For a long time, domestic cars are basically synonymous with "cottage, low quality", since 2012, domestic cars have ushered in transformation, its progress is obvious to all, its product completion has reached the basic requirements, the quality of the vehicle has been significantly improved, and the brand image of domestic cars has gradually improved.
Looking back at the development of independent automobile brands, there is a sense of déjà vu, starting from the low-end market, gradually launching high-end products, and the development of domestic home appliances and mobile phone products is the same, but at present, domestic home appliances and mobile phone brands have been able to compete with foreign brands. And in this period of 2023, how far is a domestic car from a joint venture? Can domestic cars reproduce the development path of domestic home appliance brands? As a BYD owner, let me talk about my feelings:
The advantages of independent brands
1. The price of models of the same level is lower In the cost of joint venture models, a large part is allocated to foreign brands, including brand use fees and vehicle design fees, so the manufacturing cost of joint venture vehicles does not account for a high proportion of the total cost. With the same budget of 100,000 yuan, buying a joint venture car can often only buy A0-class small cars, while independent car brands can choose A-class cars, which also means that at least in terms of product size and interior space, independent brands at the same price have certain advantages.
2, the same price model configuration is higher Many people say that the cost performance of domestic cars is higher, this statement is not accurate, because the cost performance coverage is relatively wide, but at least in terms of configuration, domestic cars of the same price perform better. Due to brand recognition, the stack configuration is currently also a helpless move for domestic cars, and many domestic cars with more than 100,000 are even higher than the joint venture cars with a price of 300,000.
3. Interior design and materials are better, in recent years, domestic models have made obvious progress in design, especially in interior design, Roewe, Geely, Great Wall, Lynk & Co and other independent brands design and materials, all show far beyond the level of the same level of joint venture vehicles. The interior of the following car, do you dare to believe that this is a car with a starting price of 100,000 yuan?
4. Vehicle interconnection has done better, in recent years, the domestic automotive circle, the hottest is the concept of Internet cars. Roewe, Geely, Changan, Chery and other independent brands are all cooperating with Internet technology companies to launch new intelligent vehicle systems, and new forces in car manufacturing have added a fire to this trend. These intelligent vehicle systems are indeed better than joint venture vehicles in voice recognition, mobile phone interconnection, and cloud services.
In general, domestic cars have done quite well in terms of price, design, configuration and other aspects that are easier for consumers to perceive, and are obviously better than joint venture cars of the same price.
Disadvantages of independent brands
1. Although the technical level of the three major parts has made gratifying progress in the field of engines in recent years, products that have emerged among the world's first-class engines have emerged, but in the field of gearboxes, independent brands can not even build an automatic transmission comparable to Aisin 6AT, and can only choose to develop dual-clutch and CVT gearboxes with lower technical thresholds, and the core module still relies on foreign manufacturers, and the gap in tuning experience is also very obvious. The chassis is a field that relies more on technical accumulation and tuning experience, and the chassis of many self-owned brand models are reverse joint venture vehicles, including many hot-selling self-owned brand models.
2. After decades of development, the joint venture brand of R&D and production control process has established a mature set of R & D and production system management process, these standards are mature systems verified for decades and hundreds of years, and independent brands due to the short development time, are by borrowing from the joint venture brand to establish their own process standards. The reason why we do not recommend the third and fourth line domestic car brands is because their sales can not support the cost of independent research and development, and it is difficult to establish qualified system standards, resulting in these brands often only through exterior interior design, configuration, Internet system, and even in-car games, K songs and other bizarre configurations to attract attention, but the mechanical properties and overall quality stability of these models can be imagined.
3, supply chain management level due to longer development time, and higher product sales, joint venture manufacturers in the supply chain has greater bargaining power, in the supply chain management level of the ability is also significantly higher, for a simple example, joint venture manufacturers in the encounter of problems, through are the main engine factory put forward requirements, suppliers find ways to meet the requirements, the main engine factory to verify the demand and determine the supplier. However, independent brands lack the right to speak among upstream suppliers, and can only use whatever products suppliers provide.
4, brand building and market positioning In terms of brand building, is the biggest problem of independent car brands, realistically speaking, many independent brand models are made well, but their sales and their product power do not match, the reason is that many consumers still do not recognize their own brands, lack of trust in their products. In addition, many independent brands have not established a clear label, such as mentioning handling and driving, we will think of BMW and Mazda, mention low failure rate, we will think of Toyota, mention safety we will think of Volvo, but when it comes to some independent car brands, what keywords can we think of?
Although there are still many gaps between mainland independent automobile brands and joint venture brands, the development of independent brands is full of opportunities in the upgrading of new energy and intelligent automobile industries. At present, independent automobile brands that have gained a firm foothold in the low-end market, the first thing to do is to strengthen brand building in the mid-to-high-end automobile market, from products to brands, and after completing the product layout from low-end to high-end, like Huawei and Gree, dare to strengthen "Chinese strength and quality" in the brand proposition, independent automobile brands can be expected in the future.