The gains and losses of Volkswagen's SUV strategy in China: the sales volume has doubled, and there are also many hidden concerns.

Starting from 20 18, Volkswagen started the SUV offensive. With the advent of T-ROC in July of that year, in the next year or so, the public in the north and south, like "going down to jiaozi", brought us some new models at a dazzling speed. Before exploring songs, there were only Tiguan series and Tiguan. After exploring songs, FAW-Volkswagen brought the shadow of exploring Yue and the word "exploring", while Volkswagen brought Tu Yue, Tu Jia and Coupe-shaped Tu Ang X.

Combining the sales of 1 last year and this year, let's take a look at the success or failure of Volkswagen's SUV strategy for more than a year.

The total size of Volkswagen has not declined, thanks to SUVs.

According to the Volkswagen brand only, excluding Skoda and Audi, the sales volume of North-South Volkswagen SUV last year was 855 1, 0 1 vehicle (data of the Federation). The data of each model are as follows:

Last year, the total sales volume of passenger cars of North and South Volkswagen (excluding Jetta, Skoda and Audi) was about 3,654.38+0.2 million, and the sales volume of SUVs was 85,565.438+0.065,438+0, so the sales volume of SUVs accounted for about 27.4%.

A year later, Volkswagen officially started its SUV offensive in China on 20 18. On July 30th of that year, Ge Tan listed, 10 year 10 Tan Yue listed, and 10 TuYue listed on June 30th. In 20 18, Volkswagen brand SUVs sold about 460,000 vehicles. The main force is still the Tiguan series, contributing 303,374 vehicles. Followed by Touran, contributing 86 182 vehicles. The newly listed songs, "A Journey to the Country" and "A Journey to the Country" contributed little. In 20 18, the total sales volume of Volkswagen brand passenger cars was 3130,000, and SUVs accounted for about 14.7%.

In fact, there is a very interesting phenomenon among the public in China. 20 17, 20 18 and 20 19 for three consecutive years, the sales volume of Volkswagen brand passenger cars has been maintained at the level of 3 12 to 3130,000 vehicles, with a gap of only a few thousand vehicles. Although the total plate size has not changed much, the proportion of SUV sales has increased from 14.7% in 20 18 to 27.4%. Nearly doubled.

On the other hand, with the arrival of the cold winter in the automobile market, the total number of Volkswagen has actually dropped sharply, and the reason why it can still maintain the scale of 3,654,380+0.3 million vehicles is all because of SUVs!

The SUV camp of Volkswagen, despite the rapid growth of the total plate, also exposed some problems.

Tiguan L's monthly sales volume was only in the early 654.38+0 million, and it fell off the altar?

As the mainstay of Volkswagen SUV, Tiguan series was once a symbol of Volkswagen SUV. However, this car of that year has gradually become a little tired. 20 18 sold 300,000 vehicles, and one series supported most of the Volkswagen SUV, but it has dropped by nearly 9% compared with 20 17. In 20 19, the sales volume of tiguan series (including tiguan l and laotiguan) was 250,000 vehicles, nearly 50,000 vehicles less than that in 20 18.

In the first month of 20 19, according to the data provided by China Automobile Association, the sales volume of Tiguan L in the first month of 2020 was only1132, ranking 22nd. Compared with CR-V(27 1776 vehicles, ranking fourth), Nissan Qi Jun (15640 vehicles, ranking eighth) and Toyota RAV4( 15425 vehicles, ranking ninth), Tiguan L has fallen behind by more than one position. Compared with the sales volume of 20,000 vehicles in 65,438+February last year, Tiguan L experienced a cliff-like decline in 65,438+10 this year.

The reasons for the decline of Tiguan L can be summarized as follows: First, the product strength is seriously damaged, the interior lacks new ideas, and the level of intelligence is not high (but Volkswagen is not just Tiguan L); Secondly, in the previous collision between China Insurance Research and Tiguan L, 25% of the head-on collisions only got the worst results. As Passat followed in the second year, negative word-of-mouth continued to ferment;

Third, the same brothers split sales. At present, the guide price for the public to explore Yue is18.59-310.39 million yuan, with a length of 4589mm；; Volkswagen Tuyue's guide price is16.58-2.238 million yuan, with a length of 4453 mm In the 200,000-class compact SUV market, Tuyue and Tan Yue almost ate up the market belonging to the public-in June and1October this year, there were 20,989 vehicles in Tan Yue and 9,342 vehicles in Tuyue. The guide price of Tiguan L is 21.88-31.80 million yuan, and the length of the car is 47 12mm, which is considered as the A+ level or intermediate SUV positioning, a little bigger than that of Tuyue and Tan Yue. But the price is much more expensive. Everyone knows that Volkswagen is a doll with a new shell. These three pieces are the same. The terminal discount is almost 20 thousand, and the actual price is tens of thousands cheaper than Tiguan L. Why not buy Tuyue? This in turn proves that Tuyue can continue to sell more than 20,000 vehicles a month, thanks to the completion of Tiguan L.

Shadow detection of road armour, small SUV two-car strategy failed?

