How niche joint venture brands transform into electrification, GAC Mitsubishi provides an idea丨 Automotive Sankei

On January 5th, the Zhixin 2022 New Energy Vehicle Trend Forum hosted by eCar was held in Haikou.

In the era of "electric intelligence, how can car companies create brand differentiation?" During the roundtable discussion session on the topic, Yang Long (copy director and director of the sales department of GAC Mitsubishi Sales Company and executive deputy general manager of Mitsubishi Motors Sales China Co., Ltd.) expressed many views on how a relatively niche traditional joint venture car company can create new brand differences.

In fact, there are few successful cases of joint venture car companies doing new energy vehicles in the Chinese market, and even the Volkswagen ID. family, which is becoming more and more courageous in the European market, is not a firm foothold in the Chinese market, and sales in 2021 are far from the previous target of 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles.

Traditional energy giants are still difficult to continue their glory on the road of transformation, and GAC Mitsubishi, which is much smaller, will have more difficulties in finding a sense of existence in the new market.

At the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show, GAC Mitsubishi unveiled its first pure electric SUV, Atuka. The car is jointly developed by GAC Group and Mitsubishi and is scheduled to be officially launched in the first half of 2022. Some people say that the arrival of Artuka only ends the history of GAC-Mitsubishi without new cars for many years, and whether Mitsubishi can regain its sense of existence in the Chinese market is still a question mark.

From January to November 2021, GAC Mitsubishi sold 59,000 units, down 7.9% year-on-year, and in the context of the significant expansion of the overall share of the Japanese system, GAC Mitsubishi has obviously dragged its feet.

However, the traditional Japanese top three have not yet officially moved in terms of pure electricity, and Mitsubishi's "rush to run" at least shows that the brand does not intend to leave the market.

Yang Long said that Atukao's ambitions are not very big, and achieving 90% of the market segment in the 5% market segment is what they want to work towards.

Of course, in the context of the great changes in the energy transition, holding a very small market segment may not necessarily avoid being eliminated. But it is worth expecting that at the 2022 Tokyo Motor Show, Mitsubishi will launch several EV concept cars. This also means that GAC Mitsubishi may also have the possibility of integrating more electric technology resources.

The road is long, and doing a good job in the current Atuka may be to lay a strong foundation for the comeback of Mitsubishi in the future.

So, how?

In fact, Mitsubishi is one of the first brands to enter many fields, but ultimately has no market share, from MPV to SUVs to sports cars, it seems that they have not escaped this law. In 2015, Mitsubishi accounted for 70% of the plug-in market share in Europe, when Mitsubishi also had pure electric models in Europe.

In the Chinese market, Yang Long also admitted that the speed of GAC Mitsubishi lags behind many independent brands. But for the latest pure electric vehicle product Atuka, Yang Long is confident of selling it to a specific target group.

Atuka uses the GAC Group's pure electric platform, and the exterior interior was developed and designed by Mitsubishi Motors.

GAC-Mitsubishi hopes to translate the original traditional customer group to new energy products, and if the original customers who love hardcore can increase the purchase of Mitsubishi's pure electric products, this is also a success.

"We have been thinking about what kind of way to find the accurate target customer base, and we have also thought about learning from new forces to open supermarkets, and dealers have also stepped on points." Later, we found that the car booking customers are basically over the age of 35, the age is older, and these people do not necessarily like to go to the supermarket. Yang Long analyzed.

Therefore, at present, the overall marketing strategy of GAC Mitsubishi has also been very clear, that is, to give full play to the channel advantages of traditional fuel vehicle companies and the loyalty advantages of maintaining car owners.

Yang Long believes that the changes in the two environments have given GAC Mitsubishi a chance.

First, changes in the communication environment. Yang Long believes that it is no longer fragmented transmission, but powdered transmission. In this communication environment, being able to suck up a little powder has a great impact on niche brands like Mitsubishi.

Second, changes in customer profiles. Although the spread of powder, but the customer portrait particle size is getting clearer, which is why GAC Mitsubishi has the confidence to let Artuka in a small pure electric segment to achieve a high share.

Yang Long introduced that this year, GAC Mitsubishi will have a series of actions such as the listing of the new Orlander, the new image of the Mitsubishi brand, etc., and they hope to strengthen the brand proposition of "driving the fun of exploration" to the hardcore.

It is understood that many of Artuka's order customers come from outlander's old customers, which are usually very fond of off-road, self-driving travel, due to the impact of changes in the new energy environment, but also began to hope to try pure electric brands.

"They are also loyal to the Mitsubishi brand, and they love our hardcore image very much, and the desire for a hardcore image exists, so we will focus on our core customers to build our marketing system." Yang Long said.