Written by | Zhao Zhefeng
Under different market competition formats, the concentration of market pricing power is also different. For example, in a fully competitive market, pricing power is jointly controlled by several mainstream enterprises, and no one can easily break the rules, which is the most favorable form for consumers.
In oligopolistic markets, pricing power is held by a handful of companies, and consumers have fewer choices and are relatively passive in bargaining. Oligarchic companies, because they dominate the market segment, are often more "unscrupulous" in order to maximize their profits. At this time, consumers are the most passive, and they are also the most likely to breed market chaos such as price increases.
For example, the domestic high-end MPV market. Over the years, when it comes to high-end MPV, buick GL8 and Toyota Alpha must be two names that cannot be bypassed.
However, this situation will usher in a watershed in history under the impact of the wave of the new era and a number of nascent enterprises. Lantu Dreamer, which will open the pre-sale on April 7, will take the lead in blowing the "charge".
Why is there an oligopoly?
To find a solution to change the market landscape, we must first know the problem, and then we can prescribe the right medicine.
Most people will boil down to this issue:
The total amount of the MPV market is not large enough, and it is difficult for latecomers to counterattack
MPV products in the market are not rich enough, and there are too few participants
These two views seem to have some truth, but if we think about it a little, we will find that the above views do not hold.
First, although the market share of MPV has been declining for 5 consecutive years, from 8.7% in the peak period to 5.0% in 2021, this does not mean that consumers do not have demand for models such as MPV.
With the opening up of the two- and three-child policy, people's demand for three-row passenger cars is bound to rise. This can be seen from the hot sales of three-row SUVs such as Ideal ONE, Weilai ES8, Highlander, and Tuon.
Secondly, on the issue of product richness, due to the gradual fading of the SUV boom in recent years, the car market has long been saturated, and many brands have targeted the "fat meat" of the MPV market, and the participants are not many.
In the early years, there were GAC Trumpchi and SAIC Maxus, and in the past two years, Volkswagen Weiran, Toyota Xena, Kia Jawa, etc., countless latecomers rushed in to try to break the monopoly situation. But so far, in the high-end MPV market, Buick GL8 and Toyota Alpha still firmly occupy an oligarchic position.
So what's the problem? The author believes that it is still in the product itself.
Looking back at the new players who have entered the high-end MPV market in recent years, whether they are independent brands or joint venture brands, they basically follow the idea of "winning with cost performance", but the product itself does not leave a deep impression. The only Toyota Xena that does not take the cost-effective route, the hybrid system it uses, will also face competition from similar products such as Odyssey and Alexand.
Simply put, in the case that oligarch players have already occupied the user's mind, a large number of highly homogeneous latecomers, even if there are more, it is difficult to threaten the former.
China's high-end MPV ushered in the best era
Then after finding the crux of the problem, the solution is clear and clear.
Therefore, we see that the high-end electric MPV of independent brands such as Lantu, Extreme Krypton, Weipai, and Hongqi is stepping on the wave of electric intelligence, relying on the mainland's advanced and perfect "new four modernization" automobile industry chain.
Behind the seemingly sudden phenomenon, there is actually one of the most convincing explanations - the market is fully optimistic about China's high-end MPV, and more optimistic about China's high-end electric MPV.
Different from the old routine of the predecessors to win with cost performance, this group of new players will focus on new labels such as "electrification", "intelligence", "sense of technology", "safety", etc., so that the slightly monotonous category of MPV has more dimensional attractiveness, and try to completely reshape the product strength evaluation rules of MPV.
Take the first Lantu Dreamer, which we first met, as an example, the car is the world's first large-scale luxury electric MPV, officially unveiled at the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show.
As a high-end MPV, "big" is a must, more than 5.3m body length in the market only Volkswagen Kailuwei can match, and the latter is also the only large MPV that can be bought in China.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg of Lantu Dreamers and opponents to form a differentiation, "electrification" and "intelligence" is its core competitiveness.
In terms of electrification, Lantu Dreamer is the world's first dual-power new energy MPV. Among them, the pure electric version solves the problem of listing in first-tier cities, and the extended range version completely eliminates mileage anxiety while bringing pure electric silk skating experience and low fuel consumption.
According to the currently known information, its extended range version of the model is equipped with a 1.5T engine and dual motor power, the comprehensive power reaches 290kW, higher than the mainstream 3.0T engine on the market, even if the body size is huge, it will still not let the power become its short board. The range extender is a 1.5T engine.
And in order to break people's stereotype of MPV bloated and clumsy, Landu Automobile also injected performance genes into the Dreamer, making it the world's first MPV equipped with a front double wishbone rear multi-link independent suspension system.
In terms of intelligence, Lantu Dreamer is based on ESSA's native intelligent electric architecture, adopts the world's first 5G in-vehicle high-speed entertainment system, and has L2+ level intelligent driving assistance capabilities. Even on the move, it provides an efficient and convenient entertainment office environment. At the same time, Lantu Dreamer supports the iterative upgrading of vehicle OTA, as a smart partner with super intelligent sustainable growth, it will lead MPV into the era of intelligence.
At the same time, as a high-end MPV, its comfort that should have been, Lantu Dreamer has also achieved the ultimate. In addition to the air suspension that was first applied to the MPV, it also realizes the combination of air suspension + CDC + magic carpet, which maximizes handling and comfort. In addition, the Dreamer uses environmentally friendly materials certified by eu-grade baby-grade eco-textiles throughout the car to ensure that the air in the car is fresh at all times.
