People always wait until they lose before they know how to cherish. It's the same for both people and things. And the car is no exception, from the early Toyota Ruizhi, Volkswagen Phaeton, and then to the Toyota Crown and Prado, which announced the suspension of production in recent years, they are classic representatives of the automotive industry, but they can not escape the bad luck of suspension and delisting, which cannot help but make people sigh.
Compared with the previous famous lords, the exit of Lexus CT is slightly bleak. When you open the Lexus China official website and move the mouse to the model overview column, you will find that "CT" is gone. A few days ago, the news that Lexus CT will be officially discontinued in Japan in October this year has not gone away, but it has not caused too much waves, and perhaps only friends who remember it will feel stunned, and this old friend who has been listed for more than ten years is finally going to leave.
To commemorate its retirement, Lexus also created its final special edition, the Lexus CT 200h Cherished Touring, translated as "Journey of Love", to bring its career to a perfect end.
01
It's hard to call it Cherished
The Lexus CT200h, a compact car under the Lexus portfolio, debuted at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show and introduced a mid-term redesign in 2014, but has not moved much since.
All along, the Lexus CT has been a very niche model, it can be said that without mentioning its name, you will not think of it at all. The suspension of production and exit has been doomed in the dark, whether it is a hybrid system that was not concerned by the mainstream market in the early years, or a starting price of more than 200,000 yuan, it is not interesting, and its existence does not respond to Lexus's expectations for its sales in the segmented market.
The two markets with the highest sales volume in the world are North America and China, but the Lexus CT200h withdrew from the US market in 2017, and the Lexus CT200h in the domestic market also stopped at 2020. Although the Lexus CT200h is still on sale in Japan and Europe, sales performance is also very weak.
The biggest problem with Lexus CT is old, not only the weathered weather at the age level, but also on the physical level, CT is also old-fashioned and suffocating, next door Toyota even TNGA is about to be replaced, it is still the old platform 11 years ago.
It's hard to imagine that in 2022, you can still see these "old guys" who should have been buried in the current CT. I believe that it is difficult for today's consumers to accept a car of more than 200,000 people, or halogen lights, antique car machines, manual seats, no reversing radar and images, and constant speed cruise. In addition, the interior design is also very old-fashioned, not only the size of the central control screen is very small, but also the use of a large number of physical button design, with high emotional intelligence to evaluate, can only say that it is very emotional.
Everyone should understand that feelings are not enough to eat. Lexus has always been known for its markup sales, and in the Lexus CT, this trick does not work, and even the models currently on sale have a preferential margin of 13,000, but sales are still not improving, and in the few good days, the average monthly sales are only between 600-700 units, which is enough to see that the audience of this car is very small.
In addition to its own reasons, the emergence of alternative UX has also further declined the sales of CT, although the visibility of UX on the street is also not high.
02
Time has changed
Looking at the hatchbacks in the luxury car market, only the Audi A3, the imported BMW 1 Series and the Lexus CT200h are worth mentioning. At the beginning of the listing, the Lexus CT200h was equipped with a rare oil-electric hybrid system in the market, which became the first choice of consumers in the luxury cars at that time, and it was indeed more cost-effective than the BBA entry model.
But if you put it now, for the same level of comparison, then the situation of CT200h is more embarrassing, after all, it has not been replaced, and BBA has been replaced by generation after generation, and the product strength is no longer an order of magnitude. Lexus' spirit of adhering to the layout of the whole series of models is worthy of recognition, but we still want some advanced products that can adapt to the new era.
Perhaps some readers, seeing here will have doubts, how the special version of lexus CT is not introduced, to be honest, after I studied the model, I think it is really not a good introduction for friends who have just learned about this car, because Lexus only provides two special colors, namely "graphite black body + titanium silver roof" + "Sonic quartz white body + titanium silver roof".
In addition, it is not half a hair difference from the ordinary CT200h, and the appearance and power system are still very classic. This kind of sewing and patching for another three years, new friends absolutely can not receive, this should really only be a few emotional fans can pay.
According to the data, last year, Lexus's insurance volume in China was 219,200 units, down 6.89% year-on-year, of which Lexus ES was 105,800 units, Lexus RX was 48,600 units, Lexus NX was 36,500 units, Lexus UX was 15,400 units, and Lexus CT was only 3,377 units. The "journey of cherishing" has indeed come to an end.
The idea that "big is luxury" is ingrained in the minds of today's consumers, and even if it is replaced, models like CT are difficult to sell well. Although I complained mostly about this article, but for those models that once had their own unique charm and deeply attracted us, if you can, don't hesitate anymore, after all, you really can't buy it one day in the future...
Figure | network
Wen |doudou
Edit | Beanie
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