'Voice of customers' fuels Jaguar Land Rover China

The Legend-Future Jaguar Heritage Tour campaign was kicked off in Beijing. [Photos provided to China Daily]

Upon entering the Jaguar Land Rover Shanghai office, people will be greeted by a wall filled with stories and photos, a bulletin board that celebrates not only company achievements but also the personal highs in employees' lives: recent weddings, newborn babies, and others.

The bulletin is an indicator of the company's culture - one where sales and growth statistics are not the primary goals but where greater emphasis is placed on striking a balance between the company's growth and the career development of every employee, according to Bob Grace, president of Jaguar Land Rover China.

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He said this is also one of the reasons why the company has consistently shown resilience amid the slowdown in China's overall automotive industry.

Heading Jaguar Land Rover China since 2010, Grace has put the company on a path to achieving strong sales, establishing a sprawling nationwide dealer network, and a growing group of loyal customers.

The automaker recently reached another milestone as China became the No 1 global market for both Jaguar and Land Rover in 2013, posting whole-year sales of over 95,200 vehicles, with a healthy year-on-year increase of 30 percent.

Grace attributed the success to listening to the "voice of customers". Having worked in the UK and Latin America for many years before coming to China in 2010, he knows a thing or two about the importance of adapting one's business strategy to suit a market's unique needs and building mutual trust with partners.

Since taking over Jaguar Land Rover's operations in China, Grace has shown great enthusiasm in learning about Chinese culture, and uses a hands-on approach in looking after the interests of the company's stakeholders - customers, dealer partners and employees.

"By understanding what Chinese consumers need, it became easy for us to follow through. Armed with this knowledge, we introduced great new tailored products, continued investing in dealers to guarantee high-quality service, and built our brands to bring our customers closer to us," he said.

Standing out with exclusivity and understated luxury, Jaguar and Land Rover have become highly sought-after car brands among Chinese consumers.