In terms of the safety that is most valued in family travel, Lantu Dreamer also takes the safest evaluation system as the design standard, adopts ultra-high-strength steel and aluminum hybrid body, creates an MPV five-star safety body, and won the special honor award of the 2021 China Body Conference. In terms of active safety, Lantu Dreamer is equipped with intelligent driver assistance system and fatigue monitoring system to escort the safety of every occupant.
It is worth mentioning that Lantu Dreamer will launch a four-seat customized model and a seven-seat model at the same time, breaking through the single function limitation that the traditional MPV can only be used at home or commercially, and meet the needs of different consumer groups with one model.
In addition to the innovation and differentiation advantages of the product itself, another major support for the rise of China's electric high-end MPV is the awakening of national cultural self-confidence.
The revival of the national tide and the rise of domestic products have become the main theme in recent years. Survey data shows that the search popularity of "national tide" has risen by more than 500% in the past 10 years, and the attention of the domestic product market in 2021 will be 3 times that of "foreign goods".
Wearing Hanfu to visit the Forbidden City, enjoying cherry blossoms to buy cultural creations, stepping on domestic sneakers, holding Huawei mobile phones; listening to Chinese-style songs, chasing traditional poetry and dramas, etc., are becoming a new trend.
In the automotive field, China's new energy vehicles are also leading the world.
Wisdom Bud data shows that at present, China's new energy vehicle patent applications account for 66.79% of the total number of global new energy vehicle patent applications, and China has become one of the most important technology sources of new energy vehicles in the world.
At a recent press conference held by the State Council's new office, Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, also said: "China's new energy automobile industry has achieved three breakthroughs in technology, products and markets."
In recent years, it can be clearly seen that with the rise of cultural self-confidence, more and more people have begun to "flee" from foreign brands, rejecting external luxury and pursuing true quality and comfort. This phenomenon will be more pronounced in automotive products that are bulk consumers.
When Chinese begin to look at the world, more and more confident, more and more people do not want to buy BBA, and do not need to use the simple, rough label of luxury car owners to highlight the social status, there is a background, culture, not ostentatious, confident and luxurious quality of China's high-end MPV, will be our Chinese multi-family or business people the best choice.
A story about dreams
Speaking of this highly innovative product, Lu Fang, CEO of Lantu Automobile, said: "'Dreamers' means the backbone of this era, they are the builders of the Chinese dream, and also means the movable third space, which is a mobile living room and a mobile warm home. As the world's first large-scale luxury electric MPV, the launch of Lantu Dreamer not only enriches the lantu high-end product matrix and empowers the high-end brand image, but also expands the new category of high-end electric MPV for the industry and redefines the luxury MPV. ”
From the perspective of market development, the emergence of Lantu Dreamer can be described as opportune.
But the seeds of the dream of "building China's high-end car brand" sprouted as early as the early spring in Hubei more than 50 years ago. Since then, building an automobile power and establishing a national brand has become the dream of every Dongfeng person.
Now, we finally have the opportunity to turn our dreams into reality.
In 2018, Dongfeng Motor established a high-end intelligent electric vehicle division. Two years later, the Lantu brand was officially born. The brand name is pronounced "Blueprint", which means beautiful planning and prospects.
Lantu is positioned as a "zero-anxiety high-end smart electric brand", with the brand mission of "letting cars drive dreams and empowering a better life", and creating a modern and beautiful life for the new backbone of contemporary society. As China's "new strength in car manufacturing", Lantu fully integrates Dongfeng's more than 50 years of car-making technology and superior resources, builds an innovative business model with users as the center, and is committed to becoming a "leader in high-end new energy passenger cars".
At this point, this brand, which carries the will of Dongfeng people for 50 years, will participate in the construction of China's intelligent electric vehicle industry and the dream of an automobile power with a new attitude.
Today, Lantu, which was born only a little over a year ago, has become the main player of China's high-end electric vehicle brands.
At the recent 8th China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, Lu Fang, CEO of Lantu Automobile, said, "With our joint efforts with users, the current Lantu brand and products have been initially recognized by the market and consumers. Our first model, Lantu FREE, since the start of delivery in August last year, the total number of deliveries has exceeded 10,000, and 97% are top-notch models, 61% are from BBA and other luxury brand owners of the additional purchase, the average transaction price has reached 338,600, this proportion and price ranked first among mature car companies, creating a new height of Chinese brand value. Our second product, the luxury electric MPV Lantu Dreamer, will be launched in April 2022, this car is also the crystallization of our co-creation with users, I believe it will bring more surprises to everyone. ”
It is reported that on April 7, 2022, Landu Automobile will open the official App pre-sale portal and the public domain private domain omni-channel, release the rights and interests of the scheduled Lando Dreamer, and simultaneously accept four customized models and seven seats of booking.
As Lu Fang, CEO of Lantu Automobile, said: At present, the new energy vehicle market is booming, consumption upgrading is accelerating, and the "national tide" wind has blown.
In this best era, a large number of Chinese new energy brands represented by Lantu, which are stepping on the wave of "new four modernizations" of automobiles, and the cultural support of "the rise of the national tide" will create a new pattern of high-end automobile market and tell more stories about the "Chinese Dream".