In 2021, FAW Toyota's total sales volume reached 860019 units, an increase of 8% year-on-year compared with 2020. Under the multiple influences of lack of core and epidemic, it can still outperform the market, which seems to be a good result. However, there is still a certain gap from the target set by FAW Toyota at the beginning of the year to reach 880,000 vehicles and challenge 920,000 vehicles. In other words, faw Toyota actually did not reach the minimum target it set.
Hu Shaohang, who had high hopes, failed to realize his rhetoric in the first full natural year of taking charge of FAW Toyota, and could only use an 8% year-on-year increase to prevaricate the past. The three major strategies proposed by FAW Toyota in 2021, such as the TNGA strengthening strategy, the crown brand renewal strategy, and the new energy strategy, have almost all failed.
Sales of the main impulse models declined
Toyota has always advertised that the TNGA architecture can greatly improve product performance and quality, while saving costs, while Corolla is facing a decline in quality in 2021.
As the main model of the impulse, the Corolla's cumulative sales in 2021 were 330,280 units, compared with 357165 cumulative sales in 2020, down 7.5% year-on-year. The lack of cores is obviously not the only reason for the decline in sales, because FAW Toyota can give priority to supplying chips to the Corolla to ensure sales. The decline in quality and word of mouth may explain why Corolla's sales have declined.
On the automotive quality complaint website car quality network, it can be seen that Corolla ranked sixth in the complaint list of 100,000-150,000 cars in 2021, and the complaint problems focused on the gearbox setback and abnormal noise. This is very rare for Toyota, which has always been known for its reliable quality.
Complaints erupted in the second half of the year, and in October 2021, Corolla's complaint volume rose the most. Zhong Wen, who was in charge of FAW Toyota's network training at the time, had just been transferred to the position of public relations director for a few months, and seemed to have little experience in dealing with this kind of public opinion, which directly led to the collapse of Corolla's reputation.
As a result, Corolla's sales have declined rapidly since June, selling less than 20,000 units for several consecutive months, squeezing out of the top ten of the car sales list. The Corolla sold only 19,738 units in October, down nearly 10,000 units from the same period last year.
Although the production department is not responsible for the strict control of quality control, there is no make-up action after the incident, and the public relations mouth is hard to blame.
The performance of new cars in 2021 is not satisfactory
In 2021, FAW Toyota launched several models of The Crown Land Release, LingFang, Asia Lion, rav4 Rongfang Dual Engine E+, and the final performance was not satisfactory.
In order to distinguish itself from its brother model Highlander, FAW Toyota specially put a "crown" for Lufang, hoping to use the Crown brand to raise the positioning of Lufang by half a grade; at the same time, crowns can be continued as an independent brand in the domestic market, paving the way for the return of Crown cars to the domestic market.
However, at the beginning, the crown lost the domestic market, and now the word "crown" has no more meaning than feelings. Reflected in the Crown land release, from August 2021 to December 2021, the cumulative sales volume is only 25,173 units, which is far from Highlander's monthly sales of 10,000 units, and the strategy of renewing the Crown brand cannot be discussed.
The launch of the Asiatic Lion was originally intended to make up for the gap in the market between the Corolla and the Asian Dragon, but the appearance and interior of the Corolla, which is highly similar to the Corolla, and the excessive pricing made the car unable to gain market recognition.
From its launch in April 2021 to its peak of 6,807 units in June, it began to turn around and go all the way down. In September, only one unit was sold. So much so that FAW Toyota has not mentioned the Asiatic Lion since then, and the sales database of major platforms no longer has the name of the Asiatic Lion.
When various car companies have bet heavily on new energy, FAW Toyota's new energy strategy is only a RAV4 Rongfang dual engine E+ new car launched, according to the statistics of the Association of Automobile Associations, RAV4 Rongfang double engine E+ cumulative sales in 2021 is 4125 vehicles. On the other hand, the original Corolla Dual Engine E+ and Yize E Jinqing also continued to maintain sluggish sales in 2021, and the annual cumulative sales were only at the level of thousands of vehicles.
Relying on this sales alone, there is no new energy strategy at all.
What is the crux of FAW Toyota's problem?
Fundamentally, FAW Toyota is a sales-oriented company supplemented by sales-based technology research and development.
Unlike most other car companies, we rarely see FAW Toyota focusing on its research and development achievements. Relying on Toyota's golden signboard, introducing Toyota's well-known models, making some minor adjustments, and then focusing on brand marketing. This is the strategy that FAW Toyota has been using. Whether it is the renewal of the Crown brand or the strengthening of TNGA, in the final analysis, it is a gimmick for the purpose of marketing. In product research and development, FAW Toyota has never taken the initiative.
This leads to the failure of Toyota's golden sign, or the problem of the TNGA architecture, FAW Toyota will be helpless and become very passive.
Corolla's quality problems reflect that Toyota's TNGA is not perfect, and from toyota's frequent recalls in recent years, it can be seen that Toyota is on the verge of losing control in the balance between cost and quality. Just at the end of January 2022, Toyota launched the largest Corolla and Raling recall.
The folding wings of many traditional big brands in the new energy market have proved that the golden signboard does not play a too obvious role in this new track. FAW Toyota's new energy strategy also relies on Toyota's pure electric new car launch, and the market performance is still unknown.
Faw Toyota's sales target for 2022 is 1 million units. Relying on marketing alone, FAW Toyota will always have a time to "exhaust its strength", and now it seems that this time is coming. (Text/UVIS Auto Old Cannon)
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