How much hope was brought by SAIC Audi when it was founded, how much disappointment there is now from the indifferent feedback of the market.
In the first quarter of 2022, SAIC Audi's only A7L on sale sold 830 units, with an average of less than 280 units per month. It is far from the goal of "selling 3,000 to 5,000 units per month and selling more than 50,000 units per year" set by Jia Mingdi, general manager of SAIC Volkswagen's Audi marketing business.
Sluggish sales, not to mention the Audi brand that has been immersed in the Chinese market for decades, means that SAIC Audi must have had a problem at some point.
Visible problems are not fatal
In this regard, SAIC Audi officials first gave an explanation, A7L is still in the climbing stage, the delivery of only 3.0T version, coupled with the lack of stores, resulting in sales are not as good as expected.
In the eyes of the industry and beyond, it is the A7L product that has lost its soul. SAIC Audi transformed a personalized coupe into a traditional sedan, and the A7 became more business-oriented. Gossip ensued: A7L is clearly A6L PLUS, the price is still a lot more expensive, of course, it is not easy to sell.
These problems are certainly there, but they can't be a reason for the A7L sales to be so low that they can be ignored.
Is it difficult for SAIC + Audi to climb the production capacity of the initial innovation force? Four years ago, NIO's sales in the first quarter of the ES8's listing could also reach 8,000 vehicles+. At that time, Weilai also completely relied on Jianghuai OEM, and its production capacity could be basically guaranteed. SAIC Audi's production organization capability is not inferior to JAC.
As for the number of stores, although SAIC Audi is far inferior to FAW Audi, it has exceeded 150 so far, and they are all distributed in first-tier and second-tier cities. The core channel has been built, and even if it is gradually increased in the later stage, it is actually a quantitative change rather than a qualitative change. Not to mention, SAIC Audi itself is also a new sales model that combines online + offline, and its dependence on offline stores is not particularly high.
Regarding the soul of the A7L product, the main thing is that the A7L canceled the original A7 slipback shape. In the case of imported A7 and SAIC Audi A7L sold in the same house, the monthly sales volume of imported A7 is even slightly higher than that of domestic A7L. This is even more the reason for the establishment of the supporting theory.
However, the basic orientation of the market has not changed.
Nowadays, we can take the A7L does not retain the so-called product characteristics, if the A7L really returns to the original feeling, is it necessarily going to go? Hardly. You know, the coupe has always been a niche product in the Chinese market. The so-called minority is that a small number of people love deeply, and a large number of people are indifferent. Is it not then that we will say that the product has not been adapted to the Chinese market? Therefore, the transition from watching people get off the dishes to watching the dishes off the car is still not completely convincing.
To sum up, on the reasons for savoy Audi's unfavorable start, the views inside and outside the government and the opposition are somewhat reasonable, but to say that it is the key point of a hammer, it is almost hot.
SAIC Audi's problem may be innate, not acquired.
Invisible hidden dangers have long been buried
In 2017, Audi, SAIC Group, FAW Audi Dealers Association reached a consensus, Audi promised to complete the sales target of 900,000 vehicles and then open cooperation with SAIC, and in the future SAIC Audi and FAW Audi channels, sales connected to the grid, there is only one network channel to sell Audi products, these two points are completely to ensure the interests of FAW-Volkswagen Audi OEM and dealers.
At the time, it seemed that Audi was toward FAW.
Not only is it possible to safeguard the interests of FAW Audi channels to the greatest extent. Subsequently, Audi and FAW separately conspired to cooperate in new areas. In October 2020, the two signed a memorandum of understanding in Changchun, and the two sides will jointly establish a joint venture to produce pure electric vehicles on PPE platforms.
Today, it seems that Audi is heading towards SAIC.
In 2020, Audi's annual sales in China exceeded the 700,000-unit mark for the first time. So far, Audi has not yet achieved its annual sales target of 900,000 vehicles. Isn't SAIC Audi already in mass production? At present, SAIC Audi is in full swing to build its own channels, and has not fully fulfilled the promise of "one network channel".
Audi, which seems to be "unbelief", is actually a profit.
The full name of FAW Audi is FAW-Volkswagen Audi, with a FAW share ratio of 60%, a Volkswagen share ratio of 30%, and an Audi share ratio of only 10%. With the full liberalization of foreign shares, SAIC Audi can completely divide the shares equally. In other words, SAIC Audi is Audi's own son in the Chinese market.
But contradictions arise from this.
SAIC Audi is Audi's favorite, but it can't help but start FAW Audi in 1988 with deep roots. With 34 years of accumulation, FAW Audi's product line covers a full range of products from A-class to D-class. The Chinese market has become audi's largest single market in the world, and FAW Audi has played an indispensable role.
This is also the reason why when the three parties talked about the SAIC Audi project, FAW Audi channel providers could threaten Audi with suspension of sales. Although it is not a high-level master, FAW Audi has weight in speaking. Audi cannot move FAW Audi's vested interests and must continue to rely on FAW Audi's energy in the Chinese market.
Under this premise, SAIC Audi kisses again, and Audi can only secretly love. Therefore, congenitally, SAIC Audi must selectively avoid FAW Audi's existing product line. It is impossible to take a two-car route similar to that of the North-South Volkswagen. Whether SAIC Audi likes it or not, it can only position its products as "young users in the luxury market".
This explains why SAIC Audi's first imported product was the coupe A7, and the A7 became A7L in the hands of SAIC Audi. The first half is Audi's scruples about FAW Audi, and the second half is Audi's love for his son.
Where in the world is there any perfect way, A7L is still a little screwed up after all.
Of course, Audi clearly sees this.
April 18 is the first anniversary of SAIC Audi's founding, but at the anniversary ceremony, the sales of the A7L were not mentioned, but the Audi Q6 to be released on June 6 was highlighted.
SAIC Audi did everything in its power to inject new design elements into the Q6. From the perspective of naming conventions, the Q6 positioning of the size exceeding Q7 should be higher than that of Q5L. If the spread between Q6 and Q5L is blurred, this is a great threat to Q5L.
However, anecdotal rumors say that the SAIC Audi Q6 is based on the MQB Evo platform and is a model on the same platform as SAIC Volkswagen Tuon. The FAW Audi Q5L is based on the MLB Evo platform. The latter has a clearly higher platform positioning than the former. Isn't this still a repetition of the A7L story?
On the one hand, there is the product differentiation that must be selected, and on the other hand, there are more weighty stakeholders. Audi's relationship balance in the Chinese market is not over, and SAIC Audi's car-making resources and market resources have obvious advantages. Audi's new problem is how to turn advantages into victories. It does not touch the interests of FAW Audi.