Is it really that hard to survive in China's auto market?
Recently, according to media reports, the Japanese luxury car brand Acura will bid farewell to the Chinese market in the first half of this year, at present, the only 4S store in Beijing "GAC Acura Beijing Jingang Store" has officially stopped selling, and will become a 4S store of McLaren in the future, and several other showrooms in GAC Honda are only for the purpose of digesting inventory.
In this regard, the "China Times" reporter interviewed the relevant people of GAC Acura, and the reply was "We are still working normally." ”
Weak brand influence
Although the official reputation has not given accurate information, the situation of GAC Acura in recent years is not optimistic, and it cannot support the brand operation in terms of turnover, even if Honda is used as a backer, it is not a long-term solution.
According to public information, acura brand was founded in 1986, is Honda's high-end car brand, and is also the first Japanese luxury car brand. Unlike other luxury brands, Acura focuses on "sports luxury", so it has received praise in the North American market as soon as it was launched.
In September 2006, Acura officially entered the Chinese market and successively introduced three Sedans of ILX, TLX and RLX and three SUV models of RDX, MDX and ZDX in the form of imports. In 2016, Acura began to form GAC Acura with GAC Group, and successively produced three models of TLX, RDX and CDX, and also gained a certain market. According to the data, in 2016, Acura's sales in the Chinese market reached 9,062 vehicles, an increase of 120% year-on-year; in 2017, the sales volume of GAC Acura reached 16,348 vehicles, an increase of 80.4% year-on-year.
GAC Acura in the sale of models Liu Kai photo
However, due to the small number of products and the lack of brand influence, the sales of Acura brands in China have begun to decline since 2020. According to the data, in 2020, the sales volume of GAC Acura was 11,193 vehicles, down 31.73% year-on-year. In 2021, GAC Acura's sales were only 6554 units, down 45.05% year-on-year, of which the main sales model CDX sold 3264 units, and another RDX sold 3290 vehicles. In this regard, industry insiders said that although Acura is positioned as a Japanese luxury brand, due to its late entry into the Chinese market, it is lacking in shaping a high-end image, and the brand positioning has not been recognized by consumers, and the product layout is relatively slow, so it is difficult to be favored by domestic consumers.
In addition to the weak brand power, the high price of GAC Acura's products is also a major reason for its low sales. The Acura brand is positioned as a second-tier luxury brand, while its products are priced close to the Audi A4L and BMW 3 Series. The brand influence is not large, but the price is very high, which also makes it difficult for some consumers to accept. Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, said: "Acura's mainstream product pricing range is 300,000-500,000 yuan, and there are many models in this range, in addition to BBA, the new power brand Tesla, Ideal Car, Xiaopeng Automobile, etc. are all in the layout, in this case, the market space is easily squeezed." ”
In contrast to the domestic market, the Acura brand sold 157408 vehicles in the United States in 2021, an increase of 14.9% year-on-year, ranking in the top 5 of the US luxury car market. In this regard, Zhang Xiang said: "Because Acura's main market is still for the North American market, the Japanese market, the performance in the Chinese market is sluggish, because the product design is not in line with the demand for chinese consumers, in addition, Acura in the Chinese market publicity investment is not enough, consumers only know that it is a luxury brand of Honda, but what are the characteristics of the product, Chinese consumers do not understand." For example, like the BBA brand, everyone knows that it is a German car, and the quality is relatively good; cadillac is an American car, as a presidential car brand is relatively strong. However, Acura does not have these brand aura, the popularity is not high, Chinese consumers do not understand much, with the entry of China's new forces car companies into the domestic market, but also exacerbated Acura's loneliness. ”
Or make way for all-electric models
The sluggish sales in the Chinese market have also led to continuous news of Acura's withdrawal from the Chinese market. To this end, the reporter of China Times came to the Guangqi Acura Beijing Jingang store to find out.
Gac Acura Beijing Jingang Store opened in November 2006 and is the first Acura store in Beijing. When the reporter came to this brand store, the store was empty, and the exhibition car of GAC Acura was parked in the Dongfeng Honda 4S store next door.
Empty Acura 4S shop photo by Liu Kai
"The rumors are false, and since the news has been circulated on the Internet, there have been quite a few people who have come to inquire. We are only upgrading the storefront now, and it will not become a McLaren 4S store, and we have not received a written explanation of delisting. A salesperson at a GAC Acura 4S store said after learning that the reporter had come.
In addition, the sales also told reporters that the models currently on sale have a large discount, and you can also book new cars, and then you can also enjoy after-sales service in the 4S store of Guangqi Honda. Regarding the prospect of the store upgrade, the sales staff said that they will prepare for the sale of pure electric models.
At present, the transition to electrification has become the consensus of the automotive industry, and Acura has also carried out its own electrification layout in the US market. Emile Korkor, Vice President of Sales for Acura North America, said: "For Acura, we are electrifying much faster than the Honda brand. At the same time, Acura plans to have more than half of Acura's sales coming from electric vehicles by 2030. However, in the Chinese market, Acura may have to do more to "make way" for Guangqi Honda's pure electric brand.
According to media reports, Honda's pure electric brand e:N's first electric vehicle will start pre-sale in March and officially launch in April. Honda attaches great importance to the brand and plans to create an independent marketing system and sales network, and the distributors of the e:N brand will give priority to authorizing the original Acura dealers. This may mean that Acura and Guangqi Honda's pure electric models in China will be merged into one, after all, Acura's important product type in North America is Hung honda's logo after being introduced into China.
For the future development of Acura, industry insiders said that at the moment when new energy vehicles have become the mainstream, traditional car companies are also actively transforming, Acura wants to gain consumer recognition in the market, but also needs to strengthen localization upgrades, and then rely on Guangben's sales channels, and lower the price, may be able to win a glimmer of vitality.
Responsible Editor: Li Yan'an Editor-in-Chief: Yu Jianping