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‘China speed’ is the newest buzz word in the car industry.
Established carmakers have been caught off guard by just how quickly Chinese carmakers have risen and expanded to new markets.
Initially many carmakers didn’t pay too much attention to these rapidly growing Chinese brands, but now the biggest names in the business are trying to copy them.
General Motors boss Mark Reuss recently told the Inside EVs podcast just what the giant American company can learn from the Chinese.
“I would say we can learn a lot from the speed,” he said.
Reuss is referring to the speed Chinese companies can churn out new models, but also roll out mid-life updates and new generations of existing vehicles.
European, American, Korean and Japanese carmakers usually roll out an all-new generation every six to eight years, with a substantial update every three to four years. China usually does that in half the time.
This means they are responding to consumer needs quicker and improving their vehicles at a faster rate than more established competitors.
The result is that Chinese cars look shiny and new, while others start to feel dated, especially on the technology front.
Reuss said the Chinese speed is due to them copying each other, which means the others have to adapt quicker to stay ahead of the competition.
“They benchmark the heck out of each other, and then they will copy it and put it into production, so it’s a very rapid cycle because of that,” he said.
“I don’t think that copying each other and trying to price each other out of the market is necessarily a great thing.”
This can have a negative effect, said Reuss.
“There are a lot of companies that come and go, and they come and go often. Unless you’re selling batteries, it’s a pretty tough financial deal to make money over there.”
This phenomenon of super fast product cycles has led the phrase “China speed” to be thrown around by a few large makers.
The Chairman of the Nissan China Management Committee and President of Dongfeng (Nissan’s primary partner in China) Ma Zhixin, said speed was key to the brand's growth and strength.
“In China, we must maintain a Chinese pace,” he explained, “We have shortened our product development cycle to under 24 months to ensure our products consistently exceed consumer expectations. We have adopted many innovative approaches to ‘China Speed’.”
This strategy has already produced the Nissan N7 electric sedan and Frontier Pro plug-in hybrid ute in China.
“We’re at the starting point of a new round of product revitalisation, which means there will be many new and exciting products coming out” he said.
Audi boss Gernot Dollner told UK Publication Autocar that China speed had come to Ingolstadt.
"China speed at Ingolstadt comes with that car - around 30 months development time, which is really a revolution for us, to develop a car at that speed," said Dollner in reference to its Concept C revealed at the recent Munich motor show.
One thing is clear: more carmakers will be delivering new and improved products to buyers quicker than ever before as they try to fend of the latest wave of Chinese automakers.
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