Text/Hu Yao
Photo/From official
Before writing this article, I once again turned over the Mondeo video taken in 2020, and when the last shot: the third generation of Mondeo, who first entered China in 2003, and the fourth generation of Mondeo in 2020, were in the same frame, that moment was still moving. Yes, Mondeo – not only has it entered millions of homes in the past two decades, but it has also witnessed the development of China's auto industry, along with Changan Ford's changes in the torrent of the times.
Along the way, in the Changan Ford product camp, there are departures, there are entry, there are highlights, there are dim, and only Mondeo has always occupied the most important position in the Changan Ford car segment. Whether it is the heavy ink painted in the middle and high-end car market when it entered China in early 2003, or the more personalized trend set off by "Martin Face" in 2013, the three words of Mondeo have long been deeply engraved in the hearts of the Chinese people, stunning time and gentle years.
In 2022, when the fifth generation of Mondeo, that is, the new generation of Mondeo, finally comes after 8 years, in the face of the already earth-shaking automobile market, what kind of product expression has Ford given to Mondeo? What kind of "explosive" style does Changan Ford play for this "explosive" product that once sold more than 10,000 yuan a month? If you want to become a "blockbuster" again, what else does the new generation of Mondeo need to do right?
At that time, when the slightly sad word of light was transformed into the driving force of the times, I once again came to the Ford China Design Center in Shanghai's Interconnect Treasure Land, standing next to this Chinese local design and development of Mondeo, with one question after another to carefully interpret.
What is Changan Ford's current "blockbuster" model?
In 2021, although the automotive industry began to be affected by chips from the second half of the year, production capacity and sales have decreased, but Changan Ford still completed 203,000 sales. 2022 is the big year of Changan Ford's products, not only the listing of the new Mondeo, the facelift Explorer, the four-cylinder Focus will also be launched one after another, and the redesign of the sharp world, although it has not yet been confirmed by the factory, it is already in the expectations of consumers. Therefore, Changan Ford's sales target for 2022 is set at 263,000 units.
For the Ford brand, EVOS, a new design language at the end of last year, led the products listed this year will all continue the design of "potential energy aesthetics" under Ford China's 2.0 strategy. That is to say, at the Beijing Auto Show at the end of April, all models at the Changan Ford booth will switch to the image of "more Ford and more China", and the new Ford has come to us.
In the total plate of Changan Ford's 263,000 vehicles in 2022, the cumulative contribution of Mondeo, Forris, and SR Fox before switching is conservatively expected to be about 20,000 vehicles. After Taurus stopped selling in December last year, the new Mondeo not only wants to become the mid-to-high-end flagship model in Changan Ford's product camp, but also needs to contribute absolute sales figures. The new Mondeo, as well as the new Focus, which won't be available until August, I predict that we will work together to contribute about 100,000 units in a limited time. It is relatively reasonable that the remaining 143,000 units sold will be borne by the "4E" models (Explorer, Sharp, Sharp, EVOS).
In this way, the average monthly sales of the new Mondeo reached about 6,000 units in the eight months after the official listing at the end of April. Looking back, Mondeo has never accounted for less than 20% of the sales volume in the entire Changan Ford series since it entered China for more than ten years. From this latitude, the average monthly sales of the new Mondeo still need to reach about 6,000 vehicles to help Changan Ford complete this year's sales target.
Looking at the mid-to-high-end car market where new Mondeo is located, the average monthly sales of Camry and Accord under "Two Fields" are more than 20,000 units, and the average monthly sales of Passat and Magotan under Volkswagen are more than 10,000 vehicles, while the mid-to-high-end automobile market, although it has been affected by SUV use and new forces in recent years, has not undergone a fundamental sales reversal, and still becomes the second largest passenger car segment after A-class cars.
Whether it is its own vertical comparison or market horizontal comparison, New Mondeo has the opportunity and confidence to become a "blockbuster" under Changan Ford, so does it have the potential of "explosive model" in the product?
