When Infiniti and Acura first entered China, I am afraid that they did not think that everyone was doing Japanese luxury cars, and the gap could be so large.
How big is the gap? You look at the domestic sales data in 2020: Infiniti 25695 units; Acura 11193 units; and then look at the big brother Lexus, about 225,000 units, directly crushed is not it?
How did Big Brother Lexus do it? Is it really fate? Or is it some magical ecstasy soup that consumers are pouring?
Lexus's "import status" makes people feel noble
This is to start from the bloodline of Lexus's so-called "imported car", after all, many consumers eat this set, that is, "the foreign moon is extraordinarily round".
And the imported car itself is also a feature of Lexus, which is easier for people to remember.
Tian Zurong published a paper in the journal "China High-tech Enterprises", "Research on the Differentiated Competition Strategy of Manufacturing Enterprises", which is mentioned in it.
Manufacturing enterprises through unique product characteristics and technology, brand image, additional characteristics and characteristic services to strengthen the characteristics of products, increase consumer value, so that consumers are willing to pay.
To put it simply: the other 2 brothers have chosen domestic production, in the eyes of the big brother, what is their name? It's called "self-depreciation."
The eldest brother was also secretly happy in his heart: "Oops" Now the Japanese three Jerry is purely imported, and the "imported bloodline" has been highlighted.
Lexus' success isn't just about importing cars
Many friends may ask: "When Infiniti and Acura are not domestically produced, it seems that they can't compare to their big brothers, right?" ”
This has to talk about why big brother is called "big brother".
Lexus is more well-known
First of all, from the perspective of popularity, Lexus is indeed a well-deserved big brother.
Although the japanese 3 brothers officially entered the Chinese market at about the same time, basically between 2005 and 2006.
The reason why it is a big brother is because it understands the so-called "stealing chicken".
In 1989 Lexus released its first car, which became the best-selling high-end imported car in the United States by the end of 1991.
In 1993, the hong Kong car importers at that time introduced a large number of American versions of Lexus, which was also called "Lexus" at that time.
Therefore, the time point of the 3 brothers' layout in the Chinese market is similar on the surface, but in fact, the popularity has opened up the gap.
Like: Everyone is in junior high school together, the age is up, it's all like this, right?
But when Xiaoming was in elementary school, he had already won the first place in the competition abroad, and there must be many people who already knew that there was such a little prodigy.
Popularity is directly applied to the early sales, because everyone buying something must still look at the brand, right?
Referring to a 2007 report by Xinhua Net, Lexus sold about 3,000 units in 2005; in 2006, sales reached 11,500 units; and in 2007, it is expected to exceed 24,000 units.
Infiniti's sales target in 2007 was only 1,000 units; Acura was even more miserable, with a 4S store in Beijing selling less than 50 units a month.
It can be said that from the beginning, Infiniti and Acura were unfavorable on the starting line of the 2 brothers.
Lexus product line is more abundant
Let's talk about the products, the 3 brothers are all selling stalls, but the things on the stalls are much worse.
Refer to a car home: At present, Lexus has a total of 9 models on sale, 1 C-class car, 1 D-class car, 5 SUVs, 1 MPV, and 1 sports car.
Infiniti is selling a total of 3 cars; Acura is even less, only 2 models, right?
Turning over history, the total number of models released by the 3 brothers is also very different, Lexus has sold a total of 445 models, Infiniti has only 74 models, and Acura has only 56 models.
The lack of models is certainly also easy to lose a lot of consumers, just like: go to a meal, I want to eat a stir-fried waist flower, the store said: "No, we only have stir-fried steaks." "Huh?
There is no way, I just want to eat waist flowers, not to say that your restaurant is poor, that is, to eat waist flowers, change a store, style impact.
The sales network is more perfect and the service is better
Another one is the problem of sales network, and the big brother Lexus is also doing a better job.
Referring to the Beijing Morning Post, as early as 2007, there were 25 special sales stores in Lexus; by the first quarter of 2008, it had increased to 46; at the end of 2020, there were more than 230 authorized stores.
What is this concept? Let me tell you about the tragic situation of the other 2 brothers.
Acura had a total of 39 dealers nationwide by the end of 2011, which was basically the level of Big Brother in 2008.
