Chinese ‘junk’ car industry in need of PR help June 4, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : Crisis Communications, Media Focus, PR in the PRC , add a commentIn April Beijing welcomed the world to its international Auto Show; a show where Chinese models - of the breathing kind - drew more admiration from western visitors than what local manufacturers had to offer with four wheels.
The Chinese auto industry’s often charismatic CEOs vociferously state international aspirations to sell cars from Gettysburg to Greenwich, but one has to wonder how they are going to achieve this when its high-end brands, such as Brilliance, spectacularly fail North American and European safety tests. Brilliance’s head-on collision with six feet of concrete was so bad that the video made its way onto YouTube (below) for car aficionados - and potential buyers - to mock. The fact Brilliance aptly names its range as the ‘BS’ series only added to the fodder, proving, if proof were needed, that Chinese companies going global have a lot to learn about branding.
Below: Briliance’s ‘BS’ series spectacularly fails crash test
As far as the perception of Chinese cars goes in the West, the theme du jour is one of safety. Consumers don’t care how cheap a Chinese car branded ‘Great Wall’ is when the name seems to originate from the wall that crumpled it in a crash test. And the western media lap it up, with headlines ranging from Chinese cars not too crash hot to Crash Course in Quality for Chinese Cars. (more…)