Business Expansion

Brilliance: Quality, not size, the top priority

By Xu Xiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-26 08:06

Peter Atzler, general manager of Brilliance Zhonghua Automobile Co, promotes one of its models at the Beijing auto show. Photos Provided to China Daily

BEIJING - Before he became general manager of Brilliance Zhonghua Automobile Co headquartered in Liaoning's provincial capital Shenyang, Peter Atzler worked at BMW for 29 years.

Today he is intent on bringing BMW's quality standards to the Chinese brand.

"As a former staff member at BMW, quality is everything to me," he told China Daily at the ongoing Beijing auto show.

BMW is the joint venture partner of Brilliance Automobile in local production of the renowned German brand.

The goal of Brilliance is clear, Atzler said - "not to be the biggest, but the strongest", he said. "Once you become strong, you become big."

His overview of quality not only includes manufacturing, but the entire chain and lifecycle of a car from styling, research and development, supplier management and after-sales service.

"Just like the TV set on the wall in front of you," Azler said, pointing to a television in the room. "Its quality is not good because the right is higher than the left."

"For many people maybe it's OK, but for me, who is very sensitive about quality, these are the details I care about."

Road to quality

Azler said the goal of top quality is a mission. Once the mission is set, the next step is how to implement it.

"For me it is very easy - I've been doing it for many, many years," he said.

He noted that Brilliance has now brought the EFQM - European Foundation for Quality Management - production and business model to its operations to use the most widely applied quality management model developed in Europe. The approach sets prerequisites for achieving outstanding results include powerful leadership as well as strategies implemented through relationships and cooperation that include all stakeholders - staff, customers and society.

Other tested approaches now used by Brilliance include the "Total Quality Management" model developed by Toyota and BMW's "Target Management Process".

"We should define goals for every stage and then constantly improve our process," said Azler, adding that successful auto brands such as Mercedes Benz, Audi and BWM, rose to prominence through quality

Azler said Brilliance will balance speed and development with quality. Rapid growth in production capacity is not what brilliance is pursing at its current stage of development.

Personalized Chinese

Contrary to a common belief that Chinese people care more about the collective group than personal interest, Azler said he believes that they "care about personal needs more than any other people I have ever met".

Based on that notion, Brilliance will promote three individualized vehicles later this year that include a luxury edition for white-collar workers in metro areas, a sports model for trendy young people and a fashionable edition designed for women.

Its fashionable model displayed at the Beijing auto show is a white three-door vehicle with pink handles and pink interior. "You can change every styling element to what you like. Customers can order an individual packet," Azler said. "You can also use parts from the sports edition on the fashion vehicle."

The price, he said with a smile, will be clear when the vehicles formally hit the market.

US President John Kennedy vowed that people would step onto the moon in the 1960s and the ambitious vision came true before the decade was out. Azler said he often encourages himself with that example.

He also believes that people's requirements for quality change with time. "In the 1990s, people would grab an orange and leave 1 yuan, but today they check it for quality and then pay."

"I promise the development of Chinese automobiles will be very similar to that of famous brands in the world," he said. "Brilliance will become China's BMW in three to five years - this is my vision."