Author: Gao Hao
But when I saw the new people laughing, the old people cried. Just next month, the fifth generation of Ford Mondeo is about to go public, in the 9-year service period, the current Mondeo not only witnessed the rise and fall of Ford, but also watched the B-class car market being swallowed up by Japanese and German.
Although the new Mondeo has a starting price of less than 160,000 and a 2.0T EcoBoost engine is tempting enough, you and I know how difficult it is for Mondeo to turn over, and the golden age of B-Class cars that was once jointly owned by the American, Japanese, German, French and Korean systems has now become exclusive to Germany and Japan.
Second- and third-line B-class cars are difficult to gain a foothold
In February this year, Camry (11,684 units, up 97.7% year-on-year), Accord (10,915 units, up 16.1% year-on-year), Passat (8,856 units, down 23% year-on-year), Tianlai (8,285 units, up 1.7% year-on-year), Andrten (8,206 units, down 34.4% year-on-year) dominated the top five sales of medium-sized cars.
Under the tone of declining sales in the mid-to-high-end sedan market, it can also be seen from the sales volume in February that in addition to the growth of the japanese top three against the trend, even the former sales king Maiteng and Passat are falling sharply. However, the good and evil German system can still stand in the front-line camp, and the once beautiful American system with unlimited scenery is heart-wrenching.
Moving your gaze to the bottom of the list, the three American brothers Regal, LaCrosse and Ma Ruibao, who rank 7-10, can only hover in the "subsistence line" of about 1,000 vehicles. Although the American car is generally solid in materials and stable in texture, the above three models do not have an advantage in the "fuel consumption" and "durability" that the Chinese people are most concerned about, even if they desperately reduce the price and change the volume, consumers still turn to the Japanese system without turning back.
What's more, in recent years, American car companies are stepping together to abandon the research and development of cars on a global scale and plunge into the SUV and pickup truck markets. The consequences of this are obvious, the American brand in the Chinese car market will lose the tilt of the brand's global resources, if the Chinese team can not launch a competitive model in the follow-up, it is basically equivalent to announcing the withdrawal from the car market, the already declining U.S. loyal users to the embrace of Japanese and German car companies. If you abandon sedan research and development, don't blame me for not saying hello when I leave.
The legal system and the Korean system, which share the same disease, are even more miserable. Last year, Citroen came up with an inexplicable "medium-sized car", in addition to the use of the french system has been criticized for many years of "board suspension", but also exposed a lot of quality problems, coupled with low cost performance, no advantage of the space, really can not find a reason to sell well. The "romance" of a part of the population has become a double-edged sword that has led to the collapse of the legal system.
In the global market, Korean car companies are not lacking in technology, and the global market can steadily occupy the top five sales, but after the modification and replacement of many models, the Chinese people have not felt the technical strength, and the business management has also been chaotic in anxiety and gradually marginalized.
At the moment when independent brands are upward, luxury brands are exploring, and electric vehicles and SUVs are impacting, these second- and third-tier brands that have been brilliant, the living space is constantly compressed, and the B-class car market has become a cruel game of winner-take-all and strong hengqiang. Sometimes, missing an opportunity is like missing a century.
Should Mondeo lie flat?
Speaking of Ford and Mondeo, "Renqi" absolutely does not doubt the product strength of new Mondeo, and the author is a loyal fan of the Ford brand, and even considers the sales of new Mondeo +1, but it is really impossible to paint a better future for new Mondeo in the current market.
Ford's two high-hope models have been met with a mediocre response in the Chinese market, and the monthly sales of the EVOS of several hundred units are not even as good as those of the higher-positioned explorers. "Electric horse" Mach-E has fought back and forth with Tesla in North America, but when he comes to China, he is unsatisfied and no one cares.
There is no problem in terms of product strength, and Ford China's marketing strength does not need to be questioned, after all, Lincoln has staged a good show of a Jedi reversal in the past two years. The Ford brand also urgently needs to replicate this success, the new Mondeo of course should not and will not lie flat, but want to kill the blood road is destined to be a hard model, after all, now Mondeo is facing not only the same level of competitors, but also luxury brands, independent brands, electric vehicles.
At present, there are many reports about the new Mondeo, and everyone generally gives the expectation of 5,000 vehicles per month. "RENA" believes that if it can reach 3500 vehicles in the early stage, it is the first step to success, which must wait for the feedback of the market after the listing of the new Mondeo in April.
As a fan, it is natural to expect more and more models to stand up, break the status quo of b-class cars and recreate the hundreds of controversies of the past. Since everyone is talking about rejuvenation, it is ironic that young people who pursue individuality face the increasingly small range of choices in the mid-to-high-end car market.
The author still hopes that the second and third-line middle and high-end cars have a future, thirty years of Hedong, thirty years of Hexi, it is because of the difficulty, the drama of the hero's return will make people so fascinated.