Fashion companies long ago realized they could make a lot of money from selling top brand-name goods to a wider public, and now, with models like the BMW X1, Audi’s A1, or the Mini crossover, the car industry is trying to do the same.
“It’s called portfolio expansion,” said Christoph Stuermer, an analyst with research firm Global Insight. “They [car-makers] are realizing that the value of a premium brand can be applied to a whole range of things.”
BMW, the German manufacturer long associated with solid and stylish upmarket cars, chose the show in Paris to unveil its X1 premium compact crossover, which is likely to hit the salesrooms some time next year.
PHOTO: EPA
It resembles a compact sporting estate, but with the deep body sides of a real off-road vehicle, and is pitched at customers who want a vehicle that can tackle rush hour traffic as well as weekends roughing it in the country.
From the same BMW group comes the four-by-four Mini Crossover, a pumped-up version of the perennially popular Mini, which is also displayed at the show here and likely to go on sale by 2010.
Another German car group with a reputation for safety and style, Audi, has revealed its potential answer to the Mini with the A1, which among its many innovations will let you run the car’s infotainment system with your smart phone.
Mercedes-Benz is also rumored to be working on a baby four-wheel-drive vehicle.
The Paris show is this year awash with new smaller cars designed to attract drivers concerned by high fuel prices, pollution and the ongoing global financial crisis.
But people who will buy compact premium cars such as the BMW X1 or the Audi A1, which fit in perfectly with the downsizing zeitgeist, will be not primarily motivated by the environment, said Stuermer of Global Insight.
“People who buy premium vehicles would automatically expect that they have the very latest technology” and thus they assume these cars will either be hybrids or low on fuel consumption, he said.
These are not people who had big gas-guzzling cars and who now want to be seen to be making an effort for the environment, he said.
“They are people with good salaries, not huge salaries but good ones. They want the social prestige of being able to afford a good brand,” he said.
At the BMW stand at the Paris car show, which this year was overshadowed by economic storm clouds looming over the industry, a yellow model of the company’s X1 was attracting a lot of attention.
It might be small, said BMW’s Christophe Koenig, but it is very definitely “in the premium segment of the market.”
In all, 362 models from 25 countries are represented at the Mondial de Paris, a car carnival that takes place every second year and that attracted 1.4 million people on its last outing in 2006.
This year, the stands were showing 90 new models and a raft of new green technologies.
The Paris motor show opened on Thursday for the press and industry reps. It opened its doors to the public on Saturday until Oct. 19.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS