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.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS