As one of the three major cities with the same name as Beijing and Shanghai, Guangzhou has been an important port city in China since ancient times with the geographical advantages of the southern coast and the warm climate, and is known as China's "southern gate" to the world. It is precisely because of the characteristics of the port with a long history that Guangzhou has become one of the first cities in China to be exposed to imported cars, and has become the most mature and developed area of China's automobile culture.
When it comes to Guangzhou's car consumption preferences, many students must first think of Japanese cars full of streets, but do you know how much the people of Guangzhou love Japanese cars? In addition to Japanese cars, do Guangzhou people really dislike other brands? Today we will take the sales volume of Guangzhou in 2021 as the basis to see what car sells best in Guangzhou!
First, let's look at the car market. I believe that many students are stunned after seeing the above table, right? The highest-selling car in Guangzhou in 2021 is actually AION S! 17,049 new cars were sold in Guangzhou during the year. It should be known that in the 2021 national car sales ranking, AION S can only rank 41st, and this car has become the sales champion in Guangzhou!
There are many reasons why AION S is selling well in Guangzhou, first of all, AION S belongs to GAC, belongs to local car companies in Guangzhou, and has certain advantages in the construction of outlets such as 4S stores in Guangzhou. In addition, Guangzhou's local ride-hailing company "Ruqi Travel" was jointly established by investors such as GUANGZHOU AUTOMOBILE Group, Tencent, and Guangzhou Bus Group, and purchased a large number of AION S as online ride-hailing vehicles, and it is naturally not a surprise that the sales volume is high.
As for Xuanyi, Accord, Leiling, Corolla, and Camry, which ranked 2nd to 6th, it is no accident that all of them are Japanese brands, and these cars themselves are also regular customers at the top of the sales list all year round, and the love of the people of Guangzhou for Japanese cars is indeed well-founded.
Surprisingly, Volkswagen sales, which are generally not very popular in Guangzhou, are not bad, and passats are ranked 7th. More importantly, the Passat ranked 21st in the national car sales list last year, but it rushed to the 7th place in Guangzhou, indicating that the people of Guangzhou love the Passat more than the people of the whole country.
The reason why the people of Guangzhou like Japanese cars is actually to see the sales of the Asian Dragon and Lexus ES. The sales of these two cars are put into the national car sales list, both rank at the level of about 30, but they can be ranked in the top 15 in Guangzhou. Students who know the Asian Dragon should know that when this car was imported into the country in the 90s, it was the people of Guangdong who took the Chinese name of "Asian Dragon" according to its English pronunciation of Avalon. In 2018, when FAW Toyota produced the Avalon model, it directly corrected the folk name of "Asian Dragon" and has been used to this day.
The lexus ES in Guangzhou is not a surprise, reliable and durable, low-key brand positioning, and the reputation of Japanese original imports, are very in line with the needs of the people of Guangzhou for a family luxury car.
Coming to the SUV market, Japanese brands are still in a state of dominance. Among the top 6 SUV sales in Guangzhou in 2021, in addition to the Tesla Model Y, which is a hot-selling electric vehicle, the remaining 5 models are all Toyota and Honda models.
Among them, the local car company's Guangqi Honda Haoying won the position of Guangzhou SUV sales crown, and Haoying ranked 8th in the national SUV sales list last year, but it can win the championship in Guangzhou, I have to say that we Guangzhou people are really partial to local Japanese brands!
The pure electric vehicle of the AION series in the SUV list we will put it in the new energy sector to talk in detail later, here I would like to talk about the ideal ONE. In the previous 2021 annual sales analysis, we have said that the ideal ONE has gained very good sales with the identity of new energy, as well as the characteristics of oil and electricity, plus the fashion attributes of new car-making forces. The same is true in the Guangzhou area, ideal ONE sold 4825 new cars in Guangzhou last year, ranking 8th in SUV, even higher than the Highlander who thinks it should be a hot seller in Guangzhou!
Speaking of Highlander, this model, which is famous for its price increase in China, also has excellent sales in Guangzhou, ranking 12th in Guangzhou in 2021, which is still significantly improved compared with the 23rd SUV ranking in the country. More importantly, the new Highlander adopts the THS hybrid system and is selected into the Guangzhou energy-saving car catalog, which means that this car can enjoy Guangzhou's energy-saving vehicle index policy.
The energy-saving vehicle index is a license plate policy with Guangzhou characteristics, mainly to promote the development of low fuel consumption hybrid vehicles. At present, Guangzhou's automobile indicators are mainly divided into ordinary indicators, energy-saving vehicle indicators, and new energy vehicle indicators. Ordinary indicators are issued by lottery + bidding, taking December last year as an example, the winning rate is 0.431%, and the average price is 21543 yuan. Energy-saving vehicle indicators are mainly aimed at Toyota, Honda and other non-plug-in low fuel consumption hybrid vehicles, do not need to spend money, but need to shake the number. However, taking the energy-saving car lottery in December 2021 as an example, the number of people participating in the energy-saving car lottery in that month was 4397 people, but the energy-saving car indicator was as high as 10483, that is to say, the remaining number of indicators was more than double the number of participating in the lottery, which is equivalent to the state of buying if you want to buy. As for the new energy indicators, they include plug-in hybrid, extended-range electric, pure electric and other models, which do not need to be drawn to be on the card. In this context, Highlander, which adopts a hybrid system, is very suitable for Guangzhou's local energy-saving car policy, and it is bound to usher in further sales growth in Guangzhou this year, which is very worth looking forward to.
