Lexus is confused: Chinese people who say that they should buy a car durably and worry-free
The evaluation of cars on the Internet is often cloud evaluation of cars, very much like to compare what zero hundred acceleration, various parameters, hardware, configuration, what industrial waste at every turn, but I don't know that buying a car in China, the most important thing for the people is durability, worry-free, everything else is additional, and the glory of Lexus in China in the past few decades is a strong proof of this.
As a high-end brand of the Toyota Group, Lexus is almost a tailor-made brand for American consumers, and the advertising video of the Lexus LS400, with five layers of champagne glasses stacked on the engine cover - with the engine running at full power and reaching a speed of 230 kilometers per hour, 15 glasses are barely moving, which is amazing, and also makes the car brand famous. In just over a decade, the brand has surpassed Mercedes-Benz and BMW in North America, and since 1999, the Lexus brand has ranked first in luxury car sales in the United States for 11 consecutive years.
In the 17 years since officially entering the Chinese market, Lexus has been sold in the form of imports, although the price is quite high, but Lexus's sales have been growing positively, and in 2021, sales in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, China reached a record high of 227,000 units, which is the peak moment of Lexus.
Lexus, almost to meet the needs of those who have a certain purchasing power, the pursuit of stability and peace of mind, it is stable and durable, low failure rate, long-term ranking of the first place in the major quality lists. It is extremely high-spec, and the lowest-spec model can almost catch up with the top model of the BBA in the same class. It has free maintenance and a long warranty policy, which eliminates many people's worries. Its identity as an imported model, and its very successful, highly recognizable design, make this car not disgraced to drive. All this shows that the sales myth of Lexus is not groundless, and it does cater to the consumption needs of a considerable number of Chinese people.
However, in the Chinese market, in the first half of 2023, Lexus sold a total of 70,527 new cars, a year-on-year decrease of 18.5%, becoming the only brand on the sales list of luxury brands in the Chinese market to see a decline in sales in the first half of the year. The once godlike Lexus looked like it was really sick. But where is the root of the disease?
The answer is electrification, represented by Tesla, NIO, Ideal, etc., which has had a serious impact on Lexus's sales. Even the stability that Lexus advertises is less attractive after the simplification of the electric vehicle structure.
Lexus can indeed be maintained for free, but the wool is out of the sheep, and the electric car is really almost zero maintenance cost.
The "new car-making force" has completely subverted the dozens of years of gameplay accumulated by traditional car companies, and completely exploded the latter from the aspects of driving form, driving experience, and consumer electronics product concept. The cards that Lexus can play, such as free maintenance, worry-free comfort, low fuel consumption, etc., are overshadowed by the wave of electrification.
In terms of car buyers, the middle-aged people who loved Lexus before are gradually getting old, and the post-80s generation is gradually entering middle age, but they may not be able to continue to accept Lexus's stable middle-aged narrative style. The Lexus brand has actually aged with that group of middle-aged fans.