2015 witnesses the worst auto market in China which still hasn’t recovered yet.

 

The sales of passenger vehicles reached 1,936,900 units in October 2015, with a monthly rise of 10.60% and a year-on-year growth of 13.34%, according to the statistical analysis of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. However, the growth rate only stood at 3.89% in the first ten months in 2015. Although the sales of cars which can best represent the auto market gained a micro growth of 0.20% in October, this segment fell by 7.90% on a year-on-year basis. Even the MPV segment, once soaring, just got a slight rise of 7.78%. The SUV segment was the only one that still had a dramatic growth of 48.37% in October.

 

The sluggish market growth inflicts high pressure on automakers and franchisers. Under this circumstance, some executives have quit or been transferred to other posts. Therefore, many automakers treat Guangzhou Auto Show as a platform to sell their products in the hope of reversing the production decline. Though only inferior to Beijing Auto Show and Shanghai Auto Show in China, the Guangzhou Auto Show, under pressure from the market in 2015, have no choice but highlight its sales function.

 

There are many different views toward the function and positioning of an auto show. Generally speaking, the size and level of an auto show lies in whether it can present technology, market and future development trends of auto industry at a world level. Of course, it also serves as a platform for automakers to demonstrate their marketing strategy and promote themselves. Obviously, auto shows in China, however, are often treated as selling platforms, especially the local ones which give priority to selling.

 

This year, Guangzhou Auto Show strongly proves itself as a selling platform. Some automakers even promote their products on the media day. What happened in BMW's booth could clearly tell the story. The press conference of BMW was held in the morning of November 20, but in the afternoon that day, selling vehicles have become dominant. Though booths of other brands are less crowed than BMW’s, they all long to expand their sales. Considering that the media day can even turn into be an indispensible selling occasion for BMW, you can imagine that Guangzhou Auto Show would become an automobile mall on the public day.

 

In this way, which brand will stand out in sales during the auto show may rather become the focus of people who just wanted know how many luxury cars had been sold before.