· SUV against the rapid growth of the market, "adding the price to mention the car" gradually drifting away

Outstanding, it can be described as the true portrayal of China's automotive SUV market in the past two years. On the occasion of the overall slowdown in the domestic auto market, the SUV segment is still striding forward with double-digit growth, as if it is unstoppable. Regardless of the multinational giants or the autonomous car companies, they have made great efforts to arrange for troops.
In the past few days, the reporter found in the "Auto City" Changchun City and other places, found that in the hot SUV market, more and more models are available, and the competition is becoming more and more fierce. A few of the best-selling cars that have been "raised for a price increase" have begun to cut prices and the scenery is fading. Experts in the industry pointed out that under the trend of low-end SUV models, independent auto companies should seek transformation as soon as possible, and set a good quality.
The popular SUV market Hippocampus S7, China V3, Pentium X80 (2nd Anniversary Edition), BYD S7, Lufeng X5, Harvard H6 (6AT), Haval H2 Automatic, Dodge Coolway, BMW X1... just past May, this A series of models have piled up into the already very busy SUV market.
SUV is said to be the most popular section of the Chinese auto market, and no one is dissent. When the Chinese auto market fell from a high speed to a new stage of single-digit growth, the SUV segment used a beautiful answer, so that people can still smell the hot atmosphere of the year.
Statistics show that in April this year, domestic car sales were 932,200 units, down 9.63% year-on-year. In sharp contrast to the SUV model, the SUV model sold 461,600 units in April, an increase of 48.49%. Many people have been unable to remember, this is the first few months of SUV models to maintain a double-digit growth rate.
According to the forecast of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, due to strong market demand, SUV will continue to maintain rapid growth in 2015, and it is estimated that SUV sales will be around 5.1 million units. The car market will maintain a small increase, with an estimated annual sales of 12.51 million units, a growth rate of only 1%.
In the face of such a vibrant market, regardless of multinational car companies or independent manufacturers, they hope to get a piece of cake from them, and have launched one SUV model. The market has not lived up to the expectations of these car companies, almost following the law that all SUV models are selling fire.
Some veteran car companies that rarely involve this field have also introduced SUV models to increase sales. Take the FAW Car as an example. Since the introduction of the Pentium X80 model, it has become the main model of the manufacturer, and it sells more than 8,000 vehicles per month at most. For multinational auto companies, they don't want to miss this opportunity. They not only firmly occupy the SUV market of more than 200,000, but also move into the market of around 150,000 through the newly launched compact SUV to expand their market share in China.
Why is the SUV market so hot? Many car buyers give the answer. In a car 4S shop on Jingyang Road in Changchun City, Yang Qi, a citizen who is buying a car, said that the SUV has a good vision and good passability, and it has a face to open, and the price is not much more expensive than the average car. In addition, many colleagues around have purchased this model. Under the influence of various factors, she is also determined to buy a SUV model of about 200,000. After a weekend of shopping, I found that there are many models available at this price. "More than a little unexpected."
“Adding a price to mention the car” gradually drifted away from the scene of “adding a price to pick up the car” in the domestic SUV market, and many car buyers still remember. Due to the hot market demand, several SUV models are not sold at all, which has led some 4S stores to sell the “additional price to pick up the car”. Among them, the performance of the Volkswagen Tiguan model is the most "firm".
Two years ago, when reporters interviewed a 4S shop in Changchun City, they found that the most popular ones were the SUV models. For the swarming consumers, the sales consultant will inform the store that there is no existing car, or pay the deposit for 3 months to half a year before picking up the car, or an additional price of 30,000 yuan to pick up the car. Although the 30,000 yuan increase is paid in the name of a spree, some knowledgeable consumers understand that the 30,000-yuan spree is overpriced. This scene has also made many car buyers feel helpless.
