In the auto market in 2023, "involution" has become a key word. The fierce competition in China's auto market is obvious to all, and it has also had a great impact on the sales of many imported car brands.
Although the domestic luxury car market is generally good, the import volume of Chinese imported cars has continued to decline, due to the huge room for product selection in the domestic market.
China's auto imports reached an all-time high in 2014, when they reached a record 1.43 million units. However, the data for the past three years has not reached 1 million units, and the import volume in 2022 is only 880,000 units, and there will be a significant decline in 2023 compared to 2022. According to the statistics of the China Passenger Car Association, the growth of imported cars is mainly dependent on the growth of luxury cars, which will increase from 78% in 2019 to 91.6% in 2023.
Today, companies are also handing over different report cards. Judging from the data, a few are happy and a few are worried, but in the face of a complex and changeable market environment, how to "jump out of the involution" is still the most critical topic.
According to the author's statistics, looking at the imported car market in 2023, the sales ranking will remain the same as in 2022, which are Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, and Audi.
Among them, Lexus still ranks first in the position of imported cars, with a market share of 23.4%, and although its sales volume is close to the same as the previous year, the gap with the market share of Mercedes-Benz in second place has further widened. With sales of more than 100,000 units, the Lexus ES has become the number one model in the import market, and it is also a huge distance from the Mercedes-Benz GLE, which ranks second with sales of 38,300 units.
Porsche, ranked fourth, experienced a "Waterloo" in 2023, ending the golden age of value retention and sales, with sales falling by 15.0%, while fifth-ranked Audi took a roller coaster ride, and after a sharp decline of 43% in imported car sales in 2022, it rose by 41.3% in 2023. In addition, benefiting from the excellent performance of high-end new products in the Chinese market, Land Rover also rose sharply by 42.31%.
At the same time, above the 100,000-level sales, there are still only three companies: Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and from the current sales momentum, BMW is on the verge of 100,000 sales.
At present, consumers' needs for imported cars are more personalized, which also brings a lot of challenges to enterprises.
Taking BMW as an example, consumers are more inclined to choose the domestic BMW X5 than the imported BMW X5. With BMW's domestically produced car sales reaching a new high, BMW X5 sales reached more than 90,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 57%, which also led to a significant decline in BMW's imported car sales. Compared to its competitors, BMW has a small variety of high-performance, personalized models and small sales, which is obviously not conducive to brand and profit growth.
In terms of Mercedes-Benz, the proportion of low-spec models in ultra-luxury models has increased. For example, among the Mercedes-Benz Maybach models, the sales of the low-spec model 480 this year account for a relatively large proportion, and similarly, the sales of the best-selling Mercedes-Benz G-class, which is also a low-cost version of the G350, are relatively high.
Mercedes-Benz's overall sales of imported cars are second only to Lexus, and its sales performance is due to its wide range of imported products to meet the more personalized needs of users. At the same time, the sales profit of imported cars was relatively good, including Maybach sales of 17,000 units, a year-on-year increase of nearly 20%, and Mercedes-Benz G-Class sales of 10,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 22%.
In the mainstream market, Lexus has performed more prominently. In addition to its outstanding market share performance, Lexus is the champion in the sales list of imported car brands and single models in 2023 - this achievement is particularly difficult. The top five on the list are "dominated" by Lexus: Lexus ES, Lexus RX, and Lexus NX are ranked first, third, and fourth, which reflects the heritage and excellent competitiveness of the entire brand.
Lexus is also expanding its electrification product line and product range. At the beginning of 2023, two SUV models, the all-new RX and the all-new RZ, will be launched, and the new generation of the LM will be completed in the second half of the year, and the new generation GX, a hard-core off-road model, will be launched in January this year. Through diversified models, it is equipped with hybrid, plug-in hybrid, pure electric and other power combinations to meet the personalized needs of different customers in multiple life scenarios.
In such a harsh market environment, as a pure imported car brand, it still has the support and trust of consumers, and Lexus's golden signboard is obvious to all.
In the future, a diversified product lineup is the key for car companies to break out of the encirclement at the level of imported cars. The new energy market has returned to rationality, and major car companies have fallen into a price war...... In a volatile market environment, it is important for luxury brands to find their own positioning and direction.
In the face of the complex and volatile macroeconomic environment and the continuous intensification of the involution of the automobile market, change is the common theme of everyone's thinking. Today, when "volume" has become the key word of China's auto market, looking at the global market, the most challenging consumer market must be in China, where users have become more and more picky, from product safety to technology, car companies are striving for excellence.
In the face of the Chinese market, which is full of huge potential but full of challenges, imported car brands must not only continue to cultivate and develop, but also continue to analyze and understand the changes in the needs of high-end consumers.
Clearly, in 2024, the challenges will continue to intensify.
Source: "Sang no Wei"