Brand legacy from history, precise positioning of the target consumers and niche market strategy can provide opportunities for Lincoln to succeed in China. It is also true that, as a “successor”, Lincoln will face many challenges in China.
In the Chinese market, high profit and huge demand for upgrading cars provide room for luxury car. It cannot be denied that the Chinese market has lost its advantage and the growth in sales of luxury cars is also shrinking. In this context, ABB (Audi, BMW and Benz), as first tier luxury brands, have irreplaceable roles in China’s luxury marketplace. In recent years, marketplace for second-tier brands has become a battlefield. How to earn itself a place in China is an urgent problem to be solved by Lincoln.
Parker, who has taken the position of president for half a year told the reporter that both the personal experience and the result of survey showed that compared to the United States, China has larger cities and more sever traffic congestions. As a result, Chinese customers have greater demand on comfort and fuel efficiency.
For this purpose, Lincoln MKC, different with former models with larger displacements, carried a 2L Ecoboost 4-cylindar turbo supercharged in-line engine in order to strike the right balance between horsepower and fuel consumption, which is to save fuel as much as possible while providing strong horsepower. Additionally, Lincoln has also adjusted its interior decoration, seating comfort, and scent inside cars to be more China-oriented.
Apart from these adjustments of products, Lincoln has also changed its marketing strategy. Parker said that he was not “quite satisfied” with the marketing strategy in China. In his eyes, although China is a developing country, it’s like a big factory market due to huge demand in purchasing cars. “Customers are pushed into factories with fast yet terrible services. This may be borrowed from the mature market. I think customers deserve to be well-treated.”
In terms of service experiences, Parker said that Lincoln would provide Chinese customers with “revolutionary and completely unique” service experiences, which are different from the traditional ones in the current market. To this end, Lincoln will introduce to China the “Lincoln Way” that has been applied in the U.S. for many years. This means customers will have a brand new special experience with Lincoln through the whole process - first encounter with a Lincoln, buying a Lincoln and after buying a Lincoln.
Parker emphasized repeatedly that Lincoln would not boost sales by increasing the number of dealers, which was different with its competitors. “We like to see an increase of sales due to promotion of the whole brand image by carrying out excellent Lincoln customer experiences to protect our dealers and customers rather than building more dealerships.”
As for the layout of dealers’ net, Parker introduced to Tencent Auto their latest scheme. According to him, by the end of 2016, Lincoln is expected to build 60 dealerships in 50 cities. By the end of this year, Lincoln will complete 8 dealerships in 6 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Qingdao, among which Shanghai and Beijing has two respectively.
Parker has never worked in China before, so he is still not very familiar with the Chinese market. However, as a “veteran” with 25 years’ experience, he is an expert in automobile industry and has his own perception about luxury car market. He pointed out that compared to the United States and Europe, Chinese luxury market was very different. In the U.S. and Europe, a family’s loyalty to a car brand or a car model will be extended to the next generation.
Parker told the reporter a personal story. He was born in a family that was in deep love with Ford – all his family members drove Ford cars. He could not imagine replacing it with another brand. However, the customers in China are relatively young with their own preferences. How to build a group of loyal fans of Lincoln in China? How to avoid being impacted by the ups and downs in the market and the industry to launch Lincoln in China perfectly with his own team? These are the challenges a decision maker for Lincoln has to meet in China.
The burden for Parker is heavy and the challenges are difficult. While talking about these problems, Parker showed no sense of fear. “This is a new marketplace for me. I will observe the market closely and not be intimidated by any challenges,” he said. [
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