Hyundai Motors in fact matched market estimates at a time when the global economy is on the verge of another recession. Mr Ahn Se-hwan, Auto Analyst, IBK Securities, said, “The industry had no doubt that Hyundai would have a good year. A lot of factors including the won-dollar exchange rate, and growing brand reputation in emerging markets worked in favor of the carmaker. Hyundai is achieving some cost cuts from integrating their production platforms. More vehicles will go through the streamlined version of their platforms in the future and further increase their performance.”

In 2011, Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Motors sold 4.05 million cars globally and now the South Korean car maker is aiming at selling a staggering 7 million cars this year. Mr Chung Mong-koo, Chairman, Hyundai Motors said, “In order to achieve the 7 million target, we have to keep up with fast-changing global trends by setting up an organized cooperation system for better communication among our production facilities and sales locations across the world.”

Hyundai is also working on a strategy to take on Europe’s largest car manufacturer, Volkswagen. Riding on the newly launched i40 and 3 door Velostar, Hyundai aims to increase their European sales by 25% by 2013. Their factories have started working on a third shift in order to increase production. According to Jessica Caldwell, Analyst, Edmunds.com, “Hyundai offers compelling design at an affordable price– a win-win for most consumers. Brand exposure has long been the problem for Hyundai, but that has certainly eased.” Mr Richard Sanders, MD, Drivethedeal.com adds, “People just seem to trust VW more. But that’s changing. There’s nothing wrong with Hyundai product anymore.”

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Source: www.rushlane.com 27.1.12

As many as 2.04 million vehicles were produced in India till June this year, 20 per cent higher than the 1.71 million units rolled out in Brazil.China continued to be the frontrunner with production of 9.16 million units till June, while India’s share in vehicle production, as compared to China, has improved sharply between January and June this year.While last year, India produced a sixth of the number of vehicles rolled out in China, till June this year the country produced more than a fifth of the number of vehicles manufactured in east Asian nation. India’s market share in global vehicle production moved up marginally to five per cent from the earlier 4.5 per cent during this period.

PricewaterhouseCoopers says India is likely to produce seven million light vehicles of up to five tonnes by 2017. “Though vehicle sales have slowed down this year, the fundamentals remain strong,” notes Abdul Majeed, partner and head of automotive practice in the global professional services firm. “By 2017, India is likely to emerge as the third-largest market in the world after China and the US.”What is boosting business confidence is that despite the economic uncertainties prevailing in global and domestic markets, India remained among the fastest-growing automobile markets in the world till October this year. While US topped the charts growing by 10.1 per cent to sell 10.54 million vehicles, Germany and India followed close behind growing by around eight per cent (to 2.93 mn units) and 7.8 per cent (to 2.73 mn units), respectively.

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers notes that the vehicle penetration in India is one of the lowest in the world — at 10 cars per 1000 people as against 565 cars and 453 cars per 1000 people in Germany and the US respectively. “So,” says Sugato Sen, senior director of the association “ the market will only grow over long term.”Estimates available with market research firm J D Power show the automobile market in India is set to grow three-fold to sell over 11 million vehicles by 2020.If we take a closer look at the sales data of the top six vehicle-manufacturing countries in the world currently, the domestic automobile market in India has already overgrown that of Korea at 2.73 million units. Till October, the Korean market had grown by 2.8 per cent to sell 1.23 million units. Vehicles sales in the country have fallen short of Germany (the fourth largest automobile market) by mere 200,000 units.

On the exports front, India stands at around a tenth of the 3.77 mn units exported by Germany till October this year. What is intriguing is that India is fast narrowing the gap with China. Till October this year China (which accounts for 24 per cent of global automobile production) exported only 703,341 units, while Indian exports grew by 17.45 per cent to 489,675 units.Japan fared the worst in the current year hit by the earthquake and tsunami in March this year. While vehicle production dropped by a whopping 17 per cent to 6.71 million units due to insufficiency in supply of components, domestic sales declined by 20 per cent to 3.47 mn units between Jan and October this year.

