Perception of the Guangzhou Auto Show: In the era of involution, innovation and fun are leaving us

Since there are three large-scale auto shows in just three months, it is difficult for car companies with large inventories to come up with anything new at the Guangzhou Auto Show. Therefore, the 2020 Guangzhou Auto Show seems to lack exciting models for the media. Fortunately, the enthusiasm for cars in South China has always been very high. The day after the media day was still crowded, and most brands enjoyed "being watched." "Treatment.

In terms of the overall atmosphere, in addition to the well-known BBA three luxury brands that are being watched, leading independent brands have also shown high popularity in Guangzhou. First of all, what is surprising is that WEY, the high-end brand of Great Wall Motors, has released its first truly new model in two years, the Tank 300. The popularity of the entire booth can be compared with that of BMW and Mercedes-Benz - although the display here I saw several tank 300 exhibition cars, but it was impossible to take a complete picture of the model because there were so many people around.

Then, Chinese brands including Great Wall, Geely, GAC, and Lynk & Co are all very popular, but they lack a "serious" new product, coupled with the huge exhibition stand, so There is no such thing as "being surrounded by water", but the popularity is visible to the naked eye. It is worth mentioning that the popularity of GAC Trumpchi and New Energy Aian is also high, easily surpassing that of GAC Toyota next door. It seems that the acceptance and market recognition of GAC's own brands in South China are not inferior to those of several leading independent brands.

Among the mainstream joint venture brands, Guangqi Honda, which is the home field, should be regarded as the “top brand”. Regardless of the booth experience, the performance level of the car models, or the brightness of the entire booth, it is particularly able to stimulate the onlooker effect. . In contrast, although Dongfeng Honda, GAC Toyota, and FAW Toyota are also Japanese brands and have many new cars unveiled, their overall perception is not as good as Guangben's, and they are more like a pure "sales orientation."

There is also a Japanese joint venture car company that is also very special. Dongfeng Nissan still has no new car releases this time. The rumored new X-Trail has not appeared, and the electric SUV model Ariya can only be seen, but Dongfeng Nissan succeeded surprisingly and set up an experience track at the booth, where you can sit in the car and visit the booth. This move made many people who didn't pay much attention to Nissan know that "the booth has a track" and couldn't help but marvel.

As for the Volkswagen brand, in fact, it is not inferior to Japanese brands such as Toyota and Nissan in terms of popularity. It can be seen that Volkswagen has achieved great success in its South China strategy in recent years, and all Volkswagen models are being watched. They are relatively high-end products, such as Touron, Tiguan X, Volkswagen CC hunting car, etc. On the contrary, the two pure electric SUV models ID.4 series that Volkswagen put on the booth this time did not attract as much attention as expected. Although they were placed in the C position, they always felt that they were not as popular as Tesla.

Some second- and third-tier luxury brands, such as Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo, Acura and Infiniti, are very popular at the Guangzhou Auto Show. Especially for Acura, I feel that this is Acura’s rare highlight moment in the Chinese market every year, and it is also the place with the highest concentration of attention to Acura in China.

Volvo has demonstrated the huge traffic significance of a highly popular and high-traffic young spokesperson. Although the XC40 electric version is a very niche product, Hua Chenyu’s high traffic has made the entire booth very popular. You may not even have thought that many young girls came to Volvo’s booth just to take pictures of Brilliance being played on the big screen. Yu advertising, as long as Hua Chenyu's camera appears, there will be screams. This increase in brand popularity among traffic stars may reflect the way the new generation of young people treat brands.

In terms of product trends, the Guangzhou Auto Show can still predict some situations in the coming year. I just want to say that the trend I personally see is not necessarily a good trend. There are two characteristics that are very obvious: First, cars The aggressive drive by companies to reduce costs is reflected in every new car model. Secondly, new energy models seem to be in short supply.

Let’s first look at the general “low-cost” issue of new cars.

This time we are paying attention to the Volkswagen ID.4 series, Toyota's two A-class cars ALLION and Lingshang, the new Audi A3, Tank 300, etc., all of which have made corresponding efforts to reduce costs. Strategy. Of course, "cost reduction" is not a derogatory term, but more of a corporate strategic choice. It just means that everyone now chooses to take the cost-effective route, which means that the competitive pressure on the entire market has a high priority.

Specifically, cost reduction is to reduce the cost of parts and components in some inconspicuous parts of the model. The most typical one is to lower the material of the decorative panels in certain parts by one grade, from slush-molded materials to hard ones. plastic. For example, the front IP desk of the ID.4 series is divided into two parts, the front and rear, which are made of different materials. On the Tank 300 and the new Audi A3, the materials of the front and rear doors are treated separately - the rear doors are all hard plastic trim panels. In addition, there are some things, such as the trim material of the trunk and the leather material in the car, which have a perceptible decline in texture. These partial replacements may not be noticed by ordinary consumers after a short period of contact, but this cost reduction is actually a constant test of consumers' bottom line.

