Recently, someone asked me a very interesting question, that is, what kind of cars are still lacking in the Chinese pickup truck market? Counting up, the full-size, one-and-a-half and single-row pickup trucks that are rampant in Thailand may not be the most lacking models in the domestic market at present, even if there are brands that launch full-size or one-and-a-half models in the future, I am afraid that they will not become the mainstream of the market in a short period of time. However, the existence of a class of models may change the current pattern of the domestic and even global pickup truck market, which is also the most lacking model in the domestic pickup truck market in the author's eyes - the bearer pickup truck.
Carrier pickups – the second product revolution in the pickup industry
From the perspective of the development of global pickup trucks, the development of pickup trucks follows the law from pure commercial, to IKEA, and then to multi-purpose attributes. For example, the first globally recognized pickup truck was the 1917 Ford Model T. What kind of car is it? In simple terms, it is a pickup truck with a single row + large cargo box + non-load-bearing body. It is also this body structure setting that makes it the most popular freight model on the market at that time, and it is also the inspiration of the first pickup truck to the pickup truck industry, so that this single-row pickup truck that attaches importance to freight attributes was the mainstream of the US market until the 80s.
With the attention of American users to the pickup truck suitable for business and family, a row and a half and double row models gradually appear in the public vision, and the double row pickup truck with a larger space and multi-purpose attributes, but also slowly become the mainstream of the U.S. pickup truck market, according to statistics, now about 70% of the pickup trucks sold in the U.S. market are double row pickups.
With the development of the times, users have put forward higher requirements for the comfort of pickup trucks, but the non-load-bearing body that has been linked with pickup trucks since 1917 has become a bottleneck that breaks through the characteristics of pickup truck comfort, safety, fuel consumption and other aspects. So, does the pickup truck really need a non-loader body? Let's take a look at the SUV revelations first. When SUVs first became popular 20 years ago, most consumers expected SUVs to be built on non-loader bodies like pickups, because such SUVs were strong, durable, and off-road capable. And 20 years later, time has given the best answer, consumers realize that the non-carrier body SUV does not actually meet their car use scenarios, consumers need a more comfortable, more refined, more fuel-efficient, larger SUV is just that, and such a trait is only the carrier body of the SUV can provide, before the non-carrier body to provide all the advantages in front of the load-bearing body is not worth mentioning.
Looking at today's pickup truck industry, I think that when some consumers put forward higher requirements for comfort, then the carrier pickup truck will be the best product to meet their key needs. If the first product revolution in the global pickup truck industry was the evolution of single-row pickups to double-row pickups 40 years ago, and with the deepening of the process of passengerization, the carrier pickups represented by Honda Ridgeline, Ford Maverick and modern Santa Cruz have appeared on the historical stage, representing a new way of using pickup trucks and a new way of life, then the carrier pickup truck will become the next product revolution that the pickup industry needs to face.
"IKEA-based, really passenger, complete life", China will also usher in the second product revolution
In fact, although the domestic pickup truck industry started late, after the first product revolution, China's pickup truck industry has only entered the right track, but China's pickup truck industry still follows the law from pure commercial, to businesslike IKEA, and then to multi-functional attributes. Since the first pickup truck in China was officially launched in the 1980s, for more than 30 years, pickup trucks are still difficult to give up the bondage with freight attributes, or although pickup trucks originate from the best interpretation of the concept of "Yishang IKEA" in foreign countries, they have never been able to get rid of the "life" of the surname "goods" in China. Of course, the pickup truck surname "goods" is associated with the background of the times at that time, pickup trucks in the domestic development of thirty-five years, is the period of China's economic stride forward, when the family car belongs to the era of luxury goods, pickup trucks naturally can not fully play its "nature" of business-friendly IKEA, so we see that the previous pickup truck is often called "mud legs", often appear in the construction site, freight and other scenes, no different from other trucks, becoming a pure commercial model.