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Source: BS 25/12/11

VW sales in China may rise almost 20 percent in 2011 and more than double in India, according to estimates at researcher J.D. Power & Associates. That’s a contrast to Toyota, which is suspending Southeast Asian plants because of floods in Thailand, months after an earthquake crippled production in Japan.“Emerging markets are at a stage of car-adoption by consumers and there is still a large space for sales to grow. said Jenny Gu, Shanghai-based senior markets analyst for J.D. Power. ‘‘VW realized this and put a lot of effort on emerging markets.’’Estimates at J.D. Powers, IHS Automotive and PwC Autofacts were used to calculate the average projections.Volkswagen had fallen 3.3 percent this year in German trading before today, weighed by concerns about the European debt crisis. Still, that’s a smaller decline than the 34 percent drop at Detroit-based GM and 20 percent at Toyota.

Next Year’s Lead

Toyota may regain the lead from VW next year as the recovery of the Japanese company’s facilities from the March earthquake will pave the way for the Toyota City-based automaker to sell 8.4 million cars, or half a million units more than VW, according to research firm IHS Automotive. J.D. Power projects VW will retain its lead in 2012, outselling Toyota by about 50,000 units.‘‘Growth in China, Europe and the U.S. are major contributors to VW’s expansion but they obviously also benefit from Toyota’s own misfortunes,” said Daniel Schwarz, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank AG who recommends buying VW stock. Schwarz forecast the Japanese passenger-car market to increase by a quarter next year after shrinking by about a fifth in 2011.Wolfsburg, Germany-based VW, which also owns the Audi and Skoda brands, focused on boosting capacity and its network of dealerships as it built its brand in markets such as China and India, Gu said in a telephone interview.

Chinese Growth

Automakers are turning to developing economies for growth as sales in mature markets slow. China, the world’s second- largest economy, will grow 9.5 percent this year, six times the pace of the U.S. and euro area, according to International Monetary Fund estimates last month. The country is already the biggest auto market globally, with sales exceeding 18 million in 2010.VW sales in China will probably reach 2.3 million units and 116,000 in India this year, with the two markets accounting for about a third of the company’s sales, according to J.D. Power estimates.VW, which operates more than 60 factories worldwide, plans to spend a record 62.4 billion euros ($87 billion) — excluding its ventures in China — over the next five years to raise annual production to 10 million by 2018. VW’s Chinese joint ventures, which are not consolidated, will invest another 14 billion euros through 2016. The German company may reach the target three years ahead of schedule, according to a person familiar with the matter.

‘Well Positioned’

“VW is well positioned in key markets and has about the broadest model portfolio among the top competitors,” said Marc- Rene Tonn, a Hamburg-based analyst with M.M. Warburg, who recommends buying VW stock.The company has forecast its global sales will increase 5 percent this year after posting a record 7.2 million deliveries in 2010. The German carmaker’s Audi luxury unit overtook Daimler AG’s Mercedes Benz as the world’s second-largest maker of high- end vehicles earlier this year, trailing only BMW AG.VW, the first overseas carmaker to enter China three decades ago, is planning to add two plants and double production to 3 million cars annually. Audi is considering a new factory there to expand annual manufacturing to as high as 700,000 vehicles by 2015 as luxury demand increases, Dietmar Voggenreiter, its China president said on Oct. 20.

Facing Hurdles

Still, VW faces hurdles with its partnership with Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor Corp., whose venture in India is the top seller in the market. The German carmaker is also facing delays in a planned merger with Porsche SE.Suzuki is seeking to end an alliance with its German partner after accusing it of violating a cooperation agreement by not sharing technology. VW has said it plans to keep its stake.Ending the partnership with Suzuki would undermine the German automaker’s credit assessment, Moody’s Investors Service said in a statement today.Toyota would be relinquishing its lead after last year’s record recalls, which has led President Akio Toyoda to say his key priorities will be focusing on customer satisfaction and restoring Toyota’s reputation.Toyota temporarily halted all its plants to assess the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Seven months later, the automaker is facing factory closures across Southeast Asia, triggered by Thailand’s worst floods in half a century.

GM Gains

Toyota’s shortfalls paves the way for GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, to gain market share. The Detroit-based automaker is relying on sales in developing nations including China, Brazil and India for growth in the future, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson said Sept. 21.GM, which makes Buick and Chevrolet-branded sedans with Chinese partner SAIC Motor Co., sells more cars in China than in its home market. Sales in the nation has topped 2 million vehicles in 2011, the carmaker said on Oct. 17.Growth in the global auto market will probably accelerate next year, rising 6.5 percent in 2012 after expanding 3.5 percent this year, according to estimates at Moody’s Investors Service.

