In August 2013, the fourth-generation Ford Mondeo was listed in China, with a starting price of 242,800 for the 2.0T high-power version; in April 2022, the fifth-generation Ford Mondeo had a full range of 2.0T high-power, starting at only 159,800.
Not only Ford Mondeo, Chevrolet Myribao XL, Skoda Speed, Buick Regal, Kia K5 Kaiku, Hyundai Sonata, Citroën Versailles C5 X, Peugeot 508L, more and more joint venture B-class prices have refreshed our cognition.
At this time, I am not concerned about these low-profile joint venture B-class cars, I am more concerned about whether there is room for Chinese brand B-class cars to survive.
To this end, I roughly flipped through the sales data of some Chinese brands of B-class cars in 2021, in addition to the Hongqi H5 can rely on national feelings to live more moist, other models do not exceed 20,000 units, to know that Honda Accord, Toyota Camry can sometimes sell more than 20,000 units a month. The Beijing U7 only sold 404 units a year, and it is estimated that it will soon be "404".
Some people may say that in the mid-to-high-end car market (including B-class and C-class cars), the popularity of Hongqi H9, BYD Han family, Xiaopeng P7, and WEI ET5/ET7 is not bad. But it is undeniable that in addition to special brands such as new energy and hongqi, other Chinese brand B-class cars are really not very good (in fact, they have not been able to do much).
Why is it so difficult for Chinese brands to build B-Class cars? I think there are four main reasons.
More than a decade ago, due to the late start of the Chinese brand B-class car, whether in the design or mechanical level, the technical reserves were seriously insufficient, and the "take-ism" prevailed.
First of all, in terms of appearance, most of the Chinese brand B-class cars will learn from successful foreign models, such as in the JAC Binyue, we can easily find the shadow of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class W220; in the Son of Chery Oriental, we can see the shadow of the original Chevrolet Jingcheng prototype car; and the BYD F6 is smarter, it also integrates the design elements of Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Even the most basic design must be "copied", not to mention the three core pieces. For example, the first generation of Pentium B70, due to the relationship between FAW and Mazda, can be described as "near the water tower platform first to get the moon". It borrowed heavily from Mazda's technology and production lines, and the chassis was almost identical to the Mazda 6 at the time. Of course, the results are also good, and the control of the first generation of the Pentium B70 impresses many people.
For car companies that cannot "get the moon first near the water tower", Shenyang Aerospace Mitsubishi threw an olive branch to everyone. For example, the 2008 BYD F6 has launched two displacements of 2.0L and 2.4L, of which the 2.4L engine codenamed 4G69S4M comes from Shenyang Aerospace Mitsubishi. Even now, there are still many Chinese brand car companies using Mitsubishi engines.
Later, Geely launched the most beautiful Chinese car - Bo Rui. At that time, its top-of-the-line model was equipped with a 3.5-liter V6 engine, which had an inexplicable relationship with Toyota's 2GR series. Although some technical problems can be solved by borrowing and imitation, compared with the "original genuine products" of foreign brands, the early Chinese brand B-class cars have left a bad impression of weak power, high fuel consumption and poor quality.
So the question is, many Chinese brand A-class cars are also imitations, why can bydir F3 and Chery Qiyun sell well? I think that A-class car consumers are basically just needed, and their overall requirements for vehicle quality are not as good as those of B-class car consumers, and the same situation is reflected in the brand power is more obvious.
More than a decade ago, the popular joint venture B-Class was a symbol of status and status. For example, the Passat B5 is generally the car of a political tycoon; the owners of the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and Nissan Tianlai are mostly businessmen with some small money; Mazda 6 and Toyota Ruizhi are either rich second generation or young and promising young talents. Almost every popular joint venture B-class car has a corresponding crowd label, which is deeply rooted in people's hearts.
At that time, Chinese brands were almost synonymous with "cheap" and "cottage". Everyone looks at whether a car is worth anything, first of all, it depends on the brand, who cares whether you are an A-class car or a B-class car, anyway, in their eyes, it is an ordinary sedan.
