If the key word in the current automotive industry is "lack of core", then "de-allocation" must be another keyword derived from it.
Just stepping into 2022, the "big allocation reduction" public has exposed the reduction scandal. The Central Broadcasting Network recently received a number of car owners complaints, SAIC Volkswagen 2021 Langyi appeared in the car machine "reduction", lack of function and manufacturers and 4S shop publicity inconsistencies, and 4S stores mostly on the grounds of "lack of core" and "not a quality problem" as the reason for refusing to solve for the owner.
Before Volkswagen, domestic Tesla was exposed to knee airbag reduction, and Euler Good Cat climbed to the top of the 2021 model complaint list because of "stealing chips".
What is strange is that the global chip supply crisis that is being experienced seems to have reduced the official "name" of car companies, and it is also reasonable to reduce the allocation behind the back of consumers.
In 2022, why is the wind of car companies reducing allocation not decreasing but increasing, and even the independent brands that have always liked to pile up the configuration are secretly reducing allocation?
01 Volkswagen Langyi was exposed to the "reduction" of the car machine
According to the Central Broadcasting Network, Henan Shangqiu owner Mr. Huang purchased a 2021 280 TSI DSG Comfort Edition Langyi in September 2021, and the new car was opened for less than half a year and had various failures, of which the dashboard was black screened 8 times, and 5 times appeared on the highway, fortunately there was no danger and no serious consequences. After inspection, Mr. Huang found that the problem was in the "reduction" of the car machine.
SAIC Volkswagen officially advertised that the car's car machine supports the intelligent car connection system, and can link carplay and other functions through the SAIC Volkswagen super APP. Mr. Huang's car is not equipped with the original intelligent car connection system, but uses the "Android system", the vehicle can not link the CarPlay function, and there is no officially advertised MOS system.
Mr. Huang found the 4S store, and the 4S store said that it could help Mr. Huang solve the problem of the LCD black screen, but he could not replace the original main engine because it exceeded their ability to solve.
Was this a chance mistake by SAIC Volkswagen, or was it deliberate? The answer gradually surfaced.
According to other media reports, in addition to Mr. Huang, there are more than 40 car owners in addition to this problem. A female owner said that in response to the problem that the carPlay function of the vehicle could not be used normally, the 4S store said to it: "The manufacturer gave two batches, one batch has the Internet of Vehicles, and one batch does not." However, the publicity of Langyi on the official website of SAIC Volkswagen did not mention this.
More 4S stores bluntly said that these vehicles are not equipped with the original main engine because of "lack of cores".
Due to the inconsistency between the central control screen and the publicity, the USB interface that should have been there has been removed, which seriously affects the user experience. When car owners seek solutions, 4S stores basically reject car owners on the grounds of "lack of core" or "non-quality problems".
According to the lawyer's analysis, SAIC Volkswagen's inconsistent publicity behavior is suspected of fraud and should bear the liability for compensation. Unfortunately, the matter has been fermenting for many days, SAIC Volkswagen has not yet given an official response, only the relevant person in charge said in an interview with the media that it is currently under investigation.
According to the data of the Association of Passenger Vehicles, the terminal retail sales of Langyi from January to November were 355,000 units, the highest sales model among all passenger cars. SAIC Volkswagen's Volkswagen brand sold 134.28 vehicles in 2021, of which about 30% came from Langyi.
Such a popular model is suspected of fraud, is SAIC Volkswagen not a big bully?
It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time that SAIC Volkswagen has had a reduction scandal. In the 2019 China Insurance Research Institute crash test, Tiguan L and Passat in the "frontal 25% bias collision test" were at the bottom, which is considered by the industry to be the result of the manufacturer's "allocation reduction" and cost reduction.
In fact, the negative news about the public's reduction has been going on in recent years. In addition to Tiguan L and Passat, which are in the "eye of the storm" of public opinion, some media dismantled a 2019 Polo, and it turned out that the material in the rear bumper was actually foam.
In this regard, the manufacturer's explanation is "composite materials". Although I don't know what the truth is, one thing is certain, that is, volkswagen is really "working hard" to reduce costs.
02 The trend of car companies reducing allocation has intensified
When the SAIC Volkswagen 4S store pushed the reason why Langyi did not carry the original car machine to the "lack of core", we can easily think of the Euler good cat chip reduction door that is also on CCTV.
Euler Good Cat, a pure electric vehicle listed in November 2020, was first found by the owner last year that the chip did not match the configuration table, and then was exposed by the carmates to reduce the Bluetooth allocation, and the storm continued.
