Observation chamber
Written by | Chen Hui
In the past two years, the pattern of the domestic automobile market is undergoing fission, and the most obvious signal is that the share of independent brands is rising. This is not only reflected in the first-line camp, the scale of Changan, Geely, Great Wall, BYD, etc. is getting closer and closer to mainstream joint venture rivals such as Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, and GM, even in the competition of second-tier brands, autonomy is also digging the corner of the joint venture. Let's take the january-February 2022 sales released by the multiplication association as an example to see what changes are taking place in the second-tier market?
*Data from the Multiplication Association
Second-tier joint venture sales were dismal
The model is not competitive enough
In recent years, second-tier joint venture brands have withdrawn from the domestic market, such as GAC Fiat, Changan Suzuki, Dongfeng Renault and so on. Compared with those brands that have directly abandoned the domestic market, it seems that the days left behind are not very good.
Let's start with Dongfeng Peugeot. At present, Dongfeng Peugeot has 5 models on sale, including two cars and 3 SUVs. In February, the five cars sold a combined 3,640 units, less than a fraction of the monthly sales of some of the best-selling models. Among them, the best sales of Peugeot 508L, before the introduction, has been placed high hopes, consumers are very much looking forward to buying frameless doors 508 at a price of 200,000, but the final domestic version canceled the frameless doors, so that everyone disappointed, sales have been sluggish, in February, its fuel version sold 1224 units, plug-in mixed version sold 8 units, in the car sales list ranked 100 outside. Dongfeng Peugeot sold worst in February was the SUV model 5008, with only 248 units, basically no sense of existence.
Compared with Peugeot, Skoda's performance is slightly better, with sales exceeding 4,000 units in February, but it has only just broken through, at 4270 units. At present, there are 6 models on sale under the Skoda brand, including 3 sedans and 3 SUVs. Among them, the best-performing Octavia sold 1742 units, the worst Xinrui 380 units, and the sales of the three SUVs were only three digits - Chinese the tradition of preferring German cars, which was ruthlessly broken by the Skoda brand.
Compared with the above two brands, Kia's performance in February was a little better, at least the monthly sales of more than 10,000 units (11,079 units). Last year, Kia updated a number of models, including the compact SUV Smart Run, the mid-size sedan K5, and the MPV model Jawa. Although the product strength of these cars is not bad, sales just can't start. At present, Kia has as many as 9 models on sale (including 4 cars, 4 SUVs, 1 MPV), but they are not very much, the best selling smart run is 2086 units, most of the other models are sold in about 1,000 units, and the MPV Kahua, which has been given high hopes, only sold 200 units in February.
The three brands, which belong to the French, German and Korean brands, do not seem to have much to do with each other, but they all sell badly but have a similar crux of the problem, that is, the lack of product competitiveness. The most obvious manifestation is Peugeot, the entire brand has not been able to come up with any models that can charge the front; Skoda is similar, the current models on sale have not been updated for a long time, and sales even lag significantly behind Volkswagen's low-end brand Jetta.
Among the three, Kia has ensured the update frequency and category of the product, which is not so ugly in terms of sales. This also fully shows that even if it is a joint venture brand, if it cannot change and be new, it will be marginalized by the market.
The second-line autonomous improvement is obvious
Blockbuster models support the scene
Compared with the dilemma of second-tier joint ventures, some second-tier independent brands have also been delisted due to poor management in recent years, such as Zotye, Lifan, BAIC Phantom Speed, etc., the most well-known of which is the "leather ruler" of Zotye who wants to borrow corpses to return the soul from time to time. After the big wave of sand and sand, the remaining second-tier independent brands are working harder and harder, and in the fierce market competition, they have gradually explored their own piece of the world.
For example, with a joint venture background but authentically belonging to the independent Venucia brand, we still speak with data: from January to February this year, the cumulative sales of its explosive model, Venucia Big V, reached 11,838 units, of which the monthly sales in February reached 5,528 units, ranking 37th in the SUV model, just in front of the Toyota Corolla Sharp. In addition, the venucia D60, a pure electric sedan, also delivered a record of 3,043 units in February. Although Venucia currently has only 4 models (3 SUVs + 1 sedan), monthly sales have exceeded 10,000 (10,001 units), and the overall performance is very stable.
The second brand that performed equally well was Dongfeng Fengshen. As Dongfeng Motor's completely own brand, Fengshen has also performed poorly for a long time, and there have been embarrassing times when they have relied on joint venture partners to eliminate technology to make a living, but with the accumulation and improvement of their own research and development strength, Fengshen has launched a number of new cars with good product strength. Among them, the best sales volume is Fengshen Yixuan, whose sales in February were 6016 units, ranking 35th in the car list, and even ranked ahead of Geely's net red car Xingrui. At present, there are only 3 models on sale in the entire Fengshen brand, but the total sales volume in February has exceeded 10,000 units, reaching 11,378 units, which can be called small and refined.
Another worth mentioning is also a member of the Dongfeng family - Dongfeng Scenery, and like its name, the monthly sales often exceed 10,000, and it used to be quite a scenery. However, there are more and more competitive models, and the competitiveness of the Scenery 580 is gradually marginalized. Fortunately, the manufacturer launched a new scenery 508 last year, focusing on 6 large spaces and 6AT, in February this year, its sales were 2434 units, although it is also more general, but it has begun to pick up. In addition, the total sales volume of Dongfeng Fengguang in February was 7566 units, and its comprehensive performance was already stronger than that of joint venture brands such as Peugeot and Skoda.
Next, look at Sihao, as an independent brand created by Jianghuai Automobile, although it is said to have the genes of Volkswagen, in fact, from design and development to marketing, it is all handled by Jianghuai Automobile. At present, the Sihao brand has a total of 6 models on sale, 3 cars and 3 SUVs The market performance is very close, the overall sales volume in February reached 9546 units, of which the best sales volume is the sedan E10X, which is 3518 units, and the SUV Sihao QX has also reached 2999 units, the overall performance is stronger than the second-tier joint venture.
Peeking at the leopard, through the above several cases, we can fully understand the second-line independent survival philosophy - to create a blockbuster model with the strength of the whole factory, and finally set a price that cannot be rejected, this practice of second-line joint venture really has to learn well, the competition is so cruel, the end shelf is useless, only to survive is eligible to talk about whether it is good to live.
『 Write at the end 』
When buying a car, will you give priority to your own brand or a joint venture brand?
If this question had been asked 10 years ago, I believe that the answer for the vast majority of people would have been a joint venture brand. Because the joint venture brand at that time was really strong, not only the variety of models, advanced technology, and reliability were also very good, in contrast, the independent brand had no other advantages except for high configuration and cheap price.
Over the years, independent brands have continuously learned and improved, and strengthened their independent research and development, design, manufacturing and other strengths. Now ask the above questions, perhaps the choice of independent brands and joint venture brands will be basically close.
Of course, at present, the overall sales volume of joint venture brands is still higher than that of independent brands, especially in the car sector, as well as high-end luxury cars, but from the perspective of the survival status of their respective second-tier brands, the development of independent brands is stronger. From this, we can judge that this year, the car market reshuffle will be accelerated again, in the first-line camp, the joint venture and autonomy will show a glue state (the pattern of foreign countries is also the same), but in the second-tier camp, some joint venture brands are very likely to be completely washed out.
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