"Net red car" is a product born with the rise of new consumption and new marketing in the automotive industry, and it is also one of the important symbols of the transformation of car companies from engineer thinking to user thinking. If a brand can have an Internet celebrity car, it means that it has the topic heat, has brand recognition, and has user fans, because the reason why Internet celebrities are popular is that they have a unique and distinctive personalized logo, which cooperates with digital communication, so as to get a lot of attention and discussion in a short period of time and spawn a traffic economy.
Therefore, under the superposition of several major factors such as stock competition, buyer's market, mobile Internet, and the impact of the epidemic, the original operating concept of star models driven by brand awareness has rapidly changed to the thinking of phenomenon-level Internet celebrity cars to drive brand cognition. Letting star cars replace brands in the forefront has become a new trend in product positioning and marketing communication of car companies.
In this context, starting from 2020, major car companies will create or hope to build products that are online celebrity cars. And these net red cars are reflected in terminal sales, have they reached the expected expectations? "Tong Jiren Automobile Review" selects three types of representative Internet celebrity models and analyzes them from their product positioning, market competition, and sales trends.
Why are these cars influencer cars?
From the perspective of consumer perception, net red cars usually have several of the following conditions: high appearance, good experience, strong sense of gain, and personality.
From the perspective of product planning, products under the user's thinking usually need to have accurate product positioning based on consumer insights, clear and consumer kinetic segmentation, humanistic product strength, and marketing communications that meet the characteristics of mobile Internet.
Therefore, combined with the two aspects of consumer and product planning, we divide the net red car into three categories:
Based on the demand of new categories, Chuangsheng, representative models are Hongguang MINIEV, Tank 300;
Based on the enhancement of the sense of acquisition of the new experience, the representative models are shadow leopard, good cat, dolphin;
Based on the new value of the functional complement, the representative model is the Xena.
Moreover, as an internet celebrity car, it is indispensable, that is, traffic. All of the above models are highly spontaneous topic discussions among the people. Every detail of the product point and every marketing move on these models will be placed under a magnifying glass. Therefore, the sales trend after the listing of these models has reference value for other brands that want to enter the same market segment, or also want to create topic models.
Net red car one: based on the demand of new categories to create
New categories, that is, model segments that have never existed before and are difficult to discern the authenticity of demand. This type of model, with a strong sense of exploration, will not know whether it will succeed until it is actually put on the market and consumer communication. However, once this new category of models hits the essence of the mainstream population's hidden needs, then it can enjoy the consumption dividends that belong to the forerunners, and even if the re-entry followers follow, the difficulty of wanting to surpass is also geometrically multiplied.
Hongguang MINIEV and Tank 300 are the most typical cases of this type of net red car.
The predecessor of Hongguang MINIEV was the Baojun E100 and E200 piloted in Liuzhou area, which was initially only a product definition to replace two-wheeled electric vehicles and low-speed electric vehicles. However, when Wuling began to hope to promote the Liuzhou model nationwide, it found that such short-distance micro-electric vehicles were quite popular among urban young people. Therefore, on the basis of still matching the extremely high cost performance, Wuling positioned Hongguang MINIEV as a scooter with the attributes of Chaochuang single product, and completely laid the leading position in the scooter market through high-traffic and circle-layered communication channels.
Since its launch in mid-2020, Hongguang MINIEV has only exceeded 10,000 in 2 months, 20,000 in 3 months, and 30,000 in 4 months, with an average monthly sales of more than 32,000 vehicles in 2021. Even if there are many imitators later, the sales of Hongguang MINIEV have not only not been shaken, but also through continuous special edition model modifications, IP cooperation, event marketing, and user co-creation, it has always maintained the heat of the topic and transformed the Internet celebrity attribute into a star attribute.
In contrast, another Baojun E300, which also focuses on the scooter market and was launched at the same time but positioned more high-end, has been flat sales. In addition to the more personality in the design, which leads to greater polarization of public opinion, the high price is also an important reason for its consumer group to deviate from the audience of scooters. In other words, 30,000 or 40,000 can buy scooters, but 60,000 or 70,000, 70,000 or 80,000 people still want to buy a "car" that is just eight classics.
