Is my country’s auto market really ushering in “retaliatory” consumption? We went to 31 4S stores to check the authenticity!

Since the epidemic has been effectively controlled, people sincerely hope that my country's auto market can quickly pick up. However, rationality tells us that after the pain, the sales terminals of the auto market may be difficult to usher in the "retaliatory" consumption predicted by some "experts". If the auto market can return to the normal state before the epidemic, it may be gratifying enough.

Putting aside the desire to buy a car that has been forced to "pause", the May Day holiday is approaching at this time, and perhaps this has become one of the reasons for many people to buy a car. No matter how you look at it, the last few days should be the hottest period for the car market in the "post-epidemic era" due to factors such as "concerns" about public transportation and free highways until the end of the May Day holiday.

However, all the above are just "predictions" and "guesses". What the real situation is, I'm afraid you can only go to the market, because nothing can get the most real feedback than seeing, hearing and communicating intuitively.

Has the car market picked up? The horse-drawn carriage market spent two full days on Tuesday and Wednesday, through the four major automobile business districts in Chengdu (Airport Road, Sansheng Township, Longtan Temple, and Yangxi Line), and counted more than 30 companies. I conducted an on-site visit to a car 4S store and found my own answer.

I don’t want everyone to agree, I just want to be as objective and truthful as possible.

Aerial photography of horse-drawn cart market in Chengdu Longtan Temple Automobile Business District

“Retaliatory” car consumption?

This only happened in a few brand 4S stores

Seeing that May is about to enter, the weather in Chengdu is also the same as in previous years, fast forwarding to "summer". However, even though the temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius, the sales staff at 4S stores of different brands all have completely different feelings.

Some people will feel warm, because the order can really be signed with "soft hands"

In the Huaxing Mingshi Audi 4S store on Yangxi Line, its busy scene is almost the same as before the epidemic. No different, the only difference may be that the customers are wearing "masks".

The same scene also happened in the Renfu Benz 4S store in the Airport Road business district.

It is worth mentioning that this store should be the longest 4S store in the horse-drawn cart market during the two days of store exploration, because just parking the car took too much time. .....

Entering the store, a "retaliatory" consumption drama is being staged. Any time you take a photo, it will be a "crowded" scene. Here you hardly need to deliberately restrain yourself from "getting materials" because there may be no salesperson who has time to talk to you.

Logically speaking, ABB should be in a similar situation. But at the Zhongda Baoma 4S store, not far from Renfu Benz, it seems relatively less "exaggerated" and should be considered normal.

As a result, we also saw the sales staff in the BMW store doing live broadcasts on their mobile phones, explaining this popular new BMW 3 Series to the netizens in the live broadcast room. When the horse-drawn cart market came forward and asked how many people were watching, the salesperson smiled and replied: "There are still quite a few!"

Of course, not all brand 4S stores are doing live broadcasts. It’s all because the sales staff are relatively “idle”. For example, at the Baixiang Guangben 4S store on Yangxi Line, we found a completely different scene.

While doing live broadcasts, the environment faced by Guangben sales staff did not make them appear "lonely" at all. The endless stream of viewers became the background of his live broadcast. Perhaps this kind of scene should be the biggest support and confidence for car salespersons to do live broadcasts.

FAW-Volkswagen is also a brand that has more customers entering the store to view cars than salespeople. In Dongchuang Guo Chengdu Tianhong FAW-Volkswagen 4S store, we also saw a large flow of customers entering the store.

In fact, it is not surprising. Judging from the statistics of the Passenger Car Association, the manufacturer that ranked first in sales last year and in the first quarter of this year was FAW-Volkswagen.

Also performing well is Red Flag. As the "civilization" of the Hongqi brand gradually comes to fruition, we have been able to see more and more Hongqi brand cars driving on the streets.

The Hongqi 4S store on Airport Road also has a good flow of customers entering the store. There are almost no empty seats in the car viewing area and rest area, which to a certain extent also confirms the popularity of the Hongqi brand.

If Audi, Mercedes-Benz, GAC Honda, FAW-Volkswagen and Hongqi belong to the group with better conditions in the store, then the horse-drawn car market will tell you that they can only be regarded as isolated cases.

Because, more brand 4S stores are showing another opposite trend. "Retaliatory" car consumption only occurs in certain brand 4S stores.

