Recently, there are rumors that Acura is considering withdrawing from the Chinese market, as soon as possible or in March. This gossip is not enough to believe at present. But then again, in fact, there are rumors of acura delisting every year, which is not new.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japanese car companies founded their own high-end brands in North America, and Honda founded Acura in 1986. With the endorsement of Honda technology, luxurious stacking materials, and a very cost-effective price compared to the north American people, Acura sells well in North America.
In 2006, Acura officially landed in the Chinese market. It even found and spoke to andy Lau as a spokesperson in 2009 to better open the Greater China market. But even so, Acura's sales in China have not improved, with annual sales of only thousands of units, which is just BBA sales in a few weeks.
With the hot sales in the North American market on the one hand and the downturn in the Chinese market on the other hand, why does Acura perform so differently in the two world's largest auto markets?
Acura is not so much a "Japanese" brand as it is a "Beautiful" brand. Because it was originally founded in the North American market, the north American market is very deeply studied, the production of cars is naturally very in line with the tastes of local consumers, but consumers in different regions of the vehicle requirements are not the same, suitable for North America, not necessarily suitable for China, how many foreign "original" cars into China after the feathers are returned.
The early Acura models imported into China were equipped with V-type 6-cylinder J series engines, and the displacement was basically 3.5L and 3.7L. Although the large displacement V6 self-absorption is very beautiful, but also in line with the identity of luxury cars, but also means that the high displacement tax and vehicle and boat tax, coupled with the identity of the full import, resulting in the high price of Acura models (Acura has introduced a relatively small displacement of ILX, but this "luxury version of the Civic" often 300,000 prices, in the price is still not competitive), the single price is in the inferior position compared to the competitors.
In addition, Acura did not introduce mid-size cars that year.
When Guangqi Honda's eight generations of Accord in the medium-sized car market achieved great success, seeing this scene, Dongfeng Honda naturally also wanted to share a piece of the pie, so it found the "European version of accord", which is the later Si Bo Rui, but this "European version of the Accord" is the twin brother of Acura mid-size car - TSX, so at this time Acura's situation is more embarrassing, in order not to form a cross-influence with Si Bo Rui, and finally Acura TSX did not enter the Chinese market, which also led to Acura in a long time, Without a car with the right displacement and affordable price in China, it missed the early golden stage of development.
More importantly, such a high price of Acura does not provide a corresponding sense of luxury, the interior and exterior design of the model are conservative, especially the interior, compared to the competitors of the same level is too simple, which makes it difficult for Acura models to attract the attention of potential customers of the year.
In fact, in North America, Acura's cost performance is very high. There is no displacement tax, the price is moderate, and in terms of the purchasing power of local consumers, Acura compared to Honda, the price difference is not as large as in the Chinese market, so many people are willing to add money to Acura - both Honda's reliability, and not as "rough" as Honda, better materials, tuning, consumption upgrade is very good.
"There are no cars that can't be sold, only prices that can't be sold."
It can be said that in addition to the price problem of the early acura in China, the most important thing is that it completely copied the "American design", without optimizing and adapting to the Chinese locality. For example, the TLX launched during the transition period, although its displacement is appropriate, the price is still high, while the space and design are still not dominant, and the overall cost performance is even inferior to the second generation of Sibride at that time.
"Missing a commodity cycle often takes a lot of effort to catch up, and the possibility of catching up is very small."
In 2016, Acura settled in Guangqi Honda for domestic production, GAC Acura launched an extended wheelbase version of the TLX-L, the rear space is large, the price has declined, but the interior without major changes is still short, the sense of luxury is missing, the brand appeal is weak, and the final sales are not as expected, and it will soon be discontinued. During the period, Acura introduced a new generation of hybrid supercar NSX to create momentum for the brand, but with little effect.
Later, GAC Acura finally understood what Chinese consumers wanted, and successively launched CDX and RDX, which improved their cost performance and luxury, but it was too late at this time. China's luxury car market is no longer the same, the BBA and even Lexus have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the rest of cadillac, Volvo, Lincoln are trying to gradually encroach on market share, and the entire market can be described as a dragon and tiger.
Acura did not establish brand appeal in the early days, and this is precisely the foundation of the luxury brand, the lack of brand premium ability of Acura, even if the launch of CDX and RDX, did not cause much ripple, 2021 cumulative sales of only more than 6,000 units, can be called difficult brother may be the annual sales of only more than 8,000 Units Infiniti.
Now the car companies are facing the transformation of electrification, luxury brands are facing the "reshuffle" crisis, such as Tesla, Weilai, ideal and other new car-making forces are getting more and more courageous, traditional car companies are under great pressure, acura survival soil is not much. In addition, Acura's 4S stores in China are also small, which greatly affects Acura's sales and dissemination.
In recent years, the pace of Acura pushing new cars is slow, SUVs have no new ideas, and the domestic basics have been introduced, and the new generation of TLX and integrgra are far from the needs of the Chinese market, acura is facing no new cars to introduce into the Chinese market. It is reported that Acura has no new car plans in 2022, and this seems to support the rumors of preparing to quit.
The editor said: Now, the competition in China's auto market is extremely fierce - traditional car companies are trying to keep their share, independent brands are rising upwards, and new forces are catching up. In recent years, many car companies have announced their delisting from China, among which the more famous ones are Fiat, Suzuki, Renault, etc. The poorly managed Acura seems to be walking on top of their shadows.
In fact, GAC Acura's CDX and RDX have excellent mechanical qualities, while space is abundant, technologically advanced, and the hard power of the model is there and very strong, but before the vital brand appeal is established, these hard powers do not seem to have become the purchase decisions of potential customers.
Of course, at present, the news about Acura to withdraw from the Chinese market is still in the rumor stage, as to whether it is true, we may wish to wait and see.