What kind of "blockbuster" potential does the new Mondeo have?
Face value, is as a product whether the "explosive" stepping stone, the new Mondeo continues evos the same "potential energy aesthetics" design, hidden door handles can be inductively popped out, the Ford logo above the tail compartment cover is more combined with the trunk open button function, through the headlights and breathing 3D parametric scale grille give EVOS the same "Wolong Awakening" welcome experience - when the owner approaches the vehicle, the headlights will be lit in turn, the scale grille like breathing, creating a full sense of ceremony. A more sporty element was added to the top model ST-line, with red brake calipers, directional design aerodynamic wheels, and inlaid flying wing shapes in the lower rim, which are unique to ST-line, which not only highlights the width of the rear, but also emphasizes the iconic three-stage taillight design.
Compared with the previous generation of models, the new generation of Mondeo 4935 * 1875 * 1500mm, the width increased by 23mm, the length increased by 63mm, compared with the same level of B-class models, has formed a B + leapfrog crushing situation. The longest wheelbase of its class of more than 2.9 meters not only brings a sense of spaciousness, but the 4935mm body size makes the new generation of Mondeo a new benchmark for mid- and high-end vehicles from size and aura.
As Changan Ford officially said: Mondeo will always attract the most solid backbone of the times. And this part of the population is often more pragmatic and rational in the choice of vehicles. Therefore, the traditional three major pieces and safety are the most important considerations outside the appearance and space.
The new generation of Mondeo is fully matched with 2.0T+8AT, and it is well known that the cost of 8AT is much higher than that of CVT or dual clutch. Such a power system can not only present 238 horsepower / 376N .m data, zero hundred acceleration can be in the 6 seconds level, coupled with Ford's century-old car-making skills in the most proud chassis adjustment strength, "can break the wrist with the BMW 3 Series" is not just the new Mondeo public relations marketing rhetoric.
In addition, what we have already experienced on EVOS - L2+ level intelligent driving brought about by the tram-level FNV intelligent interconnection full network architecture, the industry's first V2I vehicle-to-road collaboration, the only 110cm ultra-wide area HD true 4K giant screen in the same level, the industry's first joint driving fun system can achieve independent channels and co-driver sharing driving tasks, SYNC+2.0 Zhixing interconnection system and the most complete active safety functions of the same level, 1700Mpa ultra-high-strength steel structure body, vehicle multi-module OTA upgrade, The 100 Gigabit Ethernet communication architecture enables data transmission speeds up to 100 times faster than conventional cars, all of which are presented as they are on the new Mondeo.
From the appearance, space, three major pieces, technology, safety, configuration can be seen, the new generation of Mondeo is a B+ class benchmark model that redefines the mid-to-high-end sedan market. Its emergence has directly rolled the B-class family car market to a new height.
Although the new generation of Mondeo already has the strength of "explosive models" in terms of product strength, if a product is to eventually become a "blockbuster", product strength is the key but not everything.
What else does Xinmeng need to do to become a "blockbuster"?
With tram-level intelligence, luxury car-level performance, and a new generation of Mondeo that promotes unique taste, in addition to product strength, it also needs to do three things: good listing rhythm, good product structure, and good pricing strategy.
Judging from the pace of listing, the new generation of Mondeo will be listed at the Beijing Auto Show at the end of April, while the old Mondeo has stopped batch sales in mid-February, completely bidding farewell to the historical stage. That is to say, there is a gap period of more than two months between the new and the old.
