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According to Wired Magazine, the Chinese Taikonauts of the Shenzhou 7 mission have each purchased a Chinese-market Volvo S80L because “the car is safe, built locally, and the ‘brand image expresses premiumness and is not ostentatious.’” You know, as opposed to “because they were compensated for their marketing pull.” “We are very proud to have the four astronauts as Volvo owners,” enthuses Volvo Cars China CEO Alexander Klose. “Volvo will convoy these heroic astronauts on land, with our premium quality and holistic top notch safety. We look forward to their greater contributions to China’s space cause.”
23 Comments on “What’s Wrong With This Picture: Lost in Space Edition...”
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Volvo has a good name in Chinese; the sinicized name (something like Fuhao, if I remember right) has connotations of wealth.
GM would sell a lot of Escalades in China if the prices weren’t so high: 1,000,000 CNY / $150,000 – ish.
Can it really cost that much to prep an export-ready Escalade for China?
Smart marketing.
When you include the tariffs it does. Don’t know in China, but India’s import tariff for cars is 150%. Brazil does it as well, its really the only way to encourage a local industry to develope.
And I imagine that in early 1960’s the same sort of things were done in the US (In terms of astronauts and marketing that is).
Volvo in many ways is like Buick, which should be a good thing for Volvo in China.
carlisimo :
August 21st, 2009 at 11:51 am
Volvo has a good name in Chinese; the sinicized name (something like Fuhao, if I remember right) has connotations of wealth.
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Actually no. “Fuhao” (rich man) is the version for Hongkong. For the mainland, Volvo is “Wo Er Wo”, which is … how Volvo is pronounced.
What’s wrong with the picture is the gender of the “Booth…” er.. men.
Sorry, that was unforgivably sexist of me, wasn’t it? Oh well, I gotta be me. Now I’m right and grouchy and to make matters worse, I’m grouchy on a Friday, dammit!
slateslate :
August 21st, 2009 at 11:58 am
GM would sell a lot of Escalades in China if the prices weren’t so high: 1,000,000 CNY / $150,000 – ish.
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Bugatti Veyron costs 30,000,000 CNY. Which is about $4.5M if you use the official exchange rate and ignore the fact that the CNY is over-valued.
“The NASA Astronauts of Shuttle Mission STS-123 have each purchased American-market Acuras because ‘the car is safe, built locally in Ohio, and the brand image expresses premiumness and is not ostentatious.\'”
CNY is undervalued – That’s how they make sure that there goods (exports) remain cheap.
“the car is safe, built locally, and the “brand image expresses premiumness and is not ostentatious.”
If only every car company understood so clearly what it was and what its customers were looking for.
# rnc :
August 21st, 2009 at 12:53 pm
CNY is undervalued – That’s how they make sure that there goods (exports) remain cheap.
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CNY is undervalued for small toys that are sold in Walmart, due to an over supply of human labor in China.
But on the flip side, CNY is overvalued for the big toys. Such as cars, real estate, etc., due to a short supply of natural resource and engineering capability in China.
As China’s economy grows, it imports more big toys everyday, the purchasing power of CNY becomes amazingly low. Try buying a car, buying a Ralph Lauren T-shirt and fixing a tooth in China and you will see.
As China’s economy grows, it imports more big toys everyday, the purchasing power of CNY becomes amazingly low.
This is because the assets are over-valued (not currency)
Purchasing power is a function of currency value, the higher the value the greater the purchasing power, if Yuan was overvalued then the goods would be cheaper, not more expensive.
And I imagine that in early 1960’s the same sort of things were done in the US (In terms of astronauts and marketing that is).
I’m pretty sure they didn’t. As far as I’m aware, NASA has always prohibited active duty astronauts from doing commercial endorsements. This another area where China is more capitalist than the U.S.
The Taikonauts had to purchase their Volvos? Couldn’t their country give them the cars?
Thanks for the clarification, wsn.
In Taiwan we use “Fuhao” too, and I knew it was the same in HK, so I assumed it would be the same in China but apparently not!
rnc : Purchasing power is a function of currency value, the higher the value the greater the purchasing power, if Yuan was overvalued then the goods would be cheaper, not more expensive.
All things being equal, which they are invariably not. Purchasing power in relation to currency versus product purchased is also related to external factors including import tariffs, the cost of related items such as the price of gasoline (including taxes), cost of shipping the item to the intended destination, the dealer network (including competition) and so forth.
That looks to be a stretch S80 (S80L?). Shame we can’t get one over here.
Volvo has produced mildly stretched versions for the Asian market for quite a while … at least as far back as the 700/900 series from their original assembly operation in Thailand (I visited that plant in the early-mid 90s).
1998S90 :
August 21st, 2009 at 9:52 pm
That looks to be a stretch S80 (S80L?). Shame we can’t get one over here.
Forget the stretch version…the S80 that Volvo needs to sell is one that won’t put you to sleep. The current one is a nice drive, but it has NO personality.
How about this instead: pop in the twin-turbo V-6 from the Taurus SHO (they’re platform-mates, so it shouldn’t be tough), restyle the interior, and do the whole “R” treatment that they used to do for the S60.
Now THAT’D be an interesting car. Kind of a 740 Turbo for the 21st century.
iceracer :
August 21st, 2009 at 2:38 pm
The Taikonauts had to purchase their Volvos? Couldn’t their country give them the cars?
As I recall, astronauts in our country used to get hooked up with ‘Vettes, courtesy of Life magazine.
I don’t know if they bought them or if local deal gave them a good deal on it, but it used to be, every astronaut in Cape Canaveral drove a Vette.
And although GM didn’t officially sanction it, it looked great for them, and rightfully so.
I think China maker try to buy Big3’s subsidiaries.(like Volvo)
But, GM, Ford, Chrysler and its subsidiaries companies’ labor union must see this news before selling Big 3 subsidiaries to China.
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In Carmaker’s Collapse, a Microcosm of South Korea’s Woes
NYTimes
“Chinese company BOE got the technology they wanted. All we got was layoffs,” said Hwang Pil-sang, a Hydis worker.”
“We trusted their promise to help us into the vast Chinese market,” Mr. Yang said. “In the end, they kept none of their promises, and they got what they wanted: our technology.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/asia/24seoul.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=asia