Challenges&opportunities in Beijing Auto

　　11th Beijing Auto Show, scheduled to kick off in April, has drawn great attention from all around the world, since Geneva Motor Show lowered its curtain. With only 20 years of history, Beijing Auto Show, along with Shanghai Auto Show, has become the most important domestic auto event, which provides a grand auto banquet for people to enjoy.

　　With a much larger scale, it has become Asia’s largest auto show ever.

　　Due to the economy growth and people's improving lives, China becomes the world’s largest auto market. The auto show, which provides a platform for cars promotion, has gradually played a leading role. Through 20 years of development, Beijing Auto Show, the biennial event, is among the most prestigious auto shows in the world for global automakers. That is to say, Beijing Auto Show, along with Shanghai Auto Show, makes into the brand new top 6 auto shows in the world, including Geneva Auto Show, Detroit Auto Show, Frankfurt Auto Show, and Paris Auto Show. The original Tokyo Auto Show has already been left behind.

　　Beijing Auto Show witnessed the significant development. Compared with 1990, the exhibition area has grown from 20,000 square meters to 180,000 square meters in 2008; the number of vehicles on display has increased to 890 units from 173 units; the number of automakers and exhibitors rose to 2100 and 680,000 in 2008 from 372 and 100,000 respectively. Since 2008, Beijing Auto Show has unveiled in a modern building, China International Exhibition Center. The 2010 (11TH) Beijing Auto Show opens in the new exhibition center in Tianzhu, Shunyi district, as well as the old exhibition center in Jingan County, Chaoyang district, showcasing whole vehicles, auto parts and other matching products from home and abroad.

　　Chinese indigenous automakers hardly shine at international auto shows in Europe and American. However, Beijing Auto Show as well as Shanghai Auto Show provides domestic independent automakers a platform to compete with those giant automakers in the world. As China’s domestic independent brands have seen the significant improvement, the exhibition's layout has changed a lot. Before 2008, Chinese indigenous automakers have been separated from international automakers in terms of vehicles on display; however, they have formally confronted each other, since SAIC ROEWE has been on display at the same exhibition hall in 2008, along with some global luxury brands, such as Rolls Royce, Porsche, and Maserati. The phenomenon has been intensified at Shanghai Auto Show by showcasing the following brands at the same exhibition hall, such as Chery and Porsche, Great wall and BMW, Lexus, Jianghuai and Infiniti, Mazda, Mitsubishi. At the 2010 Beijing Auto Show, the show will still be on.

　　Although Beijing auto show is proud of being an international event, it still has a long way to go.

　　Likes a supermarket, Beijing Auto Show needs more improvement in its taste and quality.

　　At every Beijing Auto Show, we have found some luxury vehicles on display labeled as sold-out. Even press media frequently launched an extensive coverage of the number of vehicles being sold at the auto show, or the number of vehicles with some brand being sold during the exhibition.

　　As the name implies, an auto show is the exhibition of vehicle models, providing vehicle fans a spot to enjoy new vehicle products and technology. However, domestic motor shows are more like supermarkets. Sponsors are chasing the exhibition scale. And automakers are pursuing vehicle models in the quantity and variety. Therefore, they will launch almost all of vehicle models at an auto show, no matter concept or production vehicles, old or new. Even the audiences don’t always focus on the vehicles. For this reason, the auto show has become a spot for some audiences to show off their fortune.

　　Vivid themes have taken shape at some international auto shows with long histories, such as new production vehicles on display at North American Auto Show and concept vehicles showcasing at Frankfurt and Geneva Auto Show. Nevertheless, Chinese domestic sponsors focusing on the exhibition scale makes domestic auto shows prosperous, but without a vivid theme and the audiences confused during their visiting.

　　Besides no vivid themes, the business atmosphere much more incenses at Chinese domestic auto shows. Sponsors take an auto show as a chance to make a profit, but neglect the audiences’ feelings. In domestic exhibition centers, we have hardly been provided with any services free of charge, except for few seats. What’s more, logistic has always been a tough problem for sponsors to solve, take 2008 Beijing Auto Show as a example, it was so difficult for the audiences to take a taxi after the show. Beijing Auto Show has so much to learn from those prominent auto shows in the world.

　　Conclusion: Witnessing 20 years of development, Beijing Auto Show is among the most prestigious auto shows in the world. To be a Chinese, we have every reason to be proud of. However, compared with the dominating auto shows in Europe and American, which have gone through a hundred years of evolution, Chinese domestic auto shows are still immature and need much more improvement in many respects. It’s the quality that is the only goal for the development of domestic auto shows, but not the exhibition scale. Only in this way, we can truly compete with those international auto shows in the world. (Translator: qinghua/serena)

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