Chinese marque on hunt for £50m launch agency

by James Quilter, Marketing 28-Feb-07

Chinese government-owned car brand Landwind is seeking an agency to handle its £50m pan-European launch this summer.

The company, whose European headquarters are based in Belgium, is headed
by former Kia managing director Paul Williams. It is planning to launch
two low-priced cars - an MPV called Fashion and an SUV called X-Pedition

- in the Netherlands and Germany this year. The marque will be available

in the UK in 2008.

Williams has said that the firm is aiming for 1% of the European market
for MPVs and SUVs - about 15,000 cars. Landwind sales director Robert
Pronk said that it was considering UK agencies to handle the brief.

Landwind was originally scheduled to launch last year, but this was
delayed after the original version of the X-Pedition failed a crash test
in Germany. The SUV has since been revised and renamed.

Landwind is the latest in a series of Chinese automotive manufacturers
eyeing the European market. Its launch will follow the relaunch of MG,
owned by Chinese manufacturer Nanjing Auto.

Nanjing is also holding an agency pitch and is aiming to sell about
86,000 cars across Europe by 2008. It is planning to relaunch the MG TF
sports car in the summer.