Chinese car companies enter the Arab market

The Chinese self-owned brand car companies that intend to establish a foothold in the Arab market have reached a consensus: To change the development strategy of the Arab League market, it is necessary to strengthen brand building in the Arab countries and switch from the low-end market to the high-end market.

At the 2015 China-Arabia Automobile Sub-Forum held in Ningxia, people in charge of such enterprises as GAC, Geely, and Great Wall stated that small profits and quick sales are not sustainable. Chinese car companies must change their thinking, improve the quality of export products, and improve the after-sales service network. Dealers jointly promote brand building.

It is understood that about a quarter of China’s export vehicles are currently heading for the Arab League market, but the proportion of Chinese cars in the region is less than 10%, far behind the Japanese and South Korean car brands.

The reason is that the experts and scholars attending the conference and people in the industry generally believe that the first is that China's autonomous auto brands mainly export low-end vehicles to the region. The increase in the exchange rate of price advantage, low product quality and imperfect after-sales service lead to brand trust. Low; Second, the time for Chinese auto brands to enter the overseas market is still short, and they have not yet gained extensive brand recognition.

Wang Xia, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade's Auto Industry Committee, said that the lack of international competitiveness of Chinese brands has a lot to do with the unclear connotation and differentiation of brands. In addition to cheap prices, Chinese brands have not yet been clearly recognized.

The short board on channel construction and after-sales service also directly affects the overseas image of Chinese brands. In the past, sales of Chinese auto brands in the Arab League area depended mainly on local dealers, but dealers often focused on completing sales, but they did not have the incentive to do long-term brand promotion. At this year's China-Arab Fair, car owners generally agreed that they should share responsibility for brand building with local distributors, provide financial support to dealers, formulate incentive policies, and encourage them to make long-term investments in brand building.

The attitude of China's major car companies to distributors has changed. Xiong Chaoyao, deputy general manager of Geely Meijia International Trading Co., Ltd., said that Geely insisted on choosing “mind like” distributors to enter into the Gulf market and cooperate with distributors to do brand promotion or promotion. The expenses were also shared. This was achieved. With remarkable results, since 2009, Geely has maintained an annual export of about 15,000 cars to the Gulf countries.

In addition, many car companies have found that using overseas social media for brand promotion is a very effective way. China’s Internet development is currently at the forefront of the world, and the Gulf countries and other regions of the Arab League are relatively backward. The Chinese auto companies have taken the lead in using local social media for marketing. The responsible persons of BYD, Geely and other car companies in the Middle East market stated that in some Arab League countries, the Internet has become the most important promotion method.

Japanese and South Korean car brands currently have the largest market share in Arab League and are widely loved by local consumers. Faced with this market structure, China's major auto makers believe that they should jointly promote the brand image of “China Auto” and gradually switch from the low-end market to the mid-to-high-end market to improve the reputation of “China Auto” and “Made in China”. Finally, we will build a win-win situation with multiple benefits.