GENEVA - Chinese carmaker Qoros took its campaign to gain global credibility to the Geneva Motor Show, where it showed off its second production car at a stand in prime real estate - between Maserati and Rolls Royce.
Qoros Auto, which is leveraging its European management and design expertise and its competitive Chinese manufacturing footprint, picked up some positive reviews last fall, when it scored a five-star rating in a key European crash test.
Its focus now is gaining consumers’ attention.
Led by former Volkswagen executive Volker Steinwascher, Qoros not only aims to compete against Europe’s premium brands in China, but also on their home turf in Europe. At the moment it is focusing on marketing and dealership openings asit puts a new sedan on the market.
Sales chief Stefano Valenti said the market response has been positive in China, where the sedan went on sale late last year, but that it was too early to give numbers. Qoros also tested the Czech Republic’s market last year, selling fewer than 100 vehicles, as the first step in a plan to expand through Europe.
“Our real priority this year is quality,” said Valenti. “We are deliberately going slowly.”
The Qoros stand at the Geneva Motor Show, which opens to the public today, buzzed with interest from the media. Executives lined up back-to back interviews and photographers snapped pictures of the sedan now on sale and the hatchback introduced at the show, the brand’s second Geneva outing.
“It is important to develop a new car brand, making sure it is competitive in the most competitive market. That way you make sure it is the highest quality,” Valenti said.
In China, premium customers want to know that the car they are buying has European acceptance and isn’t a knockoff, said analyst Anil Valsan. In Europe, on the other hand, the company will be facing a flat market “so it will be tough coming in.”
The high rating Qoros’ sedan received in the crash test by the German automobile club ADAC gives it credibility,said IHS Automotive analyst Tim Urquhart. By comparison, results by other Chinese carmakers in the same tests have been “lamentable,” he said.
Still, Qoros “faces enormous challenges in terms of gaining meaningful traction and share in the European market,” Urquhart said. IHS forecasts brand sales of 30,000 in Europe and 100,000 in China by 2017.
The brand, founded seven years ago by Chinese carmaker Chery and Israeli investment firm Israel Corp. built its own factory in Shanghai. It has big ambitions: The factory’s annual capacity is 150,000 vehicles a year and can be ramped up to 300,000.
After the sedan, Qoros will roll out the hatchback later this year, and plans to add a crossover, station wagon and a sport utility vehicle. It has 22 dealerships in China and plans another 40 there. Valenti said the European introduction will move country by country from eastern to northern Europe, with the southern Mediterranean countries last.
The sedan is priced around $27,000, a considerable discount on the cost of premium European brands.
The lack of an existing brand identity has given designer Geert Hildebrand, who has worked on the Mini and Golf 3, a free hand. Hildebrand said his design language is typical of his native Germany, “which is very much appreciated in China because the Chinese love BMW, Audi, VW and Porsche.”
Business, Pages 25 on 03/06/2014