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Source: www.businessweek.com  24/10/11

Initially there were lots of silly jokes about the men from India taking over these British institutions but the truth is that they have performed miracles. Mr. Tata, a highly educated, very intelligent man achieved what the bean counters at Ford couldn’t. He motivated the staff, the designers, the dealers and also provided the key ingredient-money!

The newly previewed Range Rover’s latest creation – the rather cleverly named “Evoque”, it had star quality written all over it. Designed by a team led by sartorial Gerry McGovern they’ve actually created an automobile which looks radically different and yet an instantly recognizable Range Rover at the same time. it will impress many by a rather clever marketing ploy. The company invited Victoria Beckham, wife of soccer legend David Beckham to get involved with the interior design. Being a mum several times over and half of one of the best known couples in World the impact was astonishing. Not only did the company get over 2 million hits on the internet during the launch but what is far more important-25 thousand orders as well. Talk about a field of dreams!

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Source: www.theautochannel.com   28/10/11

Fiat became one of the owners of Chrysler back in 2009, soon after Daimler AG (Daimler) had decided on its exit from the DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC. A “merger of equals”, as it was called, melded Daimler with the old Chrysler. But, as George Orwell put it, some of us are more equal than others. In less than a decade’s time, Daimler sold 80.1 per cent of its stake in Chrysler, and the remaining 19.9 per cent in 2009. The reason behind the failure of this merger was a cultural misalignment between the German parent and the all-American step-child. If the German line-of-control did not work for the Auburn Hill automaker, how close could the Italian equivalent be? Frost & Sullivan’s research reveals that about 55 per cent of executives state that mergers fail primarily due to internal challenges. This article outlines the Fiat-Chrysler deal, touching upon financials and key success factors of this merger.
Chrysler – an Expense or an Investment for Fiat?

Prior to the increasing the stake in Chrysler, Fiat S.p.A had demerged its entities Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT), Case New Holland (CNH) and Iveco into Fiat Industrials. This was a step towards identifying the Fiat Group Automobiles and Chrysler as a passenger car entity, by the time the Q2 2011 results were announced. One element from the Q2 2011 financial statements released by the group that stands out is the net debt that has surged from €2.89 billion in Q1 2011 to €6.27 billion. Excluding the Chrysler, Maserati and Ferrari businesses, the Fiat Group Automobiles earned €7.55 billion in Q2 2011, thereby making a trading profit of €187 million, against a speculated €175 million. Chrysler’s contribution to revenues is €3.3 billion in the month of June alone, with a trading profit of €150 million. The merger has begun to make sense for the group, with Chrysler’s potential to reap more profits. Going forward, Chrysler’s contribution to Fiat’s revenues is expected to be a larger proportion than earned by Fiat’s own marques. Yet, it appears that the group intends to produce more of Fiat cars than Chrysler cars in the years ahead. While the Fiat and Chrysler labels had an approximate 60:40 split ratio last year, the trend ahead suggests a 66:33 split, by the year 2018. In terms of absolute volumes of production, certainly, there is an increase for both Chrysler and Fiat.
Towards A More Decentralized Top-Brass

When two business giants merge, change is inevitable in the top-management. Fiat Group’s CEO Sergio Marchionne publicly stated that 25 executives will be managing the two brands at the C-level, eliminating redundancies in heading the functions of purchasing, engineering, quality and manufacturing among others. When Daimler and Chrysler came together, some of the American top-executives in Chrysler stayed, with their span of control largely handicapped by their German counterparts; some other pursued a more rewarding career in G.M. and Ford. Marchionne has made sure that the right talent is never lost, even if it could mean replacing one of Fiat’s top executives with someone from the Chrysler, Jeep or the other brands. The new line of command, apparently, is to be shortlisted purely based on the individual’s leadership skills and performance, without discriminating on grounds of ethnic origin.

