Although Lynk & Co and Wei Pai are both independent high-end car brands, and even the establishment time of Wei Pai is earlier, but now, Wei Pai has been far behind Lynk & Co.
Wei Pai is a high-end brand launched by Great Wall Motors, founded in 2016, initially established to threaten to build "China's first luxury SUV brand", since 2018 to achieve an annual sales of nearly 140,000 vehicles peak, sales have been declining, sales in 2019 fixed at 100,000 vehicles, in 2020 fell to 78,500 vehicles, to 2021, Weipai's annual sales of only 58,300 vehicles.
Founded in 2017, Lynk & Co has sold 120,000 vehicles in 2018, 128,000 units in 2019, 175,000 units in 2020, and 220,000 new cars in 2021. One step a year is growing steadily, while Wei Pai is constantly declining.
Last year, Weipai Automobile was painfully determined and led the transformation of Weipai Automobile, from the previous luxury SUV brand to the transformation of new energy intelligence, but into 2022, the sales of Weipai Automobile did not turn around, and Weipai's sales in March were only 4755 vehicles. Wei Pai, which is also a high-end independent automobile brand and started earlier, why is the gap between Wei Pai and Lynk & Co getting bigger and bigger?
Wei Pai's brand positioning at the beginning was wrong
In fact, Weipai and Lynk & Co, the time for birth has matured, at that time, the car manufacturing technology of independent car brands has made obvious progress, and it is urgent to give birth to their own high-end brands, but at the beginning of the birth of Weipai and Lynk & Co, there are certain differences in their brand direction.
Lynk & Co's positioning is young, sports, trends, etc., whether it is design style, product characteristics or publicity and marketing, has been moving in this direction, and at the moment when the car buyers are constantly younger, Lynk & Co's models are very pleasing to the preferences of young people, and the vast majority of Lynk & Co owners are also young people.
On the other hand, Wei brand, at the beginning of the positioning of itself as a luxury SUV, which is also related to the Great Wall Motors has been focusing on the field of SUVs, however, in 2016, when Wei brand automobile was just born, the definition of luxury brand by the Chinese people is BBA, although the design and materials of Wei brand cars are excellent, but there is still a certain gap between luxury and luxury in the minds of the Chinese people, and middle-aged people do not recognize the so-called luxury advertised by Wei brand cars. Moreover, whether it is marketing or products, Wei brand automobiles are biased towards a calm atmosphere, and it is difficult to please the preferences of young people, so Wei brand automobiles can be said to be unflattering at both ends.
The product line is not rich enough, and there are fewer models
Because Wei brand car in the place of birth will limit itself to SUV brand, therefore, Wei brand car can only be in the SUV field to move around, but the problem is that the SUV field can launch so many models, limited by positioning, can not launch small SUV self-reduction price, but do not dare to easily get involved in the field of medium and large and large SUV, so Wei brand models are basically concentrated in the compact and medium SUV field, a total of VV5, VV6, VV7 and P8 four cars, all concentrated in this field, And this level of competition has long been said to be a red sea, the fight is very fierce, Wei brand automobile wants to nibble a piece of market share, how easy is it to talk about?
On the other hand, Lynk & Co, in the place of birth, did not limit itself to a certain field, the first compact SUV launched, to the later small SUV, sports coupe, coupe SUV, crossover hatchback, medium and large SUV, etc., the product line is significantly richer, which also means that the Lynk & Co series can compete with other brands in a larger market space.
The product positioning is not clear, and it is considered to be a finely decorated version of Haval
Weipai Automobile's hybrid transformation in the past two years is a helpless move, but also an inevitable move, because Weipai Automobile's previous products and Haval Motors, the car-making platform is the same, the three major pieces are basically the same, the gap in driving experience is not large, mainly in the interior of the luxurious atmosphere to create, as well as sound insulation and vibration filtering There is a certain difference, but the problem is that in the minds of many consumers, these upgrades are not worth the difference, because Weipai Automobile is just a refined version of the domestic car brand Haval. The overall fuel consumption of Wei brand cars is high, which also further deepens the image of the previous Haval car oil tiger, allowing many people to pass directly.
On the other hand, Lynk & Co, very flattering use of the luxury car brand Volvo as an endorsement, for example, the use of Volvo and Geely to create a CMA platform, directly equipped with Volvo's DRIVE-E engine, Lynk & Co many models of design are Volvo's designers to complete, there are many Volvo elements, Lynk & Co standard active safety configuration and interior environmental protection materials, but also let people see Volvo's genes, so no matter how much Volvo really participates in the research and development of the whole vehicle, However, in the minds of consumers, Lynk & Co has a Volvo endorsement, so it is better accepted for its high-end positioning.
The name is self-indulgent, and the product lacks continuity
Weipai automobile is painful, starting last year, Weipai automobile began to transform, from the previous Wei Pai to Wei Pai, the publicity no longer emphasizes "luxury". Instead of "high-end", the goal has also changed, this time Weipai wants to do is a "new generation of smart cars" to replace its models, on the one hand, it is more youthful in the naming and promotion of models, and the coffee series is used as a naming method. On the other hand, the whole series began to be equipped with a hybrid system, and wanted to take off the hat of the Wei brand car with high fuel consumption. To tell the truth, the technical strength of this hybrid system of Weipai Automobile is quite strong, but the problem is that Weipai Automobile has once again deviated in its product strategy.
What is the target group of Weipai Automobile? I think it will not be young people, but should be middle-aged people with certain economic strength, because Wei brand cars are not aimed at young people from design, product characteristics, and publicity, but for Wei Pai, a brand that is not young and fashionable, with mocha, macchiato, special tune, special alcohol, I want to see that it is actually better to call Biluochun, Longjing, Mao Feng more kind, how many middle-aged people like to drink coffee?
And as young people gradually become the main force of consumption, they are often more interested in the car, which has better control, from Trumpchi, Changan, Geely, MG, Lynk & Co and other brands, are constantly launching coupe models can be seen, and Wei Brand sticks to the SUV position meaningless.
Throughout the development history of Weipai, the strategic direction has changed again and again, in fact, what is highlighted is that the strategic direction of Great Wall Motors lacks concentration, the positioning crowd does not grasp it, wants luxury but finds a lack of brand heritage, wants to be relegated to a high-end brand afraid of hurting the brand image, wants to be young but afraid of losing the previous audience, Weipai automobile has been swinging left and right, personally feel that Weipai automobile should do should be to increase the car model, fully turn to younger, continue to strengthen the distinction between Wei brand and Haval automobile, perhaps so, Only then will it be possible to save the declining Weipai car.