According to the data of the Insurance Regulatory Commission some time ago, most luxury brands in 2021 achieved an increase in the amount of insurance, BMW won the first place, and the amount of insurance reached 846237, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year. Tesla's insurance volume ranked fourth, but the growth rate was as high as 118.7%, and Hongqi was second only to Tesla, with 271496 vehicles, an increase of 42.2%.
In the following figure of 16 brands, only 5 brands have declined, Infiniti and Acura is expected, Mercedes-Benz and Audi have also seen a certain decline, but in the end it is still firmly in the top three positions, more unexpected is that Lexus has fallen to the 7th place, the amount of insurance is 219167, down 6.9% year-on-year, but also behind Cadillac.
Lexus' sales performance in China in the past few years can be called smooth sailing, all the way up. The decline in the amount of insurance on new cars in 2021 is a wake-up call for Lexus. Why is this happening?
If it is only because of the impact of chip shortages, this reason is obviously not rigorous, after all, other brands are also facing this situation. However, the lack of core does bring a chain reaction, we all know that thanks to Toyota's excellent marketing, Lexus is mostly sold at a higher price, especially its ES models, and it is normal to add 20,000 or 30,000 queues to wait for the car. But in fact, pull the line of sight back to the product itself, Lexus ES in the terminal has been complained about slow acceleration, the interior to the present also appears to be some lack of sense of technology, and now because of the lack of core problems, not only increase the price, the car cycle is also lengthened, no doubt will consume most of the patience of consumers, so as to choose other brands.
Feedback to the data is also very obvious, ES this brand's most important sales force in last year's total insurance volume of 106,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 7.8%. The mark-up is a double-edged sword, playing well can increase the brand premium, and playing badly will swallow up the enthusiasm and goodwill of consumers. Lexus is obviously very confident, but in fact, as the chinese people's consumption concept becomes more mature and rational, and the market competition intensifies, more and more consumers have begun to resist the price increase.
The reason why Lexus is loved in China may be these points: good quality, high comfort, and strong luxury attributes. But now the lexus quality myth may be gradually shattered, Toyota's oil and emulsification phenomenon, in the Lexus also appear. At the same time, last year, the brand issued a recall of nearly 130,000 vehicles, although the voluntary recall is the embodiment of the responsible attitude of the company, but to a certain extent, it also exposed the problem of quality control management.
And with the advent of the era of electrification, new energy models are constantly grabbing the market share of fuel models, and the rise of new car-making forces such as Tesla, Ideal, and Weilai has brought a lot of pressure to luxury brands. The car buying community is also getting younger, in addition to luxury, they also have a stronger demand for intelligence and technology, but this has not been the strength of the Toyota family. Lexus is the same, the main model ES, RX are stuck in the previous generation of design language, only the NX that has just achieved a replacement may be more than breaking the norm, the screen size has reached the largest 14 inches ever, but on the design sense NX is a bit similar to the large Toyota, luxury attributes are lacking a lot. And in terms of electrification, Lexus is obviously advancing quite slowly.
The decline in the amount of insurance is also a signal, although the amplitude is not large, but if Lexus continues to hold as before, increase sales, and product innovation does not keep up with the rhythm, there may be more than such a decline in the future.