"he thinks the idea that Japan is a closed market is ridiculous. “It is much easier to bring cars into Japan than most other markets,” Hansson told me. “The hard part is selling the car when it’s in Japan.”
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“Strategically, Japan is a very important market for JLR. Being successful in one of the world’s most demanding markets holds a lot of prestige. It also is quite profitable because the import market to Japan is very high-end. What we sell is quite high up in the trim ladder in a quite lucrative model mix.”
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[Moi ici: Pensem no que escrevo sobre a falta de paciência estratégica dos gringos e a sua paranóia com um modelo em que o preço mais baixo é o factor crítico de sucesso] Ford threw in the towel last year in Japan, claiming, long before “alternative truths” became fashionable, that “Japan is the most closed, developed auto economy in the world.”
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“Japan is not an unusual market. Japan clearly is not more complicated than most other markets, and compared to America, it is less complicated.”
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“The U.S. is totally different. Very unique crash-test standards. The whole emission standards are different. The U.S. system is far more cumbersome than in Japan, it requires a large deal of re-engineering, changes in body structure, different blinker systems, and so forth. The Japanese system is clearly smoother for us. It doesn’t require massive re-engineering. From my global experience, the requirements of the U.S. are tougher.”
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“There is a lot of talk about Japan being closed. That’s blahblah – that is not the barrier. Those barriers can be much bigger in other markets like China, or America.
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And then again, why are only 10% of registered cars in Japan imports, or 6% if you count in mini vehicles, or “kei” cars where there is (nearly) no foreign competition? Hansson recommended a closer study of the sales charts. What sells in Japan are high-end foreign cars. Premium cars is a low volume, big profit business. Japan’s biggest import-brand is Mercedes, closely followed by BMW. There are more Bentleys and Lamborghinis sold in Japan than Dodge or Chrysler units.
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[Moi ici: O trecho que se segue encaixa-se no bê-à-bá da estratégia] If you want to make it as a car maker in Japan, you need to be aware “that the country has at least seven globally important carmakers, even more than Germany,” explained Hansson, “and they all are pretty good.” They have extensive distribution systems in Japan, they deliver cars make-to-order within a few weeks, they have plentiful parts and service. “To be successful, you have to bring something to the table the Japanese don’t have,” Hansson explained. The table of Japanese premium cars is pretty bare. ... If you are the “doctor, lawyer, or professional athlete” Hansson identified as his target group, and if you really want to show your status (which is not the Japanese thing to do) you need a foreign car. That market is not huge in numbers, but it is profitable, as Hansson conceded with a smile.
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U.S. makers do not compete in that market.
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the “doctor, lawyer, or professional athlete” would lose his clients or fans would he be seen in an Escalade. American cars have a reputation problem, explained Hansson, and reputation is big in Japan
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you need to “have a consistent and long-term view on distribution, product lineup, brand strategy. You need patience and consistency, and that costs a lot of money. If you and I would start a new car company with one car that would revolutionize the world, Japan probably would not be the best place to start.”
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[Moi ici: Dedicado aos Jerónimo e Martins] What Trump wants is not more exports, but fewer imports. He wants a closed market America, behind a wall with Mexico, and a 20% border tax, on top of the already onerous 25% “chicken tax” on light trucks, a market already ringed by non-tariff regulatory barriers only the big automakers can afford to scale. With that, the U.S. auto industry will lose its global competitiveness. Walls do that.[Moi ici: Leu isso aí Brasil?]
Ler também "Why GM struggles in Japan"
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