The Chinese government has been pressuring foreign based automakers to create Chinese brands with their joint venture partners. In an interesting twist, Nissan and other car companies are using the new brands to appeal to Chinese consumers turned off by the poor quality of indigenous Chinese cars. Their idea is to create "Chinese" brands that have the cachet of being developed and made by a foreign car company.
When asked by the Associated Press why he replaced his Chang'an sedan with a Venucia, truck driver Xie Yanzhen said that the Chinese branded car was a disappointment and "doesn't work well". At a price of about 80,000 yuan, ($13,000) the Venucia D50 is a bit more expensive than the Chang'an but Xie says that "the engine is pretty good".
Nissan wants to grow it's market share in China from 6% to 10% on the back of the Venucia, produced with local partner Dongfeng. GM created the Baojun brand in 2010, using two local partners to produce the low cost models targeted at rural China. Those brands followed Linian, launched in 2007 by Honda and Guangzhou. Daimler, the VW group and PSA are all looking into starting local brands.
While the Chinese government has not explicitly ordered global car companies doing business in China to start local brands, regulators have made it clear that's the price of gaining approval to expand production in China. When asked if the Venucia brand was created at the government's request, Nissan said that the brand is a "Real Chinese National Car by Chinese for Chinese." According to Ye Lei, manager of the Venucia brand's business development unit, the brand is targeted at urban workers and more affluent rural residents who aspire to the "car lifestyle."
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
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