Shanghai Auto Show: Launch Of The Retro Rockets - Bumblebee Edition

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: April 20th, 2011

shanghai auto show launch of the retro rockets bumblebee edition

The fifth generation of that other legendary car was launched on China by Shanghai GM. Ample 50s cues were not spared. Rock’n’Roll and a historic Camaro were on hand that had served as the official pace car of the 1967 Indy 500.

The 60s don’t make the hearts pound in a Chinese – unless accompanied by a rendition of “The East is Red.”

What they get are the Transformers. Now THAT works in China.

Like the Beetle, the Camaro will not be built in China. It’s an import with a hefty price of RMB 455,800 (roundabout $70,000) for the 3.6-liter model.

#BertelSchmitt #BMW #Camaro #China #Germany #GM #ShanghaiAutoShow2011

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

3 of 11 comments

Trend-Shifter on Apr 20, 2011

GM has a unique opportunity here, it's 1964 all over again and they could own the desires of the youth market. Granted that the price point makes this a challenge, but a NEW market is in the waiting. The Camaro (and Mustang for that matter) need to be marketed as NEW China youth. They need to equate BMW, Mercedes, & Audi as cars for older Chinese. Growl of the exhaust, sound system blaring, and all smiles for the driving experience. (although the China government may want to kabosh that!) Hello Kitty need not apply. Also goes a long way towards fixing the trade deficit!

Like Reply
- Kevin Dickey on Apr 21, 2011
  
  @ Trend-shifter: Yes, this is a unique market opportunity. China is the world's largest market, and it is still growing. It is expected to grow for years to come, certainly an enormous opportunity for GM, the world's largest automaker. See, Chevrolet has no brand image right now in China. They sold rebadged Daewoos and other Asian-based cars. The "driving experience" seems to be much less of a factor there than it is here in the US. From my time there, I rarely - if ever - saw someone drive a car really hard, apart from a few quick BMWs. It seems to me like it's more about what you drive than how well the car itself actually drives. Money is the name of the game. How do you show you have it better than the next guy? From that standpoint, the Camaro has a good shot. It's flashy. There is nothing like it in the Chinese market, and it's going to take a little while for manufacturers to knock this one off because it's more difficult to produce than, say, a Mini Cooper (google a "Lifan" - a Mini clone). As for other GM cars, people don't care that much for them unless they're Buicks. They love the LaCrosse. It's bold, too. In this market, to be successful, I think that manufacturers need bold cars. Not even the most dynamic ones. Just ones that make statements. Conclusion: be bold. You don't even have to be the best at it, but if you're bold then you can sell stuff in China. That's how foreign manufacturers can make their impact there. Chinese manufacturers don't make their own body designs - they generally copy others' designs. Almost every car I saw there reminded me of some Western car. The BYD F3, the best selling car in China? Looks like a Corolla. Someone even knocked off the Pontiac Aztek. But the point here is that US manufacturers need to continue to bring bold designs to the table. Even if they're not the most dynamically pleasing cars to drive, they need to be flashy. Show that you've got money, show that you are stylin'.
  
  Like
Ponchoman49 on Apr 21, 2011

Testimony to how good many of the 60's cars looked that there styling can still look good on today's muscle cars.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
Redapple2 Love the wheels
Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.