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Can't call it SUV off-road! These new cars run on the bad road and the manufacturers are pushing?

The road is getting better and better, but car companies are starting to be keen to build off-road SUVs.

Before the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" in 2006, many small counties and rural roads were hardened mainly concentrated on main roads, and the others were basically gravel roads and dirt roads, but at that time, car companies were keen to push cars, so it was easy to drive back to the village at that time to let the whole village know that you bought a car.

By the end of 2022, the hardening rate of rural roads in the mainland had reached 90.2%, and highways had been built directly to Tibet. The road is visible to the naked eye, but in the past two years, car companies are keen to build off-road SUVs, whether it is independent, joint venture, or imports, why is there such an abnormal situation?

We must know that market behavior is essentially profit-seeking, car companies did not push off-road SUVs in the past, because the capacity of this market segment is very small, and has been Toyota Prado, Mitsubishi Pajero, Jeep Wrangler and other benchmark models occupy most of the time, plus most of the user's consumption level at that time is limited, car companies of course put more attention on sedans and urban SUVs.

In the professor's view, off-road SUVs and MPVs are very similar, and the market capacity of MPVs in the past is also small, and has been occupied by benchmark models such as Buick GL8 and Wuling Hongguang for many years. However, after the birth policy was gradually liberalized, car companies saw the possibility of market growth, and new MPV products have sprung up one after another in the past two years.

Off-road SUVs are on fire for similar reasons. In the past two years, the topic of 996 and 007 has rushed to the hot search again and again, many people experience repeated two points and one line in the reinforced concrete forest every day, the phenomenon of involution is becoming more and more common, and more and more people want to escape the city, of course, this is also related to the level of economic development and the impact of the epidemic. In other words, people's desire for off-road SUVs is getting stronger and stronger.

And what really ignited this track was the explosion of the tank 300. In the past, this autonomous off-road SUV priced at more than 200,000 yuan has experienced monthly sales and orders of 180,000. Such car companies also see the possibility of growth in the domestic market and begin to lay out in a group, such as Chery TJ-1, Ford Bronco, Explorer Timberline, Haval second-generation big dog, looking up to U8 and so on.

It can be seen that independent or not, joint venture, import, have begun to focus on the new cake of off-road SUV, and this is only the reason why off-road SUVs are sought after by consumers on the surface, in fact, car companies are still playing their own small calculations.

It is already a well-known thing for independent brands to break upward, and after carefully studying the models launched by independent brands in recent years, the professor found that in the product selection of high-end market layout, they unanimously chose off-road SUVs.

The tank brand will not go into details, but about the newly launched products. The first model that BYD's high-end brand looks up to is an off-road SUV, and the U8 is expected to cost more than one million; Dongfeng Motor's latest Mengshi brand is also positioned as a high-end off-road, and the first Mengshi 917 is expected to be priced at more than 700,000 yuan; Chery TJ-1 became Chery's first hardcore SUV; Last year, while unveiling its "Travel +" 2.0 brand strategy, JITU Motors also unveiled its first model, the JIT T-X.

As for why they all unanimously choose the off-road SUV segment. First of all, the current traditional track is getting more and more rolled, from the past BBA once again slaughtered the 2022 high-end model sales can be seen, for users who want to buy high-end models, the first thing that comes to mind is BBA.

The off-road market opportunities are relatively more, the current product coverage is very little, the past Toyota Prado, Nissan Tule, Mitsubishi Pajero and other benchmark products, affected by emission regulations and other factors, there are currently few models on sale in China, and Mercedes-Benz G-class, Lexus LX570 often break the price of millions is also to dissuade most people.

In such a market environment, if the independent brand can create an off-road SUV model that meets the needs of consumers, it is undoubtedly very attractive.

Secondly, everyone has a higher price acceptance for a more personalized hardcore SUV. In the traditional fuel vehicle market in the past, the impression of hard off-road is the big toy of the rich, especially the square box shape of Mercedes-Benz Big G and Jeep Wrangler is even more impressive, which is also an important reason for the hot sale of tank 300.

Finally, the first layout of independent new energy technology. In the past, independent brands have tried to brand upwards many times, but not everyone can come up with a 3.0T + 9AT powertrain like Great Wall, so there are very few consumers who pay, and the more successful is only the Lynk & Co brand.

Under the rapid development of electrification and intelligence, many car companies solve the above problems through new energy technology, such as NIO, Xpeng, and Ideal, and new off-road SUV models such as U8 and Mengshi 917 are also achieving "lane change and overtaking" through this method.

In contrast, the intensive launch of joint ventures and imported models, the professor believes that it is more like a conventional means for car companies to seize the market segment, in order to seize the last dividend of the era of fuel vehicles.

As mentioned above, those classic hardcore off-road models have to face delisting or discontinuation due to policies and regulations, and they have experienced a scene of hard to find and crazy price increases in the past, and joint ventures and imported models want to become the next one.

To this end, Ford officially unveiled Bronco at the 2022 Expo, and the explorer Timberline recently completed the declaration at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and they should not make consumers wait too long; The Land Rover Defender, which has been out of production for more than 3 years, has also announced a "comeback", and has sold quite well, and recently launched the Land Rover Defender 130 model; The Mercedes-Benz Big G is the launch of the "price-friendly" Mercedes-Benz G350, allowing everyone to get closer to the Big G; Recently, Honda revealed that it will launch a new SUV, and it is likely that it will be positioned as an off-road SUV from the teaser image.

With the hard-core off-road technology heritage and brand accumulation accumulated in the era of fuel vehicles, the off-road SUV models mentioned above will most likely have a good appeal or influence, especially in the post-fuel vehicle era, the "feeling" value of fuel vehicles is gradually highlighted, and even because the influence of the Internet and short video platforms is gradually strengthened, many consumers will want to leave a classic model.

In the professor's view, although the "small calculations" of independent, joint venture and imported models are not exactly the same, the result is always the same, that is, to promote the development of China's off-road culture. In the past, a large part of the reason why hard off-road was niche was the high cost, but now as car companies strengthen the layout of off-road SUVs, more people will buy off-road SUVs, and the fun of off-road SUVs will be perceived by more people. Therefore, China's off-road culture is likely to face unprecedented development opportunities, and the professor is looking forward to it.

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