Back when I first entered China, Land Rover's popularity was not lost at all to first-line luxury brands such as BBA, and it was common for its popular models to increase prices by more than 100,000 cars.
However, today's performance in China should be described as "miserable", and the models have hit "fractures", but it is still difficult to show the heat of the peak period.
Land Rover Discovery, as the oldest off-road SUV in automotive history, has maintained the essence of off-road in its more than two decades of upgrading.
Once found that the third generation and fourth generation models can be called the benchmark models in luxury SUVs, the official guidance price of the discovery 4 once reached a high price of 1.338 million, and even needed to increase the price by more than 100,000 to queue up to pick up the car, which overshadowed the Audi Q7 that was on fire at that time.
But now the new generation of discovery 5 the price of the 5 down to 68.98-78.88 million range, the terminal even has about 80,000 discounts, but such a large price reduction has not brought excellent sales, in the past six months, found that the average monthly sales of this car is only more than two hundred, and the former popularity is very different.
The discovery was that it quickly fell to the altar after the change of generation in 2017. Before the replacement, the rugged, boxy shape was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, coupled with excellent off-road ability, making the old model discovery one of the classic models in the hardcore off-road field.
However, after the replacement, it was found that it lost its original domineering spirit and integrated into the family design, giving people a small Range Rover feeling, looking more like an urban SUV, thus losing a part of the hardcore off-road fans.
Secondly, the decline in Land Rover's reputation and brand influence is also one of the reasons for the impact on discovery sales. A few years ago, in the impression of many people, Land Rover has always been a high-end domineering image, and luxury cars Land Rover was once the "standard" for successful people.
But in recent years, Land Rover's presence in China has become lower and lower. Some of its models deviated from the brand positioning of "luxury off-road", and also appeared on the CCTV 315 evening party in 2015 because of the transmission failure problem, resulting in a serious decline in brand reputation.
Also affected is Land Rover's volume model, the Discover Sport. The Discovery Sport edition is an entry-level model of Land Rover, with a guide price of 356,800-45.58 million yuan, and a maximum of about 70,000 discounts on the terminal, with the starting price falling to 289,000 yuan.
As a medium-sized luxury SUV, the price of less than 300,000 can be said to be very attractive, but the sales of this car are also dismal, taking the data of the past two months, 1272 units sold in February and 1271 units sold in March.
From the perspective of product strength alone, it is found that the sport version is actually not lacking in highlights, and the power is equipped with a 2.0T engine + 48V light hybrid system, matching the 9AT gearbox, the maximum horsepower of 249 horses and the peak torque of 365 Nm is also very good.
And thanks to the inheritance of family genes, it was found that the sport version of the off-road pass performance is also very good in the same level.
However, as a medium-sized SUV, Land Rover found it somewhat awkward that the Sport version was the space that domestic consumers most valued. The wheelbase of 2741 mm does not have any advantages over the Audi Q5L, Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3 in the same class.
Moreover, it was found that the sports version also added a 7-seat version, making the already insufficient second-row space more stretched, and the third row ride experience was also relatively poor.
In addition, it was found that the sports version also has room for improvement in product quality, from the owner's reflection, there are many problems in terms of abnormal sound, electronic component failure, engine failure, etc., and the fuel consumption performance is also somewhat high.
Recently, Land Rover also issued a recall plan for this car: due to assembly process problems, the vehicle has safety hazards, since May 23 this year, some domestic Land Rover Discovery Sport edition, Land Rover Discovery Sport edition new energy vehicles, a total of 30,517 vehicles.
At present, consumers buy cars more rationally, and car purchases should consider many aspects such as product strength, brand power, market awareness, post-maintenance costs and retention rates, while Land Rover has no win over the Top Three Germans, even if there are large discounts, it cannot attract consumers.