Text | Jiang Mengwen, Qin Fanghui
Design | microcosm
At a time when China's auto market pattern is changing drastically, the market share of first- and second-tier luxury brands is gradually solidifying. The head car companies in the front row monopolize the class, and the car companies that unfortunately fall behind are struggling.
On the one hand, under the influence of the epidemic and the lack of cores, Toyota and Lexus have increased their sales, making Japanese luxury brands seem to return to the seller's market, on the other hand, the news of acura officials announcing their delisting has caused a shock, and the gap between the two situations makes the author can't help but sigh.
It is worth noting that Infiniti, which is also a Japanese luxury brand, although it has not left the scene directly after the footsteps of Acura for the time being, it can also be called a dilemma.
On January 5, 2022, Dongfeng Motor officially announced that Dongfeng Infiniti will be included in Dongfeng Nissan's management system as an independent business headquarters, along with Nissan and Venucia brands, becoming the third brand of Dongfeng Nissan.
This kind of "de-escalation" behavior that does not advance and retreat does not surprise us, but makes the market more curious about how this hard-to-return company will save the situation.
As a high-end sub-brand of Nissan, Infiniti was founded in the United States in 1989 and can be described as "the top of the opening", becoming a powerful disruptor in the North American auto market.
At that time, most luxury brands were keen to uphold their centuries-long history, which in the long run also shackled the designer's inspiration, and the models on the market could only follow the rules and regulations tastelessly.
At a time when the U.S. market is in an environment of economic recovery and ideological tolerance, the young Infiniti does not have much historical baggage, and has won a perfect start for it with its distinctive and daring characteristics.
Entering the new millennium, Chinese consumers' attention to luxury cars has soared, and Infiniti has hit the iron while it is hot, relying on the solid brand endorsement of Nissan Group to enter the Chinese luxury car market.
In 2007, Infiniti officially turned to the Chinese auto market, and in 2014 completed localization, the first year, Dongfeng Infiniti achieved annual sales of 40,000 vehicles, and made a bold statement to achieve 100,000 sales in China in 2018. In the end, however, it did not do so.
Infiniti's highlight moment lasted only about a year, followed by 2016-2018 hovering around 20,000 vehicles, sales in 2021 are not more than 10,000, and only more than 100 vehicles will be sold by March 2022.
At this point, Infiniti has even lost its qualification to be a second-tier luxury brand. If it were not for the "thunderstorm" of Wang Lihong, the spokesperson at the end of last year, I don't know how many people remember a luxury brand called Infiniti.
As a result of the current embarrassing situation, infiniti's problems are rooted in many ways.
After Infiniti's localization in 2014, only two domestic models, the Q50L and QX50, were on sale as of December last year, and its third domestic model, the QX60, was officially launched in February this year.
Looking at Infiniti's models on sale, no product is unique and irreplaceable at the same level, in addition to the lackluster power system, the interior of infiniti models also continues the dull and tedious Nissan series, and the level of intelligence is completely behind the times. Coupled with the slow replacement of models, it is really difficult to stimulate the current consumer's desire to buy.
In addition, its product quality problems have also been widely criticized by users.
At the 315 party in 2021, Infiniti was named by CCTV, and it was revealed that the engine had problems such as shaking, but this is only the tip of the iceberg.
With more and more complaints, its official 4S store has also been exposed to poor service attitudes, forcing car owners to sign unequal confidentiality agreements and other issues, which further damaged its brand image and had a profound impact on sales.
Putting aside the various ills of hardware, Infiniti's process in the field of communication is even less in-depth thinking.
Since 2013, Infiniti has invested a lot of money to sponsor national-level programs such as "China on the Tip of the Tongue" and "Where Daddy Goes", but it lacks the thinking and precipitation of brand connotation.
Investing heavily and blindly pursuing hot topics of fast fermentation has not made Infiniti reap tangible benefits.
Successful marketing must be aimed at linking products and reaching users, and the thoughtless money-smashing behavior is obviously debatable.
Last year, Infiniti asked Wang Lihong to serve as the brand image spokesperson, and after only 34 hours of endorsement, he was jokingly called "Daily Throwing" endorsement by Chinese netizens because of Wang Lihong's negative incident announcing the termination of the contract with the brand side.
Many even wonder whether Infiniti is really thinking about decision-making from the perspective of Chinese consumers.
In contrast, in the process of China's luxury cars, pure electric, hybrid and even extended-range vehicles have played the protagonist of the era, and established car companies have also joined the tide of transformation. At present, Infiniti's luxury ambitions that have not yet been released can only create a new track through electric vehicles in the future.
At the end of 2021, just after Nissan released its "Vision 2030", Infiniti also announced its electrification strategy, and it can be seen from the short film released that they do want to electrify most models by 2030, but not all.
At present, toyota and Honda electric vehicles built based on the new pure electric platform are about to be listed in the Chinese market, Lexus pure electric vehicle models have also been on the string, and Infiniti's corresponding electric mass production vehicles are still illusory and impossible to talk about.
We have to admit that Infiniti has fallen behind in the process of electrification.
Infiniti has obviously worked harder than the delisted pioneer "Acura", but its weak product strength and old ideas have never allowed it to make great progress.
As early as June 2020, Infiniti's chief operating officer said in public that in the face of declining global sales, the Infiniti brand is seeking a new market positioning, and Infiniti may face the market as "Nissan Plus" in the future, and use more technology and platforms from Nissan.
This tragic remark truly reflects the dilemma that the Infiniti brand is currently facing. As a brand that was also born to "flatter" the American market, Infiniti's products are actually more "beautiful" than Lexus or Acura to some extent.
But in the Chinese market, perhaps consumers have less patience with luxury brands, but higher expectations, Infiniti has become a brand that no one cares about, not Chinese does not understand cars, but Chinese understands cars too much.
Infiniti's defeat was to be expected. For a long time to come, Infiniti will have almost no cards to play, and there is no possibility of counterattack.
We can only wish it good luck.