Recently, major car companies have announced their 2021 financial reports, under the dual influence of the epidemic and lack of cores, the once boss Volkswagen has declined significantly, giving up the top position to Toyota. The BBA is going hand in hand, which is supposed to be a good economic downturn, but these first-line luxury brands have seen sales soar.
However, the most fierce competition is still two second-tier luxury brands. Volvo sold 699,000 new cars last year and Lexus 760,000, and the gap has narrowed to single digits, and one may have to change positions if they are not careful.
The gap between them and other luxury brands has gradually widened. That is to say, the fourth position of luxury brands after the BBA is basically created between Volvo and Lexus.
Which of the two has a better chance of winning? Let the kung fu car take everyone to see it together.
(1) Lexus cultivates China and the United States, and Volvo sells the world
Although the sales volume of the two is not much different, the composition of sales is still very different. Lexus is more concentrated, focusing on the two major markets of North America and China, while Volvo has a performance in all major markets around the world.
Although it is a Japanese brand, Lexus was actually born out of the North American market. Because North America is more receptive to new brands than traditional Europe. As for the reason for creating Lexus, Akiichiro Toyoda explains that "I don't like to ride in other people's brands of high-end cars." In 2000, Lexus officially became the best-selling luxury brand in North America, and has been sitting in this position for nearly two decades, until it has been surpassed by BMW in recent years, which can be called the light of Japanese luxury brands.
Of course, the main reason for Lexus' success in the United States, in addition to excellent quality, the biggest advantage is actually high configuration and excellent cost performance. In China, it is a different situation. Lexus is a rare pure import brand of the same level in China, and most of the other brands of the same level are domestic, which makes its sense of luxury and grade more prominent, and the workmanship and quality are also very in place, of course, the cost performance is down.
Overall, Lexus is "adapted to local conditions", with great success in China and North America, which also make up the majority of its sales.
As a Nordic luxury brand, Volvo always gives people an unpretentious and angular impression, although there are a lot of high-tech, but there is a unique Nordic sense of coldness, which means that it can not be too "grounded". So Volvo hasn't had the same success in a single market as Lexus did in North America, with its base in Europe, then China and North America, counting its three major markets, with a sales ratio of almost 2:1:1.
But Volvo's magic is that it has a certain proportion in all market segments, and even in Lexus' hometown of Japan, Volvo is quite popular. Like the XC40 and XC60, they have been recognized by the best imported cars in Japan for many times.
Volvo is one of the few brands that can sell globally like BBA, and in theory it will grow better than Lexus. In fact, in the past decade, Volvo is indeed the fastest growing second-tier luxury brand, as to whether it can sit in the fourth chair, it depends on the follow-up performance.
(2) Lexus has a better sense of grade, and Volvo has a better momentum?
As a luxury brand, the sense of grade is naturally a very important thing. Lexus has been importing to China since the 90s, when it was still called Lexus, and at that time it almost only sold LS models, which made many people think that its sense of grade was not worse than that of BBA.
In recent years, with the expansion of sales scale, especially after the use of the rhinophoneic translation of the name Lexus, its sense of grade is obviously inferior to that year. But I have to say that Lexus still has million-dollar luxury cars such as LS and LX, and this price point is untouchable by Volvo. Of course, a 5.7L V8 engine like the LX is also not available to Volvo.
After all, Volvo's most expensive car is the XC90, but it is also in the 500,000 class, competing with the C-class SUV of the aviator, which is also a second-tier luxury brand. I have to say that the sense of grade of a brand is often determined by high-end models, even if its sales share is actually very small.
But Volvo's development in recent years has also been very fast, especially after the investment of Geely Holdings, and its technology iteration is almost the fastest among luxury brands. Volvo, for example, has launched the Drive-E series of assemblies, including eight engines and two transmissions, which are powerful and energy-efficient, and compatible with intelligence and electrification. Volvo is also actively developing its own in-vehicle operating system, and has launched its own self-developed automatic collision warning braking system and automatic steering system, which is impressive in terms of intelligence.
I don't believe you recall that compared with ten years ago, the 3 series is no longer the 3 series, ES is no longer ES, XC60 is still XC60, Volvo is almost the only luxury brand that has not declined. After being incorporated into the Geely system, Volvo also began to taste the advantages of economies of scale. Its zero-to-whole ratio is decreasing year by year, and the overall maintenance cost has reached the mainstream level of the joint venture, which also allows it to get a larger audience.
Overall, although the overall sense of grade in Lexus is still stronger than Volvo, the gap is indeed gradually narrowing.
(3) Lexus sells the whole people, and Volvo is middle-class
In terms of model positioning, Lexus seems to be facing a wider consumer group, not only to meet the needs of households, but also many users use it as a social business.
Everyone's impression of Lexus is also relatively unified, that is, "good quality", "high reliability", "good comfort", "high retention rate" and so on, the overall image is still good. Of course, there are also negative comments such as "not easy to sell" and even "markup". These things complement each other to some extent, because insisting on the identity of imports greatly limits the manufacturer's price control over Lexus, resulting in a bit of a loss of control for the terminal, which in turn cannibalizes its reputation.
But overall, for many users who are not willing to buy BBA with the flow, Lexus is a good choice, after all, the quality is still reliable. Whether it is the urban middle class or small business owners, they are willing to take it as a consideration, and even many female users are very fond of Lexus.
Volvo's audience is narrower because it focuses on environmental protection, safety and technology, and the general public does not have a strong perception of these points. Therefore, volvo is often liked by the Kochi group in the middle class, such as civil servants, teachers, doctors, lawyers and so on.
For example, before AutoNavi analyzed the behavior of the owners of the seven major car brands through big data analysis, cadillac owners were laughed at for a long time because they liked to go to bathing and massage places. In the same analysis report, Volvo owners like to go to institutions, theaters, zoos and botanical gardens, temples and taoist halls, etc., while Lexus owners like to go to schools, factories, seafood restaurants, etc., which is enough to show that Lexus's audience should be wider.
Of course, this problem is not superior or inferior, the two are equal in sales, which is enough to show that they are both successful.
(4) Kung Fu shooting
Overall, at the end of the current era of fuel vehicles, Volvo has almost achieved the extreme. After all, its "bottom" is too thin, there is no V6, V8 such a large displacement engine, no rear-drive platform, and even the audience is not wide enough, the result can also be played back and forth with the big Lexus, which is enough to show how long its long board is, how good the user stickiness is. After all, in the area of safety and environmental protection, it is a car company that sets standards.
Both have announced that they will transform towards electrification, and the future competition will intensify, which is ready to put aside history, who can sit in the fourth position of luxury brands?