As the first foreign car maker allowed into 'China, Volkswagen AG built a commanding presence in the auto market, and by 2000, Shanghai Volkswagen had a stunning 36% share. There was just one problem: Prisoner of a pre-market-reform-era arrangement with its partner, Volkswagen had no relationship with its customers. In fact, it didn't even know who was driving its cars. When competitors started marketing and selling directly to China's nouveaux riches, Volkswagen couldn't match them, and its sales began to slow down. (Article on page 6.) Today, however, is a different story. Volkswagen's customer-database system in China is its most sophisticated anywhere in the world, linking dealers, service stations, factories and marketing into a single network. Indeed, executives at corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, are considering making it the model for global operations.
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