Markus Burri:European auto standards test

European high regulation standards test Chinese automobile manufacturers

【Editor's Note】: September 23, 2009, China—Europe Auto Symposium was hold in Shanghai , European elites and experts in various auto fields shared theirs opinions with others. Besides, during the symposium they proved their opinions with practical cases. What’s more, some are supposed to provide Chinese automobile manufacturers with valuable information to broaden their European car market share. Following are excerpts from the speech of Markus Burri, vice president of BASF Coatings:

Markus Burri: it is difficult to predict the future conditions of China’s auto industry, because auto industry is among the earliest industries damaged by global financial crisis. Considering global economy is still struggling to recover, I don't want to predict the future of China’s auto industry .Instead, I plan to talk about long-term opportunities for China's auto industry to make progress in Europe, and point out some challenges Chinese automobile manufacturers may meet in European car market.

vice president of BASF Coatings

First let us have a look at reasons why European car market appeals to enterprises. In 2008, EU was the biggest commercial vehicle market in the world. Additionally, EU is quite competitive and there are many innovative automobile manufactures in its car field. There is no denying the fact that European car industry has a great influence on EU’s entire economy. Sales of raw materials and after-sale services also can stimulate the growth of its economy. Economic crisis are supplying Chinese automobile manufacturers more opportunities to enter European car market. As far as I am concerned, China must make the most of its existing advantages effectively to reduce the damage of crisis including job opportunities, the potential market, corporations and so on. However, financial crisis also provides us with great opportunities and help us reconsider the growth mode of our economy

Financial crisis actually are providing Chinese auto brands better chances to enter Europe. Hurt heavily by the financial crisis, European consumers are tending to buy more and more cheap and small cars, which is definitely a good chance for Chinese small and medium-sized automakers to strengthen themselves, because they can set their car prices more reasonably. Nevertheless, cheap car prices don't represent low quality. Europe always has high standards towards environment, safety and the performance of cars, so Chinese automobile manufacturers must take them into serious consideration. In the first place, Chinese automobile manufacturers need to have knowledge of current consumption trends of Europe and the entire governments’ supervision. Consumer preferences and the governments’ supervision of Europe have somewhat changed and maybe in the future there will have further changes, therefore Chinese automobile manufacturers should think about the fact listed above.

According to a recent survey, now European consumers most like cars with a high safety, meanwhile they are also paying much attention to the brands, designs of the foreign cars. Additionally, instability of the fuel prices has made fuel economy an important factor considered by consumers when the buy cars, and operating cost of the cars is another factor considered by the consumers.

We noticed that governments in Europe also tightened supervision of car emissions and safety policies .To meet those strict regulatory requirements successfully is still a challenge for Chinese automobile manufacturers.

The emission standards of EU are increasingly stringent, and the standards in Japan, USA are likely to be further tightened in 2014.As a matter of fact, even if the diesel cars can account for half of the entire European car sales, pollutants of the diesel engines will also attract great concerns from the regulatory agencies of Europe in the next few years

Euro 4 standards rule that particulate emissions of diesel vehicles whose weights under 3.5 tons should reach 0.025 grams, and nitrogen oxides should be 0.25 grams, equivalent to a three-year implementation of the Euro 4 standards rise 80 percent. If the Europe is a future market target for Chinese automobile manufacturers, they must try their best to meet the most severe emission standards. As a partner of China, I think our catalyst SC2 can help Chinese automobile manufacturers effectively face and accept the challenges.

Here I can give Chinese automobile manufacturers an example showing how to gain further growth. Shaking suspension and the vibration of engine will harm the driving pleasure, but BASF Sound absorbing foam acoustic system can increase the ride pleasure .Moreover, combination of lightness and comfort can improve the performance of our shock absorber. In the past 30 years, Europe paid considerably attention to the safety of their roads, although the traffic volume has increased by three times. Europe has also invested a lot in technologies and designs of the automobile. Hence, Chinese automobile manufacturers must seek ways to reduce influence of the crashes on the pedestrians and drivers

In order to enhance safety of cars, BASF also developed the OBS and we believe it can help Chinese automobile manufacturers to improve their car safety. OBS can let the bumper more stable, and meanwhile it can relieve the hurt of pedestrians when crashes happen.

The second spraying process of BASF can help Chinese automobile manufacturers to save time and cost .Depending on these innovations, Chinese automotive manufacturers can save a lot of cost and time in the process of spraying. The new spraying process I am now talking about has been applied in the existing process .For example it is being applied in a big automobile plant in the United Kingdom. After the application of the new spraying process their costs reduced by 25%.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me make a final conclusion. Although Chinese automobile manufacturers plan to enter the European market, they are still faced with a big challenge, that is, the amount of Chinese vehicles need to meet Europe's regulatory rules and its customer preferences. Chinese automobile manufacturers who are intending to enter Europe must be able to meet international standards further, thus can make themselves become genuine international auto brands. In that case, Chinese automobile manufacturers can be competitive in overseas markets .At present, Chinese manufacturers mainly have entered the emerging markets, and Europe may be their next target, because the European car market is very great. However, to compete in the European car market Chinese automobile manufactures must improve their technologies, so as to serve as global automobile manufacturers in the European market to compete with others.

BASF can give Chinese automobile manufacturers a great help, because we have a variety of technologies, skills and resources, and we are willing to help Chinese carmakers enter the European car market. We hope that with the help of our innovative ability, Chinese automobile manufacturers can improve their products’ appearance, quality, safety, cost competitiveness, performance and fuel economy, in order to meet consumers’ needs of Europe. BASF is a good partner to Chinese carmakers and our broad product line as well as the industry's in-depth understanding and skills can help you. Additionally, BASF has a lot of investment in China and we also have global manufacturing facilities, distribution facilities and R & D facilities. Moreover, we are willing to work with Chinese automobile manufacturers to broaden the global auto market. I believe we can help you to enter the international market. Thank you! ( Translator Super Wade)

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