There is another "niche" car brand, which is gradually being abandoned by the rapidly developing Chinese auto market. Many car companies can only cause a ripple when they withdraw from the Chinese market, and the protagonist of today's article is the Honda luxury brand Acura, which has been in China for 16 years.
After struggling for so many years, really can't make money, Honda's high-end brand Acura is finally going to withdraw from the Chinese market. Although there is no official statement, the matter is basically settled. In fact, there are rumors of acura delisting every year, which has long been not new, and the response of "will not run away" is all lamentable.
Acura was founded on March 27, 1986, along with Lexus and Infiniti, as the three major luxury car brands in Japan. In the Chinese market, compared with the German "BBA" that is firmly in the front line, the fate of the three major Japanese luxury brands is very different: Lexus, which insists on imports, still has 200,000 annual sales and high retention rates, and even needs to increase the price of cars; while nissan Infiniti and Honda Acura, which have earlier achieved localization, are already crumbling.
Acclimatized
In the 10 years from 2006 to 2016, Acura Motors, like Lexus, was imported and sold domestically. Unfortunately, the acura of the same Japanese luxury car brand as Lexus, sales can only be described in four words: miserable.
Due to unsatisfactory sales, Acura began to be localized in 2016, and there was GAC Acura. However, the development of domestic post-Acura in the Chinese market is still not smooth, and the sluggish sales volume has led to its extremely low sense of existence. According to the data, gac acuras in 2021 cumulative sales of only 6554 vehicles, down 45.05% year-on-year, of which CDX sales of 3264 vehicles, RDX sold 3290 vehicles.
Acura is developed by the United States, which is more suitable for the tastes of American consumers, and it is normal to come to China to be dissatisfied. According to the 2021 U.S. new car sales data, the total sales volume of the Acura brand was 15,7408 units, an increase of 14.9% year-on-year. Acura is firmly in the top 5 in the U.S. luxury car market, even surpassing Cadillac and Lincoln.
Dismal sales are the most important reason for Acura's exit from the Chinese market. You can't sell, you can't make money, you still need to maintain expenses, you can't make ends meet, and naturally there is no reason to continue to insist.
What are the reasons for the poor selling? There are no more than two, the product is not ok, the marketing is not good. Acura has basically not had any attractive marketing moves in China in recent years, and the introduction of NSX into the Chinese market is hoped to enhance the brand image. But the most talked about thing about this car is that there was an official demotion in the middle, directly from 2.89 million yuan to cut 1 million. It only sells for 1.89 million yuan.
What is even more exaggerated is that the car supports an ultra-low down payment of 5% of the net car price, that is, a down payment of 95,000. Yes, you read that right, maybe I wanted to go to Honda to mention a Fit, and it turned out that I only needed 95,000, and the flagship supercar was taken home, but this life was handed over to Acura.
What is the significance of acura brand for consumers in the Chinese market or what is the label, consumers touch their heads and can't understand how to think, you can say Honda save fuel, buy an engine to send a car. Is Acura a deluxe version of Tian? But there is no essential difference with Honda, and even the interior is not as luxurious as the crown road.
Acura put forward the so-called "performance on luxury" brand proposition, and the last thing presented to consumers is that some models of the whole series are on the so-called A-Spec suite. Overall, it is still not very luxurious, not very sporty. How does the ace SH-AWD technology in hand translate into a popular topic for the masses? No effort has been made, far less than Audi's quattro.
Acura's departure is not a pity. Some cars do not know how to sell, the introduction of new overseas models is slow, and Acura has not lined up in the new energy market. Acura is confused, has not figured out the gameplay, and is not willing to completely localize. In the face of the crossroads of the Chinese market, it is obvious that exiting is equivalent to stopping losses in time, and giving full play to Honda Boy is the right way.
2
Early stop loss
Everyone's impression is not almost unseen Acura 4S store, most of the Acura exhibition halls are set up in the Guangqi Honda 4S store, even if it is only now to start Acura friends, do not worry too much, after the suspension of acura owners will continue to receive services in the Guangqi Honda 4S store.
At present, the Acura brand is digesting last year's inventory car, the price concession is larger, although it is not as exaggerated as the previous generation of 70% off Jaguar XEL, 50% off Alpha Romeo Giulia, but it is also the largest discount of the Acura brand.
Compact CDX with only 200,000 yuan landing, medium-sized RDX with landing only 300,000 yuan, cabbage price cabbage price, bottom of the "out of print car" friends to step up the process.
One thing to say, Acura's failure is also to blame his good brother for being too good. Even if Guangqi Honda Haoying ranks 20th in the compact SUV sales list, it still guarantees the results of monthly sales of more than 10,000, and even has excellent results of selling more than 20,000 in rare months.
Not to mention Binzhi, which has been ranked first in the sales list of small SUVs for many years. You may say that Acura is positioned as a first-line luxury brand, how can it be compared with Hiromoto's brothers. But I have to admit that the cake is so big in total, there will be no more after the division, so no matter how excellent the product strength, someone still has to pay for it.
Under the dismal data of 6554 cumulative sales for the whole year, exiting is not a good choice. Whether it is a production line, a showroom or a staff, all of them do not need GAC to bear the cost, and in the case of insufficient income, it is particularly important for enterprises to stop losses in a timely manner.
After all, Acura in the U.S. market is still a fragrant food, so why do we have to do more useless investments for the chinese market that cannot be saved?
3
Write at the end
The loneliness of Acura is not an isolated case, but a group portrait. Behind this phenomenon is the rise of independent brands and new forces. I remember that the previous concept of consumption was: "can buy imports, do not buy joint ventures, domestic bottom", but now the concept has been quietly changed.
Independent brands have now become the preferred models of many consumers, which also reflects the growth of mainland independent brands, and the product strength is becoming more and more excellent. In the face of such pressure, if the import and joint venture brands cannot be adjusted in time, it will inevitably be stopped or delisted.
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