Japanese Luxury Cars in China: Whether China Can Become a New Breakthrough

Infiniti will be made soon? Lexus is not killed? Acclaim charm is not enough?

China has entered the "car society" and is moving toward a more mature automobile society. The so-called maturity, a big sign, is that the family purchases cars from the first purchase to the stage of purchase or redemption. The shift is undoubtedly to replace a more advanced car. This is evident in the growing luxury car market. However, in China, the luxury car market is still controlled by old luxury car brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, etc. They not only have a hard time in quality and brand, but more importantly, they all set up factories locally in China to carry out local Production. Japanese luxury car brands that sell well in North America have little effect in the Chinese market. Faced with the containment of old German luxury cars, how do Japanese luxury cars break through in the Chinese market? What's their "killer" to "recruit"?

Lexus: "Forever" has no domestically produced Lexus. It is a brand that the media are most willing to praise. Its beautiful models, affordable prices, services can also allow consumers to experience a "Godlike enjoyment," not only in the US market beyond BMW, Audi, in the Chinese market is also a "toon," and sometimes have to buy Lexus " Find the relationship." However, starting from last year, Lexus' development in China began to be a bottleneck. Faced with the full range of domestically produced three luxury car brands (Benz, BMW, Audi, hereinafter referred to as "the three largest German companies"), the price of cars is becoming more and more "close to the people". Lexus is not the same in terms of price and brand appeal. Opponents.

In fact, Lexus had also considered domestic production. Zeng Lintang, former deputy general manager of Lexus China, once said that if Lexus’ sales volume in China reaches 30,000, it can be considered domestically. However, in the past few years, Lexus sales in China has been "a secret can not be said," and according to a number of data show that in fact there have been more than 30,000 in 2008. However, when Lexus changed its mouth, it was said that it was necessary to have a single car sales volume of 30,000 units before it could be “domesticated”. When asked, the answer was still “a temporary lack of domestic plans”.

At the groundbreaking press conference of the Toyota Changshu R&D Center shortly before, the reporter once again asked the CEO of Toyota Motor R&D Center (China) Co., Ltd. Takeuchi Jun about the matter. He said that at present, Lexus has only production bases in Japan and North America, “some core Problems such as the implementation of technology and the supply of core parts and components have not been solved in China well," and therefore cannot be realized in China.

Killer: Small displacements, hybrids face high import duties, and large-displacement taxes. Lexus, which is "purely imported," is costly. Seeing that the lowest prices of the three German companies have all fallen to the 200,000 yuan range, Lexus can only rely on importing smaller-displacement models and more hybrid models to deal with it. The small-displacement blend launched at the end of October Powertrain CT200h finally pulled its price range to less than 300,000 yuan - but only one.

Infiniti: Killer: Infiniti, the Japanese luxury car brand headquartered in the "relocated capital" of Hong Kong next year or the latest in Chinese domestic production, is the top three luxury car brands in Japan (Lexus by Toyota, Acura by Honda, and Infiniti by Nissan). It is the most radical.

In early November, luxury car brand Infiniti announced that its global headquarters will be located in Hong Kong, and will establish a new corporate entity in Hong Kong in April next year - Nissan Global Limited (NGL). According to Nissan’s plan, Infiniti plans to achieve a global sales target of 500,000 units per year by 2016.

The resulting discussion on whether Infiniti is domestic or not has been heated up. In contrast to Lexus and Acura’s CEOs, who are "not killed or made domestically," Nissan Motors President Carlos Ghosn stated clearly: "We are indeed discussing plans to produce Infiniti in China, but there is no final timetable."

Last year, Infiniti’s global sales increased by approximately 30% to 146,000 units from the previous year, which has increased by more than four times in five years. Although North America is still at the center, it indicates that it will use Asia as its key growth market in the future.

It is reported that at present, "Infiniti" is all produced in Japan, but due to the appreciation of the yen, resulting in deterioration of profitability, some models will begin production in the United States next year. Japanese media predicts that Nissan will select Dongfeng Motor’s partner in Hubei Province as its production base in Infiniti. Infiniti is currently produced at its factories in Tochigi and Fukuoka, Japan. The total annual production of the two plants is around 200,000.

Acura: It is clearly stated that since no domestic plans have entered the Chinese market in 2006, the performance of Acura is considered to be the weakest of the three largest Japanese luxury brands: only four models in five years and less than 40 dealer networks. The sales volume is even worse, even lagging behind the younger brother Infiniti who entered the market in the last two years.

In fact, Acura and Lexus and Infiniti are Japanese luxury car brands that have grown up in North America and have been very successful in the North American market. But why did China come to terms with it?

There are few models, high prices, and brands that are not loud enough. It is probably the biggest “three mountains” that Yingge faces in China. Different from Lexus's introduction of several new cars each year, Acura currently sells only four models in China, and its displacement is more than 3.5L. It is an absolute high-end luxury high-power line, so the price is also " High above." From January to October this year, Yingge sold a total of 3,500 vehicles in China, far behind Lexus and Infiniti. “According to the outside world, Acura did not have rapid growth like other brands. In the early days when the brand entered China, we did not regard rapid development and volume improvement as the main objectives.” High customer satisfaction is our initial idea of ​​launching luxury brands into the Chinese market."

In addition, Yingge also clearly stated that the Yangge brand will not be made in China.

Killer: Design However, after entering China for five years, Acura did realize the difference between brand and product power. Fortunately, Acura's models are well designed, which is a very personal choice for those young people who demand low-key but extravagant luxury.

In addition, Yangge will introduce two models, including hybrids, next year, resulting in six models for the entire series. It will also use Honda's R&D institutions in China to integrate the needs of Chinese consumers into new product development.