As the saying goes, "changing the standard is like changing the knife", for any enterprise, an organization and a team, the standard change is a very important thing. Logo for enterprises, the accumulation of brand equity represents the past, and brand philosophy and vision represent the future, as a global marketing language, through the evolution of brand logo, we can intuitively feel the pace of the times.
Recently, overseas media broke the news that the US Patent and Trademark Office recently announced the brand LOGO design of Buick's latest application, and the attention of the domestic media and the comments of netizens directly sent the Buick resale event to the hot search. Through the century-old brand change history, from patterning to alphabetization to symbolization, it seems to have a sense of déjà vu from industrial civilization to the information age. In the 1990s, in the context of globalization, Buick entered China as a joint venture, which had the basic appearance of the Buick logo as we know it today.
For this North American Buick rebranding incident, the anecdote is full of various conjectures, which has also triggered a lot of discussion among car owners and netizens.
In recent years, the wave of new energy has swept the world, from Ashkenazi giants to Chinese local brands, they have successively completed the simple, stylish and flat design update of the brand logo, and used the new logo as a "declaration of change". This time, the Buick brand, which has always been "stable and far-reaching", directly ushered in the biggest bid change in thirty years, which is of great significance.
The strong empowerment of Aoteneng will catalyze the great acceleration of the electrification strategy of the Buick brand
As soon as Buick's new LOGO was unveiled, many foreign media speculated that the new standard would be used in the mass-produced version of the upcoming Buick Electra concept car. First of all, from the appearance of the new standard, the flat style, the parallel and open design of the three shields are in line with the industry law of the current car brand to renovate the new car logo for electrification; secondly, from the perspective of the development of the Buick brand, it does need such an opportunity to tell the market that the century-old brand is setting sail for the era of electrification.
In the era of electrification, open innovation means more opportunities and possibilities, but from the perspective of underlying logic, this is a giant game era that competes in hard core strength. No matter how the times change, the foundation of the automotive industry is still economies of scale, and the technology platform is the starting point of model quality, the decisive point of cost/efficiency, and the core of creating a product matrix competitiveness.
GM has carried out deep research and reserve work on electrification technology as early as the middle of the last century, and now the all-out Aoteneng platform is launched as an exclusive platform for electric vehicles, which not only covers the core three electric technologies independently developed by the brand - battery, motor and electronic control, but also brings continuous innovation effects with its four characteristics of efficient and integrated modular drive system, flexible and expandable platform architecture, inclusive and stable battery solutions, and future-oriented intelligent technology.
The continuous release of the "Aoteneng effect" will provide a strong impetus for the comprehensive transformation and innovation of the electrification era of General Motors and Buick brands. According to the plan announced by Buick at the Guangzhou Auto Show last year, it will accelerate the introduction of Aoteneng platform models and launch 5 new electric vehicles, which will greatly enhance Buick's product coverage and competitiveness in the new energy market.
As mentioned above, the Buick Electro, the concept car released last year, combines SUV and coupe design, and at the Super Bowl advertising campaign earlier this year, Buick showed a new electric car, similar to the Electro concept, which may be buick's flagship model for future electric vehicles.
Based on the above analysis and judgment, a major impact of buick brand change this time stems from the accumulation of the brand's own electrification technology and the empowerment of the Aoteneng platform. And we speculate that the Buick Aotene platform model may meet with you in the second half of this year, and it is likely to be a mass-produced version of the Electro concept car, which is expected to be the first to carry the new standard.
In addition to the accumulation of technology, what cards are in the hands of buicks that are ready to go
Compared with the new forces that talk about subversion at every turn, traditional car companies rely on their accumulated system competitive advantages, which is still essentially a problem of "inheritance innovation", SAIC-GM Buick has a very clear self-perception, not only to overcome the impact of the epidemic, stabilize the existing business basic disk, but also to actively implement structural adjustment and vigorously promote transformation.
Under the double challenge, it is gratifying that Buick still delivered a good report card with a cumulative wholesale sales volume of 828,627 units in 2021, with a total of 13 new and redesigned models, helping to continuously optimize the sales structure. Among them, the sales of high-end models accounted for 60%, and the GL8 car series increased by 8.4% against the trend, refreshing the annual sales record; in terms of welcoming the upgrading of middle-class household consumption, the sales structure of the Buick SUV family has also been further optimized, and the annual sales of the flagship model Encore Banner have increased by 47.2% year-on-year.
Since the beginning of this year, despite the repeated epidemics, the intensification of "lack of core", and the adjustment of internal product structure, Buick's steady and good trend in product structure and sales quality has not changed, and the sales volume of its high-end models has exceeded 56%.
The continuous structural adjustment has made Buick's electrification transformation more comfortable and more confident. The changes brought about by electrification are not only electric vehicles, but also the upgrading of the travel experience. In the past two years, the new models launched by Buick have been fully equipped with GM's new generation of VIP intelligent electronic architecture, which will be installed on more models in the future. Actively embracing change and cultivating user habits has a subtle impact. So far, Buick's models have achieved 100% cloud interconnection, creating a smart car-connected life for car owners to keep pace with the times.
Around the smart travel, high-end MPV has become the intensive power point of major car companies, Buick is not to be tolerated, and the Buick GL8 flagship concept car released at the Guangzhou Auto Show last year has great intentions. It is not only a preview of Buick's new MPV forward-looking design and leading technology, but also predicts that the Buick brand will continue to open up to a higher-end, more luxurious MPV segment.
To make MPV and smart travel seamless docking, in January this year, Buick launched the eCruise Pro advanced intelligent assistance driving system OTA remote upgrade for the first time, GL8 Aivia and GL8 ES Luzun some models took the lead in carrying this advanced intelligent driving technology model. Judging from the general law of the application of high-end technology, the large-scale decentralization and popularization of the future will also be expected to be greatly accelerated.
In the joint venture brand, Buick has always been known for its sense of high-end, in the era of fuel vehicles, it is reflected in design, material, mute, power and intelligence, etc., and in the era of electrification, how to define the sense of high-level, Buick's practice and exploration has quietly walked in the forefront of the industry. It is not difficult to foresee that Buick will use high-end and electrification to synchronize its efforts this year, so that this century-old brand with a century-old history will be revitalized.
Write at the end
The cornering masters of the car race are all good at grasping the direction and rhythm, and when the vehicle drives into the bend, fully step on the accelerator to feel the pleasure of roaring out of the bend. Standing on the track of the times, whether it is the new LOGO exposed, or the new technologies and new products that Buick has continuously released in the past two years, we can feel that this century-old brand is making positive changes in the "bent heart". As for the effect of the bend, we will wait and see.