BaoJun: China's Trojan Export Horse. By GM

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: November 23rd, 2010

baojun china s trojan export horse by gm

Yesterday, Ed introduced us to the latest addition to GM’s brand portfolio, the BaoJun. Introduced in China, it is allegedly slotted below the Chinese Chevrolet and the Chinese Buick, and supposedly, it is targeted at “first-time buyers in the nation’s second- and third-tier markets,” or so the propaganda goes. The car is made by the SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) joint venture. We’ve had our eyes on that brand for a while, and eyed it with interested suspicion. The suspicion seems to be warranted.

China is brand crazed, but Chinese companies still need a little help in creating brands. (Quick: Name some Chinese brands with worldwide appeal? Thank you.) Why the joint venture would pick a new brand for China is a mystery. Doesn’t GM have a lot of used ones sitting around? I mean, even an Oldsmobile or a LaSalle would have more brand cachet in China than a “BaoJun.” (Which stands allegedly for “fine horse” – gee, why not Mustang? Sorry, wrong company.)

Now, information transpires that puts the undertaking into a more plausible light: According to Shanghai Securities News (via Gasgoo) “unlike other homegrown car brands, the BaoJun was initially researched and developed for export. SGMW has already started export of its mini vehicles, and has taken its first step towards output of products, management team and operation model in India.” So BaoJun is actually part of the GM-SAIC-Wuling plan to take over India.

And that just the beginning. According to the paper, the SGMW JV is now considering to supply the car to other markets also, as CKD, or as whole production.

Other than many homegrown Chinese offerings, the car should pass muster abroad: “The compact sedan features a highly efficient GM powertrain that meets all local emission standards as well as the advanced Euro IV standard.” No news about crash tests, but with the help of GM engineers, it will survive those just as easily. We’ve said it a while ago: Deep in the BaoJun lurks a Buick Excelle.

Now why not export a Buick Excelle just like the Chevy Sail? Simple: A foreign car is licensed to the joint venture. With a homegrown car, even if it’s just homegrown on paper, the designs of the allegedly self-developed car are owned by the joint venture. When GM bought 10 percent of Wuling, a company that builds a million cars a year, and when GM paid only the nominal sum of $51m, I had my suspicions that other payments must have been made. In the bargain, GM also agreed to provide technical services. Here appears to be a product of one of these technical services.

So everybody is freaking out about cheap Chinese exports flooding world markets and putting everybody out of business. It’s not happening. Until the Chinese receive help. From a company partially owned by the U.S. government and partially owned by the U.A.W. Isn’t life full of surprises?

#BaoJun #BertelSchmit #China #GM #SAIC #Wuling

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 24 comments

Mike978 on Nov 23, 2010
Dannii - lets get a few facts., First it was around $70 billion in the bailouts of Chrysler and GM. Second some of that money has been paid back with a very high likelihood that in the final analysis the Government will have either made upto $5 billion or is out by at most $10 billion. That depends on the stock price. Which since you sound like a free market kind of guy you should applaud that GM is back on the stock exchange. If the bankruptcy was illegal as you and a few others state with absolute certainty then why has no case been taken to court or the Supreme Court. As you say this is a country of laws and there is plenty of legal recourse. The option was complete bankruptcy and bondholders and others (they knew it was risky for years) would get very little if anything. With the bailout that will cost the US at most $10 billion you have saved hundreds of thousands of well paid jobs. Also remember the timing the US economy was in recession since December 2007 and losing >500,000 a MONTH. Adding these losses on would not have helped business or consumer sentiment. Why do people care about this but not the $600 billion spent on defense EVERY year or the $1 trillion spent on Iraq and Afghanistan. $10 billion is cheapo for what it achieved.

Like Reply
BDB on Nov 23, 2010

One note about American exports/manufacturing: The old chestnut that Americans don't make anything or export anything was raised in this post, and it's just not true. The US is the world's #4 exporter, behind China, Germany, and Japan. The US is still the #1 manufacturer, and the share of the world's goods that we manufacture has been remarkably stable for decades. Since two of the countries above us are export-or-die nations with shrinking domestic markets, and the other is a source of cheap labor with an undervalued currency, that's not too bad. Also FWIW China imports more from the US than any other non-Asian country, yes, even Germany. http://www.uschina.org/statistics/tradetable.html

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Zipper69 A Mini should have 2 doors and 4 cylinders and tires the size of dinner plates.All else is puffery.
Theflyersfan Just in time for the weekend!!! Usual suspects A: All EVs are evil golf carts, spewing nothing but virtue signaling about saving the earth, all the while hacking the limbs off of small kids in Africa, money losing pits of despair that no buyer would ever need and anyone that buys one is a raging moron with no brains and the automakers who make them want to go bankrupt.(Source: all of the comments on every EV article here posted over the years)Usual suspects B: All EVs are powered by unicorns and lollypops with no pollution, drive like dreams, all drivers don't mind stopping for hours on end, eating trays of fast food at every rest stop waiting for charges, save the world by using no gas and batteries are friendly to everyone, bugs included. Everyone should torch their ICE cars now and buy a Tesla or Bolt post haste.(Source: all of the comments on every EV article here posted over the years)Or those in the middle: Maybe one of these days, when the charging infrastructure is better, or there are more options that don't cost as much, one will be considered as part of a rational decision based on driving needs, purchasing costs environmental impact, total cost of ownership, and ease of charging.(Source: many on this site who don't jump on TTAC the split second an EV article appears and lives to trash everyone who is a fan of EVs.)
The Oracle Some commenters have since passed away when this series got started.
The Oracle Honda is generally conservative yet persistent, this will work in one form or fashion.
Theflyersfan I love this car. I want this car. No digital crap, takes skill to drive, beat it up, keep on going.However, I just looked up the cost of transmission replacement:$16,999 before labor. That's the price for an OEM Mitsubishi SST. Wow. It's obvious from reading everything the seller has done, he has put a lot of time, energy, and love into this car, but it's understandable that $17,000 before labor, tax, and fees is a bridge too far. And no one wants to see this car end up in a junkyard. The last excellent Mitsubishi before telling Subaru that they give up. And the rear facing car seat in the back - it's not every day you see that in an Evo! Get the kid to daycare in record time! Comments are reading that the price is best offer. It's been a while since Tim put something up that had me really thinking about it, even something over 1,000 miles away. But I've loved the Evo for a long time... And if you're going to scratch out the front plate image, you might want to do the rear one as well!