Another way to reduce costs is the "Toyota Way." For the two A-class sedans launched this time, the dual-car launch strategy is no longer novel, but what I didn’t expect was that the entire product appearance of Lingshang is almost exactly the same as that of Ralink, except that the details are modified with chrome trim to enhance the sense of sophistication. And the mold styles including headlights, taillights and other components are basically the same, the only difference is the size. In other words, this time Toyota did almost no design in building the Ling Shang car. It just enlarged the original Ling Shang's shape to a proportional scale.

Relatively speaking, FAW Toyota's ALLION is slightly better, but only a little better. The front face has been adjusted compared to the Corolla, but the front and rear headlights have not changed much. And judging from the photographed interior, the entire interior design is basically the same as that of the Corolla, except that the seat feel will be more advanced.

There is no doubt that Toyota's way of building cars saves a lot of costs on the front end of research and development, without redesigning the appearance, and a large number of parts can be reused. The car created in this way has a 50mm longer wheelbase and is sold at a higher price to make up for the pricing pressure. It can be said that Toyota has really calculated its abacus carefully.

Let’s talk about the problem of “lack of supply” for new energy vehicles.

It’s very strange. Although it was said the year before and last that the first year of new energy has begun, and waves of new car-making forces have launched, at this Guangzhou Auto Show, except for the Volkswagen ID.4, almost all of them were on display. , there are no new new energy vehicles. From the perspective of new forces, whether it is Weilai, Ideal or Xpeng, the products on display are actually known to everyone two years ago. In addition, Leapmotor exhibited an electric SUV concept car, and then it disappeared. This may be because some new forces had previously planned to mass-produce cars in 2020, but they had already fallen on the beach.

On the other hand, the self-owned brand car companies that had previously been aggressive in promoting new energy vehicles seem to have greatly reduced their sales of new energy vehicles this year. The new cars released by GAC and SAIC can only be regarded as major facelifts of their respective original models - Aion? Y is derived from GE3, Marvel? R is an upgrade of the original Marvel? This should be attributed to whether independent brands have discovered that new energy vehicles are just a "gimmick" and the source of profit is still in their traditional fuel vehicles. Therefore, car companies like Great Wall released three or four traditional power new vehicles in one go, but the attention has not been Surprisingly high.

As for the joint venture car companies, there is no need to raise hopes. Toyota reluctantly used the PHEVs of Weilanda and Rongfang to make a base. One of Honda's two companies introduced the Aion?S facelift, and the other It is to directly take the mid-term facelift of X-NV and change its name as the second car. Buick and Chevrolet have not put their own pure electric products at the core, while others like Dongfeng Nissan have probably given up on the Sylphy pure electric and directly used the right-hand drive Ariya to support the market. Really except for Volkswagen, the new energy products of joint venture brands are not "launched in minutes" as they say.

Looking at the status of new energy vehicles this year, there is a high probability that the world will still be dominated by a few old players in 2021. The only change is whether the arrival of Model? Y and Volkswagen ID.4 will change the situation. Ford's introduction of Mustang Mach-E and Nissan's introduction of Ariya can only be regarded as supplements, and even the number of channels will be very small. From the perspective of joint venture car companies, it is still a period of "walking and watching", waiting for Volkswagen to rush in, waiting for North America to see the situation, and then talking about the plan for the Chinese market - even if it may miss the first round of strong growth Opportunities, but you won’t go wrong if you don’t invest, which is more in line with the character of most joint venture car companies.

Independent car companies may launch their own new energy models next year, but they have not yet come up with very core products. It will be difficult to launch them next year, at least it is impossible to increase the volume. . In addition, in terms of new forces, most new cars are not expected to be launched until 2022. The production capacity of this generation of products has not yet been fully digested, and the scale has not been achieved. It is too early to say that it will be successful.

After the Chinese auto market was delayed by the epidemic in the first half of 2020, many strategies and plans of auto companies need to be adjusted, but the overall trend will not change, that is, competition will become increasingly fierce. This kind of expectation did not even appear just this year. Judging from the product planning of Volkswagen and Toyota, it was predicted at least three or four years ago, but it just happened to be reflected this year, including reducing the cost of mid-to-high-end products and reducing the entire R&D. The cost of the process, etc. At the same time, the shortage of new energy vehicles also stems from this. Since the entire market is still in the selection period, it seems to be a more reasonable decision to slowly or postpone the introduction. Only by waiting for others to suffer first can you "enjoy the blessings."

In short, the 2020 Guangzhou Auto Show is an auto show lacking in new ideas. This reflects that the entire Chinese auto market has entered a very involution era, and everything is based on sales and costs. , innovation and fun have begun to leave Chinese consumers.

Text | JackieLXX

Pictures | JackieLXX? Network

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.