Best way to shy itself away from any negative press coming from Europe and America with a new fast growing Chinese target audience looking for mobility.
Did you know this? Volkswagen has recently created a new brand just for China and they have called it Jetta. Jetta used to be a product name for Volkswagen’s mid-sized sedan which sold around the world including Malaysia and now it is a VW ‘brand’ in China. This is probably why the Jetta name was retired by Volkswagen a few years ago.
Press Release: Jürgen Stackmann, member of the Board of Management with responsibility for “Sales, Marketing and After Sales”, smiles. “I think it is really exciting to help bring a new brand into the world. This is definitely a very special day,” he tells a group of international business journalists making a media visit in Wolfsburg. The visit is organized to discuss the creation of the new JETTA brand: Volkswagen plans to introduce it in China to attract the growing target group of young, middle-class customers and of better tapping its market potential.
“New brand for China: JETTA“
The vehicle population in numerous Chinese cities with over a million inhabitants is still significantly lower today than in metropolitan regions such as Beijing or Shanghai. At the same time, a steadily growing middle class is striving for individual mobility and its first own car.
“With JETTA, we will close a gap in China between the established VW lead brand in the upper volume segment and entry-level mobility, something that makes up about one-third of the Chinese market and serves local brands above all,” says Stackmann. JETTA will focus on young, first-time buyers while the Volkswagen umbrella brand sharpens its “top of volume” profile, he adds. “This will enable us to really expand our market coverage.”
Huge metropolitan areas offer great potential
The vehicle population in many Chinese cities with more than 1 million residents is much lower than it is in metropolitan areas like Beijing and Shanghai. It frequently totals fewer than 100 cars per 1,000 residents. At the same time, China’s constantly expanding middle class aspires to individual mobility and its very first car. “We are talking about young, confident and family-oriented people who are between 25 and 35 years old as well as modern and open-minded. These are people who live a lifestyle that is based on practicality and emotional self-fulfillment,” says Stackmann.
81 percent of all vehicles sold in China’s entry-level segment are sold to customers who are buying a car for the first time in their lives. JETTA appeals to this target group by offering high quality, safety, emotionality, stable value and a fresh design. JETTA will not be an economy brand, Stackmann stresses. “Given all of its features, we will deliberately position the new brand above China’s average entry-level price of €5,000 to €6,000.”
“With JETTA, the company is opening the Volkswagen world to first-time Chinese customers”, says Stephan Wöllenstein, CEO of the Volkswagen brand in China. “The core of the new brand will contain Volkswagen’s very own DNA and will provide consumers with advanced technology that meets their needs and fits to their lifestyles.”
The model range of JETTA will be produced by FAW-Volkswagen in Chengdu. It will comprise a sedan and two SUVs. Market data show that SUV models in particular are becoming increasingly popular. Sedans continue to be good sellers. But the SUV segment is generating tremendous growth momentum and now makes up nearly 50 percent of the entire market.
