Why didn't the SUV market see the expected high-speed expansion in 2021?
When SUV sales in some months of 2020 begin to surpass cars, when more blockbuster SUV new cars enter the market in a high profile, when many car companies are ready to increase the proportion of SUV sales, why is the scene of SUV sales exceeding sedans in 2021 only a flash in the first quarter, and the annual market share expansion of SUVs is less than 0.3 percentage points? From the data, we can find the following reasons:
1. The mainstream SUV market has volatility in the base plate
On the side of independent brands, in the traditional sense of the three strong Haval, Geely, Changan, Haval H6 sales almost peaked, while the first love, red rabbit has not really gone; Geely Boyue family 2021 product switching caused fluctuations, and Xingyue L sales in the climb to more than 10,000 vehicles basically tended to stabilize; Changan CS75PLUS sales declined at the end of the year, fortunately, the new and old CS55PLUS made up for the loss of sales.
On the other hand, after the start of the delivery of hybrid and pure electric models, The sales volume of Song PLUS has grown rapidly, and to a certain extent, it has begun to shake the inherent pattern of the top three local companies.
On the joint venture brand side, Volkswagen, Buick, Nissan's main sales SUV models in 2021 due to the product is old or the product reputation is abnormal and sales have fallen sharply, while Honda has become the main one, only Toyota continues to expand its product line while the main sales model is stable. But overall, the mainstream joint venture SUVs have been conservative in products in recent years, which is no longer enough to maintain the price moat that once existed.
2. Luxury SUV expansion creates resistance
The lack of cores in 2021 has had a great impact on the production of medium-sized SUVs sold by luxury brands, and the shutdown of overseas factories in the late third quarter has accelerated the sales of some hot imported luxury SUVs. All of this has inhibited the consumption upgrade of luxury SUVs that should have appeared.
However, after the gradual recovery of chip supply, luxury mid-size SUVs have begun to encounter a new round of penetration of new energy models. The high-end new energy SUV models represented by Tesla, Weilai and Ideal have accelerated the iteration of consumer concepts in the price segment of 300,000-500,000 yuan, so that the luxury SUVs that have pinned their hopes on the price system through the lack of core recovery have the embarrassment of price recovery but sales have not rebounded.
Therefore, even if Tesla 2021 contributed a net increase of more than 170,000 units in the luxury SUV market, making the luxury SUV market grow at a growth rate of 18.57%, after deducting the sales of Tesla and Weilai, the growth rate of traditional luxury SUVs was only 6.12%, even lower than the overall growth rate of the SUV market throughout the year.
3. The market space for joint venture brand SUVs is narrowing
The two market segments of joint venture brands in small SUVs and flagship (medium/medium to large) SUVs are shrinking at an accelerating rate. In the small SUV market, Honda's concentration of the segment increased from 41.52% in 2020 to 48.86% in 2021, which is also the only model in the segment that can still grow. In the flagship SUV market, in addition to the Toyota Highlander and the newly added Crown Land Amplifier, which can maintain a hot selling posture, the rest of the European and American joint venture flagship SUVs, including Tuon, have an average monthly sales of more than 4,000 units.
After the downward and upward roads are narrower and narrower, the joint venture SUV can only remain relatively strong in the mainstream price segment of 180,000-250,000 yuan. However, the market performance of traditional hot joint venture SUVs such as Tanyue and Qijun in 2021 also fully proves that consumers have more recognition of products than superstitions about brands when purchasing joint venture SUVs.
In other words, even in the mainstream market where joint venture brands are relatively strong, consumers are no longer without cars. Self-owned high-end models, new energy models, and luxury brand entry-level SUV models are all encroaching on the mainstream joint venture SUV market. The overlap and mutual penetration of potential populations has been substantially revealed from 2021. And this trend is bound to be clearer in 2022.