Another bold step by the group is that each major geographic landscape will have its own headquarters – one each in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. This helps decentralize the decision-making process, thereby allowing each entity to opt for what best suits its business case. The Fiat group seems to have made the right moves to begin with – removing mirrored positions in an unbiased manner, retaining top talent from both worlds. The challenge is to reap synergies out of the common resources such as FPT, Mopar and a synchronized supply chain to serve both Chrysler and Fiat without compromising on the brand images of the individual marques.

Synthesizing Expertise towards Superior Performance

Smaller cars and diesel power-trains are very common in Europe. North America, on the other hand, is dominated by gasoline engines and heavier vehicles. Fiat, with its European origin, possesses expertise in making and marketing diesel vehicles, especially small cars. Fiat can transfer this expertise to the light pick-ups and SUVs, so as to find favour among American consumers. The challenge is all about making the diesel vehicles marketable in America, where new vehicle buyers are still averse towards diesel powered vehicles. Chrysler, as a native brand with a strong image, can help the group launch diesel vehicles in North America.

Moreover, Chrysler’s year-to-date sales in the US grew by 21 per cent, whereas Fiat’s European sales value, over the same period, has taken a dip of 12.7 per cent. Evidently, this is an element that synergizes the group’s earnings and sales numbers. In June 2011, Chrysler produced a total of 179,000 vehicles of which 83 per cent were reportedly sold in US and Canada. Fiat, on the other hand, is popular in South America, Europe and parts of Asian emerging markets. Geographically, any risk of a bear market – both in terms of vehicle sales and stock-market – in one region can be balanced by a better scenario elsewhere. A visit to the Fiat Head Quarters in Turin would reveal Chrysler models bearing the Fiat badge, ready to be showcased for sale in local European markets. This is in line with Marchionne’s statement that he does not distinguish between Fiat and Chrysler. As pre-crisis levels are expected back in the European and US economies only by 2013, Chrysler’s high-margin low-volume business could help offset any underperformance by Fiat in its home market.

Fiat-Chrysler to focus more on Asia and Middle-East for Production

Based on production forecasts, the Fiat-Chrysler group is expected to have an increase of 61 per cent by 2018, over 2010 production volumes, globally. Production volumes from the Americas is expect to drop over the next seven years, while production volumes from Asia is expected to have a remarkable increase from 2 per cent in 2010, to 9 per cent of overall volumes in 2018. The group’s Chinese production volume is expected to witness a twelve-fold increase by 2018. Taken together with projected volumes in Iran and India, more than 11 per cent of the total Fiat-Chrysler vehicles produced globally are expected to be from the group’s Asian operations, depicted in Chart 1. One in five vehicles produced by the group in 2018 is expected to belong to the C-segment; a closer look into the group’s platform strategy reveals that the concentration is mainly on C & D segments that are built on the C-EVO platform, while volumes are expected to drop drastically in the Sport & MPV segments.

Platform Sharing Inevitable to Reaping Synergy through the Melding

Last year, 12 major OEM groups operated 223 platforms of which only 110 were shared platforms; i.e. approximately 50 per cent of platforms are shared. Frost & Sullivan analysis reveals that by 2020, out of 154 platforms that these OEM groups will operate, 94 will be shared platforms, representing 61 per cent of total platforms in that year. Fiat-Chrysler plans to reduce their total number of platforms from 32 down by almost 60 per cent to only 13 platforms by 2020.This also takes into account the group’s plans of introducing 18 new models. During the same period, the production volume of Fiat-Chrysler is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.1 per cent. About 86 per cent of production of the Fiat group is expected to be from their Top-5 platforms alone. Chart 2 illustrates Frost & Sullivan’s Platform Strategy Measurement Index, according to which, Fiat-Chrysler ranks fourth globally, only behind Daimler, Tata and Volkswagen groups. Fiat-Chrysler is expected to increase the average production volumes per platform as well as the average number of models per platform by 2020. Clearly, this results in optimal utilization of each of the platforms operated by the group over the next decade.

Plagued with an image of a gas-guzzler, Chrysler vehicles may now enjoy the FPT advantage, thus making them more fuel-efficient. Chrysler’s sales-weighted fleet average fuel economy rating for April 2011 was 18.4 miles per gallon, ranking the Chrysler group of vehicles as the least fuel-efficient in North America. Fiat, on the contrary, has been consistently ranked as the group with lowest carbon emissions at about 123.1 g/km, ahead of nearest competitor Toyota by 4.1%. Powered by Fiat Powertrain Technologies, Chrysler is poised to become more fuel-efficient in the coming year. Yet, this strategy needs to be deployed without compromising on the overall driving experience of a Chrysler.

