The price war 2.0 is coming, and the first shot is still Citroen?

Do you still remember a hot stalk in the car circle at the beginning of last year - "The 200,000 C6 is old-fashioned, and the 120,000 C6 is mature and stable!"

2024 has just entered February, and Citroen is doing things again......

This time, the same plot played out again, Dongfeng Citroen C5X Versailles and Dongfeng Peugeot 408X released a preferential policy of up to 85,000 subsidies, which is clearly to replicate last year's C6 success story, Citroen once again fired the first shot of this year's car price war 2.0, and how much impact will it have on this year's car market?

Since it was the first shot fired by Citroen and Peugeot, we will first analyze and analyze the French car, and the playing style routine in China this year.

French cars: is it a play of feelings or a gimmick?

Its shortest words to summarize it are "play feelings", because this time only Citroen or Peugeot's old cars can enjoy such a high subsidy, and the older they are, the more popular they are, and if you want to enjoy the 85,000 discounts, the age of the car you go to replace must reach 25 years, that is, the "classic car" licensed in 1999 , Let's ask, 25 years old, can still run on the road, all car brands are counted, there should be few, and even if it is more than 10 years old, only old car companies like Citroen will have, and many domestic brands may not have such a long history of birth.

Therefore, the discount given by Citroen this year, the statement of high emotional intelligence, is not as direct as last year, the trigger conditions are more harsh, and the statement of low emotional intelligence is more like creating a gimmick that is easier to attract attention.

However, no matter what, whether it is Citroen or Peugeot, they used to have many loyal fans in China, and now using feelings in exchange for attention and sales is not a good way for French cars to continue to survive in China.

American cars: feelings are not as good as the bottom

Compared with the sluggish sales of French cars, other joint venture cars in China are not having a good time, but they are not thinking about how to live, but how to live more nourishing, such as American cars, of which the Ford brand has a longer history in China, but in recent years, its low-end volume models have been far less strong than back then, and the market has also been frantically eaten away by domestic cars, but from the end of 23 and the beginning of 24, Ford's continuous actions can be seen that they have begun to make moves, equipped with V8 Ford Dark The Horse dark horse and the Ford Bronco with a deep off-road heritage will be sold in China in 2024, although these are some relatively niche models, but they are indeed the essence of the century-old Ford, and it is not something that can be easily imitated by domestic brands that have not been established for a long time.

Including GM's American cars, but also through a new platform such as Doulange China, gradually to the North American market of large-displacement sports cars and full-size SUVs, such as the civilian supercar Corvette, Saabban's short-axle version of Chevrolet Tahoe, and electric Hummer, although these cars are not popular enough, but they can meet the satisfaction of some high-end car users in China for personality, but also a manifestation of brand strength.

Toyota: New cars are not worried about selling at a higher price

The introduction of scarce domestic models is not only the United States cars, Toyota, whose sales are under pressure, will also introduce many blockbuster models that were previously reluctant to sell in the Chinese market in 2024, such as Toyota Shiji, There is also Lexus GX, although Toyota's sales in the past year, is still the first echelon, but the price increase has become less and less, before the introduction of the reputation of the Saina into the domestic market, but also obtained a lot of sales, this time a number of high-end models into the country, it seems to want to strengthen the image of the Toyota brand in the minds of the Chinese people.

And like some other second- and third-tier or even third- and fourth-tier joint venture brands, there are not so many hole cards to play, so they can only bite the bullet, with the "price war 2.0" to exchange the market at price, although it can solve the urgent need, but it is still not a long-term solution.

In 2024, what is the way to break the situation for foreign brands?

And Ford, GM and Toyota, although they all chose a similar way to break the game, but in the end can get positive help, how much help can be obtained, in fact, it is not easy to say, because the domestic automobile market is experiencing a period of rapid development, domestic consumers' understanding and demand for cars, is also constantly changing, there seems to be no law at all, and the car is indeed a long period to polish a good product, the plan can never catch up with the rapid change. The most slap in the face is that the tenth-generation Civic Type R, which has not been introduced into the country, was blown into the sky by everyone, Honda gritted its teeth and stomped its feet, and introduced the eleventh-generation Civic Type R, but the result was indeed uncaring, so no matter what kind of decision, no one dared to pack a ticket to succeed.

In the face of such a complex Chinese auto market, joint venture car companies have no better countermeasures, so how will our own brands respond?