"Tiguan is now a car promotion, a discount of 10,000 yuan." A few days ago, when the reporter came to the same car 4S shop, he saw that the Tiguan model that had needed to "add the price to pick up the car" has started to cut prices. In fact, this scene that appears on Tiguan is a microcosm of many models slipping from the peak. For example, Ford Mavericks and other SUVs that have also appeared "adding fares to mention cars" have also begun to cut prices. It is foreseeable that the phenomenon of “adding the price to pick up the car” in the SUV field is gradually drifting away.
During the interview, the reporter found that there are three reasons why the SUV market “difficult to increase the price” is difficult to trace: First, after the overall growth rate of the domestic auto market slows down, more and more auto companies have adopted the SUV market as a profitable part, and have launched new models, resulting in new models. The SUV market is becoming more and more competitive. Second, some dealers' inventory crisis has intensified, and the pressure for survival has increased. Some car companies have begun to adopt official price reduction measures in order to balance the relationship with dealers. Third, the internal structure of the SUV market has changed. The mid- to high-end SUV models have significantly reduced their prices and hit some of the low-end SUV market share, further leading to the price drop in this market segment.
"At present, the official price cuts have given the 4S shop some breathing, but it is not enough," said Sun Yue, a sales consultant for a 4S shop. The store's sales in May saw an increase from April, but it was much lower than the same period last year. Since the official price cuts do not cover some of the best-selling models, they are not attractive enough for consumers. Although the pressure on inventory warnings has been eased for a while, but from a certain period of time, the price reduction promotion of SUV models will be the main means for 4S stores to fight the market.
Autonomous car companies have hidden concerns to open a sales data of the domestic SUV market in the first four months of this year, which can make some independent car companies proud. Among the top 10 SUV models with the best sales, the self-owned brand SUVs occupy 7 seats. Among them, the Great Wall Hover H6 model is far ahead of other brands with a sales volume of 118,500. Only the Tiguan, Yihu and Qijun three cars entered the top ten of the joint-venture brand SUV models.
However, if you look at this list, you will find that compared with the three joint-venture brand SUVs with an average price of around 200,000, the top ten self-owned brand SUVs mainly have a market range of 50,000 to 100,000 yuan. . Although the sales volume is large, the profit level is far less than that of the joint venture car companies.
From the performance of the SUV market last year, an obvious change is that the price of luxury SUVs has plummeted. Among them, the slowdown in the growth of the luxury car brand market is the main reason. Taking the BMW brand as an example, from the sales situation in the first four months of this year, the cumulative sales in the Chinese market amounted to 153,000 units, a year-on-year increase of only 5%, which was significantly lower than the growth rate of more than 20% in previous years. In order to seize more market share, BMW and other brands began to enter the dominant position of their own brands. For example, the price of the BMW X1 has already dropped to the price range of 200,000 to 300,000.
Faced with the aggressive situation of multinational auto companies, independent auto companies have also made frequent efforts in the field of SUVs. While continuing to launch new models of around 100,000 yuan, it is gradually moving toward the mid-range SUV market. Take the Haval H9 model launched by Great Wall as an example, the price ranges from 230,000 to 270,000, and it directly competes with the main models of the joint venture brands such as Tiguan, CRV and RAV4. However, from the perspective of market sales, whether it is the Haval H8 model or the Haval H9 model, the monthly sales of these mid-range SUVs are around 1,000, and it is still difficult to shake the status of the main models such as Tiguan.
Many people in the interview said that under the current trend of autonomous auto companies to expand the SUV market, they should be alert to short-sighted behaviors that may have a quick success. Judging from the current market situation, self-owned brand SUV models are still in the initial stage of imitating foreign brands, and independent research and development investment is far from enough. But with the hot market, independent car companies can also get a piece of cake. The most worrying thing is that if we do not change this situation and only peg the profits, when the domestic SUV market is gradually saturated in the next few years, the independent car companies will go back to research and development, I am afraid it is too late. No one wants this scene to be staged, but if you don't be wary of this hidden danger and take countermeasures, the lessons of independent car companies in the car market may soon be repeated in the SUV market.

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