Consumer’s Brand Choice Behavior for Luxury Cars in China

This paper introduces the aphorism «think globally, act locally» and examines consumer tendencies in the Chinese automobile marketplace based on the analysis of relevant local brands. Findings demonstrate significant consumer preferences for products related to the luxury category signifying the need for refining local marketing operations where performance of multinational corporations must match global standards as expected by local consumers. Car consumption has grown during the last years in China turning brand marketing into a critical variable that can forge an active place in consumer’s minds, or negative impact if a campaign is not well-implemented. The relevance of this subject result from the realities that brand marketing is one of the most important aspects of determining whether a brand succeeds or fails. Regardless of the benefits of the brand, poorly marketed brand can end in failure. Multinational corporations need to identify several factors to understand the benefits of branding such as the image and characteristics of the firm, the purpose of the brand, the consumers profile, the brand’s position within the marketplace, and the brand’s general impression. Once, multinational corporations entirely assume these aspects they can utilize brand marketing to market the benefits of the brand in any space in the marketplace. The investigation provides several recommendations to multinational corporations intending to enter Chinese market by utilizing brand marketing as a strategic tool to focus on consumer needs and preferences in the Chinese luxury automobile market.