Since the arrival of the "car market winter" in 2018, China's auto market has experienced continuous turbulence in recent years, and the decline in sales and the intensification of competition have made major car companies not strange. However, in the context of "consumption upgrading", consumers are becoming more cautious about car purchases, which has promoted the booming luxury car market. At least until 2020, most first- and second-tier luxury brands will still maintain large or strong growth data.
Unfortunately, this scene came to an abrupt end in 2021. Even if the consumer side still has strong potential for enhancement, under the influence of chip shortage and repeated epidemics, the upstream and downstream of automobile manufacturing are facing greater tests, making it difficult for luxury brands to stand alone. Taking the BBA sales in China in 2021, in addition to the growth of BMW (including MINI), Mercedes-Benz (including smart) and Audi have both experienced a single-digit decline year-on-year.
In contrast, Lexus' recently released sales data for the Chinese market in 2021 is enough to be called remarkable. According to the data, Lexus delivered 226116 new cars in China last year, an increase of 1.1% year-on-year, maintaining positive year-on-year growth for 17 consecutive years; the comprehensive layout of the car, SUV and MPV markets, and the determination to continuously deepen the electrification transformation show a thriving situation.
Is this really the case? If you are willing to delve deeper, it is not difficult to see the "embarrassment" of Lexus in China today. Also the most intuitive data, Lexus's cumulative sales throughout the year increased slightly, but in terms of performance in the second half of the year, in June, July and August, its monthly sales exceeded 20,000 units, and its monthly sales in September fell by 31.4% year-on-year to 14,700 units; in October and November, monthly sales fell by less than 50% year-on-year, respectively, 8642 vehicles and 12366 vehicles; Monthly sales in December "improved", down 35.8% year-on-year, and monthly sales of 17265 vehicles.
Usually, the second half of the year is often the peak sales season, especially in the "Golden Nine Silver Ten" and a period of time before the New Year, which will greatly stimulate the potential of the consumer market. Obviously, Lexus did not take advantage of this opportunity, especially the sales volume "Waterloo" in the fourth quarter, which could have created a higher "annual sales record" and now can only end with a regrettable "slight increase of 1.1%".
Of course, if you put aside the year-on-year performance, lexus may be difficult to laugh at in terms of annual sales. In 2021, Hongqi sold 300,000 units a year to win the traditional second-tier luxury brand sales championship, achieving a year-on-year increase of 50%; Cadillac, as the former "second-tier overlord", also sold 233,000 vehicles last year, once again leading Lexus by a slight advantage. In addition, Volvo, which sells 171,000 units a year, and Lincoln, which has increased by 48% year-on-year, are also very competitive brands in the second-tier luxury market.
Facts have proved that Lexus, which relies on "whole-line imports", has been affected by the "aftermath" of the epidemic in addition to obtaining a higher brand premium ability to support "price increases". On the one hand, the shortage of chips caused by the epidemic and the suspension of factory shutdowns have limited the output of new cars to a certain extent, which has a far-reaching impact on the business model of "generous profits and less sales"; on the other hand, as far as imported models are concerned, the increase in logistics and storage costs caused by the epidemic may also bring additional manufacturing costs. Compared with the relatively stable production environment in China, Lexus's decision to "insist on not domestic production" is not known whether it is right or wrong.
Conclusion: In addition to the above objective factors, there is also a change in the direction of the market wind, which deserves lexus vigilance. In the eyes of the older generation of users, Lexus is a well-deserved symbol of identity and feelings, especially in the southern market where Japanese cars are popular, and has gained a large number of fans.
However, in the perspective of the post-90s and post-00s who have gradually become the main force of automobile consumption, whether from the perspective of luxury, sports, or safety and style, Lexus has a better alternative; they are good at budget-making and have independent aesthetics, at least at present, there are still many people who do not eat the "mark-up" set, as netizens said: there are more people who understand cars.