Last year, high-end MPV models such as Xena became the top of the Chinese car market, and such models with some tool attributes in the North American market and the Japanese market have become price increases in the Chinese market, becoming high-end cars, and the supply is in short supply. On the other side, the Sales of the Japanese Auto Market in 2021 continued to decline, and hit the lowest level since 2011, and Japanese consumers could not afford to buy a car and did not dare to buy a car... Slightly different from the Chinese market, the Japanese market is more extreme, consumers show a "must it" fanatical demand for MPV, in the top ten of Japan's 2021 single model sales list, in addition to Yaris and Corolla, the remaining eight seats are occupied by K-Car and MPV, which is enough to explain the problem.
On January 7, Honda released the sixth generation OF STEP WGN, one of Honda's most successful MPV models in the market segment, and it is the best spokesperson for "Space Magician". With the explosion and upgrading, perhaps we can find the reason for the Japanese consumers' love for MPV from the new generation of STEP WGN.
STEP WGN | Trumpet Odyssey
Since its launch in 1996, the STEP WGN has evolved into its sixth-generation model, and for more than 20 years, it has become one of Honda's best-selling models in Japan. The new generation of STEP WGN is based on a transverse front-drive platform, with Air and Spada versions, which you can understand as a relationship between Odyssey and Alexand, but the first two are more close.
Each generation of STEP WGN has not had as many exterior designs as the previous generation, and maintaining freshness is an important core of STEP WGN. In the Japanese market, the age of users of entry-level MPV is not too high or too low, and it happens to be concentrated in the working class, and if you want to cover the age span of this class, two shape designs are very necessary. The new generation of STEP WGN is full of spirit and doesn't look cheap.
STEP WGN | Space magician
In the Japanese market, the flexibility of seat adjustment determines whether an MPV is qualified or not. Excellent MPV models need to reflect the core advantages of rich functions, high convenience and high cost performance. Many people define STEP WGN as the poor version of Odyssey, which is not accurate, it should be called the practical version of Odyssey.
In addition to factory configuration, STEP WGN can also be added and modified at the dealership, such as rear TV, rim and so on. There is not much information released this time, but for such an MPV model, it is still the most important to maintain the flexibility of space. From the configuration point of view, it is indeed unfair to say that STEP WGN is a poor version of Odyssey. It has improved in configuration and intelligence, and as an entry-level MPV, it is satisfactory enough.
STEP WGN is based on the "God Car" Civic, which is inextricably linked to the Civic. And step WGN is not so cute every generation of models, the design of previous generations of models has many fascinating places. Importantly, each generation of STEP WGN represents a new round of Honda's research on target customers, and let's review the first five generations of models.
Editor's comments: Compared with the Chinese automobile market, which is in short supply, the desire to buy cars in the entire Japanese market is reduced, which is also closely related to Japan's car purchase policy. Not only that, the Japanese market also shows two levels of differentiation, such as the luxury brand Lexus brand achieved sales growth, while the sales performance of "two fields and one production" has declined differently. MPV can pull goods can carry people, K-Car does not need to buy parking spaces, so the prevalence of K-Car and MPV also happens to reflect the Japanese market's return to a rational car buying environment.
STEP WGN reminds me of The Five Diamond Capgemini, which has a lot of similarities in the groups they face. For Chinese people, most of the MPV models are the icing on the cake, generally as the second and third cars at home. Unlike Japanese consumers, who generally can't afford to use and park, entry-level MPVs like STEP WGN may not be too popular in the Chinese market. But who's right, the Civic Type R is coming, will step WGN be far away?