Many car companies have become multinational giants like now, and one step must be indispensable, that is, to create specific models for specific markets. Different markets, consumption levels, local policies and customer needs vary dramatically. If foreign car companies want to open up the market, they must take into account the needs of the local market.
However, when the existing product lines of car companies cannot meet the needs of these markets, creating new exclusive models specifically for these markets has become the only way, which is the origin of "special cars" in many people.
For the domestic market, the concept of "special car" is quite familiar to everyone. Like SAIC Volkswagen Langyi, Guangqi Honda Lingpai, etc. are all new models specially created by foreign-funded or joint venture car companies for the domestic market, and these models also hit the preferences of domestic consumers and achieved quite good sales results.
However, the "special car" routine, as early as the North American market in the late last century, has been very mature.
In the middle of the last century, Toyota wanted to enter the U.S. market, and they came up with their own "prince" model, the crown. At that time, the Crown, as the flagship model of the Toyota family (there was no century at that time), achieved quite good sales in the Japanese market, and naturally it was also expected by Toyota's top management.
But the narrow body doesn't satisfy the Americans. At that time, the characteristics of local cars in the United States were one word - big. The size should be large, the displacement should be large, and all kinds of things should be large. The little crown is still full of small family spirit from top to bottom, and Lao Mei is naturally not very acceptable.
Therefore, the performance of the North American market of Crown can be expected by everyone, and it has failed miserably and returned home.
To open up the U.S. market, you have to have models that fit American consumers.
At that time, Toyota had already built two models for the North American market, the Camry and the Corolla, and also achieved good sales. But for Toyota, it's not enough to get close to these two models, they need to go up.
At the end of the 1980s, not long after the establishment of Lexus, a luxury brand built by Toyota for the North American market, the first model LS (UCF10) opened the market and won word of mouth with its strong product strength. Based on the Camry, the ES born in the same period also has a good sales volume. This allows Toyota to see the possibility of Toyota's own models "going up".
So, they also based on the Camry, to create a larger size and space, at the same time higher price Toyota model, called Avalon, in the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets, this car is called the Asian Dragon.
So at the beginning of its birth, the Asian dragon had nothing to do with Asia. It was called "the best Buick toyota ever built" by americans.
It also has the large size and large space of american cars, multi-cylinder self-priming and large displacement engines, and the excellent reliability of Japanese cars, which has been very popular since its introduction. The Asian Dragon, a model positioned between the Camry and the Lexus ES, sold 100,000 units a year at most, which is considerably a good sales volume.
However, the market environment has changed, the overseas car market continues to shrink, and consumers prefer SUV models with more space. Sales of the Asian Dragon also continued to decline, with only 18,000 units sold in the U.S. market last year. Toyota's decision to discontinue the Asian Dragon in North America at the end of this year is also reasonable.
However, after entering the Chinese market, the Asian Dragon glowed a second spring. Although SUVs are still the most popular models for consumers, with a huge market volume, the market demand for cars is still strong. And The preferences of Chinese consumers are surprisingly similar to those of American consumers – they all like to be big. Therefore, the Asian Dragon has achieved better sales figures in the Chinese market than in the US market - 114,000 units sold in 2020, and it is approaching the 120,000 mark in 2021. This is the best annual single-market sales volume of the Asian Dragon since its inception. Of course, there is also a point that cannot be ignored - the Asian dragon in the Chinese market is much cheaper than the North American market.
So the Asian Dragon stopped production in North America and continued to make changes in China. On March 28, the new fourth-generation Asian Dragon will be officially listed in China at the end of March.
Now that it's a special car for China, let's see what changes the new Asia Dragon has made for Chinese consumers:
The front face has changed a lot: the front grille with horizontal stripes has added several longitudinal embellishments, which is relatively less monotonous, making people feel that it will be more harmonious if the Toyota Bull Head Label is replaced by a crown mark. At the same time, the internal structure of the headlights is closer to the Lexus ES: a daytime running light with an LED light-emitting module is more technological. In addition, the new Asian Dragon will also introduce an overseas sports version of the black mesh front face, and everyone no longer needs to go to the aftermarket to modify it.
In addition, the wheel design has also been upgraded, the whirlwind shape black and silver two-color wheels have been newly added, and the design of the sterling silver wheel hub is also more layered.
The upgrade of the interior focuses on the instrument panel and the central control multimedia system: the instrument panel has been replaced by a 12.3-inch full LCD form (only equipped with dual-engine medium and high-end models), the central control large screen has eliminated the physical buttons on both sides, and the size has been fully increased to 10.1 inches. The built-in software has also been upgraded to toyota Zhixing Interconnection with remote control, and the whole series is equipped with TSS2.5 as standard, and intelligence and interconnection have come to a new level.
Otherwise, the new Asian Dragon hasn't changed much. The powertrain is still the M20C-FKS 2.0L+Direct-Shift CVT, A25F-FKS 2.5L+Direct-Shift 8AT and the A25F-FXS 2.5L+THS II.
It can be seen that the new Asian Dragon retains the favorite large space of the Chinese people, and adds a more digital core, and the degree of intelligence has finally caught up with the opponents of the same level.
Of the three powertrains, I think the 2.0L+CVT is perfectly sufficient, don't look at its book data is not so bright, its fast power response and excellent fuel economy are enough to be the reason for choosing it. Of course, if you want to pursue the ultimate power and fuel saving, the dual engine model will be a better choice.
But after losing the mission of "born for the North American market", will Toyota still build the next generation of Asian dragons? I don't think so, under the electrification strategy, Toyota will not spend a lot of effort to develop a new generation of Asian dragons. The next generation of FAW Toyota Asia Dragon is likely to be just a rebranded model of the next generation camry.