The rapid development of Chinese auto industry has led to an escalatedboom of the independent brands of Chinese auto industry, as well as asuccess in the overseas market. Especially in the fields of the business:ars, thanks to the abundant experiences accumulated during the past 50 yearsmd the mature products, Chinese auto industry has won some comparativetdvantages in the international market.
As a leading one in the domestic business cars industry, FOTON Autos setnternationalization as an important strategic development goal three yearsbe fore, and has promoted its overseas strategy in accordance with the adminis-rative modes of Concept + Strategy + Exercise, and has constituted an effi-cient plan for the implementation. Under the leadership of Zhou Liang, Gen-eral Manager(GM)of Overseas Section, FOTON's overseas strategy hasachieved abundant fruits, e.g., the exports have been generated with an aston-ishing speed: in 2002, FOTON exported 500 cars; in 2003, the export was1600 cars; in 2004, the export reached 5468 cars in full sets, for a growth rateof 458.7%; in the first nine months of 2005, FOTON's overseas sales reached7158 cars in full sets, for a growth rate of 141.5%; accordingly, it is predictedmt FOTON's overseas sales in 2005 will reach 9000 cars in full sets.
Such a splendid achievements of FOTON within only three years can notve separated from GM Zhou Liang' Fish Pound Theory. The theory depicts thewhole market as a fish pound, in which some people can harvest very amply,but some other people labor in vain. This theory hints that before you enter the fish pound(market), you mustconmduct an efficient research about the pound, for instance, the temperature,the environment adapts to what kind of fishes, the second nature of each kindof fish, different kinds of fishes can live in which areas in the pound, etc.. Bydoing so, you can judge what kind of baits can cater to different kind of fishes,how to select the occasion of fishing and how to choose suitable fishinginstruments, etc..
Guided by the theory, FOTON hasmade efficient researches in the marketssuch as North Africa, Middle East, SouthAsia, the countries of former Soviet Union, etc., and has constituted differ-ent marketing tactics and products tac-tics to cater to different countries andareas. The research has achieved abun-dant fruits. In 2005, FOTON's overseasfirst-class agents have reached 40 ormore. It has achieved important break-through progress in some overseas mar-kets such as Pakistan, Ukraine, Algeria,Syria, etc.. FOTON's light lorries havecovered 15% of Pakistan market, andhave gradually entered the mainstreammarket. It is predicted that in 2006,F(xiàn)OTON's overseas agents will reach 80or more, the market will gradually coverSouth-East Asia, South Asia, NorthAfrica, South Africa, Eastern Europe,Middle East, etc., the sales will reach25000 cars in full sets, the brands ex-ported will consist of the five major in-dependent FOTON brands, including AUMAN, OLLIN, FORLAND,F(xiàn)ORTON VIEW, AUV, covering awhole series of business cars such asheavy lorries, light lorries, light passen-ger cars, big passenger cars, jeeps.
Besides, GM Zhou Liang takes thepoint of view that the platform supportedby after sales system should keep up withthe pace of the progress of the salesnetwork. Up till now, FOTON has set fiveFOTON Service Centers integrated withrepair service, components supply, infor-mation feedback in Syria, Ukraine,Pakistan, Algeria, as well as 25 servicestations. The overseas sales service net-work has basically covered all of theFOTON overseas customers.
FOTON adheres to the business con-cept of Service Creates Value, conduct-ing overseas marketing with an eyesightof globalization and high-extentprediction. FOTON has designed the be-fore sales, during sales and after salessystem and criterions for different prod-ucts in line with the market features andhas conducted an overall monitor, hence,F(xiàn)OTON has won good appraisals by theoverseas customers.
Zhou Liang reveals that from 2005to 2010, FOTON's yearly export willreach 200 thousand cars, not only themarkets of Eastern Europe, Middle East,ASEAN, Africa will be conquered, butalso the developed markets such asEurope, America and Japan will be listedin the agenda of FOTON's targets. Hence,F(xiàn)OTON's overseas business will be up-graded to a global strategic phase whichis oriented by the market demands.
From now on to 2010, FOTON willdevelop the overseas market with its ad-vantage of mature series products as wellas its flexible and efficient marketing ad-ministration and practice experiences, toperfect its overseas marketing strategy,its business procedure control and its riskadministrative system as well, hence, toconstruct a sustainable overseas salesnetwork. Finally, basing on the indepen-dent FOTON brand products, to compre-hensively implement the brand strategyof FOTON in overseas markets.
FOTON, the legendary firm in Chi-nese auto industry, will it go on to showa marvel in the international market? Let'swait to see.