It can be seen from the two sales lists of cars and SUVs that the people of Guangzhou do have a clear preference for Japanese cars, and most of the models at the top of the sales list are Japanese cars or domestic cars of local car companies in Guangzhou. And this momentum has also continued to the MPV market...
In the previous inventory and analysis of sales in Beijing and Shanghai, we have seen that the Buick GL8 is the highest-selling MPV in Beijing and Shanghai. But in the Guangzhou market, GAC Trumpchi M8 instead surpassed GL8 and became the top seller of MPVs. As one of the most cost-effective MPVs at the current price of 200,000, the Trumpchi M8 is very good even in the national market, and it is not a new thing to win the championship in Guangzhou.
In the MPV list, in fact, most of them are regular customers, but the appearance of Toyota Alpha is somewhat surprising. This pure imported million-level MPV actually rushed to the 7th position in the Sales List of Guangzhou MPV! But if you think about it, alpha became famous in China because early Hong Kong stars used it as a nanny car, and then the mainland stars and rich people began to pursue Alpha. As a city close to Hong Kong and often has business contacts, it is very reasonable for the rich to pursue Alpha.
In the MPV sales list, there is also a BYD D1 that has attracted our interest. This car is a pure electric ride-hailing car specially built by BYD for Didi Chuxing, priced at 151,800, and is currently only available in some cities, and can only be a certified driver registered by Didi to be eligible to buy D1. In May 2021, BYD D1 landed on the Guangzhou market, and Didi drivers can choose to buy it themselves, or rent a car to pull back their lives on a monthly basis.
The BYD D1 is a compact MPV with a 5-seat design. Although the length of the car is only 4390mm, the wheelbase reaches 2800mm, and the right rear door adopts an electric sliding door to facilitate passengers to get on and off the roadside. In addition, the rear space of the D1 is also very spacious, and there are also intimate configurations such as the rear entertainment screen, rear charging power supply, cup holder and so on designed for passengers.
In addition, the bydir D1's car machine system is also deeply integrated with the Didi driver APP, the driver can receive orders through the buttons on the steering wheel, and directly display routes, bills and other information through the central control screen, which is very convenient. The special sales method and model positioning have allowed BYD D1 to obtain good sales in Guangzhou. However, at present, D1 has not yet been popularized to the national market, and it is only in some cities for trial operation, so students in many areas may not have seen this car on the road.
When it comes to the new energy market, things have changed a bit. Since there are really no decent products for Japanese new energy vehicles at present, most of the PHEV models are based on the "policy adaptation" products improved from the original hybrid vehicles, while japanese pure electric vehicles are almost worthless. Therefore, the sales of new energy vehicles in Guangzhou have become GAC Aeon.
As can be seen from the table above, AION S has an overwhelming sales advantage in guangzhou. Among them, in addition to the official procurement of "Ruqi Travel" mentioned earlier, local private users in Guangzhou also prefer the models launched by local car companies. The beautiful shape of the AION S, the spaciousness, and the starting price of 139,800 yuan make it the favorite new energy vehicle of the people of Guangzhou.
The same goes for AION Y and AION V, both of which have been on the market for a short time but are popular in Guangzhou. In particular, AION Y, this car is only officially launched in April 2021, priced at 109,600-15.76 million yuan, according to the price of different to provide 410, 500, 600km these three kinds of endurance. However, the biggest selling point of AION Y is not battery life, but space and cost performance.
The AION Y adopts an MPV shape similar to that of the BYD D1, with a length of 4410mm and a wheelbase of 2750mm. In such a compact body, the AION Y offers a perverted rear space, even if it is more than 180cm tall, the rear can easily have more than 2 fists of legroom, and the rear floor is fully flat designed to comfortably accommodate 5 people. At this time, considering its price of less than 110,000 yuan and the advantages of local car companies in Guangzhou, there is no suspense in selling well in Guangzhou.
In addition to the three GAC Aean series models, the Xiaopeng P7 and Xiaopeng G3 also ranked second and 9th in the new energy sales list, respectively. Many people must be surprised to see that the sales of the Xiaopeng P7 in Guangzhou are higher than the Model Y and Model 3, but in fact, if you have been to Guangzhou and have a certain understanding of the history of Xiaopeng Motors, you will not be surprised. As one of the "Royal Three Families" of the new domestic car manufacturing forces, Xiaopeng was established in Guangzhou in 2014, and its headquarters is located in Guangzhou, which is a pure local car company in Guangzhou.
Because of this, in the early stage of xiaopeng automobile's development, it first chose to use the advantages of localization to establish a sales network in Guangzhou. Therefore, in 2018, when Xiaopeng Automobile only had the G3 model, there were already many 4S stores of Xiaopeng Automobile in Guangzhou. Later, with the birth of the P7 with stronger product strength, the mass foundation laid in the early days has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is expected that it will be able to obtain excellent sales in Guangzhou.
