Uncertain prospects for China's auto market in 2011

A few days ago, the Guangzhou Auto Show came to an end. During the auto show, major auto makers released new cars and new strategies one after another. They were busy and busy. However, the reporter found that although some manufacturers set up booths, they did not publish any information. Among them, the desolation of the Yangko booth where Andy Lau’s advertisements were continuously displayed on the big screen of the booth was in stark contrast to the fieryness of the Infiniti booth next to it.

The reporter learned from the Beijing Acura 4S shop that due to the poor sales of the Acura brand, the manufacturers did not come up with a way for dealers to regain their confidence. Some Acura dealers have not entered the car.

In response to the above problems, the reporter interviewed the relevant person in charge of Yingge, but as of the time of the press release, the person in charge did not give a reply.

Some industry insiders believe that in the era of high-speed growth of the domestic luxury car market, Yangge has not kept up with the pace of development. Under Beijing's purchase restrictions and market uncertainties next year, it seems that Yangge has lost its chance to prove itself.

The dealer boycotted the car "Our store has almost no stock car. After the consumer sets the car, we will enter the car to the manufacturers. The new car is in the warehouse of the factory in Shanghai." A few days ago, the reporter visited several capitals in Beijing as consumers. 4S shop, the store's sales staff told reporters.

According to report, in order to allow consumers to mention the current car as soon as possible, to maintain the patency of production and sales, manufacturers will require its 4S stores into a group of cars as stock cars, the international prevailing stock car alert level is 1-1.5 Months, that is to say, 4S stores must have an inventory car equivalent to 1-1.5 months of sales, in order to meet the manufacturers' requirements.

"The manufacturer is not without a car, but our shop does not dare to stock so many cars, the financial pressure is too great." In the interview, a person in charge of an Acura 4S shop told the reporter that since the sales of Acura are really bad, the 4S shop can only It is agreed with the manufacturer that after receiving the order confirmed by the consumer, the manufacturer will only enter the car, thus avoiding capital risks.

The performance of Acura dealers is inconsistent with the overall domestic market. It is reported that at the end of this year, due to the concentration of car buyers, dealers of almost all mainstream manufacturers are faced with the problem of not having cars. In order to get more current car metrics, dealers have also tried their best.

“The current situation of Yingge is very dangerous. If you encounter a collective boycott by the dealers, the song will be more passive.” An industry analyst analyzed the current status of Yangge.

According to the reporter's understanding, following Lexus, in 2006, Honda's high-end brand sings into China. The song that entered China's early days was high-profile, and its responsible person once stated that he had to compete with the German car and set a higher sales target. However, there is a certain gap between reality and ideal. In the past four years since entering our country, the brand recognition of Yingge has been difficult to improve, sales have been somewhat weak, and the days of dealers have not been too good. This year, the competition between German and Japanese high-end cars was even more intense. Yingge’s countermeasures were obviously insufficient. Not only did the models not increase, but the brand’s publicity was less, and the brand awareness did not increase.

The positioning of the model is not clear Although the Yangge related person once thought that Yingge’s target customer group in China is located in the “Haigei school with overseas background, especially the domestic elites who have studied abroad in North America”.

However, in an interview, a person in charge of the Acura 4S store told the reporter that due to the ambiguous positioning, sales of Acura RL and TL were very bleak. “I haven’t figured out yet what the specific positioning and consumer groups of Acura RL and TL are.”

It is reported that the reason why the company entered the domestic market at the beginning of confidence, Yingge emboldened its excellent brand awareness and market performance in North America. In fact, Yingge is almost a product for the North American market. After entering the Chinese market, it has not made corresponding changes in its product and sales strategy.

The reporter learned that compared with Lexus and Infiniti, Yingge seems to have no interest in the fast-growing Chinese market. Taking electric folding mirrors as an example, after Lexus entered the Chinese market eight months later, it assembled the technology of electric folding rearview mirrors into models that were introduced into China, and Acura only had electric folding on the 2010 MDX models. rearview mirror.

“The reaction time of Yangge was too slow for 8 months and 4 years.” The leader of an Acura 4S shop was very dissatisfied with the strategy of Acura. He told reporters, in fact, consumers have been mentioning the problem of electric folding mirrors, 4S stores are also accurately reflected to the manufacturers, but the manufacturers are dragging. "Can you say that Yingge values ​​the Chinese market?"

The unclear positioning of models and the lack of attention to the Chinese market directly led to the dismal sales. Due to poor sales, currently the price of the three main models of Acura has seen a significant sales promotion.

In Beijing, the highest discount rate of the 2010 Acura MDX reached 120,000 yuan; the RL and TL's profit margin also reached about 100,000 yuan.

This large-scale non-profit promotion hurts the brand image to a certain extent, and Yingge did not help the dealers in product marketing and advertising promotion. In terms of marketing, Yingge not only left a deep impression on the consumer, in addition to the regular elite tour test drive events. Inviting Andy Lau to shoot ads did not achieve the desired results.

Slower manufacturers' policies In fact, Yingge also made some moves to strengthen the Chinese market. On February 22nd, Japan Field announced that General Manager Kurashiki Seishi of Dongfeng Honda Motor Co., Ltd. will take over from the post of April 1st and assume the position of General Manager of Honda China and General Manager of Honda Tech (China) Investment Co., Ltd.

It is reported that Kurashiki Seishi entered the Japanese Honda Motor Company in 1982. He came to China in 2004 and served as Deputy General Manager of Honda Technology (China) Investment Co., Ltd. In January 2008, he took over as the general manager of Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. He was very familiar with the Chinese market and led Dongfeng Honda to successfully open the market with a niche model CR-V.

However, Kurashiki Seishi has been in office for nearly 8 months, and Acura has almost no action in the domestic market, which has caused many dealers to lose confidence.

On the other hand, Japanese luxury brands, Lexus and Infiniti are actively exploring. This year, Lexus has adjusted its strategy in China and launched three new competitively-priced 3.0L cars. In the past few years, Lexus has launched an average of 2-3 cars per year. Infiniti's models are also being put into operation very quickly. From the early-selling FX series to the recently-listed M-series, it has introduced all models to China since its entry into China.

Many people in the industry believe that Lexus and Infiniti can launch relevant models in time according to market demand and consumer preferences, which is an indication of the performance of the Chinese market and the reason why sales can continue to grow.

On the other hand, in the past 4 years since entering China, Yangge has maintained its sales in China by relying on only 3 models, namely RL, TL, and MDX. In 2006, Acura introduced RL and TL into China; in 2007, it introduced MDX; in 2008 and 2009, three models were redesigned. In the fierce battle of Japanese high-end cars in China, Yingge only hit the market with three large-displacement models, which made it seem that the stamina is not enough.

“Yangge has been in China for 4 years, and there are still only 3 models that can be sold. All models have displacements above 3.0L.” A Beijing Acura dealer told reporters that entry-level TL models are almost impossible to sell due to lack of small displacement. Moving, the flagship RL is also rarely asked, "only a SUV model MDX a selling point."

However, according to related sources, Yingge is undergoing a personnel adjustment, in which Acura China’s Minister of Industry, Shuisuke Shimizu, will return to Japan, and other positions will also change.

“Perhaps after the personnel adjustment is completed, the yangko will behave.” During the interview, the dealers who have been very helpless have planted an imaginary hope for their insistence on doing the Yingge brand.