Automobile and South Africa Essay

1.) Cultural differences have a great effect on how Renault-Nissan operates in South Africa. South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. Therefore, in my opinion they would need managers that know the country and how its people do business. Though some of South Africa is a lot like Western Europe, there are eight different languages spoke in South Africa, so having a person from Rosslyn managing the plant would be beneficial. South Africa has been referred to as the â€Å"rainbow† nation, I believe that in order for Renault-Nissan to be successful they will have to do their homework and find a person that knows the country’s customs and traditions to lead them into an emerging market in South Africa. 2.) Culture is a huge factor in Auto sales. For example, in Europe gas is around $8.00 a gallon, if Ford took their F-250 (which gets around 12mpg) into the European market it would fail miserably. It is not because the Ford F-250 is not a quality truck, it is because this truck does not fit into what is now part of the European culture. Also Europeans do not have the same tastes in cars that Americans do so, car companies do research to find out what Europeans look for when they are buying a car. This is how culture affects the auto industry. 3.) I do not believe that it is possible for a car company to transcend national culture and produce a global automobile that is accepted by people in every culture. Though car companies can get away for making a regional automobile for a specific region of the world, there are too many cultural differences that that affect each market to make a â€Å"worldwide† vehicle. Like I said before Europeans have different tastes in automobiles than Americans, Africans, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, and the rest of the world.