If you meet Alpha on the road by chance, you will be involuntarily attracted by its domineering appearance, and perhaps if you are lucky, you may see a big star in the car. And it is this car, in the country almost no regular price to sell a cash car, the price of seven or eight hundred thousand is not cheap, but also to increase the price of three or four hundred thousand to buy, let people love and hate. Such a hot car will naturally attract many domestic manufacturers to imitate.
Another thing that makes people feel puzzling is that a nanny car that pursues the ultimate riding comfort, and even completely ignores the driving experience because of it, is actually a frequent visitor in the modification industry, and it is completely unlinked to the impression of MPV. Why?
Tong Jiren Auto Review Editor 丨danee
▎ The price increase is against the sky, what makes Alpha spoiled?
"You can't buy an Alpha without a markup." According to the consultation with dealers, Alpha's market is a low-end version with a price increase of 350,000 yuan, and a high-end version with a price increase of 400,000. Alpha currently has two configurations in China, 3.5l deluxe version 759,000 yuan, 3.5l premium version 814,000 yuan, counting the part of the price increase to about 1.2 million. Even after paying the deposit, the pick-up cycle is more than one month.
Excluding the factor of insufficient import volume, Alpha's "irreplaceability" in the same level and the "carrying goods" effect of many stars are also important reasons for its long-term price increase.
Although in terms of size, the Alpha is not even as good as the GL8, alpha offers almost all the seat combinations imaginable, and all the seats in the car can be independently moved forward and backward and adjusted at the angle of the backrest. In the key second row, the same space and comfort as the first class of the aircraft can be achieved, coupled with the luxurious sense of wood grain, leather and LED atmosphere lights in the interior, and the efforts made in the comfort of the nvh and chassis make this car particularly suitable for the travel needs of stars and bosses.
In fact, since Toyota started to build alpha, it has never been used as an mpv, but has been developed entirely according to the standard of luxury cars. And because of its body shape, Alpha can achieve many functions that are not possible in luxury cars while maintaining absolute comfort, such as the seats are completely reclined, such as the natural posture when getting on and off the car.
In The Hong Kong and Macao regions where Elfa is popular, celebrities and bosses are almost always armed with an Alpha. And an interesting phenomenon is that people who own Alpha often also have a luxury flagship car such as the S-Class or 7 Series, but the person who owns the S-Class does not necessarily have an Alpha, which can fully illustrate Alpha's market position.
Another important reason why Alpha is a hot seller among celebrities is its unique personal charm. A car that pays attention to the comfort of the rear seat, but is full of sharpness in the appearance of the shape, especially the front face, itself is very popular among high-end consumers who pay attention to personality. And the rich who bought back Alpha will almost take it to the modification factory to go around, in addition to changing the surrounding, front face, pulling flowers and other conventional appearance changes, many will also modify the chassis, such as changing large-size brake calipers, and even changing to the low lying wind of hellflush. This kind of fame in the tuning industry also hits the pain points of Alpha's potential consumer groups very well and meets their needs for personality.
Stars have always had a strong ability to "carry goods", and the favor of the kings and queens of heaven makes Alpha bring its own "star aura" as soon as it is listed. On the other hand, the Alpha sold in Japan is basically the same as the top model in Japan, while the low-end model sold in Japan has not been introduced into The Country, which is one of the reasons why the supply of Alpha is in short supply.
▎ Has always been imitated, never surpassed
Alpha's popularity in China has also made this car "looming" on many mPV of local car companies.
Without the word Douda V8, I might even think it's a redesign of alpha, with a Japanese crown design on the front. It's just that the DWV8 did not follow up with the alpha's redesign with the times, and the body referenced the old Alpha more, such as the design of the suspension roof.
However, regarding the manufacturer of Daoda V8- BAIC Yunnan Ruili Automobile Co., Ltd., I believe many people are still relatively unfamiliar. Founded in 2013, BAIC Yunnan Ruili Automobile Co., Ltd. is BAIC's automobile industry base in Yunnan, and a considerable part of its production models will be sold to the Southeast Asian and South Asian markets. The Dowda v8 will also launch a right-hand drive version to the Southeast Asian market in the future.
As we all know, the Japanese brands represented by Toyota in the Southeast Asian and South Asian markets have an absolute advantage in market share, and such a "toyota-like" car is pushed to Toyota's main market, which is quite subtle.
Another one who almost moved Alpha unchanged was Kowloon Effie. Kowloon Automobile is a domestic light passenger, commercial vehicle manufacturing plant, and this Effie in addition to the front face design and power system, almost and the old Alpha has up to 90% similarity, but 150 horsepower 2.4l engine, with a 4at gearbox, even if the price is only more than 100,000, how to compete in today's car market?
In addition to these two models with serious plagiarism, there are actually some mPV in China that more or less have the shadow of Alpha, such as the Sichuan Automobile Mustang M70, which may be listed at the Chengdu Auto Show.
▎ The price is inflated, is there really no competitor?
Luxury mpv in the domestic blank area is very large, which can be seen from the comparison of alpha models on the auto home, and even gl8 and Alexon, whose price is only one-third to half of Alpha, have appeared in the comparison options, which shows the lack of Alpha competitors.
The main coverage of natural gl8 and Alexand does not overlap with Alpha, so what about nobles? The third generation of nobles in the early years really wanted to break the wrist with Alpha, but at that time, the import channels were not straightened out, many of them were trade models imported by dealers, coupled with the high price, and did not have much influence in the market.
However, with the official import of the fourth generation of nobles, its positioning has changed after several changes. The official guidance price of 468,000 yuan, the style of home, makes it completely on opposite sides with Alpha's luxury and personality, and it no longer constitutes a competitive relationship.
The rest is the Mercedes V-Class. There is no doubt that the brand value of Mercedes-Benz is higher than that of Toyota, and the mercedes-Benz V-class and Alpha, which are also equipped with the top, the Mercedes-Benz V-Class also beats Alpha in terms of technology configuration, and a complete set of active safety configurations cannot be found in Alpha.
But for the needs of potential consumers, Toyota is obviously more thorough than Mercedes-Benz. For example, the 2.0t engine used in the Mercedes-Benz V-Class series, the hard suspension and seats, and the rear seats that manually adjust the front and rear movements are not what consumers who buy this car want to get, and the high-tech equipment that is only meaningful to the driver cannot constitute an attraction point for rear buyers. And the Mercedes-Benz V-Class, although it is commercial enough, it still does not understand the aesthetics and preferences of orientals as Alpha in the creation of a luxurious atmosphere.
In contrast, the Mercedes-Benz V-Class is more suitable for the business reception of high-end enterprises, and compared with alpha's broader positioning, the Mercedes-Benz V-Class cannot attack Alpha in all dimensions.
Comfort, luxury, personality, word-of-mouth effect, no competitors, all of which have created Alpha to be sought after by high-end consumers and fiercely increased prices. Of course, the insensitivity of high-end consumers to price also makes this price increase seem "reasonable" to a certain extent, which is a normal economic law phenomenon of "price and value". To end Alpha's markup momentum, there is no other way but to introduce a strong enough competitor to divert its market share and make it have enough sense of crisis.
It is only now that in the face of this high-end, narrow,diversified and personalized market segment, it seems that no manufacturer is willing to invest too much energy, nor is it willing to fight with Alpha, whose status has long been unshakable.
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