At that time, people were doing business with each other, and the car might be the first business card handed out. If you drive the son of Chery Oriental to run the business, maybe even the doorman will not let you in; and if you drive a sixth-generation Camry to run the business, the doorman will smile at you, which is the epitome of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai business field at that time.
The influence of this brand power has continued to this day, even if TOD today has "dominated" in the field of new energy, but in the hearts of many older generations, BYD is still not a mainstream brand.
Many people think that the current Japanese car products are general and the price is too strong, but people just sell well, and you say that you are not angry. I think this is not unrelated to the inheritance of their multi-generation models, and you can also understand that they have nibbled on the reputation of previous models.
For example, the Honda Accord has now developed to the tenth generation, the Toyota Camry is the eighth generation, and the Nissan Tianlai is the seventh generation. The past generations of old models have left a good impression on domestic consumers, and these car names are the best golden signboards.
In contrast, Chinese brand B-class cars rarely have a car series heritage. For example, Chery saw that the son of the East could not be sold, not only completely changed the name of the car series, but even created a new high-end brand - Ruiqi. At that time, the Ruiqi G5 and G6 not only moved closer to the German business model in appearance, but also used advanced turbocharged engines. But without the brand and car system, they left the market after two or three years.
If you want to say that the Most Heritage Model in the Chinese brand B-Class car, I think the Besturn B70 is one. So far, it has only three generations of models, of which the second generation has hardly sold since 2018, and the third generation has only been launched at the end of 2020.
The price exchange of the joint venture brand B-class car did not start in recent years, as early as 2010, the starting guidance price of Chevrolet Jingcheng has been as low as 108,800 yuan. Even if some Chinese people have a grudge against the Chevrolet brand, the identity of the joint venture still makes Jingcheng quickly become a blockbuster model.
Now, the weaker joint venture B-class cars such as chevrolet Maribor XL and Skoda Speed Pai have long been sold below 150,000 at the terminal. Even the volkswagen Passat, Nissan Tianlai, Mazda Artez and other past strong models are now exchanging price for volume, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of survival of Chinese brand B-class cars.
Some people may ask, the joint venture brand A-class car is also in exchange for price, such as Volkswagen Santana, Buick Yinglang, Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Ford Forerose, etc., why do Geely Emgrand and Changan Yidong often appear in the top ten of car sales?
I think that these low-cost joint venture brand A-class cars will have obvious shortcomings in terms of power, materials, configuration, etc., while Chinese brand A-class cars are more balanced in all aspects and the configuration is quite rich. However, in the field of B-class cars, low-cost joint venture brand B-class cars are acceptable even if they have shortcomings. At this time, the configuration advantage of Chinese brand B-class cars at the same price will not become a decisive factor for consumers to choose.
Of course, we don't have to be too pessimistic about Chinese brand B-class cars, because they are expanding in the new energy market, and the price is not low. For example, Xiaopeng P7, after subsidies of 239,900 to 429,900, sold 60,569 units in 2021; Nio ET5, after subsidies of 328,000 to 386,000, pre-sale 5 days of orders exceeded 60,000 units.
If you look further up, the BYDHan family, which positions C-class cars, will sell 117665 units in 2021, and won the first place in the sales of pure electric C-class cars. In addition, models such as The Krypton 001 and the WEILAI ET7 have not disgraced Chinese brands in terms of price and sales.
I think that Chinese brand B-class cars now do not have to worry about the gains and losses of the fuel vehicle era, because new energy gives everyone the opportunity to overtake in curves. On the contrary, many joint venture brand B-class cars are now consuming the reputation accumulated in the past, hoping to finally make a sum of money in the era of fuel vehicles, which will undoubtedly cause harm to the brand premium.
Are you optimistic about the future performance of Chinese brand B-class cars in the new energy era? Do you think that Chinese brands and joint venture brands, who can play the protagonist?