GM is doing something right in China

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

The annoucer sounds like a Munchkin or he has sucked down a tank of Hellium.

 

http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2009/05...050509.cnnmoney

[NewDay2006]

The annoucer sounds like a Munchkin or he has sucked down a tank of Hellium.

 

http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2009/05...050509.cnnmoney

Very interesting TonyT, I saw a documentary sometime ago that stated China was Buick's biggest buyer. I think GM will survive. They need to and I beleive the country needs them to survive. My next new car will probably be an American made car.

[Zhou Zhou]

Very interesting TonyT, I saw a documentary sometime ago that stated China was Buick's biggest buyer. I think GM will survive. They need to and I beleive the country needs them to survive. My next new car will probably be an American made car.

 

Buick, has been very popular because Chairman Mao had several over the years and the governments use them...how about those Tiger Woods bill boards in Shanghai? And check it out...Buicks are always parked on the sidewalks.

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

Practically ever Buick I have seeen here in Nanning is a Buick Regal/Lucern and they all always black it seems. It is a very sharp car and it does stand out from the rest.

GM's marketing of this model in China is sharp. Here in the US Buick aims are people on Geritol to deceased. In China their aims are at customers with Lap tops, MP3 & 4 players.

[Zhou Zhou]

Practically ever Buick I have seeen here in Nanning is a Buick Regal/Lucern and they all always black it seems. It is a very sharp car and it does stand out from the rest.

GM's marketing of this model in China is sharp. Here in the US Buick aims are people on Geritol to deceased. In China their aims are at customers with Lap tops, MP3 & 4 players.

 

 

Probably a government official...the other models are popular too. I've seen many little white one with kind of a hatch back. Look on the side walks you'll see Buicks.

[jsa23]

Interesting to note that while the Buick brand has been massively successful in China, GM's other brands haven't done nearly as well. Buicks are commonplace here, but Chevrolets are extremely rare by comparison.

 

Ford seems to be doing similarly - a decent presence in the midrange/"affordable luxury" market, but not much in the lower end.

 

The lower-end market seems to be dominated by VW, Citroen, and various domestic manufacturers.

Edited May 6, 2009 by jsa23 (see edit history)

[IllinoisDave]

Ever since I was in China and saw all the Buicks in Shanghai I've been curious about how they came to be so popular. This thread got my curiosity up again so I tried to find out. This article gives an interesting history of Buick in China:

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz...opular+in+China

[Guest shutterbug]

Ever since I was in China and saw all the Buicks in Shanghai I've been curious about how they came to be so popular. This thread got my curiosity up again so I tried to find out. This article gives an interesting history of Buick in China:

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz...opular+in+China

 

Each market is different, what works well for market may not suit another at all. It is certainly dubious when the Buick brand is on life-support in its home market while thriving in China, and Ford's past attempts at making a "world" car backfired in its home market (while Mondeo was a success outside the North American market, its US version, the Ford Contour/Mercury Mistique just didn't sell). This is not a problem unique to American automakers though. Just look at the two top-selling mid-size sedans in the US market (well, they are hardly "mid-size" in most other markets), Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, both of which are selling well in China as well, but the Accord has only moderate success in Europe and Camry was pulled from some European markets due to dismal sales. Then there is Volkswagen. It is a strong brand in most parts of the world, but sales in the US has been lackluster for a couple of decades now - for that exact same reason, however, VW sold more cars (or at least made more cars) in the first quarter of 2009 than Toyota did.