In April, Volvo sold 1.04 yuan in China.
Ten thousand vehicles; Cumulative sales from January to April 3.92
Ten thousand vehicles, the lowest sales volume among the four second-tier brands, even less than half of Cadillac’s sales volume, were also thrown far by Lexus and Jaguar Land Rover.
According to industry insiders, Volvo has gradually declined in the second-tier high-end brands, mainly because the flagship model failed to establish a high-end brand image and could not be recognized by consumers; The low growth rate of Volvo is in
SUV has not formed an effective growth point, the main model XC60.
Nor did it keep up with the mainstream of the industry.
It must be said that ABB is a convention in the high-end car market, especially in the domestic market, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz (
ABB) The three major brands account for more than 70% of the total, but you don’t say ABB.
No way. In fact, the share in ABB "
Head "space, often referred to as"
The high-end car camp of "second-line brand" is undergoing profound and drastic changes: the overall growth continues and gradually erodes.
ABB’s market share. Among them, some brands began to stand out and set aside other competitors; Some even after domestic production, even if there are two brands, they can’t do a single imported car brand, and the market ranking drops again; Other brands have grown compared with themselves, but they have lagged behind the overall growth of the high-end car market, and have actually fallen behind and been moved out.
"second line" …
Therefore, for the high-end car market that has maintained a high growth rate, the Economic Daily-China Economic Net auto channel is concerned about both.
An old performer like ABB also pays attention to other new performers with various possibilities. Today, let’s take a look at Volvo’s market performance, and explore why it lost its rivals in the competition of second-tier brands and even fell into the ranks of third-tier brands.
Recently, some media reported that Geely Automobile told the banks applying for the lead underwriter that only Volvo Car’s market value exceeded 30 billion US dollars would conduct an initial public offering (IPO), which was considered by some analysts as "too high expectations".
Judging from the market performance of China, Volvo’s largest single market in the world, Volvo’s IPO road may really be uneven. The data shows that in April, Volvo sold a total of 10,400 vehicles in China; From January to April, the cumulative sales volume was 39,200 vehicles. Cadillac, Lexus and Jaguar Land Rover, both second-tier high-end brands, sold 81,100 vehicles, 53,200 vehicles and 50,300 vehicles respectively in the first four months. In contrast, although Volvo achieved growth year-on-year, its sales volume was the lowest among the four second-tier brands, even less than half of Cadillac’s sales, and it was also far behind by Lexus and Jaguar Land Rover.
Compared with the above-mentioned high-end brands, Volvo’s decline has already appeared before. In 2017, the gap between second-tier high-end brands began to widen. Among them, Volvo sold a total of 114,400 vehicles, and the gap with the previous one was 18,000 vehicles, which should not be underestimated for second-tier high-end brands whose annual sales just passed the threshold of 100,000 vehicles.
Lack of brand power
The flagship model is difficult to build a high-end image.
According to public data, Volvo’s flagship SUV model XC90 sold a total of 2,831 vehicles from January to March, while BMW X5, Audi Q7 and Mercedes-Benz GLE, as its "imaginary enemies", sold 14,201 vehicles, 13,511 vehicles and 9,203 vehicles respectively in the first quarter. This shows that Volvo XC90 is weak in competition.
Volvo XC90
Cun Wang, Vice Minister of Investment and Marketing Department of SINOMACH, pointed out that for large and medium-sized imported SUVs, consumers are more interested in brands, while Volvo, which is in the second-tier and high-end category, is relatively weak in brand power, so it is difficult for XC90 sales to increase significantly.
As Volvo’s flagship car, the domestic S90 is highly anticipated. When S90 was unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show in 2016, Chen Lizhe, general manager of Volvo Car China Sales Company, once said, "The new S90 long-wheelbase luxury sedan is superior to German competitors in terms of technological leadership and luxury comfort configuration, whether it is an entry-level T4 model or a T5 model."
