The high-end MPV market storm set off by Alpha began in 2011. The "nanny car", which is loved by upper-class people and stars in Hong Kong and Macao, has been officially introduced to the mainland, and the rich people with spare money in their hands naturally cannot quench their desire to buy, and they can buy the same model of cars for stars and celebrities for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and vanity is directly full.
With the replacement of the "30 series" Elfa, its aura has also been improved, even if Toyota is not a luxury brand, but Alfa Hun exudes a "trench gas", of course, a large part of this is created through a high price increase, the perennial price increase of 300,000 cars can still be sold in short supply, this situation should only appear in China's high-end consumer market.
The popularity of Alpha makes it a benchmark and synonym for luxury MPVs, so that most manufacturers of MPVs are more or less drawing scoops according to the gourd, and must be related to Alpha.
If the movie "Black Gold" is remade in the past ten years, then the famous scenes and classic lines are estimated to become: We are all sitting on Elfa, LM, you take XX, how can you not jam traffic?
Alfa has made a lot of money for Toyota, and a large part of its sales are from the Chinese market, including the first-generation Lexus LM based on Alpha, so Toyota attaches great importance to China's high-end MPV market, and the choice to make the debut of the new LM at the Shanghai Auto Show is the best illustration.
In the article of the new LM not long ago, I also mentioned that Toyota made the most correct decision about the replacement plan of LM and Elfa, first launching a higher-end new LM, and then Alfa and then synchronously replacing it, so that the relationship between the two changed, Alfa became a "cheap LM", which is more conducive to model publicity and premium ability.
The new generation of Alfa is expected to be officially released at the end of May, but recently, the official has revealed the details of the interior and exterior of the new car in advance, and the prototype of the new Alfa has been clearly displayed. Like previous Elfa, the front of the new car is still very short, which can improve space utilization on the one hand, and reduce the blind spot of the front of the car on the other hand.
The new Alpha's midnet features a scaly design that forms an element inheritance with the current model, with the midnet extending to both sides and embedding headlight clusters to blend in with it to create a wider front effect. As can be seen from the rendering, the new Alpha offers two styles of front face to choose from, with a difference in center net and surround, which is likely to be the normal version and the Mona Lisa version.
The new car's side waistline is significantly different from the old model, with a significantly reduced upward extension in front of the side sliding doors, and a new waistline that folds back a short section forward on the B-pillar and extends back again, connecting with the taillights.
THE TAILLIGHTS APPEAR TO BE THROUGH-THROUGH, BUT THE MIDDLE PANEL DOES NOT HAVE THE FUNCTION OF LIGHTING, AND THE BLACK PANEL HAS THE LETTERS "ALPHARD" ON IT TO FURTHER EMPHASIZE THE IDENTITY. The design of the taillights extending to the sides seems to be a unique element of each generation of Elfa, which is lit up with a feathered effect, and also uses OLED technology, which is a high-tech light group in the Toyota family.
The layout of the central control is much simpler, the floating screen is more similar to Highlander, Lexus RX and other models, the most important thing is that the screen border is narrower, the look and feel is good, and the air conditioning knob retains the physical operation mode, which is more convenient and fast.
The steering wheel has been changed to a three-spoke shape, which belongs to the same model as the crown, and I personally think that it is not as advanced and stable as the steering wheel of the current Elfa.
The functions and styling of the second-row seats are comparable to those of the current Elfa, and the functional controls are integrated into the small screen at the front of the armrest, which is the same operation method as the new LM, and the similar operation method has appeared from the self-owned brand luxury MPV model.
The layout of the skylight and interior mood lights is the most similar to the new Alpha and LM, and the second row of skylights is divided into two parts, left and right, with ambient lights and related functional components in the middle.
In terms of power, the all-new Alpha is equipped with a 2.5-liter dual-engine hybrid system, which is expected to use the fifth-generation THS II hybrid technology. As for the 2.4T hybrid, it is not known whether the new Alpha can be enjoyed, but for an MPV with high-end positioning, the power meter of the 2.5L dual-engine hybrid is difficult to match the price.
Although there is not much information to show how much the new Alpha has been improved, but referring to the new LM, it can be predicted that many details of the new Alpha will be obvious, and better performance also means that it has a stronger premium ability, I wonder if its markup will break the record of the old model after the official release?
Toyota Alpha is a model that Chinese consumers love and hate, love it because high consumer groups are pursuing it, it can symbolize the economic strength of high consumer groups; On the other hand, I hate it because its markup is really exaggerated, the price is already higher than that of Hong Kong and Macao, the landing price is even close to doubling, and the product power does not reach the million-level level, so it has been scolded by countless people.
But in any case, Alfa has firmly positioned itself in the Chinese market as a high-end luxury MPV, although its own brand has launched a variety of luxury MPVs, but it still takes time to really replace Alpha, so if nothing else, after the release of the new Alpha, it will trigger a wave of rush and price increase.