Since the emergence of the name of "seconds and seconds" of the Tenth Generation Civic, an unavoidable wave of "family coupes" has formed in the Chinese market. However, in 2021, this trend has formed two diametrically opposed directions: joint ventures to the left and autonomy to the right. Why? What does this mean?
The joint venture goes to the left: the big brother turns sex, and the little brother fades out
The listing of the eleventh generation Civic in 2021 is definitely a "big deal" for people who like sports family cars. The anecdotal controversy aside, just looking at Dongfeng Honda's actions and some feedback in the market, it is quite "unconventional".
After the eleventh generation Civic was listed, the entire generation Civic series was not discontinued and delisted - note that it is the entire series, not limited to the hatchback or manual version.
Obviously, you can understand it as "two generations in the same house", which is rare for Honda, which has always advocated vertical replacement and does not like two generations in the same house. The key is that unlike the previous two generations of the same church will form a high and low collocation, the ten generations of Civic have not reduced prices, and even the terminals are rarely discounted. And we know that the eleventh generation of Civic actually has a certain degree of increase and price reduction compared to the tenth generation. This also means buying the Tenth Generation Civic, which may be configured at the same price as the Eleventh Generation.
This, too, is also too unconventional!
Why? It's very simple - Ten Generations Civic has accumulated too much sports reputation in the domestic market. At one time, it was worshipped as a sacred car because of "seconds and seconds". And the eleventh generation of Civic, although the platform has not changed, the powertrain "in principle" is also unchanged, but the design style has changed dramatically - it has become peaceful, low-key, more focused on texture and comfort, from "seconds and seconds" almost to "warm men". As a result, a wave of "nostalgic" buyers will naturally form - afraid that the ten generations of Civic will stop production in minutes, and they will no longer be able to buy the "seconds and seconds" Civic.
What does this large paragraph say?
On the one hand, it shows the "big brother status" of the Ten Generations Civic, which makes people nostalgic and regretful. On the other hand, it also shows that the civic, as a "pioneer", has clearly "transformed" in the eleventh generation.
Why is Civic doing this? The most mainstream explanation is: for the market. Judging from the situation of terminal sales, it seems to confirm this. After the eleventh generation of Civic was launched, civic overall sales gradually increased. In November, it reached a "historical peak" of 27,368 vehicles. Obviously, this will never be the ceiling of Civic sales, and it is not impossible to fight with Corolla in the future. I have to admit that if the eleventh generation of Civic still continues the product strategy of the tenth generation, it is difficult to achieve this at the sales level.
Long before the replacement of the Civic, the sports family car in the joint venture circle was not good except for The Axela, who was still "stable", and the other models were not happy.
The most typical representatives such as Fiesta, once a "dark horse" with annual sales of nearly 100,000 vehicles, was once considered the most powerful challenger of the Civic, but in 2021 it was on the verge of delisting (monthly sales of less than 1,000 vehicles). Beijing Hyundai's sales pillar at this level has been handed over to a new generation of Elantra, a significantly more domestic model.
Fox, the "originator" of the sports compact family car in the Chinese market, is also getting harder and harder in 2021. The average monthly sales volume is less than 2,000 units, and the sales volume in November is less than 1,000 units.
Even if it is as strong as Volkswagen, it belongs to the Lingdu of sports compact family cars, and sales have been declining for several years. The current sales volume is already less than half of the scenery of the year.
Autonomous to the right: the more you go, the smoother you go, the bigger you get
However, on the contrary, independent brands are getting smoother and smoother on this road, and the market has begun to grow bigger and bigger.
On the one hand, the old product is still stable. The most typical such as Lynk & Co 03. It takes a positioning comparable to the Civic, and to some extent even slightly higher than Fiesta, but it is not "short-lived" (8504 units sold in November this year). The MG 6 was quiet for a while in 2021 due to product updates and the launch of the MG 5, but in November, with the launch of the new model, monthly sales also returned to the previous level (6930 units in November this year).
On the other hand, there are many new products on the way or are on the way to the market. One of the hottest and more typical representatives is the shadow leopard of GAC Trumpchi. Although Trumpchi is a first-line brand, there has not been a hot-selling car since the birth of the brand. Shadow Leopard is a very typical model launched under the influence of this trend. As a result, from the release to the listing, it changed the previous decline of Trumpchi Car and became an Internet red-class model in 2021. In the terminal market, with the gradual climb, sales in November also exceeded 10,000 vehicles - surpassing mg 6, surpassing Lynk & Co 03, and even temporarily surpassing the pure family car Yidong.
Another model that may be overlooked by many is the Dongfeng Fengshen Yixuan MAX. Yixuan MAX is two completely different cars from the previously listed Yixuan. From the perspective of platform specifications, design styles, and power equipment, it can actually be counted as this category. It's just that in terms of official publicity, it doesn't emphasize youth and sports like Shadow Leopard, MG 6, and Lynk & Co 03. After the listing of Yixuan MAX, it mixed with Yixuan to calculate sales, and directly doubled Yixuan's sales data. For a weak brand like Fengshen, such sales also reflect the strong market competitiveness of Yixuan MAX.
