Qoros hopes re-established brand will boost performance

Qoros President and CEO Phil Murtaugh (right) and Qoros Vice-President Sun Xiaodong, are optimistic about Qoros' outlook. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Young Chinese automaker Qoros finally made clear what it should have when it was established eight years ago in Shanghai.

"Who are we? Where are we from? Where are we going? And what's the purpose of Qoros?" said Qoros President and CEO Phil Murtaugh at the company's plant in Changshu, Jiangsu province on Aug 19.

"Although we are young and we are small in the auto industry, from day one we have been the Chinese brand with the spirit of independence."

Murtaugh also specified Qoros' target customers as "a group who express independence, evolve ahead of the crowd and gain recognition". He said this was based on a three-month survey of more than 1,200 existing Qoros owners and potential Qoros customers in more than 10 cities in China.

Sun Xiaodong, Qoros' vice-president, said that being independent does not mean being a maverick who indulges on a whim, but rather it means someone who has their own ideas about life.

Both Murtaugh and Sun joined Qoros in early 2015 to try and save the brand, which is relatively unknown and has suffered from lackluster performance.

Sun said the company's non-aided brand awareness stood at a meager 3 percent at the end of July, while mainstream players in the Chinese market were seeing their figures reach at least 30 percent.

Sun believes the brand's obscurity was mainly the result of Qoros's ambiguous image. "Now that we have re-established our brand, we hope our non-aided brand awareness will reach 10 percent in six months."

Looking ahead, Sun said Qoros's brand awareness will be built on three pillars: design of its products, driving experience and customer relationship.

"Customer relationship is important. I would rather our dealers invest money in improving customers' experience than on facilities," he said.

Sun and Murtaugh met customer representatives earlier this month in Harbin, in Heilongjiang province.

"It is a stressful yet pleasant thing to meet customers. It is stressful because you cannot ensure that every customer is satisfied. It is pleasant because they do not complain. They propose their suggestions in the hope of seeing a better us," Sun said.

Qoros is expecting better sales performance now it has made its brand strategy clear. It sold less than 7,000 vehicles in the first seven months of 2015.

"In the short term, I hope our monthly sales reach 3,000 units. In 2016, it should be 6,000 units per month and in 2017 it should be 12,000 units per month," said Sun.