The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 344 Overseas Waterloo?
The development of BMW Motors has been smooth sailing, and naturally BMW Automobiles is not bad at all.

Thanks to its design positioning that can carry both people and goods and its low price, the BMW Sunshine is now the sales champion in China every month.

Neither Jiang Hui nor Chen Chenxing were satisfied with this situation.

Selling the BMW Light overseas is a goal that everyone at BMW Motor Company wants to achieve.

"Director, from what we can see so far, the performance of our BMW Light in Siam, Luzon and other places is not particularly ideal."

"Especially in the Siam market where we have high hopes, our BMW Sunshine has limited competitiveness compared with some models of Toyota, Honda and Suzuki."

"Unless we sell the car at a loss and have a big price advantage, it will be difficult to increase the sales of BMW Sunshine in the short term."

Fang Huihui reported to Jiang Hui a little depressed about BMW Technology's efforts in the BMW Light export business in recent times.

The BMW S launched by Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing Plant was exported to Southeast Asia and achieved good sales.

Whether it is Hong Kong City, Siam or Luzon, the situation has been opened up.

This time, the work has been expanded to the BMW Light, and she thinks there should be some results.

But after actually trying it, I found that selling cars abroad is not that easy.

Except for Hong Kong, where more than 100 vehicles were sold last month, which is considered acceptable, the sales in other Southeast Asian markets combined were less than 100 vehicles.

This result is a bit ugly.

At least Fang Huihui thinks it is unqualified.

After all, the economic development in Siam and other places was still good at that time, and there was a lot of communication with the port city.

However, it is disappointing that BMW Light has failed to open up the market in these places.

"Has our sales team investigated why the BMW Sunshine sells well in Hong Kong, but is completely unpopular in Southeast Asia?"

“Is it simply because the price is not cheaper than the products of Toyota, Suzuki and other models?”

Jiang Hui didn't get angry after hearing this.

When you discover a problem, find a way to solve it. Losing your temper will not solve the problem.

"Many small vendors in the port city use BMW Light to transport goods or people, especially some community groups. The fully enclosed BMW Light has more application scenarios and is more useful than a small truck."

"Plus, our prices in the port city are not high, and it is convenient to transport them there, so the sales are OK."

"But after the BMW Sunshine entered the markets of Siam and other countries, with the added costs of transportation and tariffs, and the fact that local dealers also have to make money, the final sales price no longer had an advantage."

"At the same time, car companies such as Toyota and Suzuki also have presence in Siam. If they want to transport goods, they can just buy small trucks with a larger loading capacity."

"As for transporting people, half of them use tricycles or cars for short distances, while those who travel long distances directly take planes or trains."

"It seems that vehicles like the BMW Sunbeam are rarely used to transport people in the area."

Fang Huihui came here today to report on BMW's disastrous performance overseas, and naturally she had made some preparations.

Otherwise, if she couldn't answer any of Jiang Hui's questions, it would be a blow to her personal prestige, and Jiang Hui would definitely not trust her as much in the future.

"Director, we have also investigated the market conditions in the Middle East, Africa, and South America."

"Although the BMW Light has not yet entered these places, based on the information we have learned from our investigation, it is possible that the BMW Light will not perform particularly well after entering there."

"Especially in places with poor infrastructure, the cars sold are mostly pickup trucks or SUVs, and ordinary cars are rarely sold. Commercial vehicles like our BMW Sunshine, whose passing performance is not even as good as that of cars, basically have no market at all."

Chen Chenxing also added his own views.

The design of the BMW Light is very special. It is mainly prepared to meet the market needs of China itself and does not meet the needs of the outside world.

"In fact, the road conditions in most parts of our country are also not ideal, especially outside the cities and counties, where there are basically no cement roads in towns and villages."

"The driving experience of the BMW Light in those places is also very poor."

Jiang Hui expressed his doubts.

It is undeniable that the BMW X5's passing performance on bad roads is not very good, but it sells well in China.

"That's true, but there are so many cities and counties in China. If our BMW Lights are sold in these cities and counties, we can achieve monthly sales of over 10,000 units."

"When these vehicles need to go to towns and villages, people drive very carefully. Although the feeling is not good, it is not much worse than other models on the market."

"Combined with the price of the BMW Light, these problems are not a problem."

Chen Chenxing has been more involved in the market in the past two years and has a clearer understanding of the actual domestic market situation than Jiang Hui.

Some of the shortcomings of the BMW Light are completely overshadowed by its advantages in the Chinese market.

However, in foreign markets, the shortcomings are magnified.

In this way, it seems understandable that the BMW Light has a huge difference in market performance at home and abroad.

"What you said makes sense, but if BMW wants to grow and develop, it must go global."

"As the only foreign-invested automobile brand in China, it is necessary for us to maintain the brand power of BMW and sell BMW products around the world."

"The BMW Sunshine is not selling very well in the world market. Do you think the next sedan product to be launched will be worth looking forward to in the overseas market?"

Although Jiang Hui has a vision that transcends his time, he will not hide his lack of understanding of the specific issues of this era.

It's not shameful to ask others for advice.

"Sedans are now the most mainstream products of major car companies around the world. Whether it is General Motors, Ford, Toyota or Volkswagen, the most popular models now are sedans."

"It will probably be very difficult for us to sell our cars to markets with relatively large car sales, such as the United States, Europe and Japan."

"As for the Southeast Asian market, the situation is not very ideal. The products of several major Japanese automakers have basically eaten up these markets."

"If we want to further expand into markets in Africa, the Middle East and South America, I feel that sedans are not particularly suitable for these places. Instead, pickup trucks and SUVs are more suitable."

"So in the early stages, we may still have to focus on the performance of the domestic market."

