"Whatever is less, even what he has, will be taken away." Give him more, and let him have more and the merrier. — The New Testament Gospel of Matthew
In the past 2020, the cold winter of China's automotive industry is still continuing, and the cumulative sales of domestic passenger cars in 2020 are 25.311 million units, down 1.78% year-on-year. But at the same time, the luxury car market has become the "Eden" of the domestic car market, especially the three brands of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, and in the context of the cold winter of the car market, the overall sales volume is still rising against the trend.
"BBA" sales "alone to defeat"
Mercedes-Benz sold 774382 units in the year, up 11.7% year-on-year
BMW sold 777379 vehicles in the full year, up 7.4% year-on-year
Audi's full-year sales 726228, up 5.4% year-on-year
Not only is the vertical comparison growing gratifyingly, in the horizontal comparison of the luxury car market, there is also a clear "Matthew effect", the second-tier luxury brands in the Chinese market can be roughly divided into the top three BBA in Germany, cadillac and Lincoln in the United States, Lexus, Acuras in Japan, Infiniti, DS in France, and Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. The stronger the stronger, the weaker the weaker the phenomenon becomes more prominent. How miserable the second-tier luxury brands are, you can see from the following numbers.
In 2020, Lexus sold 2,236.48 million units domestically, Cadillac sold 230,007 units, Lincoln sold 61,761 vehicles in China, Volvo sold 166,300 vehicles in China, Jaguar Land Rover sold about 111,000 units in China, and Infiniti sold 25,695 vehicles in China. The three BBA brands account for 70 percent of sales in the luxury car market, while all the other brands split the remaining 30 percent. Why all the other luxury brands around the world combined, can't sell the BBA
What is the difference between second-tier luxury cars and BBA
So, why is it that the same luxury brand, BBA and other second-tier luxury brands can show such a huge difference, and is BBA's product power really crushing other competitors as reflected in sales? In fact, the real gap between second-tier luxury brands and BBA is the following points:
The first difference, the difference in time and brand recognition, if other second-tier luxury brands enter the domestic market earlier, the situation will not be different. Because as early as the 1980s, BBA has entered the domestic market through different ways, Audi imported domestically in 1984, introduced domestically in 1988, and quickly established the identity of its official car; Mercedes-Benz established a joint venture company in Hong Kong in 1986, and its models entered the Chinese mainland through import status, and began to be domestically produced in 2005; while BMW began to import into domestic sales in 1994 and began to be domestically produced in 2004.
Not only into China early, BBA these three brands have more than a hundred years of development history, preconceived, so that these brands established brand recognition earlier, in the hearts of the older generation of Chinese people, take a Mercedes-Benz to drive BMW, the concept of official car Audi has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, mentioning luxury brands, the first thing that comes to mind is BBA.
The second difference is the difference between the first-line luxury brand and the second-line luxury brand in the identification of identity, not only in terms of sales, but also in the identity positioning. Second-tier luxury brands that cannot compete with BBA in terms of market appeal can only find another way and focus on leveraging the niche luxury car market. For example, Volvo is mainly focused on safety and environmental protection, mainly targeting white-collar elites with high education, intellectualism, low profile and family values such as lawyers and doctors; Lincoln aims at 30-40 years old with certain economic strength and the pursuit of quiet and comfortable middle-aged groups...
Relatively speaking, the BBA market positioning is more comprehensive, even Audi, which was positioned in the early stage of official cars, after establishing a certain brand recognition, is also constantly breaking through the circle and impressing more young people.
The third difference, the difference in R & D strength and product line above the two points determines that the sales of second-tier luxury brands can not be compared with BBA, and sales affect revenue, revenue affects R & D strength, which also forms a cycle of stronger and stronger. BBA has formed a complete product system under the advantage of scale, such as Mercedes-Benz has A, B, C, E, S, G sedan and SUV versions, as well as Maybach and AMG versions, and the product range is quite complete. Among the second-tier luxury brands, even Lexus, which has a complete product range, is completely on par with Mercedes-Benz, especially in terms of performance and ultra-luxury version.
Sales have also significantly affected the development and replacement of technology, so that second-tier luxury brands are unable to develop high-end models, taking the engine as an example, BMW engine has B, M, N, S series, covering from four cylinders, to six cylinders, eight cylinders to twelve cylinder engines, while second-tier luxury brands are often a 2.0T engine to hit the world.
The above reasons have also led to the current situation of BBA in the luxury car market, and formed a virtuous circle, demand and purchase intention continue to concentrate on first-line luxury brands, the Matthew effect is becoming more and more obvious, and second-tier luxury brands such as Infiniti, Acura, and Jaguar are becoming increasingly marginalized.
In 2022, the car market is still difficult to see good signs, the car market or will continue to be in a weak cycle of operation, in this case, the strong of the weak will be more serious, for the second-tier luxury brands in the downward stage, is completely abandoned by the domestic auto market, or re-embraced by the market, it depends on whether these second-tier luxury brands can come up with the determination of the brave to break the wrist.
Recently, the domestic production of Lincoln adventurers seems to indicate that Lincoln has begun its "adventure", and it is a last resort and desperate adventure.
In 2005, Lincoln first entered the country, in 2008 because of sales, channels and other reasons, encountered Waterloo and regrettably withdrew from the Chinese market, Lincoln first entered the country for just three years like a glimpse, in 2014, Lincoln regrouped and returned again, in just a few years the annual sales exceeded 50,000 vehicles, but in 2019, Lincoln's sales growth was once again pressed the "pause button", the annual sales of 46629 new cars, down 15.7% year-on-year. The key reason for this is that Lincoln abandoned the "Lincoln Way" and replaced it with a "quiet journey", and Lincoln lost its most distinctive label. Under such circumstances, choosing to lower the domestic body and attract consumers with a low threshold has become Lincoln's helpless move.
"If there is no risk in life, how to do full success", Lincoln's development path is also the epitome of many second-tier luxury car brands in the Chinese market in recent years, the hegemony of the BBA is difficult to shake, Lexus withdrew from the other side to watch the fire, Cadillac and Volvo are deeply involved in the "price war" is difficult to get out, Infiniti Acura is becoming increasingly marginalized, in 2022, second-tier luxury car brands may be further subdivided, and some will be stripped into third-tier luxury brands.
Who will be the next DS?