Introduction |" New Luxury" rises
Consumption upgrades, luxury cars are becoming more and more favored.
According to the insurance number, the total sales of mainstream luxury cars in China in 2021 were 3,941,407 units, an increase of 10.9% year-on-year. In the current passenger car market, sales accounted for 18.7%, up 0.8 percentage points. That is, about 1 in every 5 new cars sold is a luxury car.
While luxury cars maintain rapid growth in 2021, they also usher in an inflection point: the rise of the "new luxury" brand, and the share of traditional luxury brands has been lost.
1 traditional luxury brand
Let's look at traditional luxury brands, which have not grown as much as the market average, and some have even declined.
The BBA continues to occupy the high ground, but the "dominance" has declined significantly – the share has fallen to 57.1%, which is also the first time that the BBA's annual market share has been below 60%. Compared with 2020, it is 6.4 percentage points lower, and it is 11.1 percentage points lower than in 2019. Share is constantly being lost, and according to this trend, their market share will fall below 50% in 2023.
In fact, this time is earlier. The BBA's market share was below 50% twice in September and December 2021, especially at 44.5% in December, the highest on record. See: "Luxury Cars in December: BBA Falls Below 50%, Tesla's Monopoly Shows "Rubber Forest Phenomenon"? 》。
From the perspective of sales, the sales volume of the BBA has diverged. BMW's advantage is obvious: 820,000 vehicles sold more than Mercedes-Benz's 740,000 vehicles, and 130,000 more than Audi's 690,000 vehicles. Bmw sales increased by 8.3% compared to 2020, and it was the only brand of the three to grow.
BMW's three models were shortlisted for the top 10 luxury car sales in 2021. Among them, the 5 series and 3 series sold more than 180,000 vehicles in the whole year, ranking first and second in turn, and at the same time, they have repeatedly ranked in the top 10 of the sedan list. The X3 ranked 6th with 151,500 units, up 11.7% year-on-year. It seems that buying luxury car performance is just needed.
Mercedes-Benz and Audi saw declines of 3.6% and 5.5%, respectively.
Audi in the BBA three by the "lack of core" is the most seriously affected, the news of Audi 'suspension of production' has been circulated many times, although the official denial, but combined with its monthly sales performance, perhaps the rumors are not empty. In September and October, the year-on-year decline was as high as 50%, and in November and December, there was also a decline of 30%-40%, leading the BBA for four consecutive months.
The decline in Mercedes-Benz sales, in addition to the "lack of core", is not related to its continuous recall. According to data from the State Administration for Market Regulation, Mercedes-Benz has recalled a total of 2.78 million vehicles in China in 17 times throughout the year, accounting for more than 30% of the total recalls, topped the list of domestic car recalls in 2021, and the models cover almost all domestic and imported models on sale.
Mercedes-Benz is time to use dim sum in quality, after all, quality is the root of the product.
Cadillac, Lexus, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover also performed below the market average.
Among them, Lexus sales fell 6.9% to 219,200 units, surpassed by Cadillac, and was the third brand in the list to decline in sales, and the largest decline. The reason is that it deviates from the three mainstream trends of the current automobile: electrification, intelligence and youth, and interested readers can read "Lexus "Panic"! Two consecutive months of sales slashed, the reason behind this is this? 》。
Cadillac, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover all grew slightly.
Cadillac rose 2.5% to 232,700 units, ranking sixth; Volvo edged up 0.5% to 171,600 units, ranking eighth; Jaguar Land Rover rose 6.9% to 105,300 units, ranking ninth, with average monthly sales of less than 10,000 units, hovering in the second and third tiers throughout the year.
2 "New Luxury"
Who is eating away at the share of traditional luxury brands? "New Luxury" brand.
The "New Luxury" brand can be divided into two categories:
One is the high-end "new forces" represented by Tesla, Ideal, and Weilai. In 2021, sales will increase by more than 100%.
Tesla sold 320,000 vehicles in China in 2021, an increase of 119%, ranking fourth, with a market share of 8.2%. It is worth noting that although its annual sales are less than half of the BBA, its sales in December reached 70,000, pushing the BBA to win the first place in the Chinese luxury car market every month.
Despite the controversy, the market is forgotten and profit-seeking, and the more rights are protected, the more they sell well. Both the Model Y and the Model 3 were among the top 10 luxury cars in 2021: the former sold 170,600 units for the year, ranking third; the latter ranked seventh with 151,200 units.
Ideal and NIO will sell more than 90,000 vehicles in 2021, and they will launch more products in 2022, when it is not impossible to enter the second line from the third line.
The luxury they bring is no longer the traditional leather punching, chrome trim, and a variety of palace senses, but a simpler, smarter, and more dreamy sense of space, replacing tradition with technology, replacing carbon-based with silicon, replacing preaching with intuition, replacing face with Lizi, replacing physical stacking with perceptual experience, and at the same time making users feel that they have taken advantage of it from a rational point of view.
The other is the transformation of traditional luxury into a younger, more contemporary "new revival" brand, such as Hongqi and Lincoln, which have both grown by more than 40%. With a score of 270,000, Hongqi surpassed Cadillac and Lexus in fifth place, becoming the leader of China's luxury brands. Lincoln surged 46.4 percent, close to Porsche.
While digging deep into the traditional luxury way, they actively embrace new technologies, and at the same time, the pricing is quite sincere, neither high nor low, nor sitting on the ground, which is in line with the direct and cheerful personality of young people.
Why can the "new luxury" emerge? Fundamentally, they are in line with the three major trends in the development of automobiles: electrification, intelligence and youth.
Car gathering summary
Sail against the current, and if you don't advance, you will retreat. Do not follow up the times, do not understand the needs of users, will slowly be replaced. What do you think?