Source of this article: Time Weekly Author: Lin Qian
"There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and there must be a Toyota car", which is definitely a well-known advertising slogan in the Chinese auto market.
In 2021, in the face of the tight supply of chips in the whole industry and the impact of the epidemic, FAW Toyota bucked the trend and achieved the best results since its establishment in 2003, producing a total of 832,000 vehicles in the whole year, an increase of 7% year-on-year; sales exceeded 860,000 units, an increase of 8% year-on-year, ranking the forefront of the head joint venture brand.
The success of FAW Toyota, in addition to doing its best to ensure the normal supply of resources, its products are highly competitive in their respective market segments is also an important reason, of which the Chimei Bipolar TNGA flagship model Asia Dragon has been shining since its listing in 2019, and in 2021, it has achieved excellent results of accumulated sales of more than 120,000 vehicles throughout the year and an average monthly sales of over 10,000 vehicles, ranking the top echelon of B-class vehicles.
It is worth noting that FAW Toyota Asia Dragon has been officially localized for only three years, but its sales volume can be compared with competitors who have been localized in the market segment for more than ten years, and the reason is that not only the Asian Dragon itself has a strong product strength, but also the brand endorsement of FAW Toyota also provides consumers with confidence in choosing the Asian Dragon.
Nearly 30 years of transformation, perfect "grasp" consumer demand
Before the success of the Chinese market, Asia Dragon had been selling well in the North American market for many years.
Taking advantage of the oil crisis in the 1970s, Toyota Motor Group gained a foothold in the U.S. market with its fuel-efficient small and medium-sized models. In the late 1980s, the United States was still in the stage of rapid economic development, the wave of consumption upgrading swept the United States, and oil prices gradually declined, Americans preferred full-size models, and the high-end market was also expanding.
In 1988, Toyota launched Lexus and achieved great success in the North American market, but the Toyota brand was still linked to the civilian brand, and expanding the brand value upwards and impacting the high-end market became the inevitable choice of the Toyota brand at that time.
After many studies and market verification, the then Toyota management accurately grasped the market context, American consumers have a special love for "big cars", this "big" is not only the size of the space, but also in the atmosphere of the model appearance, the simplicity and practicality of the interior, the luxury of the materials, the surging power output, etc.
In 1994, the first generation of the Asian Dragon model was officially born, using a 3.0L large-displacement V-type 6-cylinder engine, which was a hit in the North American market as soon as it was launched, and it sold well for many years.
Insiders of a large multinational car company said that the needs of consumers in large countries may be slightly different in subtleties, but they are generally similar, and they have similar pursuits for model design, power, and body size space.
Whether it is from the perspective of land area, market size, economic volume or other aspects, China and the United States are the world's top countries, and the demand for models by consumers in the two markets must overlap to a certain extent. The continuous wave of SUVs in the domestic auto market since 2014 also confirms this to some extent.
In 2018, the news of the localization of Asian dragon landed. As a producer, FAW Toyota has made localization changes to the design of the Asian Dragon with its own experience in the Chinese market for more than ten years, the appearance is younger and sportier, and the sense of technology in the interior is more prominent, in line with the market trend.
Asian Dragon: FAW Toyota's flagship approach
In March 2019, FAW Toyota Asia Dragon was officially put on sale, and its emergence completely changed consumers' definition of luxury and high configuration of B-class cars.
The Asian Dragon continues the front face design of the Toyota family, but the shape of the grille is more atmospheric, and the embellishment of the horizontal multi-spoke design and silver chrome decoration in the middle net makes the front of the car appear larger and wider. The bulging muscle line of the hood makes the whole vehicle full of power. The design of the taillights is three-dimensional and exquisite, and it is lit up at night, which not only increases the recognition, but also looks particularly exquisite.
In terms of interior, the places that the Asian Dragon uses to make daily touches are all soft materials, the seat materials are soft and comfortable, and the cushion support is also very in place. The Asian Dragon also comes standard with full led automatic headlights, electric sunroof, keyless entry, one-touch start, 9-inch touch screen and a range of other configurations.
As a model with a body size of 4975mmx1850mmx1450mm and a wheelbase of 2870mm, the Asian Dragon is closer to the B+ class from the body shape, and with Toyota's experience of making full use of the space inside the car, the Asian Dragon has enough space inside to bring full driving comfort to the occupants.
