Text | Carry the pot to punch
One of the economists I've always loved once did a round of interviews with some heavyweight entrepreneurs, and one of the questions was interesting, and he would end by asking them, are you a conservative person or a radical person?
JD.com, Ctrip, Gree and the heads of these star companies that shine in the waves all consider themselves conservative.
It is very different from our understanding, and it seems to be taken for granted. Radicals can gain temporary fame and fortune, and only then can they strengthen their strategic direction, stabilize the basic plan, and adjust their tactics with local offensiveness.
In the mid-level car market, I think such a conservative is FAW Toyota Asia Dragon, and it has just ushered in its own mid-term redesign.
At the heart of placing weights at both ends of the scale, radical and conservative, there are two things: one is that the market environment determines the strategic direction, and the other is how to play to one's strengths.
FAW Toyota Asia Dragon is a mid-to-high-end car that came to the Chinese market late, and it is also my favorite mid-level car.
In fact, when it first entered China, there was still a little bit of criticism. For example, why the 3.5L version is not introduced, why there is no standard exhaust sound simulation, but when it is really sold, the real consumers are happily paying for the panoramic sunroof, boss key, rear USB charging, 220V power supply and rear central control armrest that are added compared to the US version, and quickly use banknotes to help this "newcomer" gain a foothold in the most competitive mid-to-high-end car market.
In the history of the development of the automobile industry, there are only a few OEMs with smooth sailing, and only in the face of twists and turns, soberly see their strengths and weaknesses in the confrontation with the crisis, and gradually change their brands with policy adjustments, can they survive in the industry. In 2020 and 2021, the mid-to-high-end car market has been in the "fever" stage, and everyone knows that the mid-level car market is no longer the "intermediate car market to get the Chinese car market" of the fixed sea god needle, but its profit margin, ownership and choice recognition have always made every oem addicted.
It's arsenic, it's also honey.
The Asian Dragon entered China at a less than perfect time, and FAW Toyota has always needed a flagship mid-to-high-end sedan to fill the gap, just as Dongfeng Honda has always been hungry for shortcomings in the mid-range car market.
The needs are the same, the methods are different. Dongfeng Honda has Si Platinum in front of it, and then has INSPIRE, whether it is influence or sales, it is difficult to compare with the Accord; and FAW Toyota did not simply take out the twin sister car, but carefully took the Asian dragon slightly higher than the Camry by half a grade, it was born in the controversy, sold in the discussion, and then it was out of control, and the strategic points were full.
How to achieve the localization of a global car, I think FAW Toyota's experience is really a perfect version of the market textbook. Looking back at 2021, FAW Toyota Asia Dragon was able to win the data of 117188 vehicles, which is quite amazing, which also gave FAW Toyota Asia Dragon the confidence to make a mid-term redesign.
As we all know, FAW Toyota's goal this year is to hit millions of sales, even with last year's data, Asia Dragon's sales volume provided almost a tenth of the share. From a conservative attitude, it is relatively reasonable to maintain the same launch of the era of the change of the era to slightly improve the configuration, strengthen the cost performance, and consider the corporate demands of millions of must-reach in that year.
Faced with the challenge of choosing almost a good model, consumers will subconsciously buy cheaper ones.
Asia Dragon has opted for a relatively more aggressive strategy, believing that high-quality products are hot sellers that can cross cycles. Of course, in order to ensure that the market can quickly switch to the mid-term remodeled model, we have also prepared "six exclusive Zhimei luxury packages", of which 4 years and 100,000 kilometers of free warranty and basic maintenance are still exciting.
Service comes first, financial policy keeps up.
People who have enjoyed the "closed package" should be able to understand how much a good property can contribute to the quality of life under normal and abnormal circumstances.
Since entering the Chinese market in 2019, the cumulative sales volume of more than 300,000 is enough to prove the correctness of its "conservative" strategy.
This Asian Dragon mid-term revamp is not a big step, it is still the flagship sedan that looks high-end.
The new Asian Dragon brings two different styles of front grilles, which are basically the product of linkage with the product personality.
Consumers with more sports requirements will generally choose the 2.5L gasoline version of the Asian Dragon, so this power version of the model is upgraded to the North American version of the XSE/Touring model is closer to the all-black dot array mesh front grille. Users who pay more attention to Toyota's reliability and fuel savings will either choose the entry-level power of 2.0L displacement or the 2.5L dual engine version, then after the mid-term redesign, these two displacement models will have a more luxurious upper and lower integrated high-brightness modular front grille.
The shape follows the power, and it also saves extra entanglement.
In addition, the 17-inch wheel adopts a new style of cutting piano black shape, and the texture is also improved.
The cockpit has not changed much, and the 2.5L Touring Premium Edition has more black/meter double spelling options on the basis of Cognac Brown, Beige and Black, followed by the improvement of scientific and technological functions.
The LCD dashboard was upgraded to a 12.3-inch full LCD display, which is certainly a good thing, a larger LCD dashboard can make the car look more advanced, and it is certainly more pleasant to use, belonging to an upgrade from iPhon SE to iPhone 12.
The new 10.1-inch central control screen, embedded Toyota Connect Toyota Chi Heng interconnection system, which replaces a large number of physical buttons on the old model with a touch screen, and the dual-screen system plus the HUD head-up display can also carry out three-screen linkage. The whole series is equipped with 10 SRS airbags as standard, and the whole series is equipped with a new generation of Toyota Safety Sense, which is the Toyota car that achieves "entry and high matching" in the field of safety.
In terms of active/passive safety, Toyota has never been sloppy.
FAW Toyota said that this time the mid-term redesign of the Asian Dragon is called "Zhimei Re-evolution", which is really to integrate all the changes into these five words.
Conservative or radical?
The technology upgrade point is conservative.
You don't see any particularly big leap changes in the Asian Dragon, its revamp is a "small step and fast run", each upgrade point is taken for granted, on the basis of continuing its own power layout with reasonable, fine-tuning the product to enhance competitiveness.
Strategically, it's slightly aggressive.
I don't know what the next generation of Asian Dragon will be, but the time point of this mid-term redesign is not so consistent with the corporate strategy, and the advantage is to stabilize the market terminal price of Asian Dragon and speed up the development process of the model.
At the beginning of this century, the replacement cycle of a model is as fast as 6 years and as slow as 8 years. But when entering the third decade of the twenty-first century, the replacement cycle of new cars is speeding up wildly, especially in The Korean system, and independent brands are also riveted, breaking through the barriers with the freshness brought by speed.
This is actually a dilemma, after all, accelerating iteration will bring benefits and risks, and Toyota has also been forced to speed up the process, after all, the brand has always been known for "slow work and small work". So correspondingly, FAW Toyota Asia Dragon's medium-term revamp speed, technically slightly conservative, strategic is also in line with the current radical requirements and control of the market environment, toss that is a stunned thing, mature Asian Dragon made the choice that best matches its competitive advantage.