She loves fine dining, theater, live music, and Chi Omega. And she adores motorcycles, four-wheel drive vehicles, road racing, go-karts, and all-terrain vehicles. Such is the yin and yang of Dora Fang who, while on her first visit to mainland China during Christmas 2006, decided she would return to the land of her ancestors for a longer, open-ended tour.
A motor-sports maven with an affinity for and background in vehicle sales and marketing strategy, Dora had little trouble finding the right business opportunity to make it happen. Four months after returning from her trip to China, she was settled in a luxury high-rise apartment in the central business district of Beijing and employed by Automotive Marketing Consultants, Inc. to develop the China market and to manage their biggest China account, Mercedes-Benz. It didn’t hurt that she is more motor-savvy than most men, speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, and understands how the Chinese think. Easily tagging Dora as a foreigner, however, are her mannerisms, choice of words, and a personality that is more outgoing and aggressive than that of the local Chinese.
Dora grew up in Lubbock, Texas, the only child of Chinese immigrants and was a self-described "frilly-frou-frou girl." While at Duke University, she enjoyed being part of Mu Kappa Chapter and was a chapter officer. Through the years, her commitment to the Fraternity has been deep and unwavering: She was part of the leadership of and active in the Washington DC, Chicago, and Milwaukee alumnae groups and an advisor to Xi Chapter at Northwestern University.
Right after college, she bought a new red Jeep Cherokee and, on a whim, signed up for a Jeep Jamboree weekend outing. Even though she got stuck in mud and swamp water filled the cab of her vehicle, she enjoyed the fun and friendship of four-wheeling. She was hooked and was soon going "jeepin" several weekends a month. It wasn’t long before she had a highly customized and lifted vehicle, and founded a training and outfitting company called Adventure 4WD. For years she led tours and taught off-road driving courses from Utah’s Moab Desert to boulder fields in Indiana’s Badlands. Once, Ford Motor Company paid her to introduce a new member of its Land Rover engineering team to off-road driving and aftermarket vehicle modifications.
Business was great in 2003 when Dora decided to pack it in to enroll at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University to learn how to take it to another level. Graduating in 2005 with a master’s degree, she entered a fast-track leadership program at Harley-Davidson Motor Company. After working on China market entry from the corporate side and the restructuring of the North American sales organization, she knew she wanted to be where the action was: in the China automotive market. She downsized her personal fleet of seven vehicles (including four street motorcycles, one race bike, and two highly customized Jeeps) and shipped her Labrador retriever to her parents’ house to prepare for her overseas adventure.
Today, Dora markets luxury automobiles in China’s exploding personal-car market in which domestic automakers can barely keep up with the double-digit growth and the infrastructure is crumbling as 1,000 new cars are added to Beijing’s streets daily. "Traffic jams and the smog are really awful," she says.
"People are purchasing cars for the first time for personal enjoyment," Dora explains. "Owning one is a badge of status. This is a big shift from cars being owned by only the rich and powerful, and from only chauffeur-driven to self-driven."
And the cost of these luxury cars? "While a domestically manufactured automobile is about $5,000–$8,000, one of the cars we’re introducing is the Mercedes AMG S65, which costs more than $400,000. Here, the rich are ultra rich and love to show it through their vehicles."
To promote her automobiles, Dora travels throughout China managing by-invitation-only events at racetracks where consumers can experience luxury sedans and SUVs in a high-performance, closed-course environment with professional driving instructors. Guests include dealership staff, media, and consumers.
What fascinates Dora most about China? "The change from communism to a raging capitalist system," she replies. "It’s rapid but filled with potholes." For example, she must carry her passport at all times and must show it to purchase pre-paid cell-phone minutes, check in at a hotel, or pay her electric bill. "This is a cash society," she says. "Credit and personal checks don’t exist. Utilities are pre-paid and when your account is empty, your utilities are cut off. . . . There is no trust, no credit, no tipping, and no customer service. There are long lines for everything. . . . Nothing is certain or guaranteed. There isn’t a strong legal system, so we manage as best we can."
Does she miss life in the United States? "Of course," she says. "Especially my dog, my vehicles, and eating enchiladas. But I am witnessing the most incredible economic growth in world history. Unbelievable change happens daily. For now, I’m in a good place."