Among the models that will be launched soon, Changan UNI-V should be regarded as the most typical representative. Judging from the actual vehicles and data that have been released, the UNI-V is more aggressive in terms of sport than the above models. The height of the 1430mm body is "a new low", the almost hatchback style of the big slipback is also very sports car style, as well as the rare long front end of the front-drive car, the short front overhang, the superimposed sports packaging, carbon fiber decoration, the exhaust pipe of the sports car, the diffuser, and the tail wing that can be raised and lowered electrically, and the special edition of the matte ash coating that is rare in the production car... The sporty atmosphere created by UNI-K seems to be pushed to a new level. Although UNI-K has not yet been listed and its market performance cannot be determined, from the perspective of attention and feedback, it will replace Yidong and become the best-selling car under Changan.
Why: A very different R&D system
Although there are differences in price positioning, after all, they all belong to the "sports compact family car", and it is still somewhat puzzling that joint ventures and autonomy will show the opposite trend in 2021. Among them, the core reason should still stem from the difference in the research and development system.
The Civic is Honda's global car. Although the Chinese market is important, it cannot be built exactly according to the needs of the Chinese market. It's more about following Honda's global product plan.
The Ten Generation Civic Honda was indeed developed in a sporty style, but it doesn't mean "second by second". In Honda's (global) view, "seconds and seconds" should be a matter of Type-R. However, under the unintentional insertion of willows, the ordinary version of the Civic has been praised as a "car god", and Dongfeng Honda is naturally willing to "push the boat along the water".
However, this does not mean that Honda will continue on this road. On the contrary, the design appeal of the new generation of Honda cars is generally less sporty – including Fit, isn't that true? Facts have also proved that if you look at sales alone, honda's transformation is not wrong - Fit, Civic are better than in the past.
So, to use a less appropriate analogy, it was Civic who inadvertently became the boss of this market segment. If it is done, it is done, but this is not its "historical mission", so you cannot ask its "son" to continue to be the boss.
The same goes for other joint venture sports cars. That is to say, they are generally independent and have not been systematically developed for the special needs of the Chinese market. For example, Fox, entangled in three cylinders can not extricate themselves, naturally can not talk about the revitalization of this market segment. Festa is localized, but for various reasons (more is not developed in place), it can only be short-lived. These are not problems with the logic of this market demand, but with their respective individual products.
In fact, there is also a slight exception in the joint venture circle, that is, Veyron Pro - it also plays sports cards after it is replaced and listed, and its sales are much better than before. However, it is far from reaching the level of "hot".
Own brands are the opposite. They're inspired by Civic, but it's only because Civic made them realize that this is a potentially demanding market. The reason why they can smoothly "go to the right" is that they have carried out systematic research and development with sufficient investment in response to changes in this market demand.
Let's roughly sort out the logic behind this here.
We all know that the "upward movement" of independent brands is the only way, but it is also an extremely difficult road. Sport-type family cars, to some extent, resonate with the demand of independent brands.
The sport positioning necessarily corresponds to a relatively high-horsepower engine and a higher-spec chassis, which corresponds to a higher price relative to (a family compact sedan).
At the same time, based on the positioning of sports, the target group of such models will be relatively young. The young people in 2021 are basically post-90s or even post-95s and post-00s. The biggest feature of this group is that it no longer regards the joint venture brand as so divine. As long as the product force is in place, they can fully accept the products of their own brands.
The superposition of these two allows first-line independent brands to see the "direction of efforts" - as long as they increase investment in research and development and develop products with strong product strength, they are not afraid of no market.
So the corresponding result is that these models are not only bursting in appearance, but also the inner quality is not weak, and they are armed to the teeth in terms of intelligence, and almost every detail is aiming at the pain points of young people in 2021. In fact, we can also find that if it is not purely hairy, MG 6, Shadow Leopard, and predictable UNI-V, in terms of overall product strength, have really been able to compete with at least joint venture cars like Festa. In this way, it is only natural to add up its price advantage of more than 20%, and gain the favor of the target group.
And it's a virtuous circle. The success of the market will prompt the independent brand industry to continue to increase investment in the development of better products, and so on.
summary
The "go left" and "go right" of the sports compact family sedan are like a microcosm. Through a partial performance, it has reflected that the joint venture brand and the independent brand have shown obvious differences at the level of the research and development system. Joint venture brands that follow the global system need to "try their luck" more and more in the market, while independent brands can be better "targeted". Specific to the sports compact sedan this subdivision. If you are optimistic and bigger, following the big logic of "young people get the world", it is entirely possible for independent brands to take this opportunity to achieve overall cognitive improvement and achieve effects similar to mobile phones and IT industries.