BMW's ambitions may be far greater than we think.
Author: Liang Zhihao
As the most dynamic new car sales market at present, the Chinese market has always been the "place where soldiers must compete" for luxury brands. Whether it is the BBA Big Three, which is far ahead in terms of sales, or those weak luxury brands that rely on huge discounts and high cost performance to survive, we attach great importance to this market full of potential.
However, it is very realistic that luxury brands are also divided into three, six, nine and so on, so what can best reflect this gap? Is it sales? I don't think so, as I mentioned earlier, although sales can reflect the popularity of a brand to a certain extent, but the brand's discounts, price reductions and other behaviors can often "inject water" into the sales data. To know how much consumers have a sense of identity with a brand, the best indicator is actually the "average transaction price".
Previously, China Automobile Center had announced a list of average transaction prices of luxury brands, and what we did not expect was that although there was no shortage of luxury brands in the Chinese market, the gap between brands and brands may be much larger than we imagined.
Porsche is far ahead
Among the 18 luxury brands counted this time, there are four German brands, three British brands, two Chinese brands, two Swedish brands, three Japanese brands, one Italian brand and three American brands.
Among them, Porsche is far ahead with an average transaction price of 775,400 yuan. Although porsche in the country is currently the best selling in the country are 718 and Macan and other entry-level cars, its official pricing is not high, but thanks to Porsche's well-known industry's optional tradition, even if these models are priced only more than half a million yuan, their final landing price is often approaching 70 or even 800,000 yuan mark, coupled with 911, Paramela and other high-end models, the average price of Porsche brands in China is as high as 775,400 yuan.
According to the official data released by Porsche, its brand sales in the Chinese market in 2021 will be 95671 units, which is already quite a scary figure for such an "ultra-luxury brand", which also means that the Chinese market alone has contributed more than 74 billion yuan in sales to Porsche.
Land Rover showed surprise
What many people did not expect was that Land Rover actually ranked second with an average transaction price of 663,000 yuan. After being acquired by India's Tata and a joint venture with Chery, Land Rover seems to have "fallen off the altar" in the Chinese market, and this once unattainable off-road vehicle brand has been snubbed by Chinese consumers because of the loss of its aura after becoming close to the people.
For example, domestic models such as the Discovery Sports and The Aurora are discounted all year round but no one cares. However, although grassroots consumers no longer have the Land Rover brand, models such as range rover, range rover sports, new defenders and other models are still sought after by rich people.
Although Land Rover's brand appeal has indeed declined, but models like the Range Rover, whether in terms of positioning or function, look at the current entire market, there is actually no matching opponent - more luxurious than it can not be off-road, than it can be off-road without it has face, than it has face price is not as affordable.
It is not difficult to understand why Land Rover has been able to successfully make up for the embarrassment of "discounting" entry-level models with these high-end models. However, Jaguar, which is also from the same group, is not so lucky, and the average transaction price of the lack of high-end models is only 284,100 yuan, which has fallen below the dividing line of 300,000 yuan, which is the luxury brand of the association.
BBA Audi fell behind
Among the mainstream luxury brands, the BBA we are familiar with also has a large differentiation. Mercedes-Benz, which has a strong brand aura, ranks first in the BBA, and there is naturally no suspense, and the transaction price of 428,600 yuan slightly exceeds BMW's 416,700 yuan.
What people did not expect was that it was thought that there would be a "bloody storm" between the BBA, but the result was that Audi was opened by Mercedes-Benz Bmwra, ranking tenth in the whole list at a price of 325,000 yuan, which was really a bit surprising.
The lack of high-end models may be the most embarrassing place for Audi. Audi flagship models such as the Q7 and A8L are indeed unattractive compared to the same level of Mercedes-Benz BMW. If Audi wants to keep up with its competitors in terms of brand image and sales, polishing its own high-end models may be their best way out.
Weilai and Hongqi have become the only seedlings
Although in recent years, among its own brands, there have suddenly emerged many new sub-brands that claim to be luxury brands, but there are still only a few Chinese brands that can really be called luxury, at least in the mind of China Automobile Center, only Weilai and Hongqi can become Chinese luxury brands.
And Weilai's performance did not disappoint us, the average transaction price of 426,300 yuan not only ranked fourth in the list, but also ranked in front of BMW. Although the higher pricing of NIO models and the lack of low-end models do help them "brush data", the delivery of more than 90,000 vehicles last year is also a positive achievement for such a high-end new force.
Although in the past two years, Hongqi has launched many high-end models, such as E-HS9, H9, etc., but these high-end models can not become the backbone of Hongqi's sales after all, and the average transaction price of Hongqi's full-brand models is only 211,000 yuan, ranking at the bottom of 18 luxury brands, which is even lower than the MINI that only sells cars.
Is it difficult to call the United States and Japan high-end?
Lexus' transaction price is also a concern for many people, after all, the strong performance in recent years has indeed made the brand controversial. Under the blessing of various "mark-up" storms, the average transaction price of Lexus's brand is only 388,900 yuan, ranking seventh in the list.
The performance of Acura and Infiniti, which are also Japanese luxury brands, is even more worrying, with average transaction prices of 285,000 and 271,800 making them only rank in the middle and lower reaches of the list. Also worrying is the American brand, although the average transaction price of the Lincoln brand of 376,400 yuan is still not satisfactory, but regardless of the "addicted to price reduction" Tesla, such as Cadillac's average transaction price is only 263,600 yuan.
I have to say that in the field of luxury, it is still the Ashkenazi brand that knows best how to capture the hearts of Chinese consumers.
Write at the end
For luxury brands, especially consumers of luxury brand high-end models, the product power of a car in the objective is often secondary, the more high-end, the more we hope to be able to get more experience from the level of product strength and performance, this experience may be the added value brought by the brand image (such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz), or it may be enough topicality (such as Weilai, Tesla).
The consumption structure of luxury brands is by no means a simple summary of the phrase "people are stupid and have more money", after all, consumers who are willing to pay a high premium for the brand are often different from consumers who just want a family car, in addition to the budget, the core needs are often different.
(Some image source network)
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Are you willing to pay for luxury brands?
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