The rebranded Mercedes-Benz GLS cannot be sold even if it costs less than 700,000 yuan. Why can’t domestic cars become high-end?

Article | Er Ge Tou

"Going higher" is what independent brands have done most in recent years. At present, all powerful OEMs have launched their own high-end products. Sequence, Geely's Lynk & Co, Great Wall's WEY, Chang'an's UNI-T, Geely's Star Road.

Judging from the results, it can only be said that the road for self-owned brands to reach higher prices has achieved initial results. Although the selling price of bicycles is gradually increasing, it is only limited to between 100,000 and 200,000. Once it continues to rise, , the voice of independent brands will be infinitely weakened.

How weak is it? Even if it uses the same engine and platform as a luxury brand, as long as it is equipped with the logo of its own brand, there is still no market.

Yes, the BAIC BJ90 is a good example. Since it was launched on the market, the BJ90 has had a label: rebranded version of GLS.

It uses the same car-making platform as the Mercedes-Benz GLS, the same V8 engine as the GLS, and even the chassis transmission is the same.

But even such a model whose core technology is from Mercedes-Benz is priced at 600,000 yuan lower than the GLS, but its monthly sales remain in single digits.

Even some car owners will be looked down upon. You spent 1 million to buy this, are you out of your mind?

As the number one automobile country, we naturally do not want our own brands to be dominated by foreign brands. Then we have to think about a question, what causes independent brands to never be able to raise their head in high-end products?

In fact, this issue can be divided into two levels, namely internal and external, or brand image and heritage.

First of all, in terms of brand image, what is the first keyword that comes to mind when everyone talks about independent brands: cheap!

And this impression is not just a day or two, but from the beginning to the end. To put it nicely, it is cost-effective, and to put it bluntly, it cannot sell for the price.

Quoting a set of industry data, there were 66 models launched by independent brands in 2016, of which 56 models were priced in the price range of around 100,000 yuan, accounting for 84.8% of the total. %.

Over time, Chinese consumers have preconceived notions about self-owned brands, just like PDD, which always has a "cheap" label. This directly led to the fact that even though PDD sold official authentic products, Consumers always have a diaphragm in their hearts. What independent brands suffer from is the same root cause.

In terms of foundation, independent brands are even worse.

Looking back at the current influential brands, they can actually be divided into three categories. One is the old traditional car companies, led by Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes-Benz, which have been involved in this industry since the early days of the automobile. Yes, they have unparalleled historical, cultural and technological heritage.

The first type is latecomers, mainly Japanese and Korean cars, who seized the opportunity of the oil crisis and forced their way into the market from traditional car companies. After that, they entered a positive cycle and profits increased. → Increase investment in R&D → Cars are more advanced → Sell better → Profits continue to increase...

There is also a new force of overtaking in corners, led by Tesla, borrowing new energy, Intelligent and other automotive revolutions have successfully stood out and become the most valuable enterprise in the contemporary era.

But it’s obvious. Own brands don’t belong to any of them. It started late, its technology was weak, and it was more of a follower. Although it was backed by the world's largest automobile consumer market, it invested too little in research and development after making money, which directly resulted in the core technology never being on the market.

These short-sighted decisions in the past few years have left a deep impression on consumers. When everyone talks about domestic cars, in addition to being "cheap", they are "poor quality and old technology" ", this is doomed, high-end and domestic products have nothing to do with each other.

Going back to the BJ90, due to the lack of technical foundation, even though it uses the same large parts of the GL system, the product is still not the same as the GLS.

Because a car is a complex handicraft, it not only pays attention to hardware technology, but also needs to consider the coordination between various parts,

For example, the smooth coordination of the engine, gearbox, and chassis transmission. It determines the driving quality of the car; how much fuel should be injected at what temperature, and how wide the throttle should be opened when stepping on the accelerator determines the fuel power and economy...

And these require accumulated technical knowledge over time. , BAIC or the entire independent brand is lacking, which also results in us not having such deep strength to support our ability to compete with foreign brands.

Written at the end:

BJ90 is just a microcosm of China’s independent brands. At present, we are still in a stage where we are big but not strong. The annual sales volume is indeed very high, but we can get it. The technology is still rare. But the high-end road must be supported by technical foundation. Brand power comes after product power, and it is the former that empowers the latter.

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