From the outside world, changan for more than two months in the field of high-end cars "no car to sell", but from the manufacturer's approach, February 25, the new generation of Mondeo has fully opened the small booking - the so-called small booking, that is, pay 1 yuan to buy a car or give a beautiful car model, pay 555 yuan to buy a car after enjoying a gift worth 5,000 yuan (3 years 100,000 kilometers of vehicle warranty extended to 5 years 140,000 kilometers of vehicle warranty, and exquisite car models), 3 days, the national small order has exceeded 1,000. With the advent of March, the exhibition cars will also arrive at local dealerships, and on March 18, the pre-sale will be officially launched and the pre-sale price range will be announced. That is to say, Changan Ford will hope to conduct a good analysis of the next customer through a pre-sale period of up to 2 months, conduct market research on the configuration and color of the main model, in order to make a more accurate production schedule and make a more accurate prediction of the price.
In fact, according to the practice of insurance, Changan Ford may be more suitable for retaining the sales of the old Mondeo, and then seamlessly transition after a period of time between the new and the old, but Changan Ford has chosen to set aside a two-month gap period and devote all its energy to the new Mondeo, which shows the official attitude to the car and avoids the market noise that may occur when the new and the old alternate.
In terms of product structure, the four models known so far are divided into entry-level white colt version, medium and high-end version are Wind Chi version and dust version, and st-line version is at the top. According to the normal sales ratio, the sub-top dust version will occupy the main position. From the perspective of the old generation of Mondeo product structure, with 1.5T and 2.0T two sets of power configurations, and the former has also become the main force of sales, according to the new Mondeo product structure and other brands on the market used operating methods, we guess that the new generation of Mondeo with 2.0T leapfrog set a benchmark, wake up more consumers about Mondeo's attention and memory, the later will push a more cost-effective 1.5T model, elongating the entire product spectrum.
When it comes to the most important pricing strategy, it is the "door to the door" that determines life and death. Although the world has undergone tremendous changes in the past eight years, the consumption habits and composition of the automobile market have also undergone tremendous changes - but looking at the market, the Camry and Accord under the "Two Fields" have joined the hybrid models, but the sales account for less than 30%, Andrton and Passat are still relying on the image of four flat and eight stable to seek stability. In other words, although new energy is becoming increasingly popular, fuel models are still the main force in the middle and high-end markets. The mainstream configuration models of the above models are about 200,000 yuan, and the market terminal discount can enter the price point of about 190,000 yuan. That is to say, if the main sales model of the new generation of Mondeo (with two models in the middle) also enters the range of 190,000-200,000, then it has the opportunity to "kill everyone" with larger size, better power and smarter technology.
Of course, from the media point of view, for the price, we certainly hope that the more competitive the better. But how to match consumers' psychological expectations is a lesson that must be done. In fact, Changan Ford may wish to strengthen "user co-creation" in addition to the information channels of the 4S store, convene users to do extensive in-depth research, in-depth understanding of the customer's psychological expectation price of this car, and then give a surprise in the configuration and pricing at this price, so as not to deviate from the mainstream needs of the market, you can take a lot of detours.
Driving value view
In Once Upon a Time in Detroit, A Monologue by Ford executive Fields is recorded: I love the scale, the strength of the industry, and the product, and nothing is more exciting than the process of pushing a model from the early design stage to thousands of new cars off the production line and into the showroom.
When at the Ford China Design Center, chief designer Simon Brook and the new generation of Mondeo chief engineer Guan Yingchao were asked by me: When you saw the new Mondeo real car appear in front of you, what happened in that moment? Two men from different countries both spoke the same answer: tears came down in a flash.
For Mondeo, we believe that whether it is the breeder of this product, or the Changan Ford brand, or the owner who has already had feelings for these three words, they all represent different complexes, but each complex is indispensable to brilliant memories - I once interviewed a Mondeo owner in Nanjing, who on the highway from Nanjing to Shanghai, the vehicle broke through the fence and rolled downhill, after continuous rolling, people only suffered a slight injury, and since then he said "only buy Mondeo in this life".
The story of Mondeo is still many and very long, in the process of China's automobile development, excellent models can be countless, but there are not many products like Mondeo that have been standing at the peak of the brand and most directly affecting the rise and fall of a brand.
The return of a new generation of Mondeo kings, we look forward to this day in the near future.
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