Luxury cars Made-in-China: Consequences for brand positioning

This research shows that effects of Alden, Steenkamp, and Batra's (1999) consumer-culture positioning strategies (i.e., global, local, or foreign consumer-culture positioning) on consumer attitudes toward brands are contingent on the image of the foreign brand's country of-origin and the communication of a Made-in-China label. In the context of luxury cars in China, we find that Made-in-China acts as a primary cue that overrides both the effect of consumer culture positioning strategies and the effect of the foreign brand's country-of-origin image on consumer attitudes. Consumer-culture positioning strategies differ in their effects on brand attitudes only when advertising does not signal Made-in-China. This research contributes to qualifying the effects of country of brand-origin image and consumer-culture positioning strategies in relation to global luxury brands manufactured in newly industrialized economies.