Recently, it was reported that FAW Toyota will produce a high-end MPV called Granvia, and the Chinese name of this car may be "Crown Wildo", which will be listed in September this year.
At present, there is not much information about this high-end MPV officially released by FAW Toyota, but from the test car exposed by the domestic media, its shape is roughly consistent with the Xena, or based on the AMERICAN version of Toyota SIENNA XSE Sport Edition, so it is a sister model of GAC Toyota Syna.
Xena focuses on cost performance, and Wilderut positioning is more high-end
Last year, GAC Toyota incorporated SIENNA into its domestic production, and the Chinese name was set as "Xena". Because SIENNA was introduced into the Chinese market in the form of parallel imported cars before the official domestic production, it is well known by many consumers, and with good driving comfort and Toyota's advantages in quality, SIENNA has also left a good reputation in the domestic market. After the introduction of the domestic transformation into "Xena", its price is lower than that, compared with the past, the cost performance is much higher.
Good word of mouth coupled with a lower price than imported cars, so that Sai Na has not yet been listed on the market first "fire". Since the official listing of Sai Na at the end of October last year, the news around its "mark-up car" has been continuous, which also confirms the "popularity" of this car from the side. Judging from the sales data, since the end of last year, after passing the capacity climbing period, Sai Na sold 5399 vehicles in January this year, successfully squeezing into the top five ranks of the domestic MPV market, at the same time, GAC Toyota officially claimed that the top model in this sales accounted for 40%. Judging from the price of 309,800-405,800 yuan, a considerable number of consumers are more willing to spend 400,000 yuan to buy this car.
Xena, image source: GAC Toyota
The hot sales of Xena undoubtedly strengthened Toyota's determination to implement the dual-vehicle strategy. In fact, long before the launch of Xena, there were media reports that FAW Toyota would follow suit to launch SIENNA's sister model, whose Chinese name may be Verlu. Today, this sister model has finally surfaced, only to add the word "crown" in front of Will land. Although the name "Crown Wildo" has not yet been officially confirmed by FAW Toyota, its non-denial attitude also indirectly proves the authenticity of this name.
Crown is an independent high-end sub-brand opened by FAW Toyota last year, and it has introduced a domestic model Crown Land Release. The car is positioned in the field of medium-sized SUVs, the main seven-seater, can be seen as a sister version of Highlander, but the price range is slightly higher than Highlander, which also reflects the high-end positioning of the "Crown" brand. Judging from the sales volume after the listing of The Crown Land, its monthly sales are basically stable at about 6,000 vehicles, which is not as good as highlander, but it is also commendable in the B-class SUV in the price range of 300,000 yuan. It can be said that at this stage, Crown Land has gained a firm foothold in the joint venture high-end B-class SUV market, which not only sets the tone for the high-end positioning of the Crown brand, but also provides a certain market foundation for the introduction of follow-up products.
Crown Will Law, image source: FAW Toyota
In addition, Crown also has an imported MPV - Crown Will Law. As we all know, Wilfa is Toyota's high-end MPV introduced into the Chinese market in the form of parallel imported cars, and this time it is included in the crown, which undoubtedly further elevates the status of the crown, and also lays a "high-end" tone for its subsequent introduction of more domestic MPV models.
From this point of view, the domestically produced Verlu is included in the "crown" banner, and its positioning will be higher than that of Xena. Some analysts pointed out that from the current starting price of 309,800 yuan of Sai Na, the future price of Crown Verlu may fall in the range of more than 400,000 yuan, at the same time, in view of the current purchase of Sai Na top model of more than 40% of the users, so even if 400,000 yuan start, Crown Wilde is not short of potential users, and there is a high probability that it will continue to be "markup" like Sai Na.
From "imported" to "domestic", MPV became Toyota's profit harvester in China
The introduction of Crown Verlu is, on the one hand, another manifestation of Toyota's implementation of the dual-vehicle strategy in China, and on the other hand, it also shows that its MPV product strategy in China is undergoing a transformation. In the past, Toyota's sales in China alpha, Willfa and SIENNA, three MPV products are introduced in the form of imported cars, and the price of these three models is not cheap, especially the starting price of Alpha and Willfa is more than 800,000, although the price of SIENNA is relatively low, but at that time the terminal market also often appears to queue up to wait for the car or increase the price of the car. From this point of view, these imported MPV have contributed a lot of profits to Toyota in the past.
Alpha Twin Engine, Image source: Toyota China
Nowadays, with the transformation of China's fertility policy and the upgrading of consumer demand, the mid-to-high-end MPV market with greater space and better comfort has ushered in development opportunities, and Toyota has also changed its previous marketing strategy to replace imports with domestic products to improve product cost performance, and further expand its share in the domestic high-end MPV market.
This year, with the arrival of Crown Wild, Toyota will have two domestic MPV in China, and the price of these two models is expected to be locked in the range of 300,000-450,000 yuan. Judging from the current market performance, The Xena's monthly sales are expected to stabilize at about 5,000 vehicles, which is almost equal to its annual sales in the imported car era, and Crown Verlu's current attention is also higher, based on the higher positioning of the Crown brand and Toyota's quality endorsement, its monthly sales will not be much worse than the race. Therefore, the addition of these two domestic models has consolidated Toyota's market share in the mid-to-high-end MPV market on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can also contribute considerable profits.
Driven by the market and policies, joint venture car companies are competing to lay out the high-end MPV market
MPV has always been a relatively niche market in the three major segments of the passenger car sector. Looking at the development trend of the domestic MPV market in the past 10 years, its hot period appeared in 2015-2017, and the sales volume of the domestic MPV market exceeded 2 million vehicles in the past three years, reaching nearly 2.5 million vehicles at the peak of 2016, an increase of 15.58% over 2015.
If you want to find the reason why the MPV market is hot during this period, you cannot fail to mention the adjustment of the national fertility policy around 2016, that is, the relaxation of the restrictions on the birth of a second child. This policy has promoted the popularity of large-space, fully configured household MPV, and at the same time, independent and joint venture car companies have launched MPV products during this period, such as BYD Song MAX, Trumpchi GM6, Buick GL6 and so on.
In terms of volume, from 2017, the domestic MPV market showed a continuous shrinkage, until 2021, the MPV market finally ended the decline for four consecutive years and began to pick up. An important reason for the recovery of the domestic MPV market last year is also inseparable from the adjustment of the national fertility policy, that is, the government began to encourage the birth of three children. Boosted by this policy, a series of high-end MPV have been listed, most of which are joint venture brand products, such as GAC Toyota Xena, Kia Jawa, Hyundai Kusto and so on.
From the peak period in 2016 to the stop loss in 2021, the remarkable performance of the domestic MPV market at the above two time nodes is inseparable from the boost of national policies. Analysts at the Gaz Automotive Research Institute pointed out that the adjustment of the birth policy will give birth to more "big families", and under the trend of upgrading consumer demand, such users are more inclined to buy joint venture brands with higher quality, which provides an opportunity for joint venture brands to develop high-end MPV markets.
Judging from the current pattern of the MPV market, it is transitioning from the previous "dumbbell" structure to the "spindle" structure, and there are more and more MPV products available in the price zone of more than 200,000. It can be said that the dual role of the market and policy has activated the high-end MPV market, but at present, the high-end MPV market has not gotten rid of the situation that GL8 is dominant, which also makes almost all "latecomers" take the Buick GL8 as a potential competitor.
Analysts pointed out that Toyota has a high "mass" base in the MPV market, but the domestic post-race has not shaken GL8 at this stage, and in the future, together with Crown Wilder, it is expected to challenge the championship status of buick GL8.