Carnewsschina has a negative outlook on the thing:
“It looks very cool indeed, but the real thing will likely look much worse and will likely be based on an old Hyundai Elantra. The BHCD-1 concept is a hybrid, the real thing will just get a normal petrol engine.”
It is an open secret in China that the darned foreigners usually don’t contribute more than has-been technology to these brand exercises in futility. By the way, the Chinese insist on calling these joint venture brands “sub brands.” They are not. They are freestanding brands, just like “Lexus” or “Scion”. A sub brand would be a “Toyota Prius” and its family of v, c, plug-ins. or what have you. But the Chinese insist on calling freestanding brands sub-brands. Goes to show how much they know about branding.
www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/11/hyundai-hops-on-the-china-brandwagon/