In fact, North and South Toyota has always had a big difference in branding and product marketing. In general, FAW Toyota attaches more importance to emotional communication with users, while GAC Toyota emphasizes the product itself.
For example, at this conference, FAW Toyota invited bZ4X blind booking owners and senior camping experts. Among them, two blind car owners from the civil aviation industry are themselves loyal fans who are extremely confident in toyota's quality, and the man is overbearing and the hostess is a very representative group of car owners.
GaGA Toyota invited a young Internet celebrity from Douyin. Please note that influencers are by no means a pejorative term here, but rather represent traffic and youthfulness. At least, judging from yesterday's press conference, the guest's passionate state, as well as the smoothness of interacting with the host and introducing product points, make the whole live broadcast process not as boring as the general product introduction.
The reason why the two brands are so different in marketing is not only geographical, but also the difference in product positioning of the two companies earlier.
FAW and Toyota have cooperated for a longer time, and there are also high-end categories in the models produced in the early years, such as Prado, Land Cruise, Prius and Crown, and even special models such as Coaster, which are introduced and produced by FAW Toyota.
Time, many products, coupled with high-end users superimposed Buff, so that FAW Toyota has a more stable audience.
This is the advantage of FAW Toyota. Therefore, in terms of marketing, we will see that FAW Toyota always emphasizes humanistic care and user operation. Especially after the outbreak of the epidemic began, FAW Toyota also opened a new IP activity of "Fengxing Desert" Alxa Desert Carnival and "Luxing China" on the basis of the original, and strived to let more car owners and users participate in it.
Gac Toyota as a latecomer, its model matrix positioning is more accurate and pragmatic, whether it is Camry, Leiling, or Highlander, Veranda, etc., are mainly for home use, in the publicity also pay more attention to the expression of product quality, becoming the leader in various market segments.
To be able to be so confident, naturally there is also confidence. In 2016, GAC Toyota received a "zero defect rate" rating in the "Toyota Global Shipment Quality Inspection" activity, which is also the first Toyota plant in the world to receive a "zero defect rate" rating. Of course, at that time, GAC Toyota had only two production lines.
At the same time, the "straight rate" of GAC Toyota's Nansha plant (the ratio of direct delivery of the certificate of conformity when the assembly is off the line) reached 98.9% in 2019. Such achievements undoubtedly give GAC Toyota a confident capital.
Based on the completely different brand history of the two joint ventures, product segmentation, the focus of the two in marketing, sales and other aspects should of course also be distinguished. Such a distinction also gives the majority of users more choices, especially for the bZ4X with product convergence, how to choose between FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota will be more intuitively reflected in the service and marketing level.
Same product strength
Although the two joint ventures have chosen different marketing methods under the tone of their respective brands, in general, the bZ4X represents Toyota's attitude towards global electrification transformation.
Under the caliber of Toyota China, Toyota Motor will integrate all the channel resources of domestic FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota, relying on nearly 1400 channel networks across the country, to provide a full range of pre-sales and after-sales services for bZ4X intended consumers and car owners. At the same time, in order to eliminate consumers' concerns about the use of electric vehicles, Toyota Motor has also formulated a new warranty policy for bZ4X (GAC Toyota and FAW Toyota-GM). These include:
3 years or 100,000 km vehicle warranty
10 years or 200,000 km free basic maintenance
10 years or 200,000 km three electric warranty
10-year or 200,000-kilometer battery capacity warranty (free replacement when attenuation is greater than 30%).
Free 10-year or 200,000-kilometer electric vehicle safety check (with free admission)
Repo policy with peace of mind (minimum 60% in 3 years)
On-site service based on digital keys (valet maintenance, valet charging, etc.)
Multi-scenario convenient player scooter service
24/7 emergency assistance
Such a warranty policy, especially if the battery attenuation is greater than 30%, will be given free replacement, which should be the first case in the pure electric vehicle market, which is enough to highlight Toyota's confidence in its own products.
