Super car club in commercial drive

Updated: 2011-12-05 09:29

By Wang Wen (China Daily)

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Zhang said they plan to develop the company with four kinds of businesses of which the bar is just the first. A car maintenance center, providing services for members was the company's second business. The first of these was opened late last month in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The company's main thrust is to provide services to meet SCC members' demands. Auto races and luxury shops are both in the works.

"We want to introduce some less known luxury brands and products in our shops in the future to let our members understand more about luxury culture," said Zhang.

International auto races may also be brought to China by the company in 2013.

Zhang said the SCC company insists that it will not seek profits from members. After it was registered, they were contacted by many business sponsors and groups offering cooperation, including several big names, such as Aston Martin and Audi.

"It is necessary to go commercial for a car owners club to survive," said Liu Yun, a 32-year old man who had co-founded Beijing CRV (a Honda sports utility vehicle) Club with some friends in 2008.

Liu's club used to have more than 2,000 registered members, but it closed early this year after several core members left Beijing for other cities.

Liu said the organizers could not maintain their passion for ever and, as they withdrew, the club died. Had the club been set up on a commercial basis with everyone connected with commercial benefits, the club could have lasted.

It is not an easy job for a car club to operate in a commercial way, Liu said, because many members could not afford the necessary investment.

The SCC company's registered capital is 10 million yuan, which was invested by six core members including Zhang. They also spent about 7 million yuan to build the venue at the Worker's Stadium.

In September, the SCC also hired brand-building professionals to help build its image. One professional once told Zhang that his first task is to avoid a "negative upstart image".

Almost every one of the SCC's activities, even philanthropy, could invite a bad press. Some netizens accuse SCC members of being a group of "rich second generations" (the sons and daughters of people who grew wealthy from business deals and trading) and showing off their super cars everywhere.

"We have many members who are from grass-root businesses like me," Zhang said.

Asked whether his club refuses to admit "rich second generations", Zhang said it was unnecessary: The SCC is a club based on super car ownership first and foremost.

"We accept super car owners who have a passion for their cars, but the fact is that most of them are young people," he said.

Zhang's words are confirmed by super car sellers.

Alasdair M. Stewart, director of marketing and sales and the after-sales service at Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S, said that his company's Chinese customers are much younger than those in the West, who tend to be aged between 40 and 50.

Zhang attributed the situation to China's swift growth of super cars owners.

They have only got to know about super cars in the past 10 years, and not many older people know about the cars at present, he said.

Zhang said the social environment will improve for the SCC in the future, when the public understand that super cars are also about culture, not just money, but the process needs to be pushed.

"I think I am doing a good thing for the country, including developing an auto culture and building a super car club with a Western-style operation," he said.

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