According to the latest retail sales data released by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers in March, the performance of independent brand car companies is very good, with a market share of 48.5%, up 8.8 percentage points year-on-year, of which Changan, BYD, Geely, etc. have achieved positive year-on-year growth. Although it is a collective applause, compared with the sales list in February, it can be found that Chery has silently withdrawn from the group chat. Can't help but sigh, why is the gap between this "former independent brother" and the first-line independent brand getting bigger and bigger, or even falling behind?
Homogenized product quality complaints
The Tiggo 8 series is chery's current main force, but it is a bit worse than the competitors' products of the same level. From the third-party sales statistics, chery Tiggo 8 sales in February were only more than 5,000 vehicles, which was a little far worse than competitors Changan CS75PLUS and Haval H6. Although the sales volume is not good, the number of complaints is not much, and many car owners complain about the Chery Tiggo 8 and Tiggo 8PLUS are basically the same.
In addition to the long-criticized headlight problem, on the vehicle quality network complaint platform, Tiggo 8 once again added two new complaints, the problem is engine shaking, the gearbox is frustrated. Among them, for the complaint of the abnormal sound of the double clutch transmission, the owner of the Tiggo 8 reflected that the vehicle transmission would click for more than 40,000 kilometers.
In addition, some car owners said that even after replacing the gearbox and clutch, there are still abnormal noises, especially the problem of not being able to shift gears, which is a hidden danger to the safety of drivers and passengers. So far, the authorities have not publicly responded positively to the media on these issues.
In addition to Tiggo 8, in the past month, on the complaint website, Chery has three models that have entered the top 20 of complaints, namely Arrizo 5, Tiggo 7, and Chery Ant. Among them, Arrizo 5 mainly has problems such as engine compartment rusting cannot be completely solved, body leakage and other issues; while the new and old models of Tiggo 7 have different problems, and its 2020 and 2021 models also have excessive headlight blind spots, and the old problems are concentrated in the aging of the interior panel of the main passenger seat. In this regard, there are also car owners who suspect that the quality of related products is seriously substandard in the complaint.
And the small ants are leading the entire list of mini car complaints, according to the content of the owners' complaints, the problems involved in Chery small ants are simply various, there are no charging, there are abnormal sounds, there are battery failures, there are air conditioning problems, there are battery problems, there are service problems, etc., but the most complaints are basically concentrated in the two big problems of not being able to charge and lose power. According to the information publicly displayed on the complaint platform, the manufacturer's reply to the complainant is basically the same: "The customer has been contacted in time to invite the station to deal with it." Specific vehicle problems will be actively investigated and dealt with. Our company will continue to do a good job in tracking the car, to provide customers with thoughtful after-sales service and protection. "As for what exactly is the cause of the failure? How do I fix it? It's still an unknown mystery.
As we all know, Chery has been holding high the banners of "Technology Chery" and "Quality Chery", and has frequently achieved results in core areas such as the "three major pieces" of fuel vehicles and platform technology at the technical level. Among them, Chery's self-developed engine and gearbox have won the title of "Top Ten" for many times. However, judging from the increase in chery complaints in recent years, it is obvious that the gold paint sign of "quality Chery" has begun to lose color.
To make matters worse, according to statistics, Chery has been subject to large-scale recalls every year in recent years, and most of the recalls were not active acts of Chery Automobile, but were carried out in the case of defect investigations initiated by the State Administration for Market Regulation. Affected by the investigation, Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. decided to take recall measures to eliminate potential safety hazards. In addition, according to the 2021 J.D.POWER new car quality ranking, chery models have 204 problems for every 100 vehicles, exceeding the industry average.
Chery, which based on a nearly 40% increase in new car sales last year, set the goal of "ensuring annual sales of 1.5 million vehicles in 2022, striving for 2 million vehicles, and annual operating income of 200 billion yuan". However, from January to March this year, Chery Group only achieved cumulative car sales of 229,277 vehicles, compared with Geely with a cumulative sales of 333,576 vehicles in the first quarter and Great Wall with 283,500 vehicles. Can you still find your place?
epilogue
Once, Chery made cars into thousands of households through QQ, and was regarded as the brand that China's auto industry hoped for, but now it seems to have lost its way forward. The poor reputation of many of its brands and the decline in sales of various product lines, in the face of consumer complaints are not taken seriously, or artificially ignored?
Chery Automobile's problem is not only the simple logic of other people's homes doing better, or missing market opportunities for a while. In the fiercely competitive automobile market, continuing to "pretend to sleep" in this way is tantamount to self-destruction of the Great Wall for Chery.
Borrowing from the past and the present, perhaps it is most appropriate to use the article "Bian Que Meets Cai Huangong" to remind today's Chery. "If you have a disease in your heart, you will be afraid of it." Huan Hou yue: "There is no disease in the widow. Bian Que came out, Huan Hou said: "The good cure of the doctor does not lead to the merit!" ”