In this era of explosive growth of new cars and new brands, is smart in a good position as a brand invigorated by Chinese auto companies? On this issue, some people think that if they focus on boutique pure electric cars, smart will still win the recognition of potential users with an independent, individualistic image.
others will say that when smart looks abroad, there is reason to believe that the less-than-volume international market will become the main battlefield of smart renaissance.
Indeed, with the rapid expansion of the new energy industry, one day, smart, which relies on Geely cars, will always have a chance to attract some users who do not like to follow the crowd.
But then again, judging from the current market development trend, can smart really wait for that day to come? In the past two years, smart, which has been precipitated by some brands, has more or less attracted many young people who have been recommended by smart fortwo.
In this chaotic and homogenized new energy market, smart’s unique and slightly westernized image distinguishes it from other new power brands.
There must always be a dream, in case it can come true.
” It is precisely with the expectation of relying on the dividend of industry transformation that smart has been making its own calculation in the multi-dimensional competition.
However, when we find that more and more consumers are no longer naturally fond of foreign brands, and China’s rising stars unexpectedly make big moves, sometimes, whether the market gives face or not has become the focus of determining the future development of the brand.
Does smart want to innovate? The answer must be yes.
Previously, from a boutique car to a trendy small SUV, it was the stubbornness in the bones of smart that persisted and could not put down the family rules laid down when he was founded.
But today, they all choose to make efforts in the hard-line SUV market, who dares to say that smart is not ready to fight.
Live first, and then discuss brand tonality.
What is the spirit of smart? No matter whether you are familiar with this brand or not, if you use Baidu, you will be able to clearly understand the inherent characteristics of smart-small and sophisticated.
From the establishment of a cooperative relationship between Daimler and Swatch to their self-development after their separation, smart has continued the characteristics of such models in the automobile market from the beginning to the end.
Of course, thanks to the brand focus, those who love minority culture and want to play with some personality can always show great interest in smart.
Even in a certain period of time, smart is qualified to fight back and forth in the construction of brand culture with mini after joining BMW.
That being the case, why does smart continue to reshape its products over and over again after it has become a Geely brand? In the final analysis, the former smart overestimated the market capacity.
When he was part of the Daimler Group, smart used Mitsubishi Colt’s platform to build the original smart forfour, and later spawned two new cars, the fortwo and the forfour, based on the Renault Twingo.
The reason for doing all this is that the market supply side can not give smart more help to share the R & D cost.
At the same time, there is no way to expand the volume of smart further.
Based on this history, Geely’s first requirement for a comprehensive revival of smart naturally falls on retaining only the personalized side of the brand and not making too many restrictions on products.
Is such a move good or bad? Die-hard fans of smart will feel that such smart is no longer worthy of being called smart.
Ordinary consumers who like smart will feel that smart, which is not limited to building cars, is the trendy brand that young people need now.
Although I don’t want to say which is right or wrong, my intuition tells me that Geely knows that compared to the inherent label of the brand, smart is worth taking advantage of the popularity of the whole brand in the international market.
To this end, building smart into a pure electric brand is only the first step.
the second step is to abandon the original product array, from genie # 1 to genie # 3, to the newly unveiled genie # 5, smart has to build whatever the market needs.
Right now, with a large number of new energy vehicles entering the market, consumer demand for pure electric cars is slowly leveling off, and all smart can do is find another way to start with the product again.
In fact, more than 10 days have passed since smart officially released elf # 5, during which time, the discussion about the brand has gradually shifted from confusion about the launch of such a very unsmart product to the product itself.
Perhaps, in the eyes of ordinary people, smart has nothing to do with hardline SUVs from any point of view, but if we can understand the limitations of the development of the existing pure electricity market, we must also understand why smart is doing this.
For most individual brands, catering to consumers seems to be a pure business behavior that needs to abandon their own personality, and smart is no exception.
But as the fierce competition in the market spreads to the segment of smart, nothing is more important than sticking to the so-called brand label.
Although we have a good personality, we have to bow to reality.
When we have carefully figured out the logic of smart from the launch of genie # 1 and genie # 3 to the launch of genie # 5, it is not difficult to see that smart no longer sees itself as a niche brand that needs customers to come personally.
When Fairy # 5 was unveiled at the Chengdu Auto Show, smart China marketing company CEO Yi Han also said, “the emergence of Fairy # 5 is to change people’s deep-rooted impression of the brand.
” This personalized model is not for Mercedes-Benz stylists to show off their skills, but really for the needs of the market.
” At the same time, he was convinced, “I can’t make Elf # 5 snow in the sun.
” We will not turn it into a small and beautiful product, for me, it is a way to return to mainstream marketing, while adhering to the brand genes and tonality of smart, which is a key to making this car well.
” Over the past two years, I do not know why, the hard SUV has become popular in the market, especially in China, but any good-looking hard SUV can achieve good sales in the end market, even in the pure electric field, this kind of model has a certain attraction.
A typical example is Chery iCAR 03.
That being the case, once smart itself has the idea of entering this market, we really have reason to think that the past is no longer a reason to restrict the development of the brand.
Oh, one more, according to the Federation of passengers.
Data shows that in 2023, smart’s cumulative sales will be 67024 units, of which domestic sales will be 42292 units, accounting for 63%.
export sales will be 24732 units, accounting for 37%.
This year, smart’s sales have not been able to exceed the level of the same period last year, which means that smart has to find ways to make some breakthroughs outside of its existing product line.
Although it’s hard to imagine that Elf #5 is actually a new energy SUV of size to mid-sized size, which completely runs counter to smart’s earliest brand vision, considering the above current situation, especially the overall sales performance, I would like to ask, what’s the problem with smart turning itself into a tough guy? In fact, judging from the market competition pattern in recent years, what niche brands have been paying attention to has been unable to grasp the nerves of most consumers from the root cause.
Young consumers have long been attracted to the new energy market where new cars are emerging one after another.
Personalized labels exist in the brand planning of almost any emerging car company for young customers.
So, don’t look at smart’s current operations being so different from the past.
Based on the judgment of the future of the industry, the launch of Elf #5 may only be a new attempt in the face of a new round of market competition.
, In addition, in order to avoid each other in the group from killing each other, and in order not to be attacked by other friends in overseas markets, smart has no more options to choose from at this price.
To this day, limited by the market growth rate of pure electric vehicles, smart always has to do everything possible to survive.
It’s really unexpected to transform from an exquisite boy to a tough guy, but as a car brand with the ultimate goal of making profits, what can smart do? While brand power can still exert some effectiveness in the global market, nothing is more important than breaking your own brand boundaries as soon as possible.
Return to First Electric Network Home>.
