Some time ago, some media exposed that Beijing GAC Acura Jingang 4S store officially stopped selling, and some Acura booths were also transferred to the GAC Honda 4S store, and there will be follow-up dealers withdrawing, acura is about to withdraw from the Chinese market.
Recently, a well-known car blogger posted on the Internet that a number of Acura dealers began to reduce the price of their models CDX, RDX, etc., and their price reduction ranged as high as 60,000 yuan to 70,000 yuan. This seems to be in line with the information previously exposed by the media. Netizens have said that Acura is to:"clear inventory, the rhythm of running away".
However, judging from the details of this Acura promotion, this is not the case. Because the Acura model has greatly reduced the price at the same time, it also provides consumers with "five years of free maintenance, five years of warranty, five years of compulsory insurance exemption" and other benefits, if you really want to withdraw from China, the above post-service naturally can not be talked about.
Secondly, the internal personnel of GAC Acura have also said many times that they have not received any news of work stoppage, all operational activities are still going on normally, and everyone is commuting on time. At the same time, the official has never issued any official statement or announcement revealing that Acura wants to withdraw from China.
Within Honda China, an official who did not want to be named also revealed that Guangqi Honda is currently exploring the integration of resources for the Acura brand in combination with the development trend of the Chinese market and the changes in consumer demand, and in terms of after-sales, they will also strengthen communication with special stores, suppliers and other related parties to protect the interests of special stores, suppliers and consumers.
It can be seen that the promotion of Acura should be a market behavior of price reduction and after-sales linkage, not a precursor to the collective runaway of dealers, and it is also a new attempt by Acura for the "brand strategy in China". If the sales volume has rebounded, there is a basis for reference in the subsequent pricing strategy.
Regarding whether Acura will withdraw from China, the general view of the outside world is quite pessimistic. Last year, GAC Acura sold only 6,554 new cars last year, an average of less than 600 per month, and its sales were so dismal that even Honda itself did not expect it.
Born in 1986, Acura, with excellent mechanical quality and workmanship, has been successful in North America, even now its sales are still hot, in 2021 Acura in the United States sales of 157,408 units, an increase of 14.9%, ranking among the top five in the U.S. luxury car market.
However, the Darling of the North American market did not achieve too good results after entering the Chinese market in 2006. Previously, due to the use of imports to sell in the country, its cost remained high and the pricing was too high.
Although it was decided in 2014 to start localization, it was not until 2016 that the second division of Guangqi Honda was established, responsible for the marketing activities of Acura brand products, the product introduction speed is slow, and there are very few optional models, from the main push SUV, to the launch of the domestic extended version of the sedan TLX-L, to abandon the car business, now Acura's official website only CDX, RDX, CDX three SUV models are sold in the cold.
As for why Acura can't sell in China, perhaps we can find the answer from the business philosophy of acura brand. "Tanaka Hiroharu", deputy chief of the sales department of Guangqi Honda's second division, once said: "The luxury we define is not Luxury, but Premium, not superficial luxury, but insisting on luxury based on performance." ”
The implication is that Acura is a luxury brand, so it should be sold expensively; secondly, it insists on winning with performance, rather than pursuing the luxury of the exterior interior.
But there are obvious problems with such a concept, luxury and performance are not completely opposites of the relationship, manufacturers can find a balance between the two, to create both luxury and good performance of the model, go to the extreme, obviously not right.
What's more interesting is that in terms of performance alone, Acura has not opened up a substantial gap with other hot-selling luxury brand models, and even in some ways it is not as good as "BMW" and other sports and luxurious brands.
In summary, the "heavy machinery, light and comfortable" problem of Acura models makes it not in line with the tastes of Chinese consumers, coupled with weak brand influence, old interior design and other drawbacks, resulting in its current dismal situation.
But fortunately, today's Honda seems to have opened a trick, can not do luxury brands, then first put down the body, reduce the price of a wave of promotions, see the effect and then say. After all, saving lives matters.
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