Win small car, win the world

　　The real small car is usually reflected by great design, huge production, and outstanding service. It should achieve the point to balance price, quality and appearance that the majority of customers can afford and use. Most important is that the small auto should have spiritual value, which would embody genes of domestic culture.

　　The author Yan Guangming raises the question: Why can’t we produce small vehicles, which can travel across the time and space?

　　To ask this question is not because China has no small automobiles, but has no capacity to produce them. This is not an alarmism, but a realistic challenge. The reason is that China has not produced any recognized “national automobile” so far. The so-called small vehicle is to some extent the “national automobile”.

　　If you have some knowledge about auto history, it is not difficult to find out that every auto powerful nation has an common character that all of them have their own national automotives, the “base plate” of the growth; All of the nowadays recognized world vehicle giants started from the production of small automobiles, and are still depending on them as the foundation for the survival. This means, the expression of “Big manufacturers make small autos” comes as the result.

　　However, the Chinese experts don’t have such the awareness. Although people, who work in the automobile industry, all want to produce big vehicles, none of them are willing to build small car. It has become a consensus to start with middle-class and high-class automobiles. Some of them even despise small autos’ production that it has no future. The consumers also don’t take small car seriously that it couldn’t show their social status. The whole community is still lack of rational understanding for small vehicle.

　　In recent years, there are a lot of high-profile media reports from newspaper and screen about many automobile companies have made the pledge to ascend to the ranks of worldwide automobile competition, and to become world-class car enterprises, and so on. The whole industry feels good about it. Also the sales amount of over 13 million unit’s automotives and even larger production capacity are very obvious that nobody could ignore. However, taking the status and power of the voice in the world-wide automobile circle into consideration, it shows shortnesses of Chinese auto corporations. At least, it’s hard to see them in the world’s major auto shows. Occasionally, Internet users would bring up this issue. In Geneva Auto Show, which is called as the T-stage of automobiles in the world, “Chinese Vehicle” is even harder to be seen. This kind of embarrassment seems to be the bottleneck of the industry.

　　The absence in the international auto shows means that the domestic automotives haven’t enter the circle of international auto’s circulation. Therefore, it’s hard to have the confidence to gain the power of the voice. But, nobody dare to look down upon Chinese vehicle’s manufacture, nor doubt the ability. However, the ability of research and development or design couldn’t compete with others, and becomes the short board. Most hilarious is that the copycat vehicle could step onto the medals podium for the Auto of the Year by CCTV, which is very inconceivable.

　　If China wants to become an auto giant, we must have our own small vehicle, so that the national consumers would have confidence. To become a large automobile enterprise, and have achievements, it must build small auto well, which is the entry ticket to get into world-class large vehicle corporations. More than ten years ago, the president of Toyota has said that their success is “the success of small car’s strategy”. Volkswagen also treats it as the life of the company to build good small automotives.

　　In the world of more and more developing and sophisticating automobile’s technologies, building large vehicles is not a difficult thing to achieve. The challenge is to make small car, which is a big industry of integrated system. Therefore, there is a figure of speak by some people that building large car is to do addition, producing small auto is to do subtraction and the requirements and standards cannot be reduced. A real small car is usually showed by great design, huge production, and outstanding service. The most typical example is the Beetle. It should achieve the point to balance price, quality and appearance, which the majority of customers can afford and use. Most important is that the small auto should have spiritual value, which would embody the gene of domestic culture.

　　Therefore, for those automotive enterprises, which have large ambition, making small vehicle has become their long-cherished wish. It still depends on the manufacturing base to represent the real industrial standard and consumption demands of automotives. “Win small car, win the world”. At the beginning of the last century, it has been proved by history. Like the Model T, Beetle, 2CV, Little Mouse, Corolla and other auto models have all been implanted into the national memories of the host countries. They have become the small vehicles, which have traveled across the time and space. So it’s not hard to understand, why German and Italian have brought the Beetle and Fiat 500 (Little Mouse) to life, and Carola are still been producing.

　　Some economists predict that the “super factor” to promote Chinese economy in the future is the consumption. The most prominent are “Transportation Revolution” and “Development of Urbanization”. One will bring the changes of the ecological and social form of cities. The other will duplicate hundreds of millions of urban consumer population for consumption. It is foreseeable that automobile consumption is not only the strong support, which the auto industry in the future rely on surviving and developing, but also the future battle field for the vehicle’s competition. With the increasing numbers of vehicles in first-tier cities, which is approaching the saturation point, the tendency of echelon consumption has already showed that market segmentation is intensifying. The future market support comes still mainly from the small vehicle-oriented consumption of the common people to build up and maintain the “base plate”. As the recent automotives’ developments has gradually entered normal condition and ordinary heart, the battle for the market’s “base plate” will be another commanding ground of automobile competition in the next round.

　　“Win small auto, win the world” has already become the general trend. This will be the profound competition that no one could avoid. Only through this way, Chinese automobiles will rebirth, from large to strong.

　　See original Chinese report Please click:

　　http://yanguangming.blog.sohu.com/147457533.html

　　(Jianfei Keke)