At the beginning of 2022, each car company is not only releasing annual sales results, but also summarizing the gains and losses of the past year, which can make them be decisive when making planning decisions, and Infiniti also made an important decision without hesitation, after all, it is not easy for a person to fight alone, perhaps joining "them" can enhance combat effectiveness.
On January 5, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. (Dongfeng Nissan Main Company, hereinafter referred to as Dongfeng Limited) officially announced that Dongfeng Infiniti will be included in Dongfeng Nissan's management system as an independent business headquarters. After Nissan and Venucia, Infiniti will become the third brand under Dongfeng Nissan.
As early as last July, there was news about Infiniti's return to Dongfeng Nissan, and it was also rumored that Infiniti's China headquarters would be relocated from Beijing to Guangzhou in early 2022 to take charge of Infiniti's operations in China as Dongfeng Nissan headquarters. After the announcement of Dongfeng Limited, Infiniti also confirmed the previous rumors about being absorbed by Dongfeng Nissan.
For a time, derogatory labels such as "being absorbed", "being taken off the hat of a second-tier luxury brand", and "self-descending" appeared on Infiniti, becoming the third brand under Dongfeng Nissan, so unbearable, is it not optimistic? In fact, it is not, for the current Infiniti "to be absorbed" is not a bad thing, but a good thing, to know that the brand is now on the edge of the second-tier luxury brand, the situation is very unoptimistic.
According to the data, Infiniti's localization project landed in 2014, jointly established by Dongfeng Motor Company and Nissan Motor Company according to a 50:50 share ratio, and has been independent since then, and it has officially begun to "fight" in the domestic automobile market, becoming competitors with second-tier luxury brands such as Acura, Lexus, and Cadillac.
Infiniti's localization just happened to become a sponsor of the reality show "Where Did Daddy Go", and it raised its brand awareness in China by virtue of the show, and its sales in China also soared in the same year, and sales in the following years also rose steadily. Until 217, Infiniti's annual sales were 48,408 vehicles, reaching the peak of its entry into China.
In 2018, domestic luxury brands have seen a small outbreak of sales, only Infiniti has seen a decline in sales, and since then it has experienced different degrees of decline every year. It is understood that in 2018, Infiniti's annual sales were 47,200 vehicles, down 2.5% year-on-year; in 2019, Infiniti's annual sales were 35,000 vehicles; in 2020, Infiniti's annual sales were 25,700 vehicles, down 26.7% year-on-year; from January to November 2021, Infiniti's annual sales were less than 10,000 vehicles, while falling 65%, which has hovered on the edge of the second-tier luxury brand market.
There are three reasons for the continuous decline in Infiniti's sales, one of which is the lack of product strength, which was recalled in 2016 because the product airbag could not pop out normally, and then recalled in 2020 due to engine oil leakage, and the number of recalled products exceeded 100,000. At the "315" party last year, Infiniti was named by CCTV because of the QX60 gearbox failure.
The second is that Infiniti on the market sales comparison "Buddha" and market strategy adjustment is not timely, when the product sales downturn, the brand did not want to improve product strength, but thought of "price for market", that is, to increase the discount of models, the current Infiniti QX50 market discount reached 85,000.
This also allows Infiniti to enter a vicious circle, the product terminal discount is too large, resulting in serious damage to the interests of dealers, and finally led to serious losses in their own profits; previously Infiniti also had four regional business units in China, and currently only the Beijing headquarters remains. In addition, due to poor sales, Infiniti withdrew from the Western European market in early 2020, although it claimed to focus on the Chinese and American markets, but this market strategy does not seem to play any role, the current two major market sales are dismal, Infiniti has no pain to say.
The third is that Infiniti's product matrix is not perfect, the market coverage is insufficient, the current domestic models on sale are only Q50L, QX50, QX60 (imported), as well as the upcoming domestic QX60, which is also the third model since Infiniti's localization for 7 years. Compared with other second-tier luxury brands, Infiniti has not introduced enough new models, the replacement is slow, and there is no change in the replacement model, which makes it difficult to keep up with the rhythm of today's automobile market.
In this context, Infiniti's acquisition by Dongfeng Limited is undoubtedly a good thing, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. said that after returning to Dongfeng Nissan, Infiniti will make full use of Dongfeng Nissan's advantages in research and development, manufacturing and management, explore new business models, contribute to Infiniti's electrification, automatic driving, mobile Internet and shared travel, and further explore opportunities in the luxury car market.
This means that this year, Infiniti will introduce a new round of products, improve the product matrix, enhance market coverage, and meet the needs of domestic consumers for luxury brands. Coupled with the limited intervention of Dongfeng, Infiniti's product strength will be further improved; at the same time, Infiniti can also share technology and production lines with Dongfeng Nissan, so as to reduce production costs, which may make Infiniti's product prices more affordable to a certain extent.
Live car market
For Infiniti, being absorbed is not the same as being reduced in price, but an opportunity to break the deadlock, with the help of Dongfeng Limited, to solve the problems of insufficient product strength, untimely market strategy, etc., while also reducing operating costs and production costs, and the price of models will also be reduced, further enhancing market competitiveness, thereby increasing sales. For both, it is mutually beneficial.