Platform sharing could result in economies of scale for systems such as transmissions, steering, braking etc. Such savings will be reflected directly in the cost-cutting. This gives the Fiat-Chrysler group an option of passing this benefit to the consumer by reducing the sticker-price, to make the vehicles more competitive. Alternatively, as these are price-targeted vehicles, it would be possible to beef up the car, with more power or other features, dwelling in the same price-band. Either way, a fully-loaded vehicle from the Fiat-Chrysler stables is poised to provide stiffer competition to a vehicle from Ford or Hyundai groups, which sell more volumes globally.

What shall the History Books Read

Chrysler has been the smallest of the Detroit-Three, in terms of production volumes; Fiat did not produce as many cars as Peugeot Citroen or Volkswagen, in Europe either. However, Fiat-Chrysler replaced Honda, falling behind Ford, as the seventh largest automaker in 2010, and aims to be the sixth largest automaker by 2014. A glance at the top spots in the automotive market would reveal that, with the sole exception of Honda, every OEM group was born from an alliance or a merger. Recently Suzuki’s announced that their cooperation with Fiat appeared more beneficial than with Volkswagen. Fiat-Chrysler’s conquest in the triads seems to be in the direction, in becoming one of the top global OEM groups, to say the least. Fiat’s joint venture with Tata Motors in India and Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover brands make it a largely entangled network of brands.

Going forward, synergy could be the only goal and leveraged buyouts in the automotive scene could result in a few OEM groups controlling the majority of the market in the decades ahead. Fiat’s acquisition of one of the Detroit-Three reiterates the thought that, at the end of this decade, a vast portion of the world’s automobiles could emanate from a few drawing boards. Fiat had earlier expressed interest in acquiring Opel in 2009, and the German government spokesperson had appraised their proposal to be interesting. A decade from now, if one were to analyse this deal in retrospect, the Fiat-Chrysler alliance would still be one of the most important milestone in the history of the automotive industry.

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Source: www.just-auto.com  3/8/2011

Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director at Toyota’s joint venture in India, told The Associated Press on Saturday that growth in India was so solid for Toyota he was confident the company was headed in the right direction.Two days before the March 11 disasters, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said global vehicle sales of 10 million by 2015, which would be an industry first, by 2015, was attainable for the Japanese automaker.
Singh, visiting Toyota’s Tokyo office for meetings with senior executives, said the difficulties from the disaster were temporary, and Toyota’s vision for growth remained unchanged.”The targets we have been given, we are on track for that,” he said of India’s part of the vision, while stressing Toyota does not chase numbers but goes for customer satisfaction.

Toyota’s vehicle sales in India jumped 53 percent this year to 53,100 vehicles for the first half, and the growth was expected to continue because of production capacity boosts in India, Singh said.Last month, Toyota said it was expanding production capacity in its India subsidiary, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private, to 310,000 vehicles in 2013, up from today’s 160,000, with a 17.2 billion yen ($220 million) investment.Toyota, now No. 5 in India in market share, is pushing the made-for-India Etios small sedan to attract an emerging middle class, who wants quality and space in an affordable car — a sector likely to keep growing in coming years, according to Singh.

China, the world’s No. 1 auto market, which is expected to hit about 20 million vehicles this year, is another place for expansion. Toyota is expecting to sell 900,000 vehicles in China this year, up 6 percent from 846,000 vehicles last year.India, with an overall auto market of about 3 million, is still less developed than China and so potential growth is even greater. In 2010, Toyota sold nearly 75,000 vehicles in India, up 34 percent from 2009.Singh said Toyota’s reputation for making reliable cars had not suffered in India, despite the massive recalls in North America. The maker of the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models, enjoys a solid reputation for quality in India, he said.Toyota is also hopeful of sales growth in the U.S., despite the recall fiasco, not just relatively new markets like India where people are rapidly becoming first-time car-owners.

