At the end of April in 2006, I along with famous China automakers attended the Fourth China Auto International (Syria) Exhibition Tour held by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and China Machinery Industry Federation. I took a tour by car for 10 days and experienced the auto market in Syria. During those days, what impressed me was that Chinese autos were incredibly popular in Syria beyond my imagination. When we got out of the airport, we were surprised and pleased to see ‘made-in-China’ cars among the taxis, including Geely, Xiali, Chery, and the number mounting up from one, to several, to dozens, and to numberless. Seeing this, familarity, joy, pride and all feelings came into heart. During the tour, I was so surprised to find Chinese autos in almost every corner in Syria covering nearly all China auto-brands. Meanwhile, Chinese autos were warmly welcomed by Syrian.
The main reason that Chinese autos are popular in Syria is its price advantage. The price of Chinese autos is 20 percent to 30 percent lower than the same level autos from South Korea, Iran and Russia. 75 percent of the consumers in Syria are the low and middle class. According to the statistics from Syria Custom, Syria imported 2903 sedans from China, 12315 trucks in 2004, and in 2005, the amount amounted to over 23,000.
Many Chinese automakers have realized the problem caused by the ‘low price and low quality’ strategy. Therefore, adaptability is of great importance to the development of auto enterprises especially in the overseas market. Recently, FAW exported Xiali N3 to Syria, which was sold in the domestic market at the same time. FAW made adaptability upgrades in the cooling system, water tanks and so on in order to take a larger share in the Syrian market.
It would take time for Chinese auto to improve grades and quality. However, it is workable to promote sale through improving services. Mr. Attaf, vice chairman of China auto agency in Syria, stressed that the best way for Chinese autos to take a larger scale in Syria is to take great efforts on improving after-sales services and improve the quality of parts while reducing the price. No one can be ignored. His company has set up service centers for Chinese autos in every city of Syria and service hotlines as well. Just with a phone call, the consumers would enjoy the fastest services.
People’s Daily
Gu Zhongyang
Quick Search