Infiniti is slightly better, more than 60 dealers in 2014, which is similar to the big brother's 09 and 10 years, and the sales network is at least 3 years behind.
In fact, once the sales channels are not established in the early stage and cannot buy a car, then the impact on consumers' consumption enthusiasm, publicity and so on is very large.
It's like: a game has been promoted for most of the day, the appetite is also very full, the ticket has been jumped many times, and I can't buy it if I want to.
Today it was finally released, and the sale said that the network was not working, and there was a problem with the payment... Anyway, I didn't buy it in the end, "Oh" forget it, why bother? Some of my friends were dissuaded, right?
Just talked about pre-sale, is the level of selling things good? Right? We're still talking about word of mouth, aren't we?
3 Brothers After-sales Service Who is better? Unfortunately, it is still the best big brother.
The list of winners of after-sales service satisfaction and sales service satisfaction in the luxury car brand category released by the China Association of Quality has been won by Lexus for three consecutive years since 2012.
In terms of warranty period alone, the big brother Lexus entered the domestic market in 2005, and the warranty period was set at "4 years and 100,000 km" at the beginning.
At that time, the average was 2 years and 60,000 km, the good point of 3 years 80,000 km, 4 years 100,000 km warranty is more prominent, is the best of this file, of course, people will leave an impression.
Consumer brand impressions vary widely
In addition, the brand image of the 3 brothers in the eyes of consumers is also relatively large.
Zhang Depei of minzu University of China has a master's thesis, "The Influence of Individual Brand Cognition on Brand Construction: Taking Consumers of Six Automobile Brands as the Research Object", which said.
It interviewed 60 owners of luxury brands and found that different brands gave consumers completely different impressions.
Lexus consumers are relatively convinced that Lexus quality is better and trustworthy.
Infiniti consumers believe that the Infiniti brand is relatively low-key, and the comprehensive performance of the product is relatively excellent.
The brand impression of low-key and excellent comprehensive performance is still relatively vague in the end.
Just like when I was in elementary school, the class teacher wrote a final comment: so-and-so children performed well overall. Even if it belongs to the part that cannot be exaggerated, right?
This unclear brand impression also makes it difficult for Infiniti to have a group of die-hard fans or iron fans, but Lexus, which is called "good quality, reliability, and not easy to break", is convenient for others to describe and remember.
Lexus "thrives" for many reasons
Therefore, in general, among the 3 japanese luxury brothers, Lexus is "thriving".
In addition to the identity of imported cars, it is related to Lexus' higher popularity, richer product line, more sound sales network, and better service, and it is not just relying on faith.
Lexus is not a shell Toyota
Lexus has a lot of iron fans, and many friends say: "Lexus, powder to powder, aren't all Toyota's car fans upgraded and grown?" Isn't Lexus a hull toyota? ”
It's not worth the price, and the powder is also the powder, right? What the hell is going on?
What are the differences between Lexus and Toyota's cars? Which ones are really pretty much the same?
Lexus sales are good, but overall, it is a second-tier luxury brand, it and Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi seems to be on an equal footing, in the end why?
The same first-line luxury brands, some people think that Mercedes-Benz is one notch higher than Audi and BMW; some people say:, it's not a thing. ”
Is it true? Where did the impression of Mercedes-Benz's high-end appear?
Keywords: luxury cars
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bibliography
Tian Zurong. Research on Differentiated Competition Strategy of Manufacturing Enterprises[J].China High-tech Enterprise,2008.
[2] Lexus sold 25% more than planned domestically and is still not included in the plan. Beijing Morning Post
[3] Autohome
[4] What does "100,000 kilometers in 4 years" mean?
ZHANG Depei. The influence of individual brand recognition on brand construction - six brands in the car
Consumers as research objects[D].Minzu University of China, 2017.
[6] With sales of only 25,700 units in 2020, Dongfeng Infiniti has "fallen behind"
[7] Acura sales in December 2020. Gestapo cars
[8] LEXUS Lexus International announces 2021 global sales report.LEXUS official website
[9] Japanese high-end brands are in a very different situation in China's "gold panning". Xinhua
[10] China Association for Quality