In recent times, hardcore off-road has suddenly caught fire, but Jeep, as the "originator of hardcore off-road", has become lower and lower in China.
Gac Motor Group's March production and sales report came out, which made this long-dormant brand fire again, but this time it was not because of the explosion of sales, but because in the whole of March, GAC FCA only produced 1 car, and only sold 1 car.
Since gag motor FCA only jeep brand in production, then these 1 car, can basically be determined to be Jeep brand production, and Jeep's 4 domestic models in March also sold only 1, down 99.96% year-on-year!
Jeep, who once shouted "Not all jeeps are called Jeep", suppressed Land Rover in China and became the "king of SUVs" in the minds of consumers, why did he fall here?
Sales plummeted, losing money year after year
GAC FCA has invited Jingdong founder Liu Qiangdong and real estate tycoon Wang Shi to endorse the flagship model of the Grand Cherokee, and the brand's high-end image has become a hit. In 2016, it set a good record of 180,000 vehicles per year, and in 2017, it exceeded 220,000 vehicles, and by 2018, the number of users of GAC FCA exceeded one million!
Unexpectedly, in 2020, Jeep's sales plummeted off a cliff, falling to 40,500 units throughout the year and only selling 20,000 units in 2021.
In fact, the decline of GAC FCA Jeep did not start in the past two years, and many signs have already appeared. In 2018, the CCTV 3.15 evening party exposed the problem of large-scale burning of engine oil in Jeep's models, and GAC FCA had to recall related vehicles.
However, GAC FCA's "only change and not recall" approach has been protested by many consumers, and the rights protection of dealers has become more and more intense, which has seriously damaged Jeep's brand image. Since then, Jeep's situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse.
According to media reports, GAC FCA's net assets in 2017 reached 4.422 billion yuan, and by 2020, its net assets have become -331 million yuan, and it has lost nearly 5 billion yuan in just three or four years.
In addition, in September 2021, GAC FCA's Guangzhou plant also announced the closure of the plant, retaining only one production line at the Changsha plant. Prior to this, two plants with an annual capacity of 164,000 units had a capacity utilization rate of only 6% in 2021!
The product layout is single and the competitiveness is weak
In recent years, GAC FCA has basically been in a "lying flat" state at the product level, the product layout is too single, and it only has SUV models, unlike other brands that have a layout in the field of cars and SUVs, which also makes Jeep's potential consumer group small.
In addition, the update of Jeep's domestic models is also quite slow, the latest listing time of the guide is December 2020; the latest model of the Grand Commander (including the Grand Commander PHEV) is August 2021; the latest model of the Free Light is launched in June 2020; the Free ranger has been discontinued.
The soul model of the Jeep brand, the Wrangler, is still imported to sell in China, because the price is not low, it is also doomed to its niche identity.
In terms of product strength, Jeep has also lost its competitiveness, except for the imported Wrangler, the off-road capabilities of other models are not outstanding, and some models have lost the style of hardcore off-road and transformed into urban SUVs.
Nowadays, domestic brands have also continued to exert efforts in the field of hardcore off-road, launching a number of star models such as tank 300, which have been in short supply for a long time, and in the field of urban SUVs, there are also sales myths such as Haval H6, and the sales of Jeep models have formed a strong contrast.
Nowadays, it seems that Jeep has basically walked to the edge of the market, if you want to survive, you still have to polish your own hard conditions, especially in terms of quality and safety, after all, feelings cannot become the foundation of long-term standing.