豪华车品牌开辟巴西战场 寻找新增长点_网易财经

China Business News, November 28, 2013

在巴西，汽车销售份额占首位的是意大利品牌菲亚特，为22.8%，其次是德国大众和美国通用，分别占21%和19.8%。

不过这个局面或即将被豪华车品牌打破。捷豹路虎、宝马、奥迪等豪华品牌正在布局巴西市场，试图在新兴市场中寻找新的增长点。

据路透社报道，巴西地方政府透露，捷豹路虎将斥资10亿巴西雷亚尔（约合4.37亿美元）在里约热内卢州建造一座新工厂，捷豹路虎新工厂选址位于伊塔蒂亚亚，预计最早将于2015年投入运营，该公司将于12月3日就这一计划发布官方声明。

在巴西投资设厂将成为捷豹路虎在海外市场中第二个生产基地，第一个海外生产基地则通过和奇瑞汽车合资的形式，设立在中国。

巴西汽车经销商协会Fenabrave提供的数据显示，今年前10个月中，路虎在巴西市场累计销售了8920辆汽车，宝马与奔驰在这一市场的同期销量则分别达到了1.15万辆与1.05万辆。

捷豹路虎在巴西市场设厂不是一家豪华车品牌的个案。近两年来，多家豪华车企已经敲定或考虑在巴西投产，或将产品引入巴西市场。

去年10月份，宝马宣布投资2.0亿欧元（约合2.61亿美元）在巴西建立一座整车厂，以加快在巴西市场的销售增长速率，新工厂将位于圣卡塔琳娜州，2014年投产，设计年产能3万辆。

奥迪紧随其后。今年9月份，大众汽车宣布一项投资计划，计划在巴西投资12亿雷亚尔（约合5.29亿美元），开始在当地组装最新款高尔夫车型并重启奥迪豪华车在巴西的生产。大众汽车发言人表示，奥迪预计从2015年开始在巴西启动生产，并在3年内使A3紧凑车的年产量达到2.6万辆，还将在巴西Ingolstadt工厂生产Q3紧凑型SUV。

梅赛德斯-奔驰也对外宣布了对巴西市场投资的计划。对于豪华品牌车企纷纷对巴西市场投资的现象，克莱斯勒东北亚前副总裁、香港协同共进有限公司总裁罗威对《第一财经日报》记者表示：“最根本的原因是巴西有可能是未来10多年中增速最快的市场之一。为了不在未来的竞争中落后，豪华品牌车企投资巴西是很正常的一个策略。”

公开的数据显示，巴西已经超过德国成为世界第四大汽车市场。在过去的十年中，国内登记的轿车数量增加了将近一倍。“巴西乘用车市场近年来稳步增长，过去5年年均增长率达到7%，其中中高级轿车的增长速度更快，因此越来越多汽车厂商考虑增加在巴西的投入。”普华永道中国管理咨询业务合伙人金军对本报记者表示。

根据盖世汽车网统计，今年前三季度，巴西轻型车的新车累计销量为263.84万辆，去年同期则为266.68万辆，今年同比下跌1.1%；整体车市累计销量278.03万辆，去年同期为278.90万辆，今年同比下跌0.3%。

“巴西的政局、经济发展稳定，是仅次于中国汽车市场体量的新兴市场。这几年，巴西市场每年的新车销量大概在360万~400万辆之间徘徊，销量比较稳定。”江淮汽车高层对本报记者表示。江淮汽车今年已经宣布通过和巴西当地企业合资的形式在巴西设厂。

罗威表示，巴西进口税也使得车企在巴西投资以及本地化有了更大吸引力。2011年年底，巴西政府出台新税政：进口汽车或没有按巴西政府要求完成国产化率指标的汽车生产企业，将被提高30%的税率，同时对在巴西增加投资的汽车商提供税收减免政策。

不过，本田汽车和通用汽车公司已表示巴西豪华车销量仍然不令人乐观，因此他们不会考虑使巴西成为生产高端市场车型的基地。

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Ford to keep expanding in China with addition of luxury Lincolns

The Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2012

Click here to read the article at latimes.com

By David Pierson

BEIJING -- Ford Motor Co. continued its China blitz Tuesday, announcing that it would join the country's increasingly competitive luxury-car segment by introducing Lincoln automobiles to the Chinese market by 2014.

The announcement comes a day after Ford broke ground on its sixth factory in China, a $600-million plant in the southwestern city of Chongqing, and revealed that it had won initial regulatory approval to free itself from a local joint venture to manufacture cars with Mazda.

The developments allow the Dearborn, Mich., automaker to ramp up its ambitious expansion plans in China in an all-out effort to catch up with its far more popular foreign rivals, Volkswagen and General Motors Co.

"Lincoln is an important part of our plan, and introducing Lincoln in China marks the next step in our expansion in Asia and our commitment to serving customers in the luxury market," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who is touring China.

Ford is a latecomer to China but has committed about $5 billion since 2006 to build factories, grow its vehicle lineup and expand its dealership network in the world's second-largest economy.

Ford now sells an array of compact vehicles, sedans, SUVs and vans in China. Sales hit just over half a million units last year. Passenger vehicle sales have grown 7% this year, according to LMC Automotive, about 2% below the industry-wide rate of expansion.

With the introduction of Lincoln, the company hopes to tap a consumer segment that has been wildly successful for Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The three German automakers combine for almost 80% of the luxury-car market.

Unlike those brands, which manufacture in China, Ford will import the still-to-be-released Lincolns when they're officially launched here in the second half of 2014. A new Lincoln MKZ sedan is to be launched in the U.S. this year, part of a revitalization plan to introduce several new vehicles to the brand's lineup.

Ford said it's considering the needs of Chinese consumers in designing the new Lincoln vehicles. The company consulted luxury fashion labels Prada and Burberry because of their experience with China'srich. Spacious rear seats were deemed a must as luxury-car owners in China tend to be chauffeured. The company is also betting Lincoln's nearly 100-year-old history (one that includes many presidential limousines) will resonate in a country that prizes heritage brands.

"We have a chance to be different here," said Jim Farley, Ford's head of global marketing, "different from the Germans, the Asian brands, the other American brands, Cadillac. It’s a perfect time for Lincoln to come here because our DNA is different from all the other choices customers have."

Ford estimates that luxury-car sales in China will more than double to 2.7 million units by 2020, surpassing the U.S. as the world's top market. As a whole, China posted auto sales of 18.5 million last year, compared with 12.8 million in the U.S.

The strength of Chinese luxury auto sales today belies an industry-wide slowdown triggered by over-capacity, China's weakening economic growth and stricter car-ownership restrictions in some of the country's most congested cities, such as Beijing.

"The issue of over-capacity has really not affected the high end of the pyramid," said Bill Russo, president of the Synergistics auto consultancy in Beijing and Chrysler's former chief in China.

Still, Russo warned that Lincoln would have to find a way to stand out and justify its potentially hefty price tag with engineering performance and interior features.

"The degree of difficulty will be high," Russo said. "You have a very established set of competitors in a market with Chinese consumers who already equate luxury with a certain portfolio. Getting them to recognize Lincoln is going to be the main challenge."

Michael Dunne, the Indonesia-based head of auto consulting firm Dunne & Co., said Lincoln may benefit from being a new market entrant, especially at a time when Chinese car buyers may be looking for their second set of wheels.

"The Chinese like differentiation, something fresh and new," Dunne said. "Land Rover has done well in the SUV segment by essentially just being different. Mainly it's image. Someone might say, 'You have an Audi? Half my friends already have an Audi. I have a Lincoln now.'"