Report: Ford taking Model T-like approach in China

Filed under: China, Ford

Ford Motor Company knows a thing or two about building an empire on the back of a rock-bottom-priced automobile sold to customers in rural regions. That's why the company's strategy in China has been baffling to some analysts. Fords are expensive in China, and there are only a few models that you can get there. This is a problem for Ford, especially as the market for new cars in China, once hotter than the sun, cools a bit. With other markets plumbing new depths, Bloomberg reports that Ford is going back to something like Henry's own game plan.

If you want to become a volume leader in the world," says Ford Motor China Ltd. Chairman and CEO Joe Hinrichs, "you'll have to compete at the lower price points because that's where the growth is." Ford is spending nearly $5 billion to build factories in Asia, with the goal of bumping sales to five times current levels by 2020. It's a strategy intended to beat back the aggressive moves of General Motors and Volkswagen deeper into the Chinese countryside.

"Nearly every established Western automaker has a jump on Ford selling cars in China. Ford hasn't helped itself by offering a limited selection of models at higher prices than the competition, either, though that's beginning to shift with low-priced offerings like the hot-selling Figo B-segment entry. Hinrichs thinks there's gold in the Chinese countryside, and that's why Ford's adding three utility vehicles to its Chinese offerings, importing the Explorer, and expanding local production to get vehicles in Chinese showrooms that don't have import duties tacked on.

With the car market in Europe teetering on the razor's edge of failure and North America still an open question, automakers are looking for more steady success, and executives seem to think that Asia has potential. Ford's going to try and make up lots of ground in what may prove to be the fight of its life, rather than merely an exceptionally ambitious growth plan in a market the Blue Oval was late in embracing.

Ford taking Model T-like approach in China originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Hyundai readying "Sonata-lite" for China

Filed under: Sedan, China, Hyundai

Smaller Sonata or larger Elantra? Either way, Hyundai is indeed working on some sort of vehicle to slot between its two sedans in China.

The intent, according to Reuters, is to create a vehicle that is smaller and more affordable than the current Sonata but still roomy and upscale enough for middle-class buyers looking to trade up from compact cars. Two people with direct knowledge of the new Hyundai have reportedly referred to this vehicle as "Sonata-lite."

Frank Ahrens, a Hyundai spokesman, confirmed to Reuters that the automaker intends "to produce a new model sized between the Sonata and the Elantra." Hyundai has no plans to offer this model in any other markets.

By adding this new model, Hyundai hopes to regain some of the market share that it's lost in China during the first half of 2012. The new "Sonata-lite" is expected to launch sometime in 2014.

Hyundai readying "Sonata-lite" for China originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Internet Trends report finds online growth driven by China and India, users increasingly mobile

You probably don't need a 112 slide PowerPoint presentation from Mary Meeker and the venture capital firm KPCB to tell you this, but the Internet, she's getting bigger. Every year more and more people sign on and, not surprisingly, many of the 663 million netizens added over the last three years have come from developing nations like China and India. In fact, since 2008, China has accounted for almost a third of new web users, adding 215 million to the connected population. What also shouldn't come as a shock, is that the boon in connectivity is also being pushed by the broader availability of 3G data connections. Areas like India, China and Vietnam have all seen triple digit percentage growths in 3G penetration since last year. Wireless broadband has really exploded in India, where year over year growth in subscribers was 841 percent, though, that still only equates to a four percent penetration rate. For more info about the state of the internet and the world's 1.1 billion 3G subscribers hit up the source link.

Internet Trends report finds online growth driven by China and India, users increasingly mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 22:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Trouble in Little China (1986) DVDRip mertyo

Language: English
95 Min | 640 x 272 | XviD - 884Kbps | 25.000fps | MP3 - 128Kbps | 701 MB
Genre: Action | Adventure | Comedy]]>

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