BMW AG rarely has to answer this question in Western showrooms, but it is becoming increasingly important for selling cars in China: Can I sing karaoke in this automobile?
Customers in the world’s largest auto market are demanding that sing-along apps such as Changba (唱吧) work in new vehicles. Local manufacturers XPeng Inc (小鵬), Nio Inc (蔚來) and BYD Co (比亞迪) are at the forefront of this trend, besting Western rivals by offering models with karaoke microphones.
The push extends beyond music, with Chinese buyers expecting seamless access to features like in-car payment and social media connectivity.
“We’ve identified this as a challenge,” BMW’s digital car chief Christoph Grote said. “Chinese consumers are the most demanding when it comes to digital technology in the car.”
Tapping into local tastes is crucial to win over customers in China, where electric-car adoption is accelerating and homegrown auto offerings are mushrooming. The country is the biggest market for BMW as well as Volkswagen AG, accounting for 36 percent and 40 percent of sales, respectively.
Local brands are trying hard to win over the digital-native crowd. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co (浙江吉利控股) earlier this year started Zeekr, an all-electric marque aimed at millennials, and automakers are using local influencers to tout their models as online buying becomes more widespread.
Western manufacturers are lagging behind integrating Chinese digital ecosystems into their cars, according to Kearney. More than two-thirds of local consumers view Chinese navigation apps as a must-have feature, and Western brands risk falling behind in the “everything-connected” era, the consultancy said in a report last year.
While Western automakers have viewed digital connectivity as a feature for which they can charge extra to customers, its Chinese rivals are using it as an enabler to integrate third-party services, said Bill Russo, chief executive officer of Automobility Ltd, a Shanghai-based consultancy.
“Such digital services are dominated by local ecosystem players in China, and multinationals often lack the deep local collaborations needed to generate revenue from these services,” Russo said.
BMW does not yet offer karaoke features in its cars, but has worked with Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) to integrate a function to pay parking fees via the popular WeChat Pay app.
The company plans to use a joint venture formed last year with Nanjing-based Archermind Technology Nanjing Co (誠邁科技) to expand its connectivity features and is open to other partnerships, Grote said.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling