When it comes to luxury car brands in China, the first thing Chinese people think of is the BBA, which stands for the BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi brands. The competition between these three brands has been fierce. Not only will consumers compare the products of these three brands, but the BBA will also compete with each other.
In 2018, China's auto market growth is negative, and it is expected to be the same in 2019. The cold market in the auto market has almost become the consensus of the whole industry, just like a dark cloud over the entire auto market. The cold industry not only push the entire automobile market to a new stage of transformation and upgrading, but also provides some excellent car companies with a rare opportunity to stand out and expand their advantages.
The luxury car market is a very prominent example. The positive growth of 9% for the luxury auto brand’s whole product line is also a good embodiment of policy promotion and consumption upgrading. The strong demand in the luxury car market is not a simple low-end extension along with the impact on the demand for high-end domestic cars, it is strengthening the trend of luxury.
In the past two years, the situation of the luxury car market, which has been stable for many years, has begun to change. The plot of the rotation between Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW took turns are the center of their competition story. However, if in the fuel vehicle market, the three of them are evenly matched, then in the new energy market, BMW is already far ahead. According to Gao Xiang, senior vice president of marketing at BMW Brilliance Automotive Co., Ltd., in 2018, more than 23,000 new energy vehicles were sold in the BMW brand in China.
According to the latest data of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in October this year, China's new energy vehicles sold 75,000 units, of which pure electric sales volume was 59,000 units, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles sold 16,000 units. From January to October this year, new energy vehicles accumulated. The sales volume was 947,000, the pure electric sales volume was 750,000, and the plug-in hybrid vehicle sold was 197,000.
In addition to being environmentally viable, these organizations can actively support and apply these green projects as marketing tools. Customers are often more inclined to support and buy companies that claim to be green, and governments often provide financial support to such companies (Jackovics, 2011).
This however also cause a negative influence, as some organizations have been accused of “greenwashing,” that is the false statement that a technology is green in order to serve marketing and sales purposes. BMW was accused of such behavior in the production of its Hydrogen 7 series of automobiles (Wust, 2006).
Source:
Wust, C. (2006). “BMW's Hydrogen 7: Not as Green as it Seems.” Spiegel
online. Retrieved from http://www.spiegel.de/international/ spiegel/0,1518,448648,00.html
Jackovics, T. (2011). “Green growth.” Tampa Bay Online. Retrieved from http://www2.tbo.com/news/business/2011/nov/06/bznewso1-green-growth-ar-300715/
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