Some time ago, I think everyone was brushed by the infinite stream theme, before there was "The Beginning" and then there was "A Flash and a Shining Star", with netizens falling into the loop. At this time, there is a question that has aroused the thinking of many people. If you did it all over again, would you repeat your choices? Xiaobian thought, The answer of Changan Mazda is yes.
No real sales growth was achieved
According to official data from Changan Mazda, sales in January were 19,200 units, down 6.9% year-on-year and up 31.6% month-on-month. Among them, the main sales force Ofxella sold 14,000 vehicles, accounting for 59.4% of total sales. Only from the perspective of sales, Changan Mazda seems to have ushered in an "inflection point". In fact, January is close to the Spring Festival holiday, usually this is the peak sales season of the car market, coupled with Changan Mazda's models have given a lot of preferential prices, naturally attracting some consumers to place orders. In this way, the increase in sales in January is nothing more than eating the social "dividend".
Compared with January last year, Changan Mazda's sales fell by 6.9%. I believe that everyone knows that the North and South Mazda achieved a merger last year, and the models on sale have not decreased, and they are still the previous models. As terminal discounts continue to increase, sales should increase. However, contrary to expectations, the market does not pay the bill, and the sales volume does not increase but decreases. Therefore, from this point of view, Changan Mazda still has not been able to get out of the "pain period" after the merger.
In addition, Changan Mazda's insistence seems to be somewhat subtle. From the above, it can be found that the sales volume of Anxella in January accounted for nearly 60%, to put it bluntly, Changan Mazda only relies on the hard support of the modified car. If there is a slight carelessness and there is a clear "mistake", then changan Mazda sales will decline sharply. In fact, the previous FAW Mazda also relied only on Artez to support sales, and experienced a large number of complaints from consumers due to strange noises, resulting in a sharp decline in sales, and even the overall impact was serious.
In addition, this year's Changan Mazda has set a target of 200,000 vehicles. Although it doesn't look very tall, it's actually very difficult to implement. It is reported that since becoming the executive vice president of Changan Mazda in October 2016, this is the second time that Fu Yuanhong has proposed an annual sales target. The first time was in 2017, the target was 300,000 units, when the actual sales were 192,000 units, and Changan Mazda has not disclosed its annual sales target since then.
There have been lessons from the past, but Changan Mazda is still bent on going its own way, is this an insistence on self or stubbornness?
Electrification transition is slow
Halfway through January, most companies showed their report cards. Overall, the new energy market has maintained rapid growth, which to a certain extent shows that new energy vehicles have moved from policy-oriented to market-oriented. Taking advantage of the new energy outlet, many independent brands have performed well and gradually mastered the main discourse power, and traditional brands are also actively transforming, while Mazda does not seem to have reacted. To date, there is only one oil-to-electric model, the CX-30 EV, which went on sale in late September last year.
So, what kind of market performance will Mazda launch the first pure electric vehicle model launched in the domestic market, which is known as "Toei BMW"?
From the configuration point of view, its entry-level model priced at 159,800 yuan does not even have basic configurations such as navigation, road condition information display, keyless entry, electric seats, and reversing radar. Looking at the independent brand, with a price of nearly 160,000 yuan to buy a BYD Song Pro or Xiaopeng G3, is not fragrant?
Secondly, the main reason why Mazda has many fans in China is because Mazda is obsessed with the research and development of the internal combustion engine and its achievements and achievements in the internal combustion engine. But even a veteran Mazda fan will not hesitate to pick up the car when facing this electric car.
In addition, Li Bin, the founder of Weilai, once said bluntly that "the capital threshold for building cars needs to be reserved, a few years ago I said it was 20 billion, and now there is no 40 billion that may not be able to do it." In the case of the continuous improvement of the threshold for car manufacturing, Mazda has not yet shifted its focus to the new energy sector. Some public information pointed out that the current planned production capacity of CX-30EV is only 5,000 vehicles, compared with the new car manufacturers who often create tens of thousands of production capacity for their new energy products, the purpose of Changan Mazda is to test the waters of the new energy market or there is no idea of transformation?
As we all know, within two years of Mazda Co., Ltd.'s announcement of the closure and the release of new products, the domestic new energy market is in a stage of vigorous development. Under the support of policies such as double credits and new energy subsidies, Tesla's entry into China, "Wei Xiaoli" and other new car-making forces have risen, and even traditional enterprises represented by Volkswagen have also competed to transform into the game. In contrast, Mazda in China happens to be in the product window period, marginalized while the market competitiveness weakens.
Previously, the "conservative" Toyota held an electric vehicle strategy conference under the trend of new energy, toyota Akio also announced that the global sales target of Toyota pure electric vehicles in 2030 is 3.5 million units, and plans to invest 35 billion US dollars in the development of electric vehicles, Lexus will also transform into a pure electric brand; even technology companies such as Xiaomi, Maverick, Huawei or cross-border enterprises have also chosen to "make cars in the future". Obviously, the new energy vehicle market is becoming more and more crowded, and it has ushered in another decline in subsidies, Changan Mazda has been too slow in its layout in electrification, and it has missed a good opportunity for development, so it is not easy to break the situation.
According to the new technology and new product planning released by Changan Mazda last year, from 2022 to 2025, it will launch 5 hybrid models, 5 plug-in hybrid models and 3 pure electric vehicle models in multiple regional markets, forming a corner with the hot fuel product lineup currently on sale. Earlier, Fu Yuanhong, executive vice president of Changan Mazda, said, "The product plan for 2023 has been clear, and some medium-term plans may be issued at the right time this year, and there may be more traditional products, new energy, intelligence, and we will actively adapt to the market." This means that Changan Mazda will not launch a new model in 2022, so the launch of the new electric model will wait for one year at the earliest, or longer.
Before the product planning has landed, it has already painted a beautiful vision for itself. 2022 may be the first year of Changan Mazda's development in China, but relying on the single model of Axela to support sales, coupled with the current situation of delayed electrification layout, it is indeed difficult to achieve this ambition.
Auto Network Review: Changan Mazda, which missed the opportunity, is it still too late?
At present, it is a well-recognized fact that new energy is the trend of the times, and even the "die-hard fans" of fuel vehicles such as Akio Toyoda are difficult to avoid. Today's Changan Mazda's old products are seriously under-competitive, coupled with the lack of continuous supply of new products. In fact, this is not an emergency, but a problem that has always existed, so even if Changan Mazda enters the cycle again, its choice may not change. This wave of operations may have allowed some true love fans to "climb the wall", and the brand power has suffered a serious overdraft in recent years, and the merged Changan Mazda is still facing a greater dilemma.
A brand turn is difficult to turn around, and the opportunity is fleeting, for Mazda, which is deeply engaged in fuel vehicles, every change is a huge "big gamble". Is there still a chance for Changan Mazda's belated new energy layout and re-emergence?