Car Review Observation, Car Review Agency, No. 516
Foreword: On the first day of the new year in 2022, domestic new car companies are scrambling to issue year-end good news, while Audi, as one of the three major luxury brands in Germany, is busy carrying out a major personnel "handover" for domestic business.
In fact, as early as the beginning of December last year, Audi officials released the news that Dr. Jürgen Unser will replace the retired Werner Eichhorn as president of Audi China and will lead Audi's business in China from January 1, 2022.
"Before people go, tea is cool", Audi's official announcement can be said to announce the end of the "Neschhou era" in advance.
In the author's opinion, Audi China's personnel adjustment this time has both human factors and helpless moves.
According to public information, Nexer is a "veteran" of Volkswagen's Audi line, and has held many important positions before. It was not until April Fool's Day (April 1, 2020) that Nexperio took over as Gaby-Luise Wüst in charge of Audi's business in China, and officially returned to China.
In detail, Nesperio's tenure as president of Audi China is only 1 year and 9 months.
Frankly speaking, Audi's performance in China last year did not meet expectations. And In Audi China, Nexro, who is in an important position, is absolutely unable to reach his own body, and is arranged to "retire" or has long been doomed, and this is only a matter of time.
1
Sales declined, and the gap widened further
Judging from the sales volume of the top three Germans in China in 2021, Audi has been at the bottom for three consecutive years.
Despite the global semiconductor shortage, BMW delivered 846,000 units in China last year, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year; Mercedes-Benz delivered 759,000 units in China, down 2% year-on-year; Compared with the former two, Audi delivered 701,000 units, down 3.6% year-on-year, and Audi lost sales and growth in both sales and growth in the top three competitions.
It can be seen that behind the decline in Audi's overall sales, it reflects the decline in the competitiveness of the main models in the market.
Specifically, taking the data released by the Association as an example, the cumulative sales of audi A6L in January-December 2021 reached 156304 units, down 14% compared with the sales data of 182032 units in 2020;
The cumulative sales of audi A4 in January-December 2021 reached 121767 units, down 12.2% compared with the sales figures of 138707 units in 2020;
As for the sales of brand SUVs, the Audi Q5 sold 139909 units in the whole year of 2021, down 6.2% compared with last year.
For Audi's successive "stalls", some people may say that in 2021, in the environment of shortage of important components such as chips, Audi's production capacity and delivery have been seriously affected, and in 2021, there have been many rumors of Audi brand production and production reduction.
In addition, some people attribute the reason to the weakening of Audi's "official car" image and monopoly position, and the Audi brand and products are not strong. The outbreak of the new energy market has also had an impact on Audi's fuel models, and what is more severe is that whether it is Audi e-tron, or Audi Q2L e-tron and other models, it is still not recognized by the market, and the sales volume provided for the brand is relatively limited.
Of course, Audi's "stall" has more or less made the veteran Arsève face dull, but it is still the "stubborn disease" of Audi products.
2
Slow replacement, old technology, large-scale recall
At present, Audi has achieved sales through two channels, FAW and SAIC in the Chinese market. However, from the current model point of view, it is still based on FAW-Volkswagen Audi A6L, A4L, Q5 and Q3.
But if you compare it with your competitors, you'll find that Audi's product updates always seem to be a beat slower than their competitors. In a young consumer market, product transformation cannot keep up with the rhythm of consumer demand, which also means the beginning of brand decline.
In addition, Audi's recall of up to 433,000 vehicles in China last year has left consumers with doubts about the quality of its products. You know, this does not involve the previously criticized "Audi Q5 car odor" problem.
According to the car review agency, Audi issued a total of 7 recalls in 2021, with a total of 439,500 vehicles, involving A4L, A6L, Q5L and other major models. Among them, the A6L occupies more than 100,000 units. It has to be said that ashkenazi precision craftsmanship and craftsmanship do not seem to work now.
Deeply investigate the reason, itself Audi and Mercedes-Benz, BMW brand comparison, is recognized as slightly inferior. In order to achieve the purpose of differentiated competition, Audi has been taking the route of "reducing prices and exchanging quantities", but the pursuit of low prices is bound to compress the original production standards, which will lead to an increase in the failure rate. Audi has not tasted the sweetness in terms of sales, but its own brand image is also being regurgitated step by step.
Some people will say that the recall is to some extent a reflection of the company's courage to be responsible.
But on the other hand, if car companies strictly control the quality of the product at the source, do not blindly pursue profits and reduce costs, there will be no frequent recalls, and all this undoubtedly has a great impact on Audi's brand.
3
"Stalling" Audi, where does the future go?
Speaking of the future, Audi of the "Nesperian era" has also actively embraced new energy and actively transformed into electrification, but the effect is far less than expected.
After Mercedes-Benz and BMW launched the EQ and iX series, Audi also launched a number of pure electric models such as e-tron and Q2L e-tron.
In 2021, Audi also released two domestically produced pure electric models based on the MEB platform (a modular system developed by Volkswagen for manufacturing electric vehicles) in China – the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Audi Q5 e-tron.
From the perspective of market performance, Audi's listed electric vehicles have little presence in the eyes of consumers.
In particular, the Audi Q2L e-tron, as early as the first one in 2019, even appeared in the embarrassing situation of selling two units per month. Even if the 2022 Audi Q2L e-tron is listed, its pure electric mileage of 325km is also a big slot point, which is not competitive with the current models with a range of about 1000km, and "short endurance, expensive price, oil to electricity, and poor power" has become the "common disease" of Audi's new energy models.
At present, it is said that competing with Tesla is also stretched out compared with the new car-making force "Wei Xiaoli". How can such an Audi "break through technology and enlighten the future"?
Therefore, consumers' favorability for Audi models is gradually decreasing, and Neschau's "dismissal" is also reasonable.
In my opinion, what is more serious is that when more and more young consumers no longer choose Audi, if it becomes a "wise choice", Audi's future is somewhat scary.
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