Perhaps when the Tank 300 debuted in public at the 2020 Chengdu Auto Show, Great Wall Motors was still tentative about this hardcore SUV. Therefore, Great Wall Motors chose WEY, which had already made a reputation for China's luxury SUV at that time, as an incubator for tank brands, so the full name of the tank platform at that time was also called "Tank · WEY Intelligent Professional Off-Road Platform".
However, later things everyone knows, tank 300 became popular, it not only broke the niche situation in the hardcore SUV market, but also locked the starting price of Great Wall Motors in this new category at 200,000 yuan. In other words, the price ceiling of 200,000 yuan, which was once an independent brand, which was once an independent brand, was painstakingly trying to break through, because the birth of a new category has become the starting point of the high-end SUV market of Great Wall Motors.
Therefore, the independent operation and business model innovation of the tank brand after that are all followed by the results of the phased exploration. Tank 300 has been listed for more than a year and is still difficult to find, and the pre-sale of tank 500 from 335,000 yuan and even the phenomenon of order markup and scalping show that the high-end of the tank brand to create a new category has begun to bear fruit.
In such a scene, other independent car companies that are still exploring on the high-end road are naturally in their eyes. When the previous way of larger size, higher configuration, and full luxury has appeared bottlenecks on the high-end road, the popularity of the tank brand has undoubtedly opened up a new way of thinking. As a result, the wave of high-end hard-core SUVs of independent car companies has been undercurrent.
However, the saturation and maturity of China's auto market have determined that the followers have no longer dividends. There have been too many cases to show that simply imitating the product sequence without delving into the positive logic behind it will only result in half the effort.
The high-end of independent brand SUVs, "hard (on the hard SUV)" has been proven to be a path, but whether it can only rely on "hard" and "hard" conditions and elements, perhaps there should be a clear understanding.
The inevitable and accidental popularity of the tank brand
In today's uncertain times, if you have done all the preparations before doing something, it usually means that it is too late.
The same is true for the development of tank brands, each step, there is both the top-level design of strategic direction and overall planning, but there is also no lack of adjustment and adaptation with the times. Exploring on a road that no one has ever walked, there is both necessity and contingency.
Let's look first at inevitability.
To make a high-end hardcore SUV, there are several prerequisites for the product:
Professional off-road chassis with full road conditions capabilities
High-end powertrain and performance
The ecology and reputation of the user circle
Spread the story of feelings and culture
In order to break the boundaries between hardcore SUVs and luxury urban SUVs, it is also necessary to integrate into the product:
Exquisite, luxurious design, materials, workmanship
Fully equipped for comfort and convenience
Advanced intelligent and networked functions
Chassis tuning for everyday driving
Obviously, the high-end road of SUV of independent brands in the past is based on the latter. But in the eyes of many consumers, the final result of these efforts is nothing more than a large car, a very high configuration, a lot of fancy features, or after the test drive, sigh a sentence "Now the domestic car is quite comfortable", and then turn around to buy a joint venture SUV that looks like nothing.
In essence, this is because in the rules set by the joint venture brand, the independent brand, as a follower, has no way to surpass in the core field, and can only accept the "harsh responsibility" of consumers. Those so-called selling points have become "strange tricks" in the eyes of consumers.
Before the Tank 300, Great Wall Motors' SUV high-end road was also not exempt. However, Great Wall Motors, which made its fortune with pickup trucks and has been working in the field of off-road vehicles for many years, has the incomparable advantages of several other head independent car companies. Therefore, when Great Wall Motors chose to integrate the advantages of the two and spent a lot of effort to develop a high-end power system such as a 3.0T+9AT longitudinal six-cylinder, the tank brand had uniqueness. It no longer needs to be compared to the joint venture brand, it has created its own unique standard system.
You can say that the Tank 300 has no opponents, or you can say that all models at a similar price point are opponents of the Tank 300, because the demand for the Tank 300 is not snatched from which model and which type of model, but by digging or even creating it by itself. When spending more than 200,000 yuan to buy a tank 300, the satisfaction obtained far exceeds that of other models in this price range, consumers will naturally vote with their wallets.
Therefore, being able to integrate seemingly contradictory elements such as off-road, luxury, and intelligence at the same time to create a new category that far exceeds the expectations of the same price is the inevitability of the popularity of the tank brand.
However, the particularity of 2021 also gives a certain degree of contingency to the popularity of the tank brand.
In 2021, we are facing the differentiation of consumption concepts after the epidemic, and there are also the improvement of chinese people's confidence in independent brands under the complex international situation, and at the same time ushered in the explosive growth of outdoor activities in the suburbs after the difficulty of travel due to epidemic prevention and control, these factors were unknown if they were placed five or six years ago in the tank platform planning. But it is precisely these unknowns, together with the elements of inevitability, that have driven the fiery situation of the tank brand today.
If we take the criterion of combining this inevitability and contingency factors to judge, is it possible for other independent car companies to copy the high-end growth path of tank brands?
Without conditions, can conditions be created "hard"?