More people will feel that the "chill" still shows no sign of getting rid of

In the Airport Road automobile business district in Chengdu, the Horse-drawn Car Market discovered a phenomenon. Most of the brand 4S stores that say "Under renovation and operating normally" on their outer walls are not in good condition.

In the Airport Road business district, many brand 4S stores, including Subaru and Dongfeng Fengxing, which are undergoing store upgrades, are almost empty. Perhaps, it is also a good time to use this period of time, which has not yet recovered, to upgrade the store.

What’s more, there really is almost no popularity in the store.

If the situation in Lexus and Dongfeng Honda stores is still decent, then the remaining 4S stores, including Skoda, Geely, Zhonghua, Xingtu and other more than 20 independent and joint venture brands, are all It can only be described as deserted.

On the main road facing the Longtan Temple Automobile Business District, you can clearly find that the parking space that should have been used by customers is occupied by exhibition cars and test drives of major brands. If these cars are removed, perhaps the "chill" in the auto market will become more apparent.

Even though many brands have launched slogans such as "Special Cars" and "Limited Time Sale", the actual customer flow to the store is still "horrible".

Including Zotye, which still has the slogan "Live Strong", but now its store door is closed, and there is no trace of the cars on display in the store. Through the glass of Zotye 4S store, Ma Cheshi found that there were still two lights on in an office on the second floor of the store.

If "retaliatory" car consumption is a "carnival" of individual brands and individual 4S stores, then judging from the actual store visits, this phenomenon is basically the same as that of more brands. 4S store "no luck".

Compared with usual sales policies, there is not much difference

The "benefits" of the May Day holiday are more reflected in the after-sales service

The horse-drawn cart market is in During the visit to the store, we did not forget to help consumers inquire about the “promotional information” that they were most concerned about. Judging from the actual situation, in response to the current downturn in the auto market, most brand 4S stores still maintain their previous discounts.

Among the 31 4S stores visited, only the sales staff at the Great Wall Motors 4S store informed that the horse-drawn vehicle market is currently offering a discount of 2,000 yuan more than usual during the May Day holiday. policy. The remaining brand 4S stores still maintain normal discounts and promotions.

Of course, according to the information in the "May Day Activity Exhibition Area" being built in 4S stores of brands such as Changan Ford, it can be expected that during the May Day holiday, the store may launch more powerful discounts and promotion policies .

Compared with new car sales, the "benefits" or direct benefits brought to 4S stores by the arrival of the May Day holiday should be after-sales.

Malache City found in the 4S stores of many brands that the parking areas for customer vehicle maintenance are basically full. Customers' vehicles are "stacked" here, waiting for their turn to be repaired or maintained.

From chatting with many car owners waiting in the customer rest area of ??4S stores, the horse-drawn vehicle market learned that these car owners may have been unable to come to the store for maintenance due to the epidemic, so they chose to go to the store in the near future.

There are also many car owners who choose to go to the store on the eve of May Day because the May Day holiday is approaching and they have plans to travel by car.

It is undeniable that due to the special travel needs during the May Day holiday, most 4S stores have experienced an increase in return customer flow, which has indeed had an immediate effect on the store’s after-sales revenue.

However, most 4S stores did not usher in the simultaneous benefit of new car sales due to the May Day holiday. Most 4S stores have very few new car inquiries, or they have not yet fully returned to normal levels before the epidemic.

Store Visit Summary

Although due to time and energy constraints, the horse-drawn cart market only analyzes the current situation after visiting more than 30 brand 4S stores, this can only represent It is a microcosm of the current situation of the local automobile market in Chengdu.

At the same time, because it is a working day, most car consumers may be more willing to visit the store for car viewing and consultation on weekends or upcoming holidays. But these do not affect the comparison with the auto market situation before the epidemic.

After two days of visits, the horse-drawn car market has to regret to tell everyone that the "retaliatory" car consumption predicted by the so-called "experts" has not come at all, at least in the current car market in Chengdu. Such a true reflection. At the same time, the already sluggish auto market is about to usher in the annual off-season for traditional car purchases. Obviously, it will be difficult for the auto market to return to the pre-epidemic situation in the short term.

But even so, we have also discovered some "better-performing" brand 4S stores in the general trend. Their differences and ability to withstand attacks may be worthy of other brands calm down and think about it. Fan. Why can't you and they can. What exactly is the problem? Only when you understand it can you completely change yourself.

All pictures in this article are real or aerial photos taken at the horse-drawn cart market.

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