"The sedans produced by several domestic manufacturers are either not competitive enough or have insufficient production. By then, there will still be great potential for our sedan products."

Chen Chenxing is still very confident about BMW's second product.

The most popular sedans in China are the BJ310 produced by Capital Automobile Works and the Hushang brand sedans produced by Hushang Automobile. The other is the Santana, which is assembled in a quantity of only units per month and cannot meet the market demand at all.

Although some other automobile manufacturers also produce some cars, or are preparing to cooperate with international automobile giants to produce cars, they have not yet achieved any particularly outstanding performance.

As for the newly established joint venture company Yangcheng Peugeot, it has not yet obtained the qualification to produce sedans and is struggling to assemble its first pickup truck product.

"Since the prospect of sedans is relatively good, everyone should also start to consider the sales of sedans."

"The prototype has rolled off the production line and will officially enter mass production in the first half of next year. There is not much time left for everyone to prepare."

Jiang Hui was not particularly satisfied with the current situation, but he had to eat one bite at a time and there was no point in being anxious.

It’s just that when BMW was promoting the export of the BMW Sunshine, it caused quite a stir and many media outlets reported on it.

After all, it is one of the first domestic car companies to actively enter the global market, and it is also the first foreign-funded car company in China. It is normal that everyone pays more attention to it.

Now that the market performance of BMW Light in foreign countries has been reported back, the relevant information has naturally been known to the superior departments and friendly companies.

Capital Automobile Works, which is also developing products similar to the BMW Sunback, is the manufacturer that pays the most attention to the sales of the BMW Sunback at home and abroad.

"Chen, I found out that since the BMW Light started exporting, it has not sold 1000 cars in total."

"Even if we look at some of the data from the customs now, many of them have only cleared customs and been exported overseas, but have not yet been sold."

"Especially in the Southeast Asian market, I heard that the BMW Sunshine is not selling well at all. Local dealers are unwilling to pick up the cars and even require returns."

"If this really happens, BMW will not only fail to make money in its export business, but will even lose money."

Lu Jianqiang has been worried about the launch of commercial vehicle products recently.

Since it is developed in accordance with the BMW Light, the cost must be sufficiently reduced, otherwise it will result in losses.

But when the engine is a 2.5L gasoline engine, how can it be easy to achieve the same cost as the BMW Sunbeam?

Therefore, the mass production time of their products has been postponed several times, and now it will be postponed to the second half of next year.

It would be a lie to say that Lu Jianqiang has no pressure at all.

After all, everyone at the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant had hoped that the factory would have a product that could earn foreign exchange.

In particular, the joint venture with AMC to establish Shouqi Jeep consumed a large amount of foreign exchange.

The factory director Chen Qi hopes to make up for the tight foreign exchange quota by earning foreign exchange through exports from the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant.

They have tried BJ212 and BJ310, and found that they have no advantages over similar international products, and obviously cannot accomplish the task of exporting and earning foreign exchange.

Then the next commercial vehicle is their new hope.

"Has the export business of BMW really encountered a setback?"

Chen Qi confirmed it with mixed feelings.

BMW's market performance is so outstanding that Capital Automobile Manufacturing will soon lose its position as the top seller in the country.

This naturally made Chen Qi very dissatisfied.

However, if the BMW Sunshine fails in export, the hope of successfully exporting their own commercial vehicles in the future will be even slimmer.

So he kind of hopes that the BMW Light can be successfully exported, but he also doesn't want it to be too successful.

Only he himself knows best about that contradictory mentality.

"Yes, I think the performance of BMW Light in foreign markets in the future will not be better than it is now."

"I guess they have already realized this in the factory, but I don't know what kind of response plan they will have."

"I will find someone to continue to follow up on the progress of this matter."

Lu Jianqiang noticed Chen Qi's reaction and felt that his pressure should be reduced.

……

Qin Hao and Zheng Haiming, who were also very concerned about the export situation of BMW Light, were also discussing this matter at this time.

"Director Qin, although the BMW automobile industry is developing rapidly, its performance in terms of export earnings is not satisfactory. It is not even as good as the Chaoyang Motorcycle Factory."

Zheng Haiming sighed in disappointment.

He had high expectations for BMW's performance in the export market.

He knew that although there were so many automobile factories in the country, it was completely unreliable to rely on other manufacturers to export their products.

In recent years, only the trucks of FAW and Second Automobile Works have achieved some export results, but now they are completely useless.

"BMW has too few products. The BMW Sunshine performs well in China, but it is not well adapted to the international market. I guess their team is not yet in shape."

"Who knows, maybe BMW will give us some extra surprises in the future."

"The export earning capacity of automobiles is much higher than that of general products. As long as one of BMW's models sells well abroad in the future, the effect of earning foreign exchange will be very significant."

"When the time comes, whether it's Santana or Audi 100, it won't be a problem for Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing and FAW to have more foreign exchange quotas for CKD parts."

At this time, Qin Hao could only say some comforting words.

What else to do?

Besides, he is indeed looking forward to the future performance of BMW.

Just because a product is unsuccessful in foreign markets doesn’t mean it will never be successful in the future.

It seems normal that Jiang Hui can develop successful products for General Motors and develop products suitable for the international automobile market for BMW in the future.

"I hope BMW can continue to develop as you said."

Zheng Haiming didn't say anything specific. After all, the two of them were not very familiar with the latest developments of BMW.

However, thinking of this, Zheng Haiming immediately added, "Please arrange for me to go to BMW to inspect the new products that Jiang Hui proposed before and see how they are being developed."

"I heard that he is developing several engines at the same time and will launch many car models in the future!"

(End of this chapter)