The models exported by Euler Good Cat to the United Kingdom, Thailand and India are equipped with the octa-core processor of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155, but the old Intel 4-core A3940 chip released in 2016 is sold to domestic consumers. The manufacturer's promotion of the car Bluetooth 5.0, many car owners reflect that it is actually only the Bluetooth 4.2 version, and there is a big gap between the price and use experience between the two.
To this end, the number of complaints about Euler Good Cat has risen sharply, and it has also won the annual champion of the car quality network model complaint list.
In the end, the manufacturer was forced to compensate the owner of the right package worth 7200 yuan, increase the lifetime warranty of the whole car and the charging equity of 10,000 yuan, the first owner of the 10,000 yuan charging rights can be discounted, and correct the parameters of Euler Good Cat on the official website.
If it is said that the allocation reduction that has been exposed before is the mainstream joint venture brand with greater brand awareness and appeal, then the reduction of Euler Good Cat has smeared the independent brand.
On the other hand, Tesla, which has always been a maverick, is also indispensable to such negative news. Recently, some car owners removed the cover plate under the main co-driver of Tesla and found that it was not equipped with knee airbags, while the overseas version had knee airbags, thus questioning the reduction of domestic Tesla models.
But Tesla is not as hidden as the above manufacturers, trying to cover up, but it seems to be reasonable.
When the owner asked Tesla customer service about this question, the other party responded directly: "The knee air bag does not affect the safety of the whole vehicle, and in the event of an accident, its safety effect on the whole vehicle is not high, and the entire domestic Tesla is not equipped." Tesla customer service also said that some foreign versions have knee air bags because some countries and regions have high policy standards.
Although many netizens think that there is nothing wrong with Tesla's approach, and think that the root of the problem lies in the low domestic standards, in the car company's increasingly fierce reduction of distribution, Tesla's "internal and external differences" approach has still touched the nerves of many people.
03 The reduction should be reduced to be bright
The reduction of allocation of car companies has a long history in China and is the product of the roll-up in the automotive industry.
In the past 20 years, domestic prices have soared, taking house prices as an example, the price has risen by dozens of times, and cars are one of the few commodities whose prices do not rise but fall.
Although the price of the car is declining, but the cost of parts on the body is rising, in this case, what do car companies rely on to maintain profits? The first is to amortize the cost by increasing the speed of mass production, and the other is to reduce some unnecessary accessories on the body, that is, to reduce the allocation.
Therefore, fog lights, sun visors, tires, leather seats, soundproof cotton, trunks, and suspensions that are not within the scope of the mandatory scope of regulations have become the objects of reduction in allocation of car companies. For example, the front fog lights and sun visor lights were eliminated, the tires were replaced by cheaper brands, and the soundproof and shockproof interior panels of the trunk also disappeared on some models.
If you talk about who is the most mad at the reduction, the Volkswagen brand says that no one dares to call the first. As the grandfather of the joint venture car company's allocation reduction behavior, the achievement of the North and South Volkswagen allocation reduction can be described as the pinnacle. The most famous is that FAW-Volkswagen reduced sagitar's multi-link rear suspension to a torque beam, resulting in a number of shaft breaks, and it was not until the mid-term reshuffle that it was replaced by a multi-link rear suspension.
Since Volkswagen, the wind of de-allocation has blown almost all foreign brands, and many car companies have even treated Chinese models and overseas models differently, and Chinese consumers are dissatisfied, but they are powerless to change the status quo.
However, in recent years, the wind of de-allocation has also blown to its own brands.
Although more and more independent car companies are investing a lot of energy and financial resources in research and development and quality improvement, the increasingly fierce market competition has made the living environment of car companies more and more harsh.
In order to reduce costs and maintain profits, independent brands have also begun to learn from joint venture brands to reduce allocations, and learned the essence - starting from where consumers can't see. For example, cancel or replace the impact beam, reduce the number of airbags, use smaller tires and wheels, eliminate the Body Stability System (ESP), and so on.
Euler's good cat secretly reduced the chip, and even did not hesitate to commit fraud, which can be described as this "de-allocation spirit" to the extreme.
In the harsh living environment, car companies in order to survive and subtract some innocuous configuration of the product, we can understand; in the case of a serious shortage of chips, some car companies by taking measures to alleviate the lack of cores, we can also understand, but the premise is not to hide consumers, should be done brightly, this is the most basic respect for consumers.
Unfortunately, there are always some car companies that secretly engage in small actions to secretly reduce the allocation, and even more want to "erect the archway" false propaganda. There is no impermeable wall in the world, and the excellent performance achieved by this means is only the "tofu slag project", which will collapse one day. I advise the car company, do not be blinded by the temporary profit, and take risks, and your feathers still have to be cherished.