On April 27, the new Porsche Taycan model was live-streamed on the official Weibo, encountering a large number of Porsche owners brushing the screen to protect their rights, and once appeared on the hot search in the automotive circle the next day.
On April 30, Porsche "rushed" out a letter to the owners, expressing its apologies to the Chinese owners and saying that it had set up a task force and hoped to find a solution as soon as possible.
Yes, Porsche "apologized". This is a stage victory for Chinese consumers, but things are far from simple.
Everything pays attention to cause and effect, and many melon-eating masses may still be in the clouds about the causes and consequences of this "Porsche apology" incident. Let me first briefly review the origin of this incident.
In simple terms, due to objective reasons such as "lack of core", the electric adjustment steering wheel of some Porsche models has been forced to be replaced by manual adjustment. In order to deliver the new car as soon as possible, Porsche once "promised" that the owner would reload the electric adjustment steering wheel for free in the later stage, and most consumers expressed understanding. After all, a small steering wheel adjustment function is innocuous.
But later, Porsche canceled the free reloading service of the electric adjustment steering wheel on the grounds of shortage of parts, and instead issued a 2300 yuan voucher to the owner as compensation. If you install an electric adjustment steering wheel in a 4S shop, you need tens of thousands of yuan. This completely annoyed some car owners, and there were follow-up rights protection incidents.
As a small editor with a monthly salary of three thousand, the author should have no luck with Porsche in this life, so it is completely possible to look at this matter from an absolutely neutral third-party perspective. It is clear that Porsche is not taking care of it this time. Fortunately, Porsche's "admitting mistakes" attitude is quite sincere, as long as the later remediation plan is appropriate, the matter should be able to calm down, after all, Porsche has a lot of fans in China.
Although porsche was pushed to the forefront by public opinion this time, it has to be admitted that the "reduction" of luxury brands is by no means an isolated case.
Take the 2022 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, which underwent several changes in October, December and March of this year, and each time accompanied by configuration changes.
For example, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class E 300 L fashion model launched in October 2021 canceled the parallel auxiliary function; the E 300 L premium model listed in December 2021 canceled the induction trunk, driving recorder, and real-life cross navigation; the E 300 L sports fashion and sports luxury model listed in March 2022 canceled the keyless entry function.
Although the partial reduction of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class is accompanied by a slight reduction in the guidance price, it will always make the intended owner feel uncomfortable.
Compared with the reduction on the surface, the reduction of some luxury brands is often imperceptible. For example, the 2021 Lexus ES Hybrid Edition quietly added the "first owner" in front of the warranty policy of the battery pack; for example, Lexus's LSS+ security system, LSS+2.0 in beautiful countries, LSS+ high-end version in neon countries, and LSS+ low-end version in China.
Sometimes I can't understand why luxury brands with high car prices should search for some details, do they really think that Chinese consumers are "stupid and have a lot of money"?
Whether it is really "people who have a lot of money", there is no doubt that the purchasing power of Chinese consumers is indeed superior. For the vast majority of luxury brands, the Chinese market is important.
The author simply listed the sales data of several popular luxury brands last year, and it is not difficult to find that the Chinese market accounts for more than 30%, and Audi even exceeds 40%, which can be seen.
So this time Porsche "apologized" to Chinese car owners, summed up in eight words: no one will go through with money.
On the one hand, for Porsche owners, although they usually give people the impression of "not bad money", when their interests are damaged, even if it is just an insignificant configuration, they will rise up to defend their rights.
On the other hand, for the Porsche brand, in order to preserve China's largest market, "Quick" issued an apology letter and actively solved the problem, which must also be a wise move for executives to weigh the pros and cons.
In recent years, luxury brands have attached great importance to the Chinese market. For example, in 2018, the new Porsche Macan chose to make its global debut in Shanghai, China, and in 2022, the new BMW 7 Series/i7 also chose to make its global debut in Beijing, China.
This is the high importance that luxury brands attach to the Chinese market, and it is also the best proof of the purchasing power of Chinese consumers, and no one will be unable to live with money.
In recent years, with the maturity of the domestic automobile consumer market, traditional luxury brands have been questioned more and more. For example, the "aluminum for steel" incident that once ran the E-class is still fresh in people's minds; today's Porsche will actually be pushed to the forefront by public opinion because of a small steering wheel electric adjustment function.
It has to be said that domestic car consumers have "awakened". Although traditional luxury brands can still enjoy the high premium brought by the logo, they must also be subject to all-round supervision at all times. In this era, high premium and high quality are indispensable.
In addition, for traditional luxury brands, the threat of new energy may be "fatal". For example, the Taycan is almost the only model in Porsche that is affordable or even slightly discounted, which is unimaginable for Porsche fuel vehicles.
In contrast, the high-end pure electric vehicle models of Chinese brands have a great tendency to reshuffle the pricing power. For example, BYD's Don EV has been sold to Europe and the Americas, with a starting price of about 600,000 crowns in Norway and about $90,000 in the Americas. If you have no idea about this price, just need to know that in the American market, $90,000 is almost equivalent to the price of 2 Audi A6s.
In our country, Chinese brands also have a tendency to reverse the low-end image. For example, BYD's Tang and Han have been able to sell for more than 300,000 yuan; some new car-making forces are also constantly breaking through the ceiling of prices. On the contrary, traditional luxury brands are slightly passive in terms of electrification, and their pricing power is not as strong as in the era of fuel vehicles.
There is no doubt that the era of traditional luxury brands lying in our country to make money is over. Next, traditional luxury brands should show more sincerity, which is also the minimum respect for the Chinese market.