As for the Venucia D60 EV in the new energy list, in fact, there are two main reasons for being listed. The first is that Venucia belongs to Dongfeng Nissan, and Dongfeng Nissan's headquarters are located in Huadu, Guangzhou. Yes, you read that right! Dongfeng Nissan's headquarters is not in Wuhan, but in Guangzhou. Because of this, Venucia D60 EV is also used as an official procurement vehicle by many local enterprises in Guangzhou, including some pure electric taxis that have also chosen Venucia D60 EV. Therefore, although this car ranks only 46th in the national new energy sales, it can still rank 8th in Guangzhou's new energy vehicle sales.
When it comes to the love of Japanese cars, it is not only Guangzhou, even if you look at the whole of Guangdong Province, most regions have obvious preferences for Japanese cars. The people of Guangdong love Japanese cars, in fact, for a variety of reasons. First of all, in the 90s when Japanese cars entered The country, when Volkswagen had already gained a foothold in China by relying on domestic Santana and Jetta, especially in the northern market, people's pursuit of Volkswagen had reached a very exaggerated point.
Guangdong port in the 1990s
In the southern coastal cities represented by Guangdong, because the coastal ports are more developed and closer to Southeast Asian countries, imported cars have become an enlightenment way for Guangdong to contact cars. In addition, in the early years, the control of smuggled imported cars in China was not strict, so many informal Japanese cars were imported into China at that time. Of course, at the same time, there are naturally many European cars imported into The country, so why don't the people of Guangdong choose European cars, but only love Japanese cars? There are other reasons for this!
First of all, the people of Guangdong are generally relatively low-key, and even if they are very expensive, they will not pursue things on the face too much. The pursuit of the car is usually worry-free and reliable, and the maintenance is cheap. Especially in Guangdong, the high temperature and rain are not a small test for the reliability of vehicle electronic components. When it comes to peace of mind and reliability, this is undoubtedly the strength of Japanese cars, coupled with the relatively lower price than European cars, it is naturally more popular with the people of Guangdong.
In addition, due to Guangdong's location in the south, the summer is hot and humid, and there are high requirements for the air conditioning system of the vehicle. The air conditioning and cooling effect of Japanese cars is generally better than that of European cars (this advantage is the same today), even if the cheap corolla and Jiamei can provide cooler air conditioning than Mercedes-Benz in the summer, it can be said that it is very suitable for the local climate.
When it comes to geographical factors, in addition to climate, the popularity of Japanese cars also has a lot to do with Guangdong and Hong Kong' neighbors. In the early years, Guangdong's car culture was greatly influenced by Hong Kong, and Hong Kong, as a right-hand drive region, coincided with the same right-hand-steered Japanese car, and hong Kong's open port identity is also very suitable for Japanese car sales, so the earliest Japanese cars were sold in Hong Kong. And human beings are all herd mentality, seeing that the next door is very developed Hong Kong is full of Japanese cars, then when they have the opportunity to choose to buy cars, they will naturally give priority to Japanese cars. In this way, the accumulation of years and years, the Guangdong people's preference for Japanese cars is also very strong.
Of course, the people of Guangdong now prefer Japanese cars and are inseparable from several major local joint venture car companies. After all, when Volkswagen entered China in the 1980s, it took the lead in choosing SAIC Motor for a joint venture, and later chose FAW to build a joint venture factory, and gained a firm foothold in the northern region through the first-mover advantage.
The Japanese brand will naturally not be tough with the already solid Volkswagen, so it directly chose the Guangdong region, which is more welcoming to Japanese cars, as the goal of opening up the market. In this way, Nissan chose to set up Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong in 1994 to import vehicles to the mainland for sale. In 1998, Honda and GAC Group established a joint venture to establish Guangzhou Honda, which is the predecessor of today's GAC Honda.
However, when Toyota decided to go domestic in 2000, it did not choose GAC, but chose Tianjin FAW, and set the headquarters of FAW Toyota in Tianjin. The specific reason for this is unknown, perhaps because Tianjin has given preferential treatment for the development of the port. However, in order to further enhance Toyota's competitiveness in Guangdong, in 2004 Toyota and GAC established a joint venture with GAC Toyota, and introduced models such as camry and Highlander, which are sought after in Guangdong.
Back to the original question: How much do Guangzhou people love Japanese cars? Judging from the data, guangzhou people's preference for Japanese cars is indeed very exaggerated, especially traditional fuel cars and SUVs, which are almost all dominated by Japanese. However, in the era of new energy, the advantages of Japanese cars are gone, looking at the entire Japanese brand, now even a decent electric car can not be taken out, let alone compete with Tesla, even if you want to be with BYD, Xiaopeng, Volkswagen ID and other brands of positive hard models!
The people of Guangzhou have a preference for Japanese cars, but if japanese brands continue to rot in the electric vehicle market, I am afraid that in another 5 years, even "Lao Guang" will not look at Japanese cars again. Perhaps the tomorrow of Guangdong Automobile will depend on GAC New Energy and Xiaopeng!