MarketWatch: April 29th, 2014
WallStreet Journal calls the Chinese automobile market “Lucrative” and adds that foreign auto makers have a tough time competing with the Chinese OEM’s. Regardless, at the recent Beijing Autoshow many luxury brands released new concepts and prototypes to the Chinese Market.
Lincoln: Annouced the new 2016 MKZ. This is a redesigned car, it isn’t new, but it is a larger SUV. Are the Chinese beginning to develop a demand for larger cars like the US…?
BMW: “Vision Future Luxury” BMW unveiled their sixth version of the 7 series. Looking much like past generations, the only obvious difference is that it relies largely on carbon fiber. A Carbon fiber exterior will lighten the vehicle but the cost of production has to massively increase. Will we see an even higher MSRP to the already $90k car? I guess China can afford it but then BMW will be competing with saloon cars (Large luxury sedans) from the supercar brands like Aston Martin’s Rapide, Maserati’s Quattroporte, and the Rolls Royce Phantom. I don’t believe it can compete in the ring with these legends. Rumors of a possible 9 series are circulating… how big can they make a sedan?
VW: Released the new Volkswagen NMC (New Midsized Coupe). This car will be priced to compete with the new Mercedes CLA (their $29k coupe). The NMC would make sense in the Chinese market. With the growing middle class and the increasing gas prices, a relatively cheap luxury car with a high MPG would sell well. VW just needs to find a way to market the car in a way that would give the public a reason to buy VW over Mercedes-Benz.
JEEP: Chrysler is joining the trend of GM and Ford Motor Company by attempting to expand into the Asian market. They are releasing two new Jeeps, the Sageland and the Urbane. These are both based on the famous Cherokee but they have differing designs. The Sageland is an outdoors car with earthtone colors. The Urbane, on the other hand, is going to be marketed at city-dwellers with a theme of “nightlife”. Both are good looking cars; we will see if the Chinese market will accept the large flow of American SUVs into their country.
I didn’t cover all of the cars released so here are the rest!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/beijing-showcases-luxury-concept-cars-2014-04-29
I think this blog further proves my point from the blog about luxury brands producing SUVs. The fact that brands are producing more luxurious and expensive cars shows that they think that is what the market wants and can afford, showing this progression out of the economic crisis that hit the whole world couple years ago.
Exactly. With China possibly surpassing the US this year in purchasing power, their economy is obviously doing well. Their middle class is growing as well as their upper middle class, the perfect target for these more expensive cars.