Beijing Int'l auto Exhibition

The No.4 place in global automobile market and highly-though-of growth potential all indicate that China will have a first-class international auto show in its real sense.

The biennial Beijing International Automotive Exhibition raised its curtain. More than 1,400 whole-car or car component producers from 20-odd countries attended the show. Either in terms of the 120,000 square meter floor space or the scale with which auto producers, domestic or overseas, take part in the exhibition the 2004 Beijing auto show set a record in its history. What is more delighting is that the internationalization degree of the Beijing auto show has been raised.

The "internationalization" of international auto show

In previous Beijing international auto shows the word "international" spoke more of those international auto giants that took part than of overseas media and audience which are another key meaning of the word and which were rarely seen in previous shows. That constituted a rather striking contrast with the grand occasions in other international auto shows which attract thousands of international journalists and auto fans.

In this year's Beijing auto show, however, some overseas journalists with Roman nose, big eyes and cameras on their shoulders attracted people's attention. According to data from the organization committee more than 450 overseas journalists take part in this year's Beijing auto show. Reuters massed in Beijing a dozen or so journalists from around the world. Ford invited more than a hundred journalists worldwide to attend this show. Volkswagen, on the other hand, invited scores from Reuter and BBC and from countries and regions such as Singapore, S.Korea, Japan and China's Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The participation of overseas media is only one reflection of Beijing auto show's increase in internationalization and prestige. After more than 10 years' brand nurturing and as the Chinese auto market is developing rapidly Beijing auto show has ascended to the position of the top eight auto shows. Multinational companies paid much attention to this year's Beijing auto show and have volunteered to compare Beijing auto show to international auto shows such as those in Frankfurt, Detroit, Tokyo and Geneva.

Ford Motor vigorously asked brand names under it such as Ford, Mazda, Volvo and Jaguar to take part and they occupied a floor space of 1,800 square meters in the No.2 exhibition hall with dozens of models on display. BMW Group would exhibit 14 BMW cars, 4 MINI cars, 5 BMW motorbikes, an F1 simulator and a BMW F1. This grand show almost covers all main auto series that BMW Group owns. Also all 5 models that have been produced and released in China would be included. Mercedes-Benz, which took up the whole No.5 hall, even declared it to be the greatest show that Benz has put up since the Frankfurt auto show last year, either in terms of investment or exhibition scale.

Another sign of internationalization enhancement is the breakthrough made by multinational's first launch of new models in the show. In previous Beijing auto shows all the products on display had already been launched in some other auto shows. This time Ford Motor unprecedentedly move the launch of a brand-new concept model to the Beijing auto show making the audience sincerely feel the approaching of first-class international auto show.

Gap is being abridged

Many factors are taken into consideration when judging whether an auto show has the strength of first-class international auto show. In terms of organization there are the indices such as tangible and intangible infrastructure, approval degree of the exhibitors and audience and marketization degree etc. In terms of impact they are: the number of international auto exhibitors and the scale with which they take part, the number of attending international media and audience, the number of first launched concept car models or new models, whether there are leading new technologies, whether the auto producers publish important strategy through the show and whether the show leads the fashion in international auto design and technologies that year etc. All these conditions are necessary for a first-class international auto show.

Impartially speaking judging from abovementioned indices the Beijing auto show still has a long way to go before it becomes a first-class international auto show. Take for examples, in terms of tangible infrastructure the Chinese International Exhibition Center, though situated downtown and with the advantages of convenient transportation and numerous luxurious hotels located nearby, is still far from satisfying the needs of the show, whether judging from its total floor space, layout of the exhibition halls, traffic conditions or supporting facilities. In terms of intangible infrastructure, despite all the measures that have been taken by the sponsor such as optimizing exhibition hall layout, rebuilding broadband network, fully utilizing neighboring parking facilities, adopting electronic tickets and cards and improving exhibition organization job, our market consciousness, service awareness, reasonableness of exhibition fees and work efficiency are very inadequate compared with first-class international auto shows. The inadequacy in tangible and intangible infrastructure naturally impedes the increase of approval rate among the exhibitors and audience.

Speaking of the impact Beijing auto show has on global auto industry it is still impossible for Beijing auto show to compete with the top five auto shows in Frankfurt, Tokyo, Paris, Detroit and Geneva. The reason is that with the exception of the Geneva auto show, which is located in a neutral country - Switzerland, all the other four auto shows exhibit the dominance of local auto industries. In another word, where a world-class auto show is held there is usually a strong auto industry as its support.

In this year's Beijing auto show domestic brands such as Chery, Changan, Geely and Hafei together put forward a series of concept cars, new cars or power assemblies. The enhancing of development capability of domestic brands will further raise the impact of Beijing auto show.

According to the sponsor plan on the construction of a new international exhibition hall has started and 2006 Beijing auto show may be held in a new modern hall. In addition the sponsor is mulling reform on organization methods.

After all China is the No.4 auto market in the world. Optimistic predictions show that by 2008 China would surpass Japan as the No.2 market worldwide. Either in terms of the place of the Chinese auto market or its potential to grow, which has been agreed upon by all, they all indicate that China will have a first-class international auto show in its real sense.

By People's Daily Online