Lexus and Cadillac are a pair of rivals in the luxury brand market, and have always competed for the top position in the second-tier luxury camp. In the past few years, although Cadillac has still stabilized the position of champion, Cadillac does not feel relaxed in the face of Lexus's strong attack.
For example, in recent years, cadillac has sold 212,500 units in 2019 and 230,000 units in 2020. However, Lexus is chasing very tightly, after breaking through the 200,000-vehicle mark for the first time in 2019, it also created a new record in China in 2020, reaching 223,600 vehicles, which is the most serious year of the epidemic, and Lexus, which sells in pure imports, can be said to be quite proud of this report card, and the gap between it and Cadillac is very small.
It was originally thought that Lexus would be able to achieve a counter-over in 2021, but fate seemed to have made another joke and given false hope. According to the data released, the brand only received 219,000 new car sales in 2021, which is a certain decline compared with 2020. But on the contrary, Cadillac's annual sales still reached 232,000 units, although the increase was not obvious, but it was also a positive growth.
Why Cadillac was able to suppress Lexus all the time is worth pondering.
Lexus has always been a brand proposition of luxury and style, its models are also known for their high comfort, when the flagship sedan LS put a champagne tower on the hood to start the speed of more than 200KM/H cup in the scene is still vivid, which also laid the foundation of Lexus luxury.
In the domestic market, Lexus has also embarked on a luxury path that is different from other competitors. Instead of exchanging price for volume like other brands, Lexus has always insisted on importing sales, and new cars have basically no discounts at the terminal, and even many of its models are still selling at a higher price. In a way, for consumers who love it, they may feel that it is decent and enhances the value of the brand. And perennial in the J.D. Power quality ranking at the forefront, product reliability is guaranteed, the retention rate is high, so in the market can maintain a high sales volume.
But on the other hand, with the impact of the lack of cores, the Cycle of Lexus cars that originally needed to be sold at a higher price is also lengthening, which will undoubtedly make consumers feel more and more difficult to accept. And take the main model ES, in fact, the power has been spit by consumers, in the case of product strength is actually not so good, the car cycle is longer, consumers can easily turn to other models. Moreover, in addition to ES, Lexus's other models have poor throughput capabilities, and the product update iteration is relatively slow, which also weakens the competitiveness. This year's new NX is also a replacement that has been waiting for 7 years, and although the new generation of models has improved the performance of intelligent technology, the interior design is obviously much rougher, and the price has also ushered in an increase.
Cadillac, on the other hand, took the exact opposite route from Lexus. Cadillac has always been known for its high cost performance, and its models are also relatively large, on the one hand, through the promotion of sales, and constantly improve the market share of vehicles, deepening the impression of consumers. On the other hand, in the case that many luxury brands have abandoned the back drive, Cadillac has always adhered to the concept of "no rear drive, no luxury", which can be regarded as its unique and extremely impressive place for consumers.
In the past, Cadillac may be regarded as a niche brand, but in the past two years, its actions have become more frequent, its model blood has been fully updated, and with the introduction of models such as CT4 CT5 XT6, the product matrix has become more and more perfect, and there are corresponding products in various fields, which has also enhanced its competitiveness accordingly.
Take the entry-level mid-size car CT4 as an example, after the discount of early 220,000 can start, the same level of rare rear-drive form, excellent design and strong power performance, for the pursuit of luxury and driving experience of young consumers, it is difficult not to be moved. The XT6 is the earliest to achieve localization of luxury medium and large SUV models, after the discount it will pull the price down to about 340,000 yuan, and Audi Q5 and other BBA medium-sized SUV models are almost the same, this misplaced competition method to bring about the price advantage is very obvious, in last year's XT6 annual sales also reached 38,000 vehicles, this achievement is not weak. However, the most popular is the XT5 and CT5 models, with sales of more than 50,000 and 60,000 vehicles respectively.
Today's automotive industry is not easy, the lack of core is on the one hand, the traditional brand is also facing the pain of electrification transformation and the impact of new forces, not to show all the strength may be squeezed to the back, and as consumers become more and more rational, as in the past to sell brands to sell faith may not work, the brand gap is not large, consumers may be more concerned about product strength and cost performance, Lexus stagnation and Cadillac's more and more courageous, the two brands between the more and more differentiated, Maybe it's just a small microcosm.
Of course, perhaps as netizens said, each brand has its own values and insight into human nature, there is no absolute, only suitable. What I want to say is that in this business society, who can gain insight into the majority of consumers is the winner.