June 14, 2011
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UK’s Lotus will enter the Chinese market on June 15 this year, but its Chinese name is Lu Te Si (“路特斯” – a transliteration of Lotus) rather than the well-known Lian Hua (“莲花” – Chinese for Lotus Flower), because China’s Youngman Lotus has used the famous brand to market its cars first, and Lotus does not want consumers to get confused between the low cost products from Youngman and its own high end sports models.
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Some industry insiders believe that the problem between Lotus and Youngman Lotus may not be limited to brand. Some think there won’t be peace between the two as Lotus enters the Chinese market.
You see, Proton has allowed Youngman to prominently display its oblique ties to Lotus on its badge, as well as on performance-oriented versions of its license-built Proton front-drive cars. These tacky tuner cars were a poor reflection on the Lotus brand before it got its new emphasis on high-end branding, and now they’re just embarrassing. And with China accounting for huge amounts of growth at the high end of the car market, Lotus, Proton and Youngman need to sit down and figure out how they’re going to square this branding circle. Will the Lotus brand continue to be pulled between two versions of itself in China, just as it has in Formula One? Or will Dany Bahar’s mob force Proton to yank branding rights from non-Lotus approved road cars? It’s yet another lesson from the Chinese market: don’t introduce a brand until you really know what you want to do with it. After all, Proton’s desire to cash in on the Lotus name in order to move more Satrias and Personas may just have hurt Lotus’s comeback in one of the most important markets in the world.
Bron : http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/0 ... -conundrum via co-driver
