In the early years, the share of domestic cars in China's automobile market was pitifully small, and domestic cars have been difficult to be recognized among consumers. Because China's automobile industry started relatively late, there is a big gap between both technology and quality and imported cars or joint venture cars, and domestic cars have become synonymous with cheap and poor quality. Even the owners of domestic cars in the automobile circle are often looked down upon by the owners of joint venture cars and imported cars.
With the continuous development of China's automobile industry, domestic cars have gradually taken off the hat that can only fight the price war in the past, and have established their own reputation among consumers and won the recognition of more and more car owners. On the other hand, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce have also jointly issued the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access, which stipulates that from January 1, 2022, the restriction on the joint venture share ratio will be abolished, which means that the red line that has lasted for more than 20 years cannot exceed 50%.
However, many car owners have noticed that although the car-making technology of independent brands is becoming more and more mature, and many of its models are also performing very well and are recognized by many consumers, why do people consider joint venture cars for the first time when buying a car? Even sometimes under the same price conditions, the configuration of domestic cars is higher than that of joint venture cars, but consumers still choose a joint venture car as their own car, which makes people feel very magical.
Why people prefer to choose joint venture cars
First, the brand effect
It is true that at the current level of automotive technology, independent brands still have some way to go. But the more important reason is because compared with domestic cars, the models of various foreign brands have become famous earlier and have already laid a solid audience base. For example, in the early days of the Chinese auto industry, Volkswagen has successfully entered the Chinese market with Santana, when the streets are basically Volkswagen models, which also makes the Volkswagen brand deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and subconsciously feel that Volkswagen is better quality when choosing a car.
Although the quality of domestic cars in recent years has indeed made great progress, it will take a while to completely reverse the impression of the past, and with the development of the times, consumers will have more stringent requirements for domestic cars.
Second, sales and public relations channels are weak
At present, the domestic automobile market has basically formed a three-legged situation of German cars, Japanese cars and domestic cars, but compared with the two car systems of German and Japanese, domestic cars are still lacking in sales and publicity channels. The 4S stores of the joint venture brand can be found even in many second- and third-tier small cities, while the 4S stores of domestic cars rarely appear in these places, so it is more convenient for car owners to buy joint venture cars.
On the other hand, after decades of exploration in the market, joint venture brands have long explored a complete set of publicity models, and even if there is any negative news, they can quickly carry out crisis public relations in the shortest possible time. The level of domestic cars in this regard still needs to be improved, and the ability to deal with accidents is also lacking.
Third, the retention rate is low
Compared with joint venture cars, especially Japanese cars, the retention rate of domestic cars is indeed not enough. The retention rate is now an aspect that many car owners are very important when buying a car, because now people's living standards are better, many car owners will consider changing cars after three or five years of carrying the car home, and whenever a high retention rate of the car can recover more costs for themselves, naturally it is more popular with car owners.
summary:
In recent years, the progress of domestic cars in the automobile manufacturing industry is obvious to all, although there is still a certain distance from the joint venture brand, but there is no insurmountable gap. However, in terms of sales and publicity, independent brands are indeed not yet mature in the operation of joint venture brands, and there is still a gap between the two.