Post-90s demolition households bought two independent SUVs in one go, and the "national tide" of cars surged forward

In 2021, Zhu Feng purchased two self-owned brand SUVs in one go, which made some friends feel puzzled. His friend said bluntly: "Zhu Fengming can afford to buy a Mercedes-Benz BMW, why did he choose a domestic car in the end?" ”

After the family demolition was compensated, coupled with the fight in the stock market, Zhu Feng left the state of "eating by salary" long ago after the 90s. At the beginning of 2021, 2 Shanghai card quotas were successively in hand, and Zhu Feng, the "native family", put the purchase of a car on the agenda. He told the first financial reporter: "At the beginning, I still wanted to see Mercedes-Benz BMW Audi, and Lexus or something, but to be honest, in addition to the brand, I didn't think these cars were so good." ”

In the past, luxury brands and joint venture brands had unparalleled advantages of most independent brands in terms of brand accumulation, product quality, and technical level. "Although the configuration of the early independent brands was very high, there were major shortcomings in terms of technology, quality, and styling design, and did not leave a good impression on the post-70s and post-80s users who were the main consumers at that time." Huang Yanxiao, product manager of a joint venture car company, told reporters.

This inherent impression once gave independent brands the label of "low price, high matching, low quality", which restricted the momentum of independent brands to sprint to a higher selling price range, and at that time, brands and products such as Qoros and Dongfeng A9 were folded and sunk.

With the post-90s and post-95s beginning to become the main force, the situation in the auto market is changing. The 2021 Generation Z Automotive Insight Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Insight Report") shows that among the national factional preferences of Generation Z, the preference for independent brands is as high as 47%, second only to 55% of the Germans. According to the insight report, Gen Z grew up in The stage of China's economic take-off, witnessed the gradual development and rapid rise of domestic brands, and became more confident in local brands and products.

In addition, independent car companies that are leading in technology are no longer afraid to compare with overseas brands. Taking BYD's DM-i hybrid technology in the 2021 fire as an example, the thermal efficiency of its core hybrid special engine has reached 43%, far exceeding overseas brands such as Honda and Toyota, and related products equipped with this technology have been in short supply.

A post-95 Qin PLUS DM-i owner told reporters that the budget for the purchase of Qin DM-i at that time could completely buy joint venture models such as Buick Yinglang and Nissan Xuanyi, but whether it was configuration, fuel consumption or power, the joint venture model was not a rival of Qin PLUS DM-i at all, and finally let him convince his parents to choose BYD.

In the luxury brand market, brands such as Weilai, Ideal, and Extreme Krypton have also attracted many young consumers through stronger technology and better intelligence. Weilai Automobile said that in November last year, when the delivery volume exceeded 10,000 yuan, its average transaction price was as high as 440,000 yuan, and the average price of bicycles exceeded that of the two traditional luxury brands of Audi and BMW. The NIO ET5 equipped with LiDAR and NVIDIA Orin X chip once let the NIO APP go down when it opened the reservation.

"The cars we have mass-produced are lagging behind the competition, and the products we are planning and developing will still be backward when the mass production is officially produced a few years later." Volvo R & D engineer Zhang Shan believes that Volvo's planning for electric vehicles is quite early, and it wants to grab the market of luxury electric vehicles, but it is similar to mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, and it is not better than domestic luxury brands.

Insights reports show that for Gen Z, cars are an important means of transportation for daily transportation and long-distance travel, so when buying a car, they pay more attention to the use attributes of safety, comfort and workmanship quality. At the same time, intelligence, personality and in-car audio entertainment have become the keywords of the ideal driving experience of Generation Z.

"I saw the Star Yue L at the Shanghai Auto Show, and I felt that the configuration, space, and power were very good, and the one-meter-long triple screen was very attractive, and after the test drive, I was directly blinded." Peng Feng told reporters that compared to brand power, he is more concerned about what the product can really bring to himself.

Zhu Ye, a judge of the Chinese car of the year, believes that the Z generation is very aware of their preferences and needs, they have grown up in 3C and scientific and technological equipment since childhood, and the starting point of their understanding of science and technology is relatively high, and they generally have high requirements for scientific and technological configuration.

With the post-90s and post-95s consumers gradually becoming the main force of market consumption, the labels of independent brand quality and technology are gradually being diluted. "Almost 50% of customers who come to the store will take the Lynk & Co 03 to compare the Civic, there are defeats and victories; the Lynk & Co 01 is also similar, customers will mainly compare the Honda CR-V and Volkswagen's Tuyue." The sales staff of a Lynk & Co 4S store told reporters that according to the data released by Lynk & Co, its user groups account for nearly 40% after 90, and more than 2/3 after 85 +90.

It is worth noting that the inherent impression of independent brands is only diluted rather than completely eliminated. When visiting a Cadillac 4S store in Shanghai, Yang Sheng, a post-90s who had just placed an order for XT6, told reporters that he would not consider his own brand: "Independent brand technology is still not OK, and Lynk & Co and Ji use not all Volvo's technology." Yang Sheng believes that after more long-term development, overseas auto brands have more experience and precipitation in the fields of technology, quality control and other fields, which require time to hone, and not Chinese car companies can catch up in just ten or fifteen years.

At present, young users do not fully grasp the right to speak in car purchase. Ipsos research data shows that 70% of young Gen Z users are still involved in family car purchase decisions, and only 21% of Gen Z can fully decide to buy a car.

"I have a classmate who likes Lynk & Co 03 very much, the configuration is high, the power is good, but his father believes in the Volkswagen brand, so he eventually bought a Volkswagen Langyi." Zhu Feng told reporters that many of his classmates actually prefer to choose Chinese brands in car purchases, but parents' suggestions and decisions cannot be ignored.

"There is still a lot of resistance to buying independent brand cars, mainly because parents do not agree, they just think that the three major pieces of independent brands (engine, gearbox, chassis) are not OK, and multinational brands will be better." Zhu Feng told reporters that the purchase of independent brand cars did not get the support of parents, and finally they were able to buy cars, mainly at their own expense.

(At the request of the interviewees, Zhu Feng and Yang Sheng are pseudonyms)