In a recent study conducted by CIC, China's leading online research and consulting firm, concerning internet word of mouth (IWOM), Chinese internet users are flocking to BBS message boards and blogs in record numbers to voice their opinions on the automotive industry. Using their proprietary text-mining technology, CIC tracked 15,618,268 auto-related messages from 468,430 independent users from April 1, 2007 through June 30th, monitoring 430 different car models from 85 manufacturers. Of the top ten car manufacturers mentioned in the CIC report, 7 are domestic Chinese brands, with Chery, China's leading auto exporter, leading the way with 107, 151 individual posts. Geely, another Chinese manufacturer, was the second-most mentioned auto-maker with 37, 932, while SVW (36,244), Haima (31,911), and FAW-VW (31,016) round out the top five.

The CIC report explains that Chinese national pride is quite a prevalent theme in many of these posts, possibly accounting for the dominance of local brands in various message boards and blogs. Additionally, Chery received several "spikes" (increased net activity) in their buzzshare surrounding the launch of their A1 and A3 models and their exhibition at the Shanghai Auto Show.

While Chinese brands dominated the manufacturer-related threads, the Ford Focus was the most discussed individual model. Of the 4.2-million messages concerning individual car models, the Focus was mentioned in 3.5-percent of posts, while the Huache Junjie (3%), Haima Family (2.7%), FAW-VW Sagitar (2.7%), Peugeot 307 (2%), FAW-VW Magotan (1.7%), Suzuki Tianyu (1.5%), Toyota Camry (1.4%), Peugot 206 (1.2%), and Citroen C-Triomphe (1.2%) complete the top-ten. While the majority of the buzz concerning the Ford Focus, and all models for that matter, deals with appearance (mentioned in 40.1% of posts) and the power system (40%), the Focus' interior is of particular interest to Chinese netizens.

Comfort-related issues such as air conditioning, the electronic assistant system, and the remote control system are quite important to Chinese consumers, but the Focus also received a tremendous "spike" after earning an extremely high safety rating when the C-NCAP results were released in June, proving that safety is of the utmost importance to the Chinese.

The buzz surrounding the Focus is of added interest because half of the messages regarding the Focus do not even mention the product name, but rather its internet nickname 'FKS.' CIC's innovative technology, which is specific for the Chinese language, accounts for a specialized internet-based language used by bloggers and consumers. While the Focus is known as 'FKS,' the Toyota Camry is also known as 'Kai Kai' and Audi is '0000.'

Another finding of CIC's research shows that Chinese consumers are taking their discussions offline in the form of "fubai" and "zuoye," which refer to meetings of bloggers who get together to discuss automobiles and share their experiences. Also known as FB and Homework, these focus groups are proof that the 50-million Chinese BBS users and 34-million blogger are having an increased influence on the consumer market.