Ni Kaiming from the Popular China Year

After becoming the successor of former Volkswagen China President Fan Ande, Ni Kaiming’s appointment was in full compliance with the selection criteria of the CEO of the public board of supervisors, Piëx—starting with technology talents, rather than with sales personnel, because the latter tend to focus on the current Benefits, ignoring the long-term strategic layout of the company.

However, the Chinese public that Ni Kaiming took over is under the aura of Van Andel - Volkswagen Golf, Tiguan, Audi Q5 are the most sought-after cars throughout 2010, and TSI's DSG's power combination has made the Japanese counterpart's technology obsolete, as high as 20%. The market share makes the Chinese auto industry record the miracle that Van Anders has repeatedly created in the “mass year”.

Ni Kaiming can manage the world's largest and most variable car consumer market, and settle the previous legacy capacity problems? How to deal with the revival of GM, the expansion of Hyundai-Kia, and Toyota's comeback are also shared by the new President of Volkswagen China.

Policy risks looming

On the road to China, the Volkswagen logo cars are everywhere, and the odds are much higher than other brands. As Van Anders led the Volkswagen in China to launch a powertrain strategy and an Olympic plan, the company successfully managed 20% of the Chinese passenger car market.

When the company took over the Chinese market in 2006, Volkswagen’s performance was even more impressive compared to the decline in sales of the Volkswagen and the loss of the joint venture company. If it is only a strategic continuation, then successor Ni Kaiming can hardly overshadow his predecessor. The difference between the two encounters is that Van Anders caught up with the outbreak of the Chinese automobile consumer market, and this crazy growth has been asserted by many analysts and company executives as not sustainable.

Ni Kaiming's trouble lies in whether it can correctly predict the Chinese market that is dominated by the game of policy and demand. If more cities implement the purchase restriction policy, it will undoubtedly bring certain uncertainty to the Chinese market.

In the concept of achieving 10 million vehicles in the world in 2018, the Volkswagen Group strives to protect China’s most powerful “load-bearing wall”. Twenty months ago, the auto industry was shocked by the target of 2 million for the mass China "2018 strategy." Now even the vice president of the company, Yang Meihong, has to admit that this goal is too conservative. They may even plan for a decade. In the second year, we realized expectations and upgraded our appetite to 3 million vehicles.

In the first 11 months of 2010, Volkswagen sold 1.82 million cars in China, an increase of 37.8% year-on-year. However, not only has the public achieved spectacular growth, but by implementing the "Green Future" strategy to import global models, GM's 48.5% year-on-year increase is far higher than the former. The Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute provides analysis data showing that if it counts SAIC General Motors Wuling's sales, GM's performance in China is also better than the public.

Unpredictable prospects for electric vehicles

Although it has not been able to recover, each auto giant believes that Toyota will become a terrible opponent again, and its global sales in 2010 will still lead the Volkswagen Group by more than 1 million. According to the latest news, Toyota decided to imitate its Japanese counterparts and use local designers to develop new cars for the Chinese market to resist strong pressure from rivals.

In the eyes of industry analysts, the key to Volkswagen's success in China is the introduction of turbocharged engines and advanced dual clutch transmissions, and let this technology become the industry benchmark, raising the bar for competition, while the Japanese companies in the new energy vehicle technology The advantages will begin to appear in the next few years.

Volkswagen also tried to join the list of leading manufacturers of electric vehicles in China. Ni Kaiming, an electric vehicle expert, was interpreted by most media as the promoter of Volkswagen's electric vehicle strategy. But John Humphrey, senior vice president of automotive business at JD Power and Associates, hopes to dispel the investment enthusiasm for such plans. "The future global market demand for hybrid and pure electric vehicles is overstated," John Humphrey said. "Despite the government's efforts to promote hybrid and pure electric vehicles, the ultimate commercial success depends on consumers. Unless regulated The major adjustments in policies, including the reduction of the consumption tax and the increase in fuel prices, will not be possible in the next 10 years from the information currently available."

Perhaps, Ni Kaiming needs to reposition itself between electric technology experts and the president of Volkswagen China.