However, after the launch of the Vertical Iteration Model KiWi EV of Baojun E300 in the second half of last year, the entire marketing thinking has changed. The positioning of KiWi EV is no longer a pure scooter, but a large jewelry that takes the fashionable and light luxury route, especially a series of designs, modifications and joint names for female users, which has greatly increased the topic of the product. After the repositioning, even if there is not much change in the price, the KiWi EV has penetrated more deeply into the target population, and the sales volume has also increased significantly compared with the E300. This can be seen as a re-upgrade of Wuling's marketing positioning ideas for Hongguang MINIEV products in the scooter market.
If the Hongguang MINIEV has already tested the water first, then the uncertainty of the tank 300 is even stronger. Off-road vehicles are a small market, but the tank 300 combines off-road with smart and luxury, and the price is positioned in the mainstream joint venture SUV market, which was a slightly risky behavior at the time. It is not difficult to find the caution of Great Wall Motors from two details: First, the tank 300 is first incubated under the WEY brand, but the configuration price of the tank 300 off-road version is still conservative, and it has not completely broken through the shackles of price.
However, the entire 2021 Tank 300 has become the top three models in the public opinion discussion, orders have always outstripped supply, and sales volume almost only depends on production capacity, becoming a potential competitor for all SUVs at the same price and even high price. The reason is that this model has simultaneously captured off-road enthusiasts, trendy market crowds, individual needs and people without preferences, making the original niche hardcore off-road SUV extremely universal, so that the people who spent 200,000 to buy a car invisibly installed 500,000 bi.
After the success of tank 300, tank 500 can let go of hands and feet, completely get rid of price restrictions, use good materials as much as possible, get on new technologies, and even dare to directly compete for potential users who originally belonged to luxury brands. Of course, the feedback from consumption is also positive, the tank 500 harvests a large number of orders and a high degree of public opinion, and no one has discussed how expensive this car is.
Therefore, this kind of net red car, there is no historical case to refer to, before the launch of consumers can not imagine, can not express similar needs. Success is only possible based on insight into the nature of needs, even human nature, and the courage to devote resources to exploration. Once successful, in exchange for the barriers that competitors will find difficult to break.
Net red car two: based on the new experience of the sense of acquisition enhanced
New experiences, specifically for a target group. For example, 100,000 yuan of car consumers also want to experience the sense of sports that can only be enjoyed by the original price segment; for example, 100,000 yuan of electric vehicle consumers also want to obtain high-quality, high-value, high-tech native design products.
Shadow Leopard wants to catch the former, while Euler's good cat and BYD Dolphin are aimed at the latter.
The 100,000-level sports family car, the shadow leopard is not the first, but the shadow leopard may be the one that puts the sense of movement enhancement in the highest priority. The more expensive Lynk & Co 03, its "movement" is piled up with money, and it cannot be copied by other brands. In the case of the weak field of GAC Trumpchi family car, the shadow leopard is more like a kind of desperate breakthrough.
However, shadow leopard gambled correctly, it became a non-mainstream in a number of mainstream forms of independent car, and it was the most mainstream existence in a non-mainstream sports car. Even as a sports car, Shadow Leopard does not have any track culture to speak of, but it relies on the "shell", by targeting a group of family car consumers whose budget is slightly tight, but who have requirements for styling personalization and power performance, Shadow Leopard has achieved sales of more than 10,000 in the fourth month of listing. Perhaps in the mainstream car market, this achievement is not outstanding, but for GAC Trumpchi, which has been marginalized in the home car market before, it is a turnaround. At the same time, the target consumer scale of Shadow Leopard will also gradually expand because of a good product.
In contrast, the 100,000-class electric vehicle is a complete blue ocean. Saying that it is a blue ocean does not mean that any product can be easily successful. On the contrary, it is because no one is doing a good job is the blue ocean. Therefore, the monthly sales of good cats and dolphins have reached the level of 10,000 vehicles, which is particularly interesting.
