MINI: Car Cramming World Record Adverts

It’s been cars, cars, cars in recent posts and this is no exception. I now present MINI‘s latest advertising campaign in China that is based on the recent world record achievement of cramming 25 people in a MINI:

The campaign slogan is, ‘一个神话中的装人, 一装人中的神话’ (Yīgè shénhuà zhōng de zhuāng rén, Yī zhuāng rén zhōng de shénhuà) which is very roughly translates to ‘The myth of loading people, is loaded with myth‘ and also makes a nice little Chinese tongue twister. MINI’s recent world car cramming record is currently being promoted on MINI’s Chinese homepage.

Car cramming itself is actually quite a serious competition. The new record was set by employees at the Beijing YanBao Auto on the 25th May 2010. They managed to fit a staggering 25 people into a MINI – (smashing the previous record of 24 set in 2009 by New Zealand based All-Star cheerleaders)!

Here are some photos from the 2010 world record win:

Credit to: Interone (Beijing Branch)

Audi: Audi A3 Sedan (Chinese Edition)

Audi (奥迪 – Ào dí) has joined its rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW in producing a special edition vehicle for the Chinese market.

Previously we’ve seen how both the aforementionned rival manufacturers have created ‘long wheelbase versions’ of the E–Class and 5-Series respectively.

Now Audi has created a sedan version of its A3 specifically for the Chinese market, and here are the TV and print ads for its promotion.

Credit to: Lintas – Lowe (Beijing Branch)

Inalfa Car Sunroofs: Give Your Family A Better View

A great little print campaign for Inalfa Car Sunroofs. Very bold.

Credit to: JWT (Shanghai Branch)

Mercedes Benz: E-Class (E300L) Chinese Edition

Chinese car ads are getting better and better aren’t they?

My next question, but a non-rhetorical one, is why are Chinese consumers so obsessed with Long Wheel Based saloons? It’s a question that has bugged me for a while, and I can only assume that there is a ‘the bigger the car – the richer you are’ mentality amongst the wealthier Chinese citizens.

Nonetheless there is clearly a huge demand for these types of vehicles. Both Audi and BMW already have recently released Long Wheel Base editions of their executive saloon cars to grab a share of the growing Chinese market in mind. You may recall the previous post last week about BMW ‘s launch of the 5 Series Li.

So here is the Mercedes E- Class (E300L) or as you would say in Chinese Méi sài dé sī (梅赛德斯). It’s essentially a stretched version of their that is available in the European and American markets. It follows in the footsteps of the Mercedes S600 which has the greatest sales in China than any other country.

The technical details of the vehicle are neither here nor there but the advert itself is something I’m quite a fan of as it’s crafted with a beautiful Chinese twist. Just in case you fancy buying one, i’m afraid like many of the other new Long Wheel Base edition cars, it’s only available in China.

Credit to: Jung Von Matt

BMW: BMW 5 Series Li

Yes, it’s yet another car commercial. I apologise for a lack of diversity in recent posts, hopefully I will get my hands on some advertising from other sectors soon.

Nevertheless, BMW have just released a new advertisement promoting a special version of the BMW 5 Series Li for specifically for the Chinese Market. The main difference between this 5 series and those you will find in Europe and the USA is that it has an extra long wheelbase.

The ‘Li’ was launched on August 5th 2010 and prices range from 489,600RMB to 791,600RMB (£45,500 – £73,700). The tagline for the new model is 路有多远，只有心知道 (Lù yǒu duō yuǎn, zhǐyǒu xīn zhīdào) which in essence translates to ‘How long the road, only the heart knows‘. Here’s the ad:

Three print ads (as shown) below promoting the new model were also produced as part of ‘The Joy of BMW‘ campaign.

Credit to: Leo Burnett (China)

SAIC Roewe: Roewe 350

Have you ever wondered what happened to the mighty and British Rover car brand?

Well here’s a quick history lesson for you. Instead of going all the way back to Rover’s origins in 1878, we will begin in 2005 – the year when MG Rover was declared insolvent. After which in 2006, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), who actually held the intellectual property for the Rover 75 car design and was in the bidding for MG Rover brand, announced their own version of the Rover 75, which they called the ‘750‘.

In the summer of 2006, SAIC then announced their intent to buy the Rover brand name from BMW, who still owned the rights to the Rover marque. However, BMW refused their request, due to an agreement with Ford which gave the latter firm control of the brand. Unable to use the Rover name, SAIC created their own brand with a similar name and badge (pictured above), known as Roewe (荣威) or in pinyin ‘Róng wēi’ pronounced Rone-way in English.

Roewe launched in 2007. Many westerners assuming that it was just another Chinese copycat brand, when in fact it was entirely legitimate.

Now in 2010, Roewe are producing cars left,right and centre. Most recently the organisation has produced the Roewe 350 (shown above) and below are three advertisements to promote their latest model. Two of the adverts are in English too so no need for the usual translation / lengthy explanations…phew.

So sit back and enjoy.

Credit to: THINK Advertising Agency (China)

BMW: The Joy of BMW

Here is the recent TV ad promoting the new BMW X1 which launched in China last month:

The advertisement features the song ‘Lucky’ by Jason Mraz and is part of the 宝马之悦(Bǎomǎ zhī yuè) or in English the ‘Joy of BMW‘ campaign, which launched in April 2010 with these print ads:

The BMW X1 itself is actually rather special, as it is manufactured in China at BMW’s Shenyang Plant which produces vehicles solely for the Chinese market. The price of the car ranges from 358,000 RMB  to 522,500 RMB (£33,000 – £48,500) so certainly not cheap. What is more BMW are hoping to target the young so I would expect to see a few of these cruising around Shanghai’s city centre very soon.

Before I finish I’d like to mention that when the X1 launched at the 2010 Beijing Motorshow, BMW released new print ads (shown below) that pulled together themes of the car, man, heaven and nature. Quite beautiful wouldn’t you say?