Full-year sales reached 840396 vehicles, up 11% year-on-year, outperforming the broader market and setting a record. GAC Toyota in 2021 has handed over a fairly good answer sheet in terms of sales data.
The four major meritorious models are camry, Ralink, Highlander and Velanda, with the car side of the Camry sold more than 210,000 units, The Ralink sold about 230,000 units, the SUV side of the Highlander 100,000 units, the Willanda 130,000 vehicles.
But behind the glossy numbers also reflects a problem: the more you sell, the more problems the law seems to be fulfilled in GAC Toyota, which has always advertised zero defects.
The complaint rate of hot-selling models remains high, and the quality reputation doubles the decline
Looking back at 2021, in stark contrast to Theraim and Camry sales, is the high complaint rate.
As an impulse model, the 2021 Leiling model listed at the beginning of the year was exposed to transmission setbacks, abnormal noise, body rust, engine abnormal sound, on-board interconnection failure, sunroof abnormal sound, audio and video system failure, component cracking and other problems in less than a year. If the problems such as the gearbox setback and abnormal noise may also be the problem of the parts themselves, then the appearance of multiple rusts in the body in less than a year is a true quality control problem.
From the photos provided by the user, it can be seen that the rusty position of the Leiling body is all over the car, the steering column, the rear seat frame, the door inner corner connection seam, the rear suspension bolt, the door triangle window weld, the door interior and the spare tire slot. If it is not a problem with the quality control of a certain batch of vehicles, it is difficult to have other reasons to explain.
In the auto quality authoritative complaint platform car quality online query, it can be seen that since August, the complaints about the rust of the 2021 Leiling have suddenly increased significantly, and the sales of The corresponding two months of Leiling have also experienced a significant year-on-year decline.
The complaints of another heavyweight model, the Camry, also focused on the abnormal sound of the center console, the failure of the audio-visual system, the abnormal wear of components, and the burning of oil. Not to mention performance, Toyota has always had superior advantages in quality and reliability, and As Toyota's world-renowned models, Ralink and Camry have maintained a very good reputation over the years. But now these two cars are brushed together into the top ten of the car quality network's 2021 annual complaint list, and they are rusty, abnormal and other problems related to quality control, which makes people can't help but be a little strange.
But in fact, not only popular models, but even niche models such as the C-HR were also collectively complained by many users in July and August 2021, and the main problem of complaints was the reduction of allocation.
According to the feedback of C-HR car owners, the C-HR before 2020 is equipped with a lower bumper skid plate, while the 2020 and 2021 models have resin sheaths on the bottom of the engine compartment, the bottom of the body, and the area near the fuel tank, except for the lack of under the bumper guard. The guard plate under the bumper is an important part of the chassis protection of the vehicle, which can play a role in protecting the suspension system and reducing the driving safety caused by the accumulation of sediment inside the suspension system. This is also believed by many C-HR owners to be GAC Toyota's downgrading of the new C-HR.
Although this lower guard plate itself is not valuable, perhaps GAC Toyota is not deliberately reducing the allocation. However, GAC Toyota has never given a public-facing reply to this matter, but has quietly negotiated with the owners of the complaints to resolve it privately.
Although the complaints involved in the above models are not a big problem, we can't help but ask: Under the pressure of rushing sales and reducing costs, has GAC Toyota slackened in quality management?
The "lock electric door" incident reflects the lack of research and development of GAC Toyota New Energy
Another big problem that happened in 2021 is the "lock electric door" incident of the new energy vehicle GAC Toyota iA5.
In July 2021, a large number of car owners reported to the Quality Development Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation that GAC Toyota upgraded the battery management system BMS through a background OTA for a large number of GAC Toyota iA5 models produced before June 2020 without informing customers and with the permission of customers, artificially reducing the available capacity of the car's power battery, referred to as "locking power", and limiting the output power of the car to no more than 60%, referred to as "locking power".
After the fermentation of the Internet, this matter once made headlines in major media, and eventually attracted the Intervention of the State Administration of Market Regulation. So far, the results of the investigation are still unknown, and GAC Toyota has not responded more to the progress of the investigation.
But even as 2022 has begun, complaints about GAC Toyota iA5 continue unabated, and the main problems are still focused on the decline in power, shortened endurance, increased charging time, and electric vehicles are "locked".
R&D capabilities have always been the weak link of GAC Toyota. When German rivals and Japanese brother brands have begun to launch models that are fully localized and designed, GAC Toyota's achievements are mainly achieved by introducing Toyota's blockbuster models. The original Camry and Highlander are the best examples. As a sister model of Corolla, although the sales of Leiling are not as good as those of Corolla, it is also a natural hot sale.
Although GAC Toyota will emphasize its achievements in the field of research and development on different occasions, even in 2021, GAC Toyota has still not come up with a product that can be called a localized original design, and there is no overseas version.
This is especially true in the field of new energy, expecting Toyota's dual engine and dual engine E+ to win the market, while on pure electric models, only a pull-up AION S can be customized from GAC Aeon to "cope" with the market. It is hoped that it will be dragged out until the introduction of Toyota's exclusive pure electric platform, and then try to seek the new energy market. When the iA5 has a problem, GAC Toyota itself has no ability to solve it, so it has to simply and rudely use the method of "locking the power" to deal with it.
Can the 2022 Million Goal be achieved?
GAC Toyota has always flaunted its achievements in continuously improving vehicle safety performance and improving vehicle quality. Including the title of Toyota's global model factory that GAC Toyota is proud of, it has been evaluated as "zero defect rate" in Toyota's global quality inspection (SQA) for many consecutive years.
"GAC Toyota has always been committed to providing consumers with high-safety and high-quality automotive products." This is also the view expressed by Sun Daxing, deputy general manager of GAC Toyota, many times in the face of interviews.
But now in the car quality network of the owner satisfaction rankings, GAC Toyota score is only 3.5 points (out of 5 points), in the face of 2021 quality, word of mouth both decline, research and development is lackluster, in charge of research and development field, and in the company's quality management has a wealth of work experience Sun Daxing can still say such a point of view, he will give his own 2021 a few points?
As the leader of R&D and quality management, Sun Daxing has previously served as the director of the factory planning office, the director of the quality management department, and the director of the quality assurance department, and it is reasonable to say that he has an extraordinary emphasis on quality management. But this emphasis should not just stay on the lips, but should be put into action. Should Sun Daxing bear the management responsibility for today's quality decline?
In the research and development line, Sun Daxing's thinking is obviously still too stable. The benefits of Toyota's TNGA architecture are already well known, and there is really no need to emphasize the goodness of TNGA over and over again. Especially in the field of new energy, the pace of Japanese brands has lagged behind the market, and the failure of the golden signboard in the new energy market has also been verified. It is not advisable to be too stable, not to think of making progress, and to rely only on Toyota's thinking.
In 2022, GAC Toyota has set itself the goal of impacting annual production and sales of 1 million vehicles and moving towards the head camp of joint venture car companies. Compared with 2021, there is an increase of 160,000 more vehicles, and the growth rate will reach nearly 20%.
However, in 2021, the trend of "independent advancement and joint venture retreat" in the automobile market has been very obvious, where does GAC Toyota's 160,000 vehicle increment come from? If you continue to let the reputation of product quality decline, the traditional strong models will gradually lose their momentum; as a new growth point in the new energy field, it is also unknown to continue to rely on Toyota.
Don't be mesmerized by the glossy sales figures, it's time to reflect. When waterloo appeared, just one Sun Daxing could not afford it. (Text/UVIS Auto Old Cannon)
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