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Source:www.vcstar.com 12-8-2011

According to the report, the turnaround has been driven by rapidly growing sales in emerging markets such as India and China where the cars are status symbols for the growing middle classes – and investment from Tata in new models such as the Range Rover Evoque.A JLR source said the results will be “extremely good” and that the British car maker, which employs 17,000 persons, is the “star” performer for Tata.The results are expected to be presented as part of the company’s annual results on Thursday.

The previous record profit for JLR is 300 million pounds the company made in 2007, the last year under Ford .JLR made a net profit of 734 million pounds in the nine months to December 31 and sales have continued to grow since then, led by Land Rover.In March, more Land Rovers were sold in the UK than any other month in the company’s history.Land Rover also secured record March sales in China and India, with sales up 33 per cent and 61 per cent, while Jaguar enjoyed its best month in India as well as a 70 per cent rise in Russian sales and a 49 per cent rise in Germany.Overall, sales in March rose by 6 per cent for JLR and 13 per cent in the first quarter.

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Source: ET  22-5-2011

Xu Zhijun, President of BMW (China) Automobile Trade Co., Ltd, stated, “BMW has accumulated strong power to develop sustainably in Chinese market in 2010.” In terms of brands, BMW successfully launched its brand strategy of “Pleasures of BMW”, which explained the mission and value of BMW brand from the perspective of Chinese culture and was highly acknowledged by the market; the nationwide dealer network was still expanding in 2010, and the number of BMW dealers has been over 200 by the end of the year.

On Noverber 16, 2010, BMW (China) announced that it had and become the only automobile cooperational partner with Chinese Olympics Committee in the future six years by signing an official agreement with the latter. According to the agreement, BMW will provide logistics guarantee for Chinese Olympics Committee in terms of vehicle usages and services in the official events of Chinese Olympics Committee, daily training of its sports teams, and Chinese sports delegation participating in various international Olympics. It is the first time that Chinese Olympics Committee establishes a long-term, not for single event, cooperational relationship with an automobile brand.

This “label” of Chinese Olympics Committee partner helped BMW to win the dual recognitions from Chinese market and Chinese social value at a new level. Dr. Christoph Stark, President and CEO of BMW (Greater China), said, “BMW has joined hands with Olympic sports in China not only because of our products and technology, but also for the resonance with our values and dreams. China’s Olympic sports not only brought reputation and self-pride for the country, but also is the symbol of hundreds million of Chinese people’s dream, passion, vitality and creativity, which conforms perfectly to the spirit of   Pleasures of BMW’. BMW China will further boost the spread of Olympics spirit in China with its marketing resources and brand evens.” In fact, BMW is now looking for various opportunities including talent support, education development, innovative technology application, enviromental burden reduction, contemporary arts boosting, and old cultures inherting to rebuild its brand values in China.

With the gradual maturation of the Chinese automobile market, the brand broadcast and recognition of present high-class car brands tend to be diversified and three-dimensional. They need to break their originally unilateral images, successfully realize brand reset and inject more added values into their brands through innovation. The total sales volume of the three major high-end brands of BMW, Audi and Benz has reached 545,000 in Chinese market in 2010. The increase means fiercer competition. For high-end brands, competitions in Chinese market have been shifting from the original product competition to the comprehensive competition including brands and services. From this aspect, Audi is striving to implant the sense of technology into itself; Benz hopes to be younger and more fashionable; BMW, which is always proud of the pleasure of driving, wishes to be more stable and introvert so as to come deeply into the Chinese society. In the whole marketing of 2010, BMW added many characteristic Chinese traditional elements, for instance, the promotion of “Pleasures of BMW” adopted Beijing Opera facial makeups, Chinese landscape paintings and Chinese seals.

