“big and comprehensive” or “small and beautiful”? In the market of 2024, the fierce price war is constantly testing the viability of a number of car companies.
For joint ventures, although data show that China’s car sales rose 4.
4% from January to July compared with the same period last year, sales in mainstream joint ventures showed a collective decline.
Guangzhou Auto Honda, Beijing Hyundai and Guangzhou Automobile Toyota all fell more than 25% year-on-year.
FAW-Volkswagen also fell 10% year-on-year, and better, FAW Toyota, Dongfeng Nissan and SAIC-Volkswagen all fell less than 10% year-on-year.
However, among the mainstream joint ventures, there is only one company that has achieved “positive growth”, that is, Changan Ford, which is growing by 7.8%. In terms of volume, Changan Ford has also been relatively stable in recent years.
According to the passenger association data, Changan Ford sold a total of 128000 vehicles from January to July, slightly higher than Beijing Hyundai’s 104000.
And the realization of year-on-year sales growth is indeed beyond many people’s expectations.
This also shows Ford’s brand resilience as a century-old car company.
The long-term style of play, in fact, in the eyes of the outside world, Changan Ford can maintain a quite good state in such fierce competition, there are several factors.
One is the mentality of “secularism”.
Chen Xiaobo, vice president and general manager of Changan Ford New Energy vehicle Technology and Marketing Center, said during the Beijing auto show, “this market seems to be changing, but there is one thing that has not changed.
” as long as your products fail to meet the needs of customers and do not cater to the current market trend, you will be eliminated, which has nothing to do with whether you are a joint venture or an independent brand.
” This sentence speaks of the essence of the automobile industry, “user-centered”.
As the inventor of the Model T production line, Ford managed to make cars good and cheap a hundred years ago, and has become one of the three major brands that have influenced the world’s automotive history.
Ford has a special focus on the product itself.
Ford’s model is characterized by excellent handling-“easy to drive”.
After the establishment of Changan Ford in 2001, it established a good image and reputation of the Ford brand in the Chinese market by virtue of the classic Mondeo, focus, Yihu and other models.
What is still fresh in consumers’ memory is that after its listing in China in 2005, Fox became so famous that even Volkswagen Golf, which was listed two years ago, was inferior to three points, and the Honda Civic, which was made in 2006, did not surpass Fox until 2017.
Fox really influenced a group of post-80s generation.
In the minds of Chinese consumers, Ford has always been the representative of American automobile culture and aesthetics.
The Ford brand used to have such a strong influence in the Chinese market that even the new car-building powers cannot ignore the brand.
Ford is also the founder of SUV, such as BRONCO, which is the master version of many domestic models.
Secondly, the factors that seem to be less important actually have a great impact on the brand.
These are the dealers under each brand.
It can be said that in this year’s price war with no bottom line, who is the most hurt? It’s a car dealer.
Let’s look at a set of data about dealers.
According to incomplete statistics, more than 5500 4S stores closed in 2020-2022.
In 2023, about 2000 4S stores across the country have withdrawn from the Internet.
Also in this year, the huge group delisted and Zhejiang Zhongtong holding Group collapsed.
From January to June 2024, the number of 4S stores that went out of business nationwide increased by nearly 2000, including Guangdong Yongao Group and the delisted 100 billion Group Guanghui.
In addition, many dealers suffer from exaggerated car sales at a loss and high inventory, which is also shocking.
According to the 2024 China Automobile Brand Competitiveness Index Research report of the China Automobile Circulation Association, in terms of profits, luxury brand dealers account for more than 30%, and mainstream Japanese brand dealers account for nearly 30%.
The profit proportion of independent new energy dealers is 23.
9%, and that of independent fuel vehicle dealers is less than 20%.
Comparatively speaking Ford dealers are in good health.
As far as I know, the profit of Changan Ford dealers is basically 60% or 70%.
To tell you the truth, this is the foundation of a brand.
“be kind to dealers”, not consumer dealers like cutting leeks.
This is also the boost of Changan Ford’s “positive growth” in sales.
Use “wild” against “volume”, and another point is that the fiercer the market competition is, the more powerful the brand is.
Behind the brand, it depends on the real product strength.
For example, the sales of SUV explorers with a starting price of more than 300000 yuan are very stable, with an average of about 1500 vehicles a month, which is the only one in the joint venture brand.
When the new explorer is coming, it can better explain its strength.
You know, the terminal price of the explorer is on a par with that of the Audi Q5L.
This also proves from another angle that the Ford brand can fully support high-end models such as explorers, which is the foundation and strength of a century-old car company that adheres to “long-term doctrine”.
Moreover, with Mondeo and Ruijie L, the price of Changan Ford’s main selling products is in the range of 15 to 400000 yuan, which is half a level higher than that of most joint venture brands, which is also the reason for being able to “fight”.
In addition, in the face of the increasingly serious roll of the automobile market, Wu Shengbo, president and CEO of Ford China, put forward a differentiation strategy at the beginning of taking office, “using the wild against the roll.
” This “wild”, one is the outdoor crossing “wild” of SUV, and the other is the “wild” of the passion of the track.
Its essence is to use product differentiation to counter homogenized competition.
As far as the explorer is concerned, in the medium and large SUV, the explorer is the rare domestic model with longitudinal engine rear drive, load-bearing body platform and Tolson rear axle differential lock.
Except for the domestic BMW X5L, there are almost no competitors.
This difference is not only the basis of stable sales, but also a strong support for Ford brand strength.
In addition, in the new sharp boundary L, which takes into account energy saving, in addition to achieving hybrid oil-electric SUV, Changan Ford adopts mechanical four-wheel drive to ensure that the “field” of the sharp boundary L adopts mechanical four-wheel drive, and its four-wheel drive performance stability and reliability is not comparable to that of the general timely four-wheel drive.
In terms of new energy, Changan Ford is also slowly making efforts.
In addition to the continuous introduction of hybrid models, “electric horse” was also incorporated into the Changan Ford channel in August last year.
It is reported that Changan Ford will also launch “live” off-road SUV models, which provide more room for imagination for Changan Ford’s future direction.
We know that the rapid rise of Chinese brands on the new energy track has had a huge impact on the economic products on which joint venture brands depend for survival, resulting in a combination ofSales of investment brands fell sharply.
Moreover, Japanese and Korean brands that have always regarded energy conservation as their core competitiveness have experienced the most serious decline in this change.
However, Changan Ford’s products have maintained their share in the homogeneous competition by virtue of their clear differentiated “wild” in this round of competition.
Coupled with Ford’s user accumulation over the past two decades, it has virtually given Changan Ford brand competitiveness during the transformation process.
Changan Ford’s purpose is clear.
Only more advanced technology and more differentiated products can impress consumers.
From the current perspective, Changan Ford’s strategy is undoubtedly quite excellent.
, return to the first electric network home page>.
