Seeing a brand selling hot, it is crazy to pursue, even at the expense of price increases, this phenomenon reflects the attitude of many consumers to certain car brands. But consumers are not fools, the reason why they choose these models at a high price must be to value the excellent performance of some aspects of their products. On the contrary, it is not surprising that some models with mediocre product strength and high prices cannot be sold.
Toyota Asiatic Lion and Ling Shang are good examples. As Toyota's two heavyweight A+ sedans launched in the Chinese market, Asia Lion and Lingshang were highly expected by Toyota at the beginning of their listing, and a large number of media on the Internet touted them at that time, saying that the market performance of Asiatic Lions and Lingshang would be very strong. But after more than a year of listing, did Asiatic Lions and Ling Shang hand over satisfactory answers?
The answer is clearly no! Judging from the domestic sales data handed over in 2022, FAW Toyota Asia lion sales are 3852 vehicles, GAC Toyota Lingshang sales are only 1445 vehicles, and the combined sales of the two cars are only more than 5000 vehicles, which is really more general. So what exactly caused Asiatic Lion and Ling Shang to become marginalized models in the Toyota family? Today we will talk about this topic.
Honestly, Toyota's purpose and starting point for launching a new A+ Class is good. Asiatic Lion and Ling Shang are targeting consumers who feel that Corolla and Leiling do not have enough space, but the budget is not enough for the Camry. It is reasonable to say that such a positioning should be a direct cut to the pain points of consumption, and the sales volume is good. But the reality is that there are few Asiatic Lions and Ling Shang's visibility, and more people are still willing to choose the Corolla or Camry, rather than such an A+ class car.
Doing A+ cars is something that mainstream joint venture car companies are particularly good at, and Sagittarius and Civic are very successful examples. But Toyota forgot that the reason why the A+ class car has a plus sign is that it must be different enough from the downstream A class car. For example, if we take the type of Guangqi Honda and Lingpai, the target consumer group targeted by the two cars should be completely different, Lingpai mainly focuses on cheap entry, and the type is mainly focused on young sports, which are two non-conflicting lines, from products to marketing need enough differentiation.
In contrast, Toyota's operation, the Asiatic Lion and Lingshang derived from the Corolla and Leiling, whether it is a Special Chinese car is not mentioned for the time being. But in terms of product temperament image, Asiatic Lion and Ling Shang are essentially an elongated Corolla! Even people can't tell what kind of car it is from a distance of 50 meters! This reveals the essence of the problem, that is, Toyota simply does not understand what kind of car domestic A+ consumers really want.
In fact, at present, the main models in the domestic A+ market are mainly divided into two factions, one is the Civic, Model, Fox, Lynk & Co 03 and other models of the main sports. They attract 150,000 young consumers with their better performance, better handling and cooler design. The other faction is the large-space practical school dominated by Sagitar and Xingrui, which attract home consumers with space needs for space with the rear space close to the B-class car, the more solid chassis tuning and the driving texture.
Compared with the movement or space faction, let's look at the Asiatic lion and Ling Shang. You say that than absolute space, they are not the opponents of Sagittarius and Xingrui. Compared with performance and handling, and even design, the Asiatic Lion and Ling Shang not only can't make people shine, but even when they see its moderate appearance, it is difficult to associate it with driving. Moreover, the price of Asiatic Lion and Lingshang even exceeds many of the above models, unless there is a special love for the Toyota brand, and it is just the need for such a "pull-up car", otherwise Lao Wang really can't think of any reason to choose this pair of Toyota brothers.
Write at the end
In fact, purely as a means of transportation, the performance of Asiatic Lions and Ling Shang is still very good. At least in the three major performances, these two cars are difficult to pick out. But the problem is that the advantages of Asiatic Lions and Lingshang are also available on the Corolla, and consumers can increase their budget to reach a higher-level Camry, and there is really no need to get stuck in the middle. In this regard, it is not difficult to see that Toyota's attitude towards Asiatic Lion and Lingshang is still relatively perfunctory, they have not fully investigated the current consumer preferences, nor have they considered what A+ level users really need, and finally blindly confidently set high prices, resulting in today's embarrassing market performance.