As a native of Guangdong, it can be said that I still have a lot of affection for Japanese cars, especially Toyota's proud "crown".
Taking our Guangdong region as an example, in the short 20-year period from 1980 to 2000, it can be said that the Guangdong people's cognition of Crown 3.0 has been deeply rooted in their minds. Of course, in addition to the high price, it is more symbolic of the identity of "high-powered, high-class figures", I believe that many partners also choose Toyota Crown as a wedding car on their wedding day.
Maybe you don't have much memory as a young person, but you will definitely know that Crown 3.0 is the "Dream Car" in the minds of many people.
All along, although many friends and cylinder brothers have never owned the Crown 3.0, but with the rapid development of the economic level, the 12th Toyota Crown believes that it is the most familiar generation, the sales of that year exceeded the Audi A6L, which was the "overlord" of luxury medium and large cars at that time, and once occupied 30% of the domestic luxury car market share, reaching its peak.
Although the Toyota Crown has a huge body, advanced configuration and large displacement of the start, but from the 13th generation, sales have been a significant decline, until the 14th generation of the end of life, Toyota Crown is still unable to get better sales, until April 28, 2020 officially discontinued production, this news is indeed lamentable.
The Asian Dragon project failed
As we all know, the arrival of the Asian Dragon is to make up for the market gap caused by the delisting of the crown. However, from the perspective of the overall market performance, the Asian Dragon did not meet Toyota's expectations, which did make Toyota unexpected. As can be seen from the sales results, The Asian Dragon has been tepid since its listing, November 2019 is the highest monthly sales month of the Asian Dragon, selling 9,074 vehicles, while in the same month, the sales volume of the Camry was 18,366 units, in the first half of this year, FAW Toyota Asia Dragon's cumulative sales were 50,500 units, while GAC Toyota's Camry was 91,100 units in the same period, the two are far apart.
It is worth mentioning that the preferential margin of the Asian Dragon is not as large as the Camry, and the car needs to wait, in fact, the product strength of the Asian Dragon is similar to the main competitors Accord, Camry, Androne, which is almost the same in terms of strength, but in terms of price, it is 20,000-30,000 yuan, then the competitiveness of the Asian Dragon has declined, and it does not seem to have that strength to replace the crown.
When the "Asian Dragon Project" failed, Toyota, as a marketing expert, naturally thought of another new way out, that is, "building the Crown Family". Previously, the appearance of the Crown Land Release SUV and the Crown Wilfa can be seen that they also claimed the crown title. Obviously, this purpose is to make the vehicle look more advanced and sell more expensive, but to "bundle" the emotional psychology of consumers and let them place orders.
From the current point of view, the monthly sales of the crown land sales of six or seven thousand, the overall performance is still good, which also robbed some of the sales of car companies, which is also attributed to Toyota's marketing methods. When Toyota tasted the sweetness, it was more determined to introduce the 15th generation of the crown into the country, after all, those that were only in the form of titles before could not replace the real crown models.
Is the import way back to your acceptance?
So why import status introduction? It is said that Toyota is the most cost-effective in the automotive industry, if it is handed over to FAW or GAC, then it will have to re-invest a whole production line, because it is built on the back-drive platform. Compared with the 14th generation model, the biggest change of the 15th generation crown is based on the TNGA architecture, which also makes it an essential change from the inside out. Therefore, importing is the most insurance and cost-saving.
Perhaps Toyota is really aware of this problem, the strategy of titleing feelings does not seem to be a long-term solution, after all, the spiritual totem does not exist, so there is constant news that FAW Toyota plans to reintroduce the 15th generation crown, but unlike the previous introduction method, the 15th generation crown will return to the Chinese market as a full import. Although this news has not been officially affirmed, but there is no wind and waves, it can be seen that some 4S stores have opened the pre-sale of the 15th generation of crowns, the pre-sale price of the new car is between 350,000-450,000 yuan, and the delivery of 5,000 yuan can be used as a deposit, and the delivery time is about 6 months.
However, in the domestic price range of 350,000-450,000, everyone's consciousness will move closer to luxury brands. In this range, we can think of BMW III Series, Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, along with the price of luxury brands, now buying a car is no longer like buying a Camry and Accord in the nineties need to spend three or four hundred thousand prices, in this budget, naturally there are more abundant choices, the introduction of the 15th generation of crown It will really have a play?
Referring to the current Japanese model, the 15th generation of the crown has a more stylish shape, compared to the old model is less calm and more sporty, after all, the current consumer market is gradually getting younger. In terms of appearance, the new car adopts an exaggerated large mouth design, the overall impact is still very strong, the recognition is also very high, and the RS sport style version is also available. In terms of interior, it has also made greater changes than before, and elements such as the 12.3-inch suspended central control screen have greatly improved the sense of technology, and it is worth mentioning that the fifteenth generation of Crown's car machine supports Apple CarPlay, vehicle voice recognition and many other functions.
However, what is surprising is that the fifteenth generation of the crown has begun to "reverse growth", the body size is 4910mm long, 1800mm wide, 1455mm high, the wheelbase is 2920mm, and the body length is reduced by 110mm, which can be said to be lifted by the long-axle car. In terms of power, the 15th generation crown provides 2.0T, 2.5L hybrid, 3.5L hybrid three kinds of power optional, the future introduction of domestic version may be the largest choice of 2.5L hybrid system, after all, the domestic market is the most suitable for this one, as for the 3.5L hybrid system, the cylinder brother advises you not to think more.
Overall, the price of 350,000-450,000 can be estimated how hot the 15th generation of crown sales can be. As Brother Cylinder said above, the crown is returning as a "spiritual totem", and as for sales, Toyota may also think of the result. However, at the same time, the starting price of Lexus ES is less than 300,000, compared to how many people will be happy to choose from the 15th generation of crowns?
Toyota Crown, may not be the same thing anymore
So if it returns to the domestic market, will the crown be recognized by the market? Will the "Iron Buying Party" pay for it this time? Brother Cylinder doesn't seem to be.
It can be seen that the current fifteenth generation of crowns is built for the Japanese market, because the Streets of Japan are relatively narrow, so the body of the fifteenth generation of crowns does not exceed 1800mm, and the demand for chinese people likes to "lengthen" is completely different, moreover, the fifteenth generation of crowns also canceled the Majesta model, which may not get a good response in the domestic market.
And in terms of configuration, if the 15th generation crown has E-Four hybrid four-wheel drive, AVS variable suspension and better quality sound insulation and noise reduction materials to support, the cylinder brother believes that it can also "live up to" the price of 350,000 yuan, and can also establish the crown as a Toyota executive sedan.
On the other hand, looking at the current domestic automobile market environment has undergone drastic changes, new energy vehicles have become the voice of the times. Between 300,000 and 500,000 in the new forces of products, we can find a lot of very good products, it is clear that Toyota will never have insight into this, if the crown really wants to introduce the domestic market, the cylinder brother feels that the fifteenth generation of the crown is too competitive, it is better to introduce it at the same time with the launch of the sixteenth generation model.
summary
It is undeniable that Toyota Crown's reputation in the domestic market is indeed very high, but when the 15th generation crown under the "yellow robe plus body" comes to our country as an import, it faces not only Lexus, but also hundreds of European luxury brands, which can be seen that its situation is still very embarrassing. However, with the news of the introduction of the 15th generation has spread throughout the Internet, we can see that the voice of Japanese fans is still very high, and in the end, how many friends who shout slogans can pay for it?