Since 2018, China's auto market, which has been growing at a high speed for more than ten years, has begun to enter the era of phased stock. But for pickups, the spring that belongs to it has quietly begun. Relevant data show that the production and sales of domestic pickup trucks will increase by more than 10 percentage points year-on-year in 2021. More importantly, with the relaxation of the environment for pickup trucks, the passenger car and high-end of pickup trucks are also rapidly fermenting. The pickup truck products of Chinese brands seem to be becoming a dark horse, quickly breaking through the traditional passenger car pattern, and even breaking through the joint ventures in front of Chinese brands and the high-end "shackles" of imported brands. But is this really the case?
If the U.S. pickup truck is domestic, can we stand up to it?
Just last Friday, the Jeep brand, which has been "silent" for a long time, brought a little "small action". That is, the brand's pickup truck model built on the Wrangler platform, the Jeep Gladiator, officially entered the domestic market. And such a pickup truck model priced at more than 500,000 yuan, its online booking channel in less than half an hour, the order exceeded 1,000 units (far more than the quota). This is not a special case of the Jeep brand, last month the Ford F-150 Raptor has already performed a similar hot scene on the online channel, and its orders have even become a topic of social platform show-off, and even become "hard currency" in some forums.
Looking back at the vigorous "high-end" process of Chinese brand pickup truck models in recent years, in fact, the main sales price is still around 100,000-200,000 yuan. Compared with imported high-end pickup trucks that often cost more than 500,000 yuan, the gap is not smaller than that of mature passenger cars such as cars and SUVs. Assuming that China's pickup truck market further expands, until some American brands that break through the weak situation in China's traditional passenger car market introduce pickup models, will we once again face the "handing over" of our own high-end market segments?
Domestic pickup trucks are currently released or "just needed"
Since 2016, some parts of the country have gradually "lifted the ban" on pickup truck models, and by 2021, the pace of "lifting the ban" has gradually shifted from third- and fourth-tier cities to first- and second-tier cities. However, such a release rhythm, the first to digest is the sinking market, the pickup truck model has a "just need" customer group. This can be seen from the proportion of the segmentation and growth of pickup truck models in recent years.
In 2021, the mainland pickup truck model has historically stood on the stage of production and sales of more than 500,000 units, of which the growth rate of gasoline models is only more than 5%, while the sales of diesel models have increased by more than 15%, and its growth rate even exceeds the increase in diesel pickup truck production. The more obvious diesel power of "commercial attributes" is obviously the first to release demand in the environment where pickup trucks are gradually unbanned.
Secondly, the regional differences in demand for pickup truck models are clearer. From the relevant data, the demand for pickup trucks in the northwest and southwest regions of China accounts for about 40% of the total, which is the absolute main market for pickup truck models in China. It is followed by the Central Yangtze River region, north China, and south China markets, which have both local policies and regional characteristics. But all in all, the main sales area of pickup truck models in China is not an economically developed region. The so-called pickup truck passengerization, and even the high-end pickup truck, also needs to be further relaxed by policies, as well as the cultivation of the consumer market, and of course, more importantly, the strengthening of product strength.
It is normal to fight without winning the American system, but the difficulty of starting a Chinese pickup truck is the lowest
From the perspective of products, the current Chinese brand pickup trucks, can not win the American pickup trucks that have crossed the ocean are also very "normal" things. First of all, the North American market, as the mother's family that carries forward the pickup truck model, has cultivated an extremely strong pickup truck culture, both car companies and consumers. For example, the Jeep gladiator this time can be traced back 60 years. Although the Jeep gladiators (including its derivative Jeep pickup models), as well as dormant for nearly 30 years. But when it is "resurrected", it can be seen that on a global scale, it is still a very capable existence.
After all, the classic design of many pickup trucks, as well as their performance, have been put in place by American brands such as Ford and General Motors. Even japanese brands that are thriving in the U.S. market, in the face of perennial U.S. pickup trucks, such as Toyota Tantu and other models, still cannot replicate their position in cars and even SUVs. Therefore, for Chinese brands, in the field of pickup trucks in the passenger car environment, it is not a very surprising thing to compare with American products.
Looking back at the domestic pickup truck market, the first degree of integration is very high, and the top five car companies in terms of sales occupy more than 70% of the market share. Although this proportion showed a downward trend last year, the overall degree of integration is difficult to imagine in the context of passenger cars. Among them, Great Wall Motors basically dominates the list, and its pickup truck sales even exceeded the sum of the 2nd-5th car companies last year. In addition to Great Wall Motors, such as Jiangling Motors, Zhengzhou Nissan, Jiangxi Isuzu, SAIC Maxus, etc., are also familiar brands. But not in passenger cars, but in a commercial vehicle environment.
However, if you want to do a good job in the passenger and high-end of pickup trucks, the brand's understanding of passenger cars is particularly important, which may be one of the reasons why Great Wall Motors can rise rapidly in this sector, after all, it has a lot of experience in SUV passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Of course, brands such as SAIC Maxus and Jiangxi Isuzu have also begun to implement passenger routes in a large span, SAIC Maxus has brought a lot of changes in SUV products, and Jiangxi Isuzu has also recently pushed gasoline-powered new cars.
When the "just need" market is released, the potential of the domestic pickup truck market in the future is still huge. This can be seen clearly from the demand at the consumer end and the rhythm of policy release. For example, the launch of the "C6 driver's license", as well as the influence of the epidemic, domestic consumers for self-driving, outings and other leisure methods of cultivation and so on. The starting point of Chinese brand pickup truck models is already much higher than the starting point of sedans and SUVs.
After all, in the early stage, under the restrictions of the policy, the field of pickup passenger cars basically belonged to the "desert" state. Today's accumulated experience in the passenger market, as well as reading and understanding of domestic consumers, can help Chinese brand pickup trucks to quickly gain a foothold when other brands have not yet reacted. In short, there is still time for the high-end of Chinese brand pickup trucks, but in the face of the gap, everyone has to work harder.