BMW’s Renovation in China

BMW wants to move up to a new stage in China. It plans to renovate corporate image in China. It hopes to produce 30 thousand units in the year of 2010

With the sales of 90 thousand units and 37% year-on-year increase in sales amount in 2009, Christoph Stark, president of BMW Greater China and his team have taken another difficult task – to rebuild BMW’s image in China.

Christoph Stark (middle)

For a long time, BMW has had double meanings for the consumers in China. On the one hand, BMW is one of the most successful automakers in the world. In the field of luxury cars which is infested with homogeneous competition, BMW also stands out with its brilliant features and huge number of fans. On the other hand, its higher market orientation and too much focus on technology force some customers away. Without known reasons, some owners of BMW vehicles are thought to be arrogant and self-willed. Therefore, some consumers who are afraid of being thought by the others in that way choose Audi or Volvo.

Stark compared this phenonemen to the two sides of a coin, one of which is shining while the other one looks dim. What’s more important is that the main force of the shining side is also changing. In the past, the owners of luxury cars in China were usually the upstarts. Now, the middle-class people with special skills can also afford the luxury cars. These new customers have different understandings and pursuits for the luxury cars.

Therefore, Stark’s main job is not only to improve BMW’s image, but also to add new contents in BMW brand in China to attract more new customers.

In a BMW advertisement broadcasted in Europe, the owners of BMW cars were confident and vigorous and jumped into their cars in different positions. The owners of Audi cars standing by wanted to do the same thing but they always failed. The advertisement implied that BMW is live and vigorous from inside, conforming to its new brand appeal – Joy Is BMW.

Stark has been troubled by how to say these words in Chinese, which is not a kind of simple and literal translation, but the re-explanation of the brand in China. In the USA where the simple and direct cowboy culture is quite popular, BMW can be positioned as Terminal Driving Machine. But in China, things are different. BMW must be added with the humanity, responsibility and other spiritual elements.

Shao Bing, marketing director of BMW-Brilliance (a joint venture of BMW in China), and Zhu Liwei, marketing director of BMW Greater China, are the two people who are responsible for this matter. They have been working on this for two months. They are young and energetic, just the type that BMW’s corporate culture advocates.

Shao Bing is good at listening to others’ opinions. He sticks to the philosophy that the elements of social responsibility and dream must be added in the BMW brand based on the fun of driving. It means that the BMW cars should not bring joy only to the people driving them, but also to the people riding and watching them. Zhu Liwei, who graduated from Tsinghua University, lays the emphasis on the technology. He hopes that BMW can make use of its high-efficiency power technology to take a lead in energy-saving and environmental protection during its transformation.

Obviously, this is a long process. BMW will launch many activities to renovate the brand image. It will continue to compete with its German peers – Mercedes Benz and Audi in 2010. In China, BMW is placed at the second place among the three German luxury cars. Audi has been far ahead for a long time. Mercedes Benz went through fast development in 2009.

In 2009, Mercedes Benz successfully recruited a marketing team led by Mao Jingbo. Many of them have served Audi for many years. Mao Jingbo is fond of launching big projects and gets used to pursuing the maximum effect. He organized many impressive events for Benz, like titling the Shanghai World Expo Art Performing Center and holding new vehicle release conference in Imperial Ancestral Temple. This can meet the demand of Benz as a pursuer. Audi, whose marketing activities have already become fixed procedures, has built its brand image in China without the need for big changes. In another word, what Benz and BMW are doing now has been done by Audi long before.

With Audi standing ahead and Benz following behind, BMW’s renovation of image in China is full of challenges. Actually, a lot of marketing activities have been held since Stark joined in BMW. These events combined the owners, distributors, media and public together and exerted certain brand effect over the market. In 2010, BMW will continue to hold these marketing events and plans to get connected with the Shanghai World Expo. Notable is the precondition that BMW must be the same BMW, which means that the brand appeal “Joy Is BMW” should not be changed.

This is a complicated task. In 2009, BMW declared the plan of producing 300 thousand units in the year of 2010. China undoubtedly plays an important role in fulfilling this target. Stark knows clearly that producing BMW 3-series vehicles in China is only a part of BMW’s localization in China. A famous and popular brand and abundant reserve of talented people are the roots of standing and flourishing in China. From this viewpoint, the renovation of BMW brand is the deepening of BMW’s localization in China.