According to the full year 2021 car sales data released by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, 9.221 million SUVs were sold in the whole year of 2021, an increase of 3.0% year-on-year.
Looking carefully at the 2021 annual SUV model sales list, it is natural that there is a figure that we are familiar with, such as the Haval H6, Changan CS75 and Honda CR-V in the top three of the list, which are the leaders in the field of SUV model segmentation. Moving on, an old friend we know well, Nissan Qashqai, has fallen out of the top ten of the list in terms of sales in 2021.
Although the fame of Qashqai is not as loud as the signboard of "Big Brother" X-Trail, among the older generation of joint venture brand SUV models, Qashqa can also be regarded as an old friend of the Chinese market. So far, this generation of Qashqai sold in the city has been in service for nearly 7 years. In terms of sales data for the whole year of 2021, Nissan China's cumulative sales volume was 1.3815 million units, but it fell by 5.2% year-on-year.
Leaving aside the car field, the Qashqai is also one of Nissan's main models, contributing a lot of sales to Nissan every month. Last year, Qashqai ranked 12th with annual sales of more than 160,000 vehicles, which is undoubtedly a good result for a model that is on the verge of replacement. But looking at Japanese models like Binzhi, XR-V and Qashqai, they not only achieved better sales, but even had a growth rate of 9.7% and 17.8% year-on-year.
However, after the big brother Xinqijun was frustrated by the listing of Qashqa, the sales performance of Qashqai was undoubtedly a big flag for the brand internally. Considering that the new generation of Qashqai is also coming soon, at this juncture, is the current Qashqai really competitive?
How competitive is the cash Qashqai market left?
From the official definition of qashqai, we can understand that its positioning is a compact SUV. However, it is very obvious that the Qashqai is one notch lower than its own Qijun, which is also a compact SUV, which also gives the entry-level compact SUV positioning Qashqai an advantage of "misalignment competition". But in fact, compared with the XR-V and Binzhi, which are also Japanese SUVs, the space advantage of the current Qashqai is not outstanding.
In terms of appearance, from the perspective of the idea of nearing the replacement, it has improved the sports attributes and raised the scientific and technological configuration. So, after the revamped Qashqai is still very successful, isn't it? This is not the case. Although the configuration has been improved, it is also concentrated on the higher-priced high-end models, and for some entry-level models, these technology configurations are not here.
If it is compared with the same level of independent models, the current Qashqai is even less advantageous from the configuration alone. As a revamped model that is close to being replaced, it seems unrealistic for qashqai to make an innovative change to the appearance and interior, but it is always okay to improve the details, right?
In the actual revamp, the current Qashqai did not make eye-catching changes to the appearance and interior, basically copying the old model, which is somewhat unacceptable. There are thousands of remodeled models, more or less to improve the appearance and interior details, but unfortunately there are no Qashqai.
"Nissan" technology must be reliable?
Dongfeng Nissan is undoubtedly excellent in terms of sales, but the quality problem cannot be ignored. I don't know how many people know that its realization of the Qashqai originated from the CMF modular platform of the Nissan-Renault alliance, the design and development of new cars are in Europe, although the current Qashqai is still playing the little light and heat left, but the new model has been quietly released before.
Don't look at the good sales of Qashqai, along with the increase in sales is also the number of complaints, which often appear in the complaint platform SUV complaint list. The number of complaints from Nissan can be regarded as the more prominent car companies in the entire Japanese camp, and even a little bit unlike the Japanese cars that claim to be stable in quality.
Among them, the Nissan gearbox problem is more prominent, and the CVT gearbox, which is always known for its smoothness, has been complained by the owners of the problems of frustration and abnormal noise. In addition, Nissan's Qashqai, Qijun, Tianlai and other models have problems such as transmission noise and setbacks.
Through the Internet, we can find a lot of relevant information from major platforms, and the complaints on the auto complaint website can also see the relevant complaints. So far, Nissan has not been able to give a complete and effective solution to this problem. From a technical point of view, the three major pieces of the current new Qashqai have not changed much, and they are still the same. As for the transmission problem, is there any improvement? Nor can we easily draw conclusions.
In terms of Nissan's sales data for the whole year last year, among the 1.3815 million units, Xuanyi alone completed the level of 513193 units in the whole year, compared with 538680 units in 2020, it still fell by 5%, coupled with the results of Qashqai with 161152 units, the sales of these two products have added up to more than 670,000 units, accounting for almost half of the overall sales of Dongfeng Nissan last year.
National public opinion: How can Nissan, which is seriously partial, safely enter 2022?
Of course, car selection can not only look at sales performance, but also can not only focus on the advantages, understand the shortcomings is equally important. However, with the setback of the big brother Xinqijun, the burden on the shoulders of the Qashqai seems to be heavier. Although Qashqai has shown strong competitiveness in the joint venture counterparty, at this price point, the biggest threat to Qashqai is actually from domestic brand models, after all, larger body sizes and localization advantages are more attractive to consumers. In the new year, will Nissan continue to move forward steadily, or will it be as chaotic as Qijun? These will also take time to verify.