起亚试水豪车市场

    起亚汽车公司（Kia Motor）推出的全新全尺寸K900豪华车不由得让人想起了底特律1989年1月的一天。就在那一天，亚洲的另一家汽车制造商丰田汽车公司（Toyota Motor Corp.）为自己的首款豪华轿车LS400举办了揭幕仪式。

    那时底特律和德国的车企们根本没把丰田和它仿照梅赛德斯（Mercedes）S级打造的豪车太当回事。毕竟丰田只是廉价省油的代名词，跟高端无缘。哪怕雷克萨斯（Lexus）与性能相似的车相比大幅打折，又有多少爱面子的消费者会买它呢？（后来事实证明，买的人大有人在。）

    而作为韩国车企现代汽车公司（Hyundai Motor Co.）的子公司，起亚也走上了丰田的这条路子。不过这次，我想底特律、斯图加特、沃尔夫斯堡和东京的那些车企高管们恐怕不敢小看起亚了。K900的驾控、外观和乘坐感受都和宝马（BMW）7系几乎毫无二致，而且它的起价只有65,000美元，比宝马要便宜25%。

    噢，对了，那些大佬们已经看过这出好戏了，他们可不怎么喜欢它的结局。

    但眼下，起亚并没把自己当成巨人的终结者。恰恰相反。

    起亚的销售、营销和公关执行副总裁迈克尔•斯普拉格说：“K900的销量不会很大。它主要是为了打造起亚的品牌。”

    如果起亚能卖出3000辆K900，这对首发上市的车型来说会是个很不错的销量，但也不至于让雷克萨斯的高管们睡不着觉。起亚主要是希望能借此让它旗下的远舰（Optima）、凯尊（Cadenza）、索兰托（Sorento）和其他车型能借助K900的光环让消费者明白，起亚这个他们不怎么了解的品牌也能造出足以和宝马媲美的豪车来。

    K900将在起亚的经销商那里与起亚其他相对便宜的车型一起销售。而在像雷克萨斯这样的典型豪华车经销商那里，他们会十分投入地提供细致周到的服务。周边不会出现丰田车的身影。

    斯普拉格和他的同事很清楚，要打造一个真正的豪华品牌——而不是单单一款豪华车——需要花上几十年，砸下大笔银子。而这目前还不是起亚的头等大事。不过，三星（Samsung）刚开始也只是作为索尼（Sony）的廉价替代品登上的历史舞台。就像三星一样，总有一天，起亚也许也会被视为高端品牌，那时候再推出什么豪华车型乃至建立独立经销体系就都是顺理成章的事了。

    与此同时，起亚去年在美国市场的销量为535,179辆，由于新车型推出较慢导致这个数字下降了4%，而大众汽车（Volkswagen）的销量是438,134辆。但据汽车网站Kbb.com称，大众每辆车的平均交易价是26,107美元，起亚仅为24,161美元。起亚的主要目标之一就是要不断提高平均交易价，而K900可能会对此产生积极影响。

    起亚的超级碗（Super Bowl）广告《黑客帝国》由男星劳伦斯•菲什伯恩担纲，吸引了众多观众的注意，也显著提高了消费者对K900的认知度。

    凯利蓝皮书（Kelley Blue Book）资深分析师卡尔•布劳尔称：“K900无论是做工的精致程度，还是性能，都满足了人们的预期。起亚深知，要让传统的豪华品牌消费者考虑它的品牌需要面对艰巨的挑战；但那些能不那么在意这个牌子的人将对这款车的品质留下深刻印象。”

    要为一款豪华轿车起名字可并不容易。这款车在韩国叫K9，英语国家的人会觉得这个名字颇为可笑。自从豪华车用字母加数字来命名的方式流行起来后，策划者们又想出来K900这个名字。

    对于拥有远舰和秀尔（Soul）这样的名字的产品线来说，K900这个命名是个另类。不过，这也挺好的。只要起亚能维持目前的发展速度，终有一天，它也会设法建立起属于自己的豪华品牌特许经销店。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    Kia Motor's new fullsize K900 luxury sedan evokes memories of a January day in 1989 in Detroit when a different Asian automaker, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), lifted the veils from its first luxury sedan, the LS400.

    In those days Detroit and German automakers didn't take Toyota and its Mercedes S-Class knockoff too seriously. After all, Toyota was a synonym for inexpensive and efficient, not premium. How many self-respecting shoppers would choose Lexus, even at a deep discount to cars with similar features? (Many, many, it turns out.)

    Kia, the South Korean affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., has swiped a page from Toyota's playbook. But this time, I doubt executives in Detroit, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, and Tokyo are taking Kia lightly. The K900 drives, looks and feels very much like a BMW 7 Series and, at prices starting at $65,000, sells at about 25% off.

    Oh, yes: The big boys have seen this movie, and they don't like the ending.

    For the moment, Kia isn't positioning itself as a giant killer. Quite the opposite.

    "The K900 isn't going to be a big volume seller," said Michael Sprague, Kia's executive vice president of sales, marketing, and communications. "It's really about the Kia brand."

    If Kia sells 3,000 K900s, that will be a fine debut, nothing to make Lexus executives lose sleep. The company mainly is hoping that its Optima, Cadenza, Sorento, and other models will benefit from K900's halo as consumers realize Kia -- a name they don't know well -- can put a BMW surrogate on the road.

    K900 will be sold at Kia dealerships alongside the brand's less expensive models. At a typical luxury franchise, like Lexus, the dealer is dedicated to dispensing kid-glove service. Toyotas aren't seen in the vicinity.

    Sprague and his colleagues know that to create a true luxury brand -- as opposed to a single luxury model -- takes decades and loads of capital. That's not the highest priority yet. But just as Samsung started as a cheap alternative to Sony, Kia one day might be seen as premium, justifying further models and perhaps a separate franchise.

    Meantime, Kia sold 535,179 vehicles in the U.S. last year, down 4% due to slow launches, compared to 438,134 for Volkswagen. But VW's average transaction price per vehicle was $26,107, according to Kbb.com, compared with Kia's $24,161. One of Kia's key business goals will be to keep raising average transaction prices, which K900 could positively influence.

    Kia's Super Bowl commercial spoofing The Matrix, starring Lawrence Fishburne, captured strong viewer attention during the game, measurably lifting shopper awareness of the K900.

    "K900 meets expectations on a refinement and feature level," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "Kia knows it will face an uphill battle in getting traditional luxury shoppers to consider its brand; but those that look past the hood emblem will be impressed."

    Coming up with a name for the new luxury sedan was tricky. In South Korea it's known as "K9." English-speaking societies would mock such a name. Since alphanumerics for luxury cars are all the rage, planners came up with K900.

    The K900 designation is a departure for a model line that has names like Optima and Soul. It will be just fine, however, if Kia keeps progressing at its current pace and one day makes a bid for its own luxury franchise.