Certainly, the success of marketing strategy will attract the attention of the market. In 2010, BMW signed a contract with Chinese Olympics Committee and became the exclusive auto partner in the future six years, which just demonstrated that all pulblic benefit events of BMW are beased on the strategic level. China needs to know more about BMW, and BMW also needs an opportunity to know China and take roots in China. Xu Zhijun said, “BMW has a dream in China. It wishes to fuse its development of brands and products into Chinse social development, economic development and cultural development. ”

According to BMW (China), BMW Group is implementing a strategy of supporting Olympic sports globally. BMW (UK), the auto partner of 2012 London Olympics Committee, will provide more than 4000 BMW and MINI automobiles for the athletes and event officials of London Olympic Games. Differ from other auto sponsors in the past Olympic Games, BMW Group will provide vehicles all adopt BMW’s efficient power technology including pure electric car MINI E. Actually, BMW has an ever bond with Olympics. In 1972, the summer Olympic Games was held in Munich, the hometown of BMW. BMW provided guided vehicles for marathon and footrace, and it adopted the world’s first electric vehicle BMW 1602, which became a lightspot of the Olympics Games. From then on, BMW cooperated with Olympics as the world develops. According to BMW (China), the road tests of 50 MINI Es, the pure electric vehicle that will be used on London Olympic Games, have been started in the Chinese market.

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Source:China Economic Net  15/2/2011

“Skoda is synonymous with attractive cars offering exceptional value for money, countless clever solutions and precisely executed work. All this is clearly reflected by our updated corporate design. As it forges ahead, Skoda is eager to flex its newfound strength in the international arena. Skoda is steadily evolving and it shows. Our new design and fresh outlook reflect our plans for the future.”The new logo features a large winged arrow image in ‘Skoda Green’ as opposed to the present natural green. Skoda’s VisionD concept car was unveiled at the Geneva Motor show, sporting the new logo.It is hoped that the company’s new direction will modernise the Skoda image over the next few years. Skoda is building on their stabilising reputation and intends to increase sales activities in Europe.

The rebranding consists of four multimedia campaigns. These include the new TV advert for the new Skoda Yeti partnered with a brand campaign. Event marketing will compliment recognition with the appearance at the Goodwood Motor Show, among other events. Skoda also plans to add 14 dealerships during 2011 which increase their estate to 139 in the UK alone. The upcoming new models are said intensify the entire campaign.
Skoda dealers across the UK welcome the change and hope that the vision will become a reality when it comes to sales. Birchwood, a used and new Skoda Sussex dealer said they cannot to wait to embrace the change and are inspired by the revitalised branding when it comes to selling new cars in Sussex.

Nissan’s research shows that Red Bull is a good branding partner for a luxury brand trying to gain recognition.The deal represents a “stepping out” for Infiniti,” said Nissan VP-global communications Simon Sproule. “In past, Infiniti stuck to regional marketing activities involving activities like tennis, but as we expand the brand globally we need global platforms.”More than that, Mr. Sproule says, it is an attempt to “put some new energy” behind the Infiniti brand. Red Bull is not only the biggest energy drink brand in the world, previously spurning offers from both Coca-Cole and PepsiCo, but it has become a marketing juggernaut.Besides the F1 team, Red Bull sponsors teams in mountain biking, BMX, motocross, wind-surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, kayaking, wakeboarding, rally, surfing, cliff diving, as well as break dancing and video games. It also owns the The New York Red Bulls Major League Soccer team. “It is a social-media content machine,” said Nissan’s Mr. Sproule in explaining his interest in latching onto Red Bull as a partner.

Red Bull may not sound like a logical association for a car brand, luxury or otherwise. But Nissan’s research shows that the appeal of Red Bull is unusually good branding partner for a luxury brand trying to gain recognition. “It has been one of the most dynamic brands in the world globally, and is practically income agnostic,” said Mr. Sproule. In other words, it’s a brand that attracts luxury car buyers of today, such as the Wall Street and Silicon Valley crowds, as well as those aspiring to afford Infiniti sticker prices one day, such as students and young professionals. Indeed, Red Bull seems to have taken on a brand cachet with people who are driven in both their work and play.

Infiniti has had a somewhat glacial and uneven growth path since it was introduced in the U.S. in 1989, and the company is trying to remedy that. It’s only been in the last few years that Infiniti has been expanded to Western Europe, the Middle East, India, Russia and China. Those are markets where Formula One racing has also expanded, making it a good fit for Infiniti, said Mr. Sproule. Renault, Nissan’s global alliance partner, sponsors an F1 team, as does Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. Ford, Honda, Toyota and BMW are among the companies that have pulled out of F1 racing in recent years, citing the high costs of maintaining a competitive team.

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Source:Adage Global,28/2/2011