Infiniti's growing China connection

Roland Krueger, president of Infiniti Motor Co Ltd.[Zou Hong / China Daily]

What are your business strategies as you adjust to the slower market growth?

The key to success is localization of products and investment into local marketing and brand building.

The other part of sustainable success is a very good and strong relationship with the dealer network.

I personally believe that a strong and healthy network (of dealers) is the basis for strong development of the business. Dealers are an integral part of our business model. Our dealers represent our brand. We want to make sure our dealers invest into the brand and they must be profitable and be motivated. They must see a long term future for their business. So we are working closely with our dealers to address all the issues we can see.

Of course the normalization of this market is part of our discussion with dealers and we are working with them.

With the local products, with the right investment into the right marketing and branding activities, and a very good relationship with our dealers, we believe we are on the right track.

What is the secret to maintaining a healthy relationship with local dealers?

We believe in open and transparent dialogue. Sometimes the market is over-proportionally growing. Sometimes the market is normalizing as we see here today. We need to sit down and discuss about the problem. With dialogue comes transparency, and with transparency, we are able to see things more early and address certain issues where the dealers need support.

Do you plan on expanding your dealership network in China?

We are expanding at the moment. Currently we have 93 outlets and we will have about 100 by the end of this year. Our initial plan was 120 by the end of next year. We will see how fast we can develop this.

Do you plan to expand your localization in China, in terms of production rate and types of localized models?

Yes, of course. We are in discussions. But let us establish the current cars first. We started local production in November with the Q50L and then in March the QX50 subsequently.

What do you think is an effective leadership for a company to be successful in China?

The first answer is to listen carefully. Our business partners, mainly dealers, have entrusted their investment in our brand. It is our duty to make sure that the investment pays off. We need to listen to those dealers and understand how we can support them to capture the market opportunities.

The second step would be to embrace diversity. Within a reasonably small team in Hong Kong, we have 21 nationalities. We have people from all over the world, from very different backgrounds, joining us and managing the business. This is an opportunity where we can capture cultural differences and certain topics that are important for marketing or the brand. And at the same time, it is a host of new ideas. Embracing diversity means that you are open to new ideas. We want to share and we want to make sure that everyone can contribute. I think this will be one of the strengths of this global brand set up.