Fortunately, with the efforts of generations of pickup truck people, from the beginning of the concept of pickup truck life in 2015, to the shocking glimpse of pickup truck passengerization in 2016, and then to the arrival of the first year of China's pickup truck passengerization in 2019, China's pickup trucks have finally seen a rare spring in recent years, although there are still policy gaps, but with the official landing of the first standard of pickup trucks, the definition of pickup trucks is clarified, and the lifting of ban policies in many provinces and cities in China tends to be clear, and the "nature" of pickup yishang IKEA will eventually be released. The pickup truck industry has officially transitioned from a simple business to an easy business IKEA stage.
After the transition to the stage of IKEA, most manufacturers still inherit the non-load-bearing body of the previous pickup truck, and put the effort to improve the driving comfort in the configuration, sound insulation, suspension and other places. Of course, manufacturers are not unaware of the bottleneck of non-load-bearing body, but in order to take care of the "suitable business" needs of most domestic consumers in the demand of IKEA, the strong loading and passability brought by non-carrier type cannot be ignored. However, when transitioning from the stage of IKEA to a more passenger, more household multi-purpose attribute stage, the needs of another part of the consumer population are ignored, this part of the consumer is not heavy load, not off-road, just driving a pickup truck, fishing, most of the driving conditions are in the city or suburbs, the comfort level of non-carrier pickup trucks is obviously unable to meet the needs of this part of the consumer, and the load-bearing pickup products have become the most lacking models on the market.
Fortunately, the emergence of models represented by China National Heavy Duty Truck VX7 will officially fill the gap in the market, positioning itself in the full-scene passenger life pickup truck, no longer seeking the middle way of pickup trucks and IKEA, and blazing another trail to tilt towards the end of IKEA. Instead of putting freight attributes at the top of product considerations, comfort and versatility are placed in the first place of consumer demand, reflecting the liberation of pickup trucks from the non-bearing body of Yishang Yika, and officially changing to the direction of "IKEA-based, real passenger, and complete life". Pickup truck with a load-bearing rear, although the loading and passability are affected, but in exchange for a more comfortable driving experience and extremely exquisite driving texture, for urban users who do not pull goods, do not off-road, its lack of off-road and heavy-duty performance is not so important.
Write at the end:
From the rise of the family car in the early years, to the SUV tide swept in recent years, and now the MPV market is in the ascendant, the domestic auto market is following the global fashion trend, but also has its own unique car demand. Whether it is the comfort provided by the car, the large space and passability provided by the SUV, or the home attributes of the MPV, it all meets the needs of the Chinese people,and in the domestic pickup truck market, I believe it will also follow the law of the global pickup truck market: from the yishang - Yishang IKEA - multi-purpose such a process. When the freight demand of domestic consumers is met, the needs of Yishang IKEA are met, the next step will be the pursuit of multi-purpose demand, at this time, a batch of bearer pickup trucks led by China National Heavy Duty Truck VX7 to IKEA-based, real passenger, complete life positioning, will become the most popular model in the future Chinese pickup truck market.
Moreover, from the perspective of promoting the development of the industry, there are two opportunities in the pickup truck market that everyone in the industry needs to firmly grasp, one is the national gradually improving lifting policy, and the other is the pickup truck standard that will be officially implemented in May next year. If under these two opportunities, China's pickup truck industry can go hand in hand and grasp the wind direction, then the future pickup truck market will inevitably be promising. The emergence of the carrier pickup truck is the best catalyst to promote the industry under the two opportunities, the emergence of the loaded pickup truck is the pickup truck, which was once a "mud leg" makeover, with a more refined, more high-end image to really bring into the city, so that the pickup truck becomes the same model as the passenger car, which is a revelation for the industry, policy, and relevant departments, refreshing the stereotype that the pickup truck is a truck, is a mud leg, reversing the image of the pickup truck from the source and subconscious, and putting the image and positioning of the pickup truck in the same position as the passenger car. The development of China's pickup truck market is beneficial and harmless. Maybe in a few years, when you ask passers-by what a pickup truck is, they will no longer answer that you are a truck, but a multi-purpose model that is "IKEA-based, really passenger, full life".