Powertrain Toyota offers the Asian Dragon three different options, the petrol version and the hybrid power form. The two gasoline versions of the Asian Dragon all use self-priming engines, of which the 2.5L engine has a maximum power of 154KW and a maximum torque of 250N·m; while the maximum power of the 2.0 model engine reaches 131KW and the maximum torque reaches 210N·m, which is the top level in the industry;
The hybrid version of the Asian Dragon is equipped with Toyota's latest hybrid system, the THS-II, and the engine has a top thermal efficiency of 41%, which is equivalent to the Lexus ES300h model. The maximum output power of the engine is 131KW, the maximum output torque is 221N·m, the maximum output power of the motor is 88KW, the maximum output torque of the system is 202N·m, the maximum output of the system is 160KW, at the same time, the comprehensive working condition fuel consumption is only 4.3L/100km, and now the No. 92 gasoline oil price has exceeded the 8 yuan mark, and the hybrid of The Asian Dragon is more in line with the consumer's pursuit of low-cost travel.
In the power, appearance, interior configuration of these places can see, feel Toyota to give consumers a better experience in the same class of models, and in terms of safety performance, control and other difficult to feel Toyota has also achieved the best in the same level.
Asia Dragon is based on the GA-K platform under the Toyota TNGA architecture, which is developed and built around multiple cores such as body structure, chassis center of gravity, power performance, fuel economy, etc., so that Asia Dragon has performance advantages that are difficult to reach in the past medium-sized cars, and brings consumers the driving passion of "human-vehicle integration".
The advantages of product strength in many aspects also allow Asia Dragon to have an amazing retention rate in the market. According to survey data, FAW Toyota Asia Dragon has a high retention rate in mid-size sedans, and its retention rate in the first three years is 88.19%, 81.99% and 70.29%, respectively, which is in a leading position in the same class.
Today's Chinese auto market has gradually shifted from an incremental market to a stock market, and consumer demand for car purchases has also undergone subtle changes, and the weight of vehicle retention rate has increased. In this context, The Asian Dragon, which has a very high retention rate, not only has the attributes of instruments, but also gradually strengthens its investment attributes.
Quality assurance, FAW Toyota hit millions of annual sales
Up to now, Asia Dragon has achieved a sales miracle of 120,000 vehicles per year and an average monthly sales of more than 10,000 vehicles in three years, conquered the picky market, and successfully showed its FAW Toyota flagship model style.
In addition to its own product strength, the success of Asia Dragon is inseparable from the brand effect accumulated by FAW Toyota in the past two decades. Since its establishment in 2003, FAW Toyota has been serving Chinese consumers for nearly 20 years, with sales exceeding 9 million units. During this period, we continued to launch high-quality products such as Corolla, Rongfang and Asia Dragon, winning the trust of consumers, and FAW Toyota's own reputation has also accumulated with the expansion of consumer groups.
In 2021, FAW Toyota's sales and service satisfaction has increased significantly, and its supplier yield rate has led the industry. In the evaluation of the China Quality Association, the three models of Corolla, Rongfang and Vios won the first place in the market segment. In addition, FAW Toyota's "Integrity Service" won the first place in the Joint Venture Brand of China Automobile User Satisfaction Index (CACSI) for four times. FAW Toyota also won the first place in the J.D.Power China Auto Dealer Satisfaction Research Report, and won the Toyota Global Service Commendation Gold Award for 6 consecutive years and 7 times. In 2021, FAW Toyota's sales and service satisfaction won the double NO.1 of the China Quality Association.
It is worth mentioning that for FAW Toyota, the success of The Asian Dragon is not only as simple as the gradual sales volume, it has also changed consumers' perception of the FAW Toyota brand to a certain extent, adding more trendy and fashion elements to the original moderate and traditional brand labels of FAW Toyota, helping FAW Toyota to gain the love of more young consumers.
In addition to the product side, FAW Toyota is also keeping up with the trend of the times in other links. In the terminal sales link, FAW Toyota has carried out the intelligent transformation of all coefficients and integrated its business by using digital technology to achieve continuous improvement of its business. In terms of channels, FAW Toyota is also accelerating channel construction, improving the level of dealer operation and management, and formulating differentiated regional policies to achieve multi-dimensional improvement of brand and sales.
In the supply chain link, FAW Toyota has proved the advanced nature of its supply chain management in emergency decision-making in 2021, in the face of chip shortage, FAW Toyota through various channels to ensure the supply of resources, to maximize the supply of resources, to help FAW Toyota last year to create 860,000 annual sales results, to help Toyota Motor Group for the second consecutive year of global sales first.
In 2022, FAW Toyota is pointing to millions of annual sales, trying to raise its scale to a threshold and let the brand enter a new level. In fact, whether it is products, services, marketing, channels, supply, brands and other links, FAW Toyota belongs to the head echelon of the joint venture brand camp, and what is missing at present is only time.
It is believed that under the guidance of the "14th Five-Year Plan" strategy and the support of its own system, FAW Toyota will not only achieve the sales target of one million in 2022, but also successfully realize the transformation of intelligent electrification and achieve high-quality development.