In the compact and mid-level SUV market, although Tiguan L declined, Tan Yue made up for some losses. Coupled with the series of Tuyue and Tuang, the advantages of Volkswagen brand in the middle and high end are still obvious.

But the small SUV market is not very optimistic. In 20 19, Volkswagen first gave the T-CROSS to SAIC, with a slightly elongated size, and made a "road armor" with a price of 127900- 159900 and a length of 42 18mm. Then at the end of last year, FAW-Volkswagen introduced an authentic T-CROSS from Europe, named "Exploring Shadow", with a price of114900-159900 yuan and a length of 4194 mm.

Tujia went public in April last year and sold more than 60 thousand units throughout the year. Last June, 5438+February once soared to 1 10,000 units. However, in June this year, 5438+ 10 fell back to the level of 2772 vehicles (data of China Automobile Association). Sound and Shadow went on the market in 65438+February last year, but the sales volume in that month was less than 2000 units. The sales volume of 65438+ 10 this year is only 1549 units (data of China Automobile Association).

One or two thousand sets of data are unacceptable to the public. In comparison, several Japanese small SUVs performed better. In the first month of this year, XR-V? Sold 13874 vehicles, Binzhi sold 1 1455 vehicles, CHR sold 6250 vehicles, and Nissan Jinke sold 3895 vehicles.

Why is the status of Volkswagen brand in full swing, but the sales of two small SUVs are not satisfactory? In fact, the prices of the two cars are not high, even cheaper than XR-V and CHR, and the legroom of the real car is also large. But there are many disadvantages-the interior is basically hard plastic, and 1.4T uses DQ200 dry dual clutch, which has poor stability and low configuration. In addition, another important reason is that the price reduction of the song of exploration has squeezed the market space of small SUVs.

Take Ge Tan as an example. Volkswagen Ge Tan 2065438+was listed in July 2008 at the price of 135800-209800. For an A+ class small SUV with a length of more than 4.3 meters, the starting price seems reasonable. But if you look closely at the configuration of Ge Tan, 135800 yuan is 1.2T manual, and almost no one will buy it. If you want to buy a 4S shop, you don't have a car. The real price is actually 1.4T two-wheel drive fashion 149800 low-cost starts, and skylights and leather should start at 1700.

The price/performance ratio is not high, so less than two months after the launch of this car, the terminal began to offer a substantial discount of more than 20,000 yuan. The prices of Song Detective, Shadow Detective and Lujia began to overlap highly again, forcing the prices of two small SUVs to continue to drop. The discount for visual inspection and Lujia will also be increased to 20,000 yuan. At present, Tukai has a cash discount of1.5-20,000 yuan, but it needs to be licensed, insured and loaned in the store. The bleak film exploration is also related to the fact that there are too few discounts just listed.

Previously, when the editors of Wired Abroad visited FAW-Volkswagen Store, they could clearly feel that there was little difference in the price of exploring movies and songs, and most people would turn to exploring songs and pay attention to the seekers.

▲ The film detective and the song detective are put together, and customers usually go to explore songs.

Exploring songs is the turning point of Volkswagen's SUV strategy in China. However, from the beginning of the exploration song, consumers began to form two feelings: first, Volkswagen's car actually went on the market for two months, and the price was reduced by 20,000; Second, if you don't reduce the price, you can't sell it! Brand aura is pale and powerless in the face of realistic concessions. Compared with Japanese, such as New RAV4 and Hao Ying, there is no discount and more orders. In this contrast, the brand aura of Volkswagen seems to be somewhat bleak. Moreover, from the feedback of consumers, the psychology of holding money for purchase to reduce the price of new cars has become more common. It is no longer difficult to see the grand occasion of hard-to-find car and fare increase in those years. This psychological change is actually more fatal to the public.

Finally?

According to Volkswagen's previous plan, SUV sales in China will account for 50% in 2025. Assuming that the scale of 3,654.38+0.3 million vehicles does not decrease, then the scale of SUV must reach at least 6,543.8+0.57 million vehicles. That is to say, it will almost double on the existing basis.

If Volkswagen wants to achieve this goal, it is far from enough to rely solely on Tiguan L, Tuyue, Tan Yue and Ge Tan, whose annual sales can reach several hundred thousand vehicles. What's more, in June this year, 5438+ 10 Tiguan L plummeted. If this decline becomes inertia, only one car in Tan Yue can maintain the annual sales of 200,000 vehicles. For the public, if there is no star effect of explosions, it means that brand power and Jianghu status have been eliminated and replaced in the market, which is a disaster for the public brand.

For the public, on the one hand, it is necessary to keep the golden signboard of "Tiguan", on the other hand, it is necessary to tap the small SUV market as soon as possible, and one or two star models with annual sales of 654.38+0-200,000 will be born in this market as soon as possible. Only in this way can we stabilize the brand position of the public. But from the perspective of shadow detection and road armour, the potential of these two cars is indeed limited. Tiguan L has really made great efforts to enrich the product line in the past two years, but the downward trend is still unabated. Volkswagen's SUV attack strategy, although initially effective, is full of difficulties.

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