Three years ago, the Guangqi Honda 4S store on Kangqiao East Road in Shanghai's Pudong New Area renovated the second floor and began selling GAC Acura models. Nowadays, the Guangqi Honda exhibition hall full of exhibition cars and bright lights will have customers visiting the store from time to time, but the GAC Acura exhibition hall on the second floor is dark, and there is no acura exhibition car in the store, but instead of a Guangqi Honda model.
Is it true that Acura is about to exit China, as rumors circulate on the Internet, factories have stopped production, and dealers have begun to clean up inventory?
"There are no cars in the shop right now, so if you want to buy a car, you can order it and it will be delivered in about a month." Sales consultant Zhao Fan (pseudonym) told New Car New Technology. According to Zhao Fan, not only does their store not even have existing cars, but even the exhibition cars have all been sold, and there are only two test cars in the store for consumers to experience.
However, in response to the rumors that Acura is about to withdraw from China, Zhao Fan said: "We have not received a notice from the manufacturer, and the lack of cars in the store is mainly affected by the lack of cores. In order to ensure the supply of GUANGQI Honda, Acura can only reduce production and guarantee the supply of GUANGQI Honda's models. ”
The reply received by "New Car New Technology" from several other GAC Acura dealers in Shanghai is also "no notice from the manufacturer", and at the same time, for the rumors from the outside world, GAC Acura official did not respond positively, only saying that there are currently "no official documents and statements released".
Dealers who "can't survive"
"We don't sell Acura now, but Acura can still do it with us after the sale." Sales consultant Wang Qin (pseudonym) said. The Geometry 4S store on Zhongchun Road in Shanghai's Minhang District was originally one of the four GAC Acura dealers in Shanghai, but it was withdrawn from the grid in October last year and was replaced by another investor to a Geometry 4S store.
In fact, this is not the first time that the store has changed hands, before changing to a geometric brand, this GAC Acura 4S store has also changed hands once, Wang Qin said: "Because Acura sales have been poor, coupled with the fact that the ownership is not high, whether it is selling new cars or doing after-sales can not make money, so the two investors before and after finally chose to retreat." ”
"New Car New Technology" visit found that "no money" has become the norm for GAC Acura dealers, except for some GAC Acura dealers rely on investors' other profitable brands for "blood transfusion", can barely maintain business, the vast majority are on the "edge of life and death".
Located on Guohe Road in Yangpu District, GAC Acura Wujiaochang is one of the earliest Acura dealers in Shanghai and has been open for more than 10 years. From the early sale of Acura imported cars to the sale of ACURA products after Acura was domestically produced, this store has always been the highest-selling of the four Acura dealers in Shanghai.
"Last year, our store sold the second largest in the country, about 800 units." Although they got the second best sales in the country, it is clear that Yao Can does not think that they are selling well: "In acura dealers, we do sell well, but in luxury brands, this is nothing at all." ”
"In recent years, the sales of other luxury brands have basically increased, even the latest domestic Lincoln, now the monthly sales of a single store are several times ours, and acura sales have not been able to rise." Yao Can said helplessly. There are about 7 sales in their store, and 800 units a year means that the average sales are per person, and there are about 10 units sold every month.
According to the data, Acura's sales in the Chinese market in 2021 fell by as much as 48.6% year-on-year, selling only 5,762 new cars, even far lower than Acura's annual sales of 9,062 vehicles in that year (2016). According to the official website of GAC Acura, GAC Acura has 101 dealers nationwide, and the average monthly sales of each dealer last year was only 5 units.
Although Acura's sales in China have been declining in recent years, the domestic luxury car market has maintained steady growth. According to the data, the total sales of traditional luxury brands in China in 2016 were 2.16 million vehicles, and by 2021, sales have reached 2.79 million units (including imported cars), an increase of 29.2% in 5 years. Among them, the annual sales of first-line luxury brands represented by the BBA have exceeded 700,000 vehicles, while the annual sales of second-tier luxury brands led by Cadillac and Lexus have also exceeded 200,000 vehicles, even if Lincoln, which was only domestically produced in 2019, last year's sales were close to 100,000 vehicles.
"In fact, you don't look at so many GAC Acura dealers on the official website, in fact, many of them have been unable to survive and withdraw from the network, investors either change to other brands, or directly change the store." Wang Qin told "New Car New Technology".
In fact, when Acura announced domestic production, GAC Acura had set a sales target of "100,000 units for the whole year of 2020" in 2016, but 6 years later, even in 2017, when the highest sales volume was the highest, GAC Acura's annual sales were only 16,000 vehicles.
The acura that has never "adapted" to the Chinese market
Why is Acura not liked by Chinese consumers?
"Product innovation is too slow, resulting in GAC Acura sales deteriorating, and even domestic models have changed from three to two, and the survival of dealers is more difficult." Chen Fei, the former sales manager of an Acura dealer in East China, believes that the biggest problem of GAC Acura is that the new car launch speed is too slow.
In the first three years of localization, GAC Acura maintained the domestic speed of one new car per year, and each new car launch will bring sales growth to GAC Acura, such as CDX listed in 2016 and RDX listed in 2018, which allowed GAC Acura to achieve a significant increase in sales in 2017 and 2019.
But in the following three years, although the redesigned model was launched every year, Acura stopped launching new cars in China and even discontinued the TLX. In sharp contrast, lincoln has launched adventurers, navigators and aviators in just two years after localization, and Lincoln Z, Lincoln's first domestic sedan, will also be listed this year.
