Since the reform and opening up, the intervention of foreign technical capital, the reform of the domestic enterprise system and the efforts of the older generation of automakers have made China's automobile industry usher in the first period of rapid growth, and the old three represented by Santana, Jetta and Fukang have made Chinese people first contact with the concept of household cars.
Entering the new century, Chinese local brands have begun a new stage of independent research and development and manufacturing after a period of accumulation and precipitation, and Geely, BYD, Great Wall and other car companies have initially opened up the domestic market. After more than a decade, Chinese automobiles began to exert efforts in technology and quality, and BYD Dynasty series, Geely and its brands such as Lynk & Co, Great Wall and its WEY, tanks and other brands have further opened up and divided more and more market segments.
At the same time, as the younger generation of car owners has become an important consumer market for car companies, various companies have launched many models with fashion designs for young people, but many users do not seem to buy such young models, thinking that such models are just products that repackage boring things and bring them to the market, which belongs to buying clothes for old ladies. But in terms of actual sales, these cars do not seem to be bad results, where does this contradiction come from, and how will it change and lead the Chinese automotive industry to where?
I. A Flash in the Pan - The Superficial "Young Car"
As a car company, its primary purpose is to make a profit. Therefore, I am not opposed to car companies temporarily launching some products with shiny chrome strips and blocked vents in order to cater to the market, but these products have a core drawback - lack of core product competitiveness. First, such a design actually has a relatively strong auto parts city style, and does not belong to the real science fiction future Z era category; second, many of these models lack the support of core technology, and the backwardness of the three major pieces and the flaws of quality control are destined to make consumers leave these brands. We only need to look at the rise and fall of Zotye to understand the above situation.
Second, the strong Hengqiang - a successful "young" car
Regarding the principle of "mastering core technology", Dong Mingzhu knows that smart car bosses also know, which is also the reason why there are frequent masterpieces from main car companies in recent years.
Geely's choice is to exchange the ability to pay for technology, the championship of the Lynk & Co 03+ race car in the WTCR is an achievement that we cannot deny, and other commercially available Lynk & Co products have also achieved commercial success with excellent design, generous configuration and good performance. On January 6, Lynk & Co officially announced its 2021 sales data, and its total sales volume was 220,500 units, an increase of 25.68% year-on-year.
The Great Wall looks at the poetry and distance of modern people, eating up the huge off-road market with hardcore models such as guns, tanks, and big dogs, and the cross-level one-two-three locks have made the Great Wall stock double rapidly since last year's Chengdu Auto Show.
BYD and Changan also rely on their respective inputs and outputs of eye-catching models, since the 15-year "542" plan, BYD's dynasty series has begun to rise; Changan's UNI-T is also difficult to recognize at a glance that this is a product from the hands of car companies that have manufactured Ben Ben and Changan Star.
Now China's young consumers have become more and more mature, whether to pile up materials to fool people or really to serve users with products, people are clear, look at the above independent factories, all of them are growing towards world-class car companies.
Third, different users in different eras - looking forward to another kind of "rejuvenation"
Back to the beginning of the user's view of "rejuvenation", the point of attack has considerable reasonableness. For some car companies that take "rejuvenation" as a gimmick, their later development must be powerless, and can only be quickly eliminated by the market after making a wave of fast money, and those who are left are the enterprises that are pointed to the new era of users and supported by core strength.
But on the other hand, some car fans are also lamenting that Chinese car companies do not know how to build cars, in addition to SUVs or SUVs, in addition to screens or screens, when can China have JDM, HotHatch and other cultures? My view on this may be pessimistic, and China may not have a similar driving-centric car culture.
In fact, the times have changed, whether it is GTI or EVO, they were born in the pre-digital era, and in the contemporary era, people have lived more in the network connection, the achievements of the second industrial revolution of the automobile industry In order to keep up with the pace of the times, limited production and research funds must be invested in the research and development of digital cars, and the Chinese automobile industry that has risen in the digital age may never be able to produce the golden age car culture that emerged abroad in the 1970s and 1980s, and there will not be so many "traditional rejuvenation" The advent of the automobile. So it will be replaced by a new "digital youth" car, after all, from the post-90s generation, the life of this generation is not surrounded by screens in all directions?
In general, we do not have to regret that China does not have "fun" cars, after the screening of the market, our future is more suitable for the contemporary universal user market of the new era of cars and new era of car culture.
As for young people who love traditional cars, we have at least grasped the tail of the times, and cars such as Lynk & Co 03+ will still exist for a long time, although it is difficult to become the mainstream, just like there will still be people who love riding horses now, and the future "traditional young" cars will also erupt in the party between the good guys, and get the solid support of some people.