Foreign food and beverage into China, generally for the Chinese region to launch a "customized products" to cater to the tastes of the country, such as Starbucks "spicy pepper mocha", KFC's "breakfast congee "McDonald's "five-color tender chicken rice roll" rice, etc., are their own product characteristics and the integration of local Chinese characteristics.
Integration of Chinese culture to please consumers has become the key to victory for "foreign brands" to open up the domestic market. This is especially true in the automotive industry, where some global models are introduced into China with special modifications, such as longer wheelbases or more features, according to the needs of Chinese people, and of course there are also some models that are developed specifically for the Chinese market, which are collectively referred to as "special cars".
While they are all called "special cars," they are divided into different categories, including those that have been slightly improved on the basis of global cars, those that are old wine in new bottles and continue to be sold domestically after being phased out abroad, and those that have been newly developed only for the domestic market. The different types, brands and models have led to uneven sales, with some models selling 1,441 units in a day and others selling only a few thousand units a year. Today we're going to run through a few common types of Chinese special cars and take a look at how well their representative models are mixing it up.
Chinese people buy cars mainly for family use, and need to take into account the whole family's travel, so there is a high demand for space, especially in the second row. Because of this, whether luxury brands or ordinary joint venture brands, its global models in the country, basically have to be targeted wheelbase lengthening.
The BMW 3 Series, although not the first domestic dry extended wheelbase models, but is very representative of one. For a long time, the handling has been the BMW 3 Series in the car world's foothold, but after entering the country, in the face of consumers on the high demand for large space as well as the same model Audi A4 in the wheelbase lengthening of the big sales, BMW 3 Series finally made a compromise to the market. Some people complained that the long-wheelbase BMW 3 Series lost its soul, but from the market's point of view, it was a success, with the BMW 3 Series selling 109,000 units domestically last year, topping the list of luxury cars.
China's auto industry started late, and the widespread popularity of cars has only been around for a few years, so many people's knowledge of cars is still at a relatively superficial level, and they tend to rely only on their vision and sense of touch to judge whether a car is good or bad, which is different from the mature foreign auto market.
Most Chinese people tend to care about those visible features, such as panoramic sunroof, leather seats, automatic transmission, automatic parking, etc., and pay little attention to whether the body structure is safe, whether the engine and transmission are reliable, and whether the tuning is reasonable. European consumers are more inclined to manual gearbox, fabric seats and other practical features, and more concerned about the car performance and technology. For example, the same Audi model, the Chinese people value its space, configuration, etc., while foreign consumers may be more important to its quattro all-wheel drive system.
It is also to see these special preferences of domestic consumers, so it gives some car companies the opportunity to exploit the loopholes, what the tail mark with letters, the enjoyment of the overclass, see the place where the arrangement is clear, but in the invisible place but the difference between domestic and foreign treatment, and even cut corners. For example, Mercedes-Benz E-class both in appearance and interior, like Mercedes-Benz S-class, but in order to save costs, a lot of places using steel instead of aluminum alloy material, resulting in the domestic version is heavier than the overseas version of about 300 kilograms. However, compared to these invisible places, domestic consumers seem to care more about those visible and touchable appearance, interior and configuration, etc., so the Mercedes-Benz E-Class sales are very hot, last year sold 158,000 units in the country, an increase of 7.8% compared with 2018, which is not easy to do in the cold winter of the car market.
In order to better meet domestic demand, many joint venture brands, in addition to special treatment of global cars introduced into China, will use the family's old platform (or new platform) to launch models sold only in the Chinese market. For example, the use of PQ25 to build the new Santana, is the use of Volkswagen's old platform, only for the Chinese market launched models. Because the old Santana is the overseas version of the Passat B2 (second-generation Passat), is the product of the B-class car platform, while the new Santana is the A0 class, the two cars just have the same name, there is no direct relationship, and there is no counterpart abroad.
Of course, there are also models designed specifically for the Chinese market that utilize the new platform, the most representative of which is the Rang Yi. Using the MQB platform to build the new Rang Yi, because the body size is comprehensively enlarged, and styling has a few points of the flavor of the Passat, so consumers have a kind of transcendent feeling, so sales are very popular. It sold 526,000 units in 2019, with an average of about 1,441 units sold a day, making it the best-selling sedan in the country that year.
With the rise of China's manufacturing, foreign brands looking for Chinese companies OEM are not few, the same product, change a trademark, you can sell a lot more money, the factory is happy, the brand is also happy, a win-win business, why not. In the automotive industry, such OEM also exists, the most representative is the Jiangling Ford - the collar.
The Territory was originally a hardcore SUV launched by Ford for the Australian market, with a 4.0 displacement at every turn, but it was later withdrawn from the market, and in 2018, JLF resurrected the car, but this Territory is not its Territory, and it is strictly speaking just a replacement for the JLF S330. In the eyes of fans, the Link is a model without a Ford pedigree, but in the eyes of potential Link consumers, it's an affordable joint venture compact SUV.
The Link sold 47,893 units in 2019, which may seem like a bit of a low sales volume compared to other specials, but it's already Ford's best-selling SUV in the country last year.
When in Rome, follow the customs, no matter the food or car, after entering the country, according to the taste of the people, do "customized products", on the one hand, can see the brand on the domestic market, on the other hand, can meet the special needs of the people, there is a market for the market, and the market is huge, a lot of car companies because of the special car and earn a lot of money. Many car companies have made a lot of money because of the special car. But the special supply is not equal to the different treatment, more is not the reason for some car companies to cut corners, people are doing, the sky is watching! How is the product, the eyes of the masses are bright.
This article comes from the author of the automobile home car, does not represent the views of the automobile home position.