TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2004
War memories plague Japanese car makers in China
REUTERS
SHANGHAI/TOKYO: Olive Zhan loves her jet-black Nissan Bluebird, a car she says has never let her down. But ask the 30-year-old businesswoman about Japan's brutal occupation of China which ended nearly 60 years ago, and her expression blackens.
"I must admit, I do feel guilty driving a Japanese car after what they did to us in the war," she said at a car park in Shanghai. "I'll probably get a QQ next time," she added, referring to home-grown SAIC Chery's mini-car.
It's attitudes like this that some analysts say may scupper bold plans by Japanese car makers to conquer the Chinese market, where sales almost doubled to around 2 million cars in 2003 and look set to grow 40-50 per cent this year.
Analysts say the anti-Japanese feeling, plus persistent bad publicity in the Chinese press, could be their undoing in battling for marketshare with Volkswagen and General Motors.
Car makers hope the high quality of their vehicles will win over customers, as they have in the US. But doubts persist.
"It seems impossible that the Japanese will dominate this crucial market, and far more likely that they will be marginalised, partly because of this resentment," said Graeme Maxton, MD of Autopolis.
Last year brought bad publicity for some Japanese car makers in China, especially Toyota Motor.
In December, Japan's top auto maker withdrew two magazine advertisements and apologised after Chinese readers complained they had insulted the country.
Globally Toyota outsells Ford, and has 11 per cent of US market. But it has just under 5 per cent of the Chinese market, though sales grew 95 per cent in 2003 from a low base.
Toyota lost a lawsuit against Geely Group in which it accused China's sole private car maker of placing a logo similar to its well-known stylised "T" on one of Geely's sedans.
"This is going to be a recurring issue for the Japanese auto makers. They're just an easy target," said one Shanghai-based analyst at a foreign consultancy, who declined to be named.
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