In the price range of 100,000-150,000 yuan, Dolphin and Good Cat are the first electric vehicles to enter the mainstream consumer group, and they are also the first electric vehicles to form penetration and iteration of fuel vehicles at the same price. In addition to the size, Dolphin and Good Cat are no different from higher-priced electric vehicles in terms of three electric technology, intelligence, design, personality, etc., and are the direct beneficiaries of the reduction of the hardware threshold of electric vehicles.
In fact, the sales growth of the two is so synchronized (rapid growth since the third quarter of last year), in addition to the supply chain to keep up with the release of production capacity, it also means that the two are not in competition, but a community that works together to expand the market share of mainstream electric vehicles. Especially when the 100,000 yuan joint venture fuel vehicle market began to decline, the emergence of these two electric vehicles has released the suppressed consumer demand.
Behind these two highly talked about, and even many consumers "choose one of the two" products, other brands have not yet been able to follow the same kind of electric vehicles in terms of influence, sales and vehicle quality. Especially when the lack of cores, batteries, and electric vehicles in 2022 is highly under pressure, the follow-up performance of the two products is not determined by the market terminal, but by the control of the front-end manufacturing supply chain and the overall cost.
Moreover, under the pattern of today's emerging electric vehicles, if the good cat and dolphin stand firm in the market, for the further expansion of the two brands of Euler and BYD in the mainstream pure electric vehicle market, they will establish a higher entry threshold for competitors.
Net red car three: functional completion based on new value
It is undeniable that today's mainstream joint venture brands have lagged behind the active head independent brands in the matter of consumer mind occupation. However, Toyota may be a rare exception, and the Sai Na is undoubtedly the most topical model of Toyota in 2021.
In terms of product strength, Sai Na is a multi-functional, all-scenario family car that is very suitable for high-end families, and it should also be in line with the trend of increasing the purchase of family cars in first- and second-tier cities today. Moreover, Toyota has always had a strong brand inertia and consumer stickiness in the MPV market. Compared with the Buick GL8's properties that are biased towards public business use in the price range of 300,000-400,000 yuan, compared with the smaller Odyssey/Alexon, Xena can completely occupy a place with more pure large-use attributes, and even a must-have high-end home MPV.
However, the crazy price increase in the early days of Xena's listing masked the excellent product power to a certain extent, and also let the discussion of Xena focus on the crying and laughing thing of "adding tens of thousands to pick up the car". However, with the decline of the tide of Xena markup, with the first batch of price increase insensitive users, leasing companies, modification companies and other specific users of the order digestion, Xena will eventually return to its due price system. As long as this is done, the product strength of Xena and the influence of Toyota MPV are enough to make it have promising sales.
Following deliveries of less than 1,000 units in the first month, sales at Syna reached around 4,000 units in Both January and February this year, a result close to that of Odyssey/Alexand. On the other hand, the overseas version of SIENNA, which has been sold in parallel import mode, has maintained a good sales level until the domestic Sale of Syna, and even saw a delivery peak of more than 1,000 units in January this year. The potential linkage between domestic models and parallel imported models is also a unique advantage of Toyota in mainstream joint venture brands.
Considering that FAW Toyota's sister car GRANVIA will also be listed this year, Toyota's high-end MPV market of 300,000-400,000 yuan, as long as the price system can be maintained in a reasonable range, it is very likely to turn the Internet celebrity on public opinion into an Internet celebrity in sales, because the new value brought by Xena/GRANVIA in the market segment accurately hits the functional demands of potential consumers.
Write at the end
The reason why the net red car is called the net red car is because everyone is willing to discuss it; and everyone is willing to discuss it, to some extent, it means that this model has irreplaceability. This irreplaceability can come from the reengineering of categories, from the popularization of high-level experiences, or from the filling of value.
Therefore, product strength is the foundation of a model to become a net red car, but it is a necessary and insufficient condition. The sufficient condition is that any net red car from topic degree to sales to word of mouth must conform to the background of the digital era and stimulate the new kinetic energy of subdivided consumer groups by giving more warm humanistic attributes to the cold machine.