How exactly is the luxury of a car defined?
Different luxury car brands, the value proposition and interpretation of luxury cars are different. In different eras, luxury cars also have different customer understandings and characteristics of the times.
In the 1960s and 1970s, luxury cars represented by American luxury, with exaggerated or even exaggerated shapes, wide bodies, and long wheelbases were the main symbols and symbols of luxury cars in that era. After the 1980s and 1990s, the displacement of the engine has gradually become an important criterion for Volkswagen to measure luxury cars, and the power equipment above 3.0L/6 cylinders seems to have become the threshold of luxury cars.
This concept until about 2010, due to the significant improvement of the efficiency of the automobile internal combustion engine, and the "carbon neutrality" indicator and other factors, the high-power 2.0 four-cylinder supercharged engine engine began to gradually popularize luxury cars, and once caused some consumers to reject and market controversy. Of course, now 2.0T has become the mainstream power of luxury cars, and even luxury cars with 3 cylinders and smaller displacement engines have gradually been accepted by some consumers.
Therefore, compared with ordinary cars, luxury cars have different target customers and market positioning, and in terms of products and brands, they mostly represent a higher level in the automotive field and have a higher brand premium ability.
In the past ten years, it is the period of the fastest development and popularization of China's luxury car market, as consumers become more mature, customers' demands for luxury cars have also gradually begun to change from emphasizing brand status and product function configuration to customer use value and luxury experience.
Today, the concept of new energy and intelligent mobile terminals has made the century-old automobile face unprecedented great changes, and mainstream luxury cars are also developing and changing in the direction of electrification and intelligence. In addition, in recent years, in major global markets, the cross-border competition of smart electric vehicles represented by Tesla has also significantly encroached on the share of some luxury cars and SUVs.
In the Chinese market, Tesla and Weilai, ideal, Gaohe and other new energy vehicle sales are doing well, and have also been shortlisted for luxury car sales list, these new electric forces and traditional luxury cars in the market interaction, seems to make the traditional definition of luxury cars the boundary become more blurred.
The topic we want to discuss today is that in the upcoming era of intelligent electric, what are the new features and derivatives of the luxury of the car?
Luxury cars need to seize the commanding heights of intelligence
Intelligent technology is the theme of the current development of the automobile industry, and it is also a new commanding height that luxury cars must seize.
Today, the automobile, as a means of transportation, is gradually evolving into the attributes of software-defined technology products. There is no doubt that technologies such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, OTA and application software are the main driving forces for the current development and change of automobiles, and they are also the commanding heights that luxury cars must keep up with and need to seize.
But in fact, there are very few automobile manufacturers that can maintain a leading position and commanding heights in technology, and the difficulty is also very large, and the technology of various automobile manufacturers also has a large homogenization problem.
More critically, the industrial chain relationship of the automotive industry is being reshaped. If the previous luxury brands can obtain industry leadership through the first launch and monopoly of supplier technology, with the advent of the technology-led and software-defined automobile era, a group of new forces with a high degree of vertical integration of the entire industry chain, and a group of technology giants that originally did not belong to the automotive industry have entered, and the occupation of luxury brands on the commanding heights has suffered a serious impact.
However, the application and innovation of technology is endless, the use of intelligent technology and digital technology, improve and enhance the use experience and pain points of car users in different scenarios, create new value for customers or exceed expectations, may be the value and true significance of the current development of automotive technology.
Luxury cars need new tones
At present, consumers emphasize "tonality", and the tonality of the era of luxury cars is also changing.
In the past, everyone emphasized the "fame" of luxury cars; today, young consumers pay more attention to "tonality".
The so-called "tonality" is a relatively abstract word, and it does not appear. The tone of the car, on the one hand, it is hidden in all aspects of product and design, brand and marketing services; on the other hand, it is actually a comprehensive comprehensive mapping and transmission of the industry values, aesthetics, concepts, tastes and cultural styles of the core team of the automobile manufacturers and brands and all employees. The level of tonality is the key word for consumers to judge the level of automotive products and brands.
The tonality of the era of luxury cars is changing, from the "noble" and "luxurious sense" that is more export-oriented to the "tonality" of the comprehensive temperament. The sense of technology of the times is the main tone of the current era, and consumers pay more attention to taste and connotation, that is, the self-interaction feeling, emotional resonance and attraction of products and brands.
It can be seen that just like the outbreak and prosperity of Japanese automobile brands in the 90s, at present, in the era of rapid growth of new car-making forces and positive independent brands, various emerging high-end luxury car brands in China are also emerging. The production plant designs and manufactures high-level electric vehicle products through the rapid accumulation of technology that can be capitalized. However, if you want to achieve a real breakthrough in products and brands, and get the recognition of consumers, there are actually still many difficulties.
One of the most critical difficulties lies in the shaping of "tonality". The lack of tonal products and brands can easily cause the effect of "sensationalism" and "east effect", which is difficult to do in the long run.
Luxury cars are still detailed
"Details" are king, and it is still the essence of luxury that has always remained unchanged.
At the recent press conference of a new high-end car brand, the highly anticipated exhibition car tires were actually reversed inside and outside, and this photo was taken by a reporter who was careful on the spot.
In fact, consumers, like the media, are very attentive or more discerning. As the old saying goes: The great things under the heavens must be done in detail. Thoughtful consideration, exquisite materials, meticulous craftsmanship and ingenuity are the eternal essence of all high-end luxury consumer goods.
Write at the end
Electric vehicles with intelligent technology as the label, because the products and concepts and traditional fuel vehicles have undergone great changes, it does not make much sense to use the past thinking and values to measure whether they belong to luxury brands. In fact, Tesla and some new car-making forces do not emphasize too much luxury car positioning relationship or feelings, but their products have entered the luxury car segment market competition after all.
Traditional luxury cars mainly come from the rich accumulation of fuel vehicles, but they are currently facing two problems: one is that smart electric vehicles have changed the traditional track and rules of the game; the other is that the new generation of consumers' feelings for luxury cars are weakening, and their understanding of luxury is also changing. Therefore, on the one hand, the luxury car market and customers are being cannibalized and diverted by the new forces of smart electric vehicles, on the other hand, the electric vehicles launched by traditional luxury brands, the current consumer caters to them are not high.
The essence of this phenomenon is that the value and premium ability of luxury cars have undergone an irreversible change. What is the true value of consumer-recognized car luxury? How to form a new premium capability for luxury cars? This will be a longer-term problem for all luxury brands.