It is worth noting that the battery equipped by Toyota bZ4X is jointly developed by Toyota and CATL, with a minimum energy consumption performance of 116Wh/km and a cruising range of up to 615km (CLTC comprehensive working conditions), at the same time, Toyota also said that the bZ4X battery is developed with the goal of maintaining 90% of the world's top battery capacity after 10 years, aiming to create an electric vehicle that can be used for a long time.
In order to further alleviate the user's endurance anxiety, Toyota bZ4X is also equipped with an efficient solar charging dome, which can be supplemented by absorbing solar energy to supplement the battery life, and the power obtained each year can be used to increase the cruising range by about 1750km, which will make sense in extreme cases.
As a pure tram of the new era, toyota bZ4X is also very avant-garde in shape, with a hammerhead shark exterior design, sharp lines, large air intakes, and black trim at the front fenders and surrounds, and the overall body is very recognizable. The front low and back high sneakback body design creates a strong sports atmosphere.
At the same time, Toyota bZ4X is based on the EXCLUSIVE PLATFORM OF BEV pure electric under the e-TNGA architecture, which is still superior in terms of spatial performance. The Toyota bZ4X has a length, width and height of 4690/1860/1650mm, a wheelbase of 2850mm (the same as Highlander), a shaft length ratio of more than 60%, and in the most extreme state, the longitudinal space of the second row of seats is up to 1000mm.
In terms of interior, the instrument panel and the central control screen are both suspended design, which is not much different from the existing Toyota fuel models.
Perhaps the most anticipated is the shaped steering wheel and its accompanying steering-by-wire system. It is understood that the steer-by-wire steering used by bZ4X cancels the physical link between the steering wheel and the wheel, and when the steering wheel is rotated, the steering wheel rotation angle conversion electrical signal is transmitted to the steering actuator, and the steering actuator controls the wheel steering. It is more flexible and convenient when handling the car's U-turns.
However, due to domestic regulatory restrictions, the opposite-sex steering wheel version has not yet been introduced in China.
In order to provide users with a better control experience, Toyota bZ4X is equipped with the X-MODE four-wheel drive off-road assistance mode jointly developed with SUBARU, as well as the newly developed Grip-Control intelligent creep mode, giving full play to the characteristics of motor drive, truly subverting the inherent cognition of "electric vehicle lack of driving fun", and realizing the driving control experience and off-road performance of the SUV.
The most unexpected thing is the intelligent configuration. Toyota bZ4X is equipped with the newly upgraded "TOYOTA Safety Sense Safety Assist Kit", which can achieve intelligent panoramic monitor (PVM), pre-collision safety system (PCS), lane departure warning system (LDA), dynamic radar cruise system (DRCC), lane tracking assistance system (LTA), high beam automatic control system (AHB), road sign recognition assistance system (RSA), Emergency Driving Stop System (EDSS), False Door Early Warning System (SEA), Predictive Active Driver Assistance System (PDA), and more.
There is no doubt that from the bZ4X, we can see Toyota's efforts to transform into electrification. Compared with the new forces, Toyota still attaches far more importance to safety and quality and practicality than intelligence.
epilogue
It is undeniable that Toyota's first exclusive pure electric car came later than the new forces and the Volkswagen ID that was involved in the field of electrification earlier. But this does not prevent "latecomers to catch up", for a brand like Toyota that has always adhered to long-termism, the move is not fast, but "stable" and "accurate".
Toyota began to study electrification technology in 1997, after 25 years of accumulation and development, with perfect electrification technology and three-electric system advantages, as of the end of February 2022, Toyota electrified vehicles (including HEV, PHEV, FCEV and BEV) global cumulative sales exceeded 20 million vehicles, and achieved 25 years of three electric system 0 accidents.
The advantage of "stability" will continue to be passed on, and bZ is the starting point of "quasi".
According to the plan, Toyota will introduce 35 new electrified models by 2025, of which 5 of the 7 models of the bZ pure electric exclusive series are planned to be introduced to China. At that time, we will also see more bZ in the mainstream market segment.