"Just like the pursuit of girls, you need to give each other some romance and surprises from time to time, so that you can attract each other and the love preservation period will last." Acura's biggest problem is that the product is too slow to innovate, and without a new car, it cannot bring sound to the brand, and then be forgotten by the market. Chen Fei said.
However, Wei Lan (pseudonym), an automotive industry analyst, believes that the slow development of products is only one of the multiple factors leading to today's situation.
"When we think of BMW, we think of handling, when we think of Mercedes-Benz, we think of luxury, when we think of Audi, we think of technology, when we think of Lincoln and Cadillac, we think of American car culture, when we think of Volvo, we think of safety and humanity, even if we mention Lexus, which is also a Japanese luxury brand, we will think of 'craftsman spirit'." Wei Lan analyzed, "But what brand label does Acura have?" Aside from knowing that it's a luxury brand at Honda, what else can be imprinted in the minds of consumers? ”
At the beginning of domestic production in 2016, GAC Acura still continued the brand slogan of "focus on galloping" when it was imported, but this brand slogan related to sports and performance has nothing to do with CDX, an SUV product equipped with a 1.5T engine.
Although in November 2017, a new brand slogan of Chinese "Accurate and Extraordinary" was released, GAC Acura did not further publicize and establish a brand image for this slogan, and the slogan that was too abstract made Acura's brand characteristics more ambiguous, and it was more difficult to resonate with consumer emotions, giving people a feeling that a luxury brand was not luxurious.
"Acura is a more advanced Honda." Chen Fei said that he broke the brand image problem that Acura is facing today, "Among acura users, the proportion of original tian car owners is very large, they originally opened an Accord or CR-V of about 200,000 yuan, and they did not want to change other brands when changing cars, so they could only choose Acura." ”
"Acura's product problems are also very big. All acura models are developed for the US market, and different markets have different car cultures and consumption concepts, Volkswagen can not eat in North America, Toyota can not eat in Europe, are one of the important reasons why the product can not adapt to the market. Wei Lan analysis believes that the problem at the product level of GAC Acura is that it directly takes the American Acura models to domestic production, and does not localize the adjustment for the Chinese market.
Before new energy vehicles were accepted by the market, the main demands of Chinese consumers for luxury brands were commercialization, technology and large space. BBA, which is well versed in China's automobile culture and consumer demand, will generally lengthen the wheelbase and increase the technology configuration when the new car is localized to cater to the car buying psychology of Chinese consumers.
"Owners generally praise Acura's mechanical qualities, but they often complain to us about its styling, interior materials, and technology configuration." Chen Fei believes that Acura retains the sports luxury of the MAIN US market, which can indeed attract a small number of consumer groups, but the larger group is "not cold" to this.
Although the official is secretive about the rumors, Acura's departure from the Chinese market has basically entered the countdown.
The "change-seeking" luxury car market
Whether it is the import era, or the domestic era, Acura has always been unable to stand firm in the Chinese market, one reason is indeed due to its brand, strategy, product itself there are problems, but another important reason is that the luxury car market has ushered in new changes in recent years, if it can not adapt to the changes of the times, it is inevitable to be abandoned by the times.
Looking at the 2021 luxury car sales list, the biggest change is that the new car-making forces led by Tesla have sprung up, and the luxury car market pattern dominated by traditional luxury brands is being leveraged. According to the data, tesla, ideal, Weilai three new car-making forces in 2021 sales reached 322,000 units, 91,000 and 90,000 vehicles respectively, an increase of 118.7%, 172.6% and 109.6% respectively, the growth rate far exceeds the traditional luxury brands.
"In the future, the survival status of traditional luxury brands will inevitably become more and more difficult, especially those second- and third-tier luxury brands that have fallen behind are facing a more severe test." Tesla led by the new forces gradually increased market share, behind the luxury car market is gradually to intelligent, electrified transformation of the trend of the times, if the traditional luxury brand can not make timely adjustments, then it is bound to be gradually eliminated by the market. Wei Lan analysis believes that "not only the change of products, the entry of new forces has also brought new thinking in the fields of user operation thinking, brand marketing, and sales system." ”
"Since the beginning of Tesla's domestic production, we have felt great pressure, and many customers who come to the store to see the car will compare Tesla with our products." Even when Tesla was just domestically produced, many customers who ordered finally chose to unsubscribe and went to buy Tesla. Shen Jun (pseudonym), sales manager of an Audi dealership in Shanghai, told "New Car New Technology".
Not only Audi, when visiting and investigating "New Cars and New Technologies", dealers of luxury brands including BMW and Mercedes-Benz have revealed great concerns, and traditional luxury brands have ushered in a severe challenge that has never been seen before.
Some people choose to "stick to the rules", others choose to actively embrace the new era, among the traditional luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are gradually transforming to intelligence and electrification.
"The electrification transition is accelerating, especially in the luxury car segment where Mercedes-Benz is located. The industry inflection point is approaching, and we will be ready as the global market achieves a pure electric transition by 2030. Kang Linsong, chairman of the board of directors of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, said.
To drive this transformation, Mercedes-Benz will invest more than €40 billion in purely electric models from 2022 to 2030. In addition, Audi and BMW are also actively investing in the development of pure electric platforms and pure electric new vehicles. Even the second-tier luxury brands cadillac, Lexus, Volvo, etc., have also released electrification transformation plans.
However, compared with the first- and second-tier luxury brands that already have a certain brand awareness and market share in the Chinese market, those bottom luxury brands that are struggling back and forth on the life-and-death line are obviously not ready. From the previous DS to today's Acura, there may be more luxury brands that cannot adapt to the changes of the times in the future from the vision of domestic consumers.
AUTHOR Shen Liming
"What's the difference between not writing and salted fish?"