The reality is that the "advantage" of Volvo S90 is not reflected in the sales volume, and the new car only sold less than 1,000 vehicles in the month of listing; In 2017, S90 sold a total of 24,700 vehicles, less than 20% of Audi A6L; From January to April of 2018, S90 sold a total of 11,500 vehicles, which is only equivalent to the monthly sales of Audi A6L. Obviously, the so-called "domestic flagship" of Volvo S90 has not started, let alone enhance the brand image.
Volvo S90
Faced with the pressure of poor sales, Volvo had to choose a strategy of sharply reducing prices to deal with it. The reporter from Economic Daily-China Economic Net learned during a visit to a Volvo 4S store in Beijing that the current Volvo XC90 has a "comprehensive discount" of 170,000-180,000 yuan from the entry model to the top model, while the official guide price of S90 entry model is 369,800 yuan, which also has a discount of nearly 90,000 yuan. The staff even said, "If you really want to buy it, the price can be discussed again."
In the eyes of the industry, Volvo has gradually declined in the second-tier high-end brands, mainly because the flagship model failed to establish a high-end brand image and could not be recognized by consumers.
"Volvo XC90 offers such a big discount, mainly because there are very few consumers looking at cars and there is basically no sales every month." The staff said helplessly, "There are group buying activities in the 90 series in the store these two days, and the discount range is even greater. For the sake of capital turnover, there is nothing we can do."
Lack of marketing power
The main models are difficult to pick the sales beam.
After being acquired by Geely Group, Volvo’s product upgrading accelerated and new models appeared constantly. Among them, XC60 and S60L are both suitable for walking. However, in product marketing, it seems to be somewhat inadequate, which has affected the market performance to a considerable extent. For example, Volvo has been committed to promoting "being the safest car" for a long time, but when "safety" has become an essential element or basic guarantee for high-end cars, and when a number of independent brands such as WEY also focus on "safety", Volvo’s almost unchanging statement has no advantage.
During the visit to the market, the reporter of Economic Daily-China Economic Net found that Volvo salespeople are still old-fashioned words: "The proportion of boron steel in Volvo body can reach 45%, far exceeding other brands"; "Preventive protection for rear-end collision, which can safely brake when the difference is 50KM/h"; "XC90′ s self-driving has reached L3 level, so far there has not been an accident" … However, when asked about other advantages, the staff only brought a product color page and said, "Look for yourself, you can ask me if you don’t understand". Can this help users’ cognition and sales promotion?
Volvo XC60 offers a comprehensive discount of 65,000 yuan.
In addition, Volvo’s inflated price has also become a hot spot for consumers to vomit. Last December, Volvo’s new generation XC60 went on the market. However, at the moment when the price of high-end cars is generally lower, the price of new cars is further raised on the basis of high price, and the starting price has risen from 358,900 yuan to 369,800 yuan, which is not too much compared with BBA, which directly leads to its sales volume hovering around 3,000 vehicles. The data shows that from January to April, the sales volume of Volvo XC60 was 11,564 vehicles, up 9.31% year-on-year, which was based on the substantial price reduction. It is understood that the current comprehensive discount of Volvo XC60 is more than 50,000 yuan, and the Beijing area can even reach about 65,000 yuan.
Netizen tucao Volvo XC60 price is too high.
Netizen yuken12900 said in the forum, "Volvo typically has no self-knowledge, and it will be even worse after X3 and Q5L come out! The expected price reduction of 100,000 may not be useful. By the way, I almost forgot, and GLC will soon be extended. Spend the same money and give a reason to choose Wo (Er) Wo? "
In this regard, Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Association, said that the low growth rate of Volvo was mainly due to the lack of effective growth point in SUV, and the main model XC60 did not keep up with the mainstream of the industry. In addition, the price of Volvo XC60 is too high, which may be because it hopes to enhance its brand image through price and let consumers recognize the positioning of its luxury brand, but the effect remains to be seen. (Economic Daily-China Economic Net auto channel Original Reporting Group)