Jumping out of the standards set by the joint venture brand, shaping their own evaluation system, so that consumers can spend the same price, can get several times the satisfaction of this price model, after the tank brand, many independent car companies have recognized this unique high-end road, and began to have substantive action.
According to the information currently reported, at least four independent brands will make efforts to the high-end hardcore SUV market - BYD, Geely, Jietu, dongfeng.
BYD is expected to release a new high-end brand this year, and the first model may be a high-end hardcore SUV. Previously, BYD's off-road chassis test of the shell mule car has been exposed, is expected to provide both plug-in hybrid and pure electric versions, while there is news that the price of this model may exceed 500,000 yuan, the top price is even around 900,000 yuan.
Geely will develop pure electric pickups under the new brand based on the SEA-L platform, one of the branches of the SEA's vast architecture. Due to the chassis versatility of pickup trucks and hardcore SUVs, if Geely wants to enter this market, it is likely to develop pure electric hardcore SUV at the same time. Considering the high-end positioning of the SEA Haohan architecture itself, the models developed in this way are bound to have the same matching positioning.
The concept hardcore SUV T-X, unveiled by Jetway at the beginning of this year, also shows the coveting of this segment. At the same time, the estimated price range of 150,000-300,000 yuan is also much higher than the current main sales model of the Jietu brand.
Dongfeng officially announced the establishment of the "M Division" last year, that is, a new high-end electric off-road brand. It is reported that the first model of this new brand may be the "electric warrior" that benchmarks the "electric Hummer".
From this information, we can find that the development of these four brands of hardcore SUVs has the following differences compared to the path of the tank:
1. Historical precipitation
BYD and Geely did not have a product background of hardcore SUVs or pickup trucks before, and the concept of Jietu is "travel", which is slightly related to hardcore SUVs. Although Dongfeng has experience in hard-core SUV manufacturing, it is mainly oriented to special markets such as military vehicles, and the voice of the civilian off-road market is not loud.
2. Power form
Among the four brands, bydir, Geely, Dongfeng's high-end hardcore SUV will take the form of electrified power, and the "Kunlun" architecture of Jietu T-X will also be compatible with fuel, hybrid and pure electric options. In other words, they will not specifically redevelop large-displacement engines like Great Wall Motors, but will electrify to meet high-end power needs.
3. The relationship between brand and category
Great Wall Motors will be the tank brand and the technology of high-end off-road SUV category binding, and derived from the mecha technology and business luxury subdivision sequence, which will also promote the next entry of new brands, can no longer talk about the concept of "big off-road vehicles" in general, but to further subdivide the scene, both to break through the current tank brand definition standards, but also to explore the other potential needs of hardcore SUVs.
Among them, the most difficult thing to do is not technology, not positioning, not marketing, but the historical precipitation that seems to be the most nihilistic. Especially when the tank brand has established a preconceived brand recognition and evaluation dimension in the field of high-end hardcore SUV, if other brands cannot comprehensively surpass in these dimensions, such as the number of differential locks, field off-road performance, intelligent networking capabilities, user circle layer and cultural creation, etc., and have not created a new dimension in the product direction, then even if there are advantages in some local characteristics, it is inevitable to compare with the corresponding models of the tank brand.
At this time, the vast majority of consumers who do not know much about product technology are likely to rely on market reputation to make decisions. The shaping of word of mouth is the externalization of history and culture accumulated in consumers.
Such a situation would be extremely unfavorable to those who came after. In today's era, the pioneers who create rules and evaluation systems will always have privileges in the consumer market, and those who follow suit will always be picked up by consumers. However, when the SUV of the original independent brand was upward, the forerunner was the joint venture brand; today's independent brand is a high-end hardcore SUV, and the forerunner is the tank brand. Essentially, nothing has changed.
The reason why the tank brand can sell well in its price segment is because it has done what it does not do today, including joint venture brands and even luxury brands, and it provides consumers with new categories that are completely different from other models. As a result, it has the right to dominate the discourse of categories.
At this time, other brands are entering the high-end hardcore SUV, and its choice is two: first, to challenge the tank brand head-on and win the most important product power of consumers; second, to re-take the path of the tank brand in 2021, that is, to create new categories and establish a new consumer mentality. Obviously, either option is not an easy thing to do.
Write at the end
After China's auto market enters the era of stock, all car companies are inevitably anxious. One of the key points of anxiety is how to use the combination of products and technologies to innovate to meet or even advance to meet the rapid iteration of consumer demand, but also to step on the rhythm of the times and social development.
Therefore, if any brand has made a successful case, there will be more brands to follow - the tank brand that opens the high-end hardcore SUV segment is a typical case. However, the tank brand to achieve today's pattern, is the result of inevitable + accidental joint promotion. This means that the follow-up of other brands must not only cultivate internal skills, to create inevitability, but also to step on the right timing and obtain contingency. Even if the automotive industry has never been a strong man, it will never be in the context of the opponent if it is to be truly successful.
The high-end of independent brand SUVs will not only have a "hard" road, but at least for now, "hard" has become a road to follow.