Second-tier luxury brand fight: Porsche encountered sales bottlenecks?

ABB is a practice in the high-end car market. It is due to the pattern. Especially in the domestic market, Audi, BMW and ABB occupy more than 70% of the total market share. You can't say that ABB does not work. In fact, outside of the “head” space occupied by ABB, the high-end car camp, often referred to as the “second-tier brand”, is undergoing profound and dramatic changes: overall overall growth continues to erode ABB’s market share. Among them, some brands began to stand out, leaving Other competitors behind; some even after the domestic, even if there are two brands, even if it did not do a single imported car brand, the market ranking fell out again and again; there are brands and their own than It is an increase, but it has lagged behind the overall growth of the premium car market. In fact, it has fallen behind and been removed from the “second line”; and some brands that are expected to squeeze into the “second line” have encountered sales bottlenecks immediately...

Therefore, for the high-end car market, which has always maintained a relatively high growth rate, the Economic Daily - China Economic Net Automotive Channel is concerned about the old bones of ABB, as well as other possible new tricks. Today, we will look at the Porsche that has just emerged from the “third line” in 2017. Why is the sales growth rate approaching stagnation after entering 2018? At the same time, whether the tariff reduction policy that has just been introduced will bring development to it? To turn?

On May 22, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council issued an announcement and, with the approval of the State Council, starting from July 1, 2018, the tariff rate for vehicles with a tax rate of 25% and 20% respectively was reduced to 15%. The official tariff reduction of vehicle tariffs has also caused the automobile market to set off a so-called “government down” wind.

Tesla, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo, Jeep, Lincoln, Ford and other multinational car companies have "declared every second" in advance to announce the official decline in order to maintain market competitiveness. Among them, brands such as Porsche and Lexus, which are sold in pure import mode, are also particularly attractive.

Tariff reduction, promotion of limited

Recently, the Economic Daily-China Economic Net reporter visited a Porsche 4S shop in Beijing. Sales staff told reporters that the shop has taken the initiative to lower the price of some models. For example, Cayenne, which is priced at 0.998 million yuan, was reduced in price by 6 %, the discount rate will reach about 60,000 yuan. ”

A Porsche 4S store in Beijing, the majority of show cars are Macan

However, due to the manufacturer's MSRP adjustment, Porsche headquarters approval is required. Therefore, the factory price adjustment policy is expected to be announced in June, informed sources. Compared with other brands such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which quickly respond to tariff cuts, Porsche's lag will undoubtedly make dealers passive.

Wang Cun, vice minister of the investment and marketing department of SINOMACH, said, “Although Porsche sold all its imports, the overall sales volume is not large, and the price of the models is also higher. Even if the lowest-priced Macan is cut in price, it is still higher than the same level. The price of the model will be higher than the price. Therefore, it may not be obvious that the effect of tariff cuts on its sales will not be obvious."

The quantity of cars is "new car effect"

In fact, Porsche's sales seem to have encountered a bottleneck. In 2017, Porsche sold over 70,000 vehicles in China, reaching 71,508 vehicles, an increase of 10% over the same period of last year, and it made it stand out from the Lincoln, Infiniti, Acura, DS and other brands, and it is quite among the ranks of second-tier premium cars.

However, in 2018, the pace of Porsche's growth has come to an abrupt halt. According to the data, in the first quarter of 2018, Porsche sold 18,672 vehicles, an increase of only 3% year-on-year. Analysts believe that this is not unrelated to the thin lineup of Porsche’s volume models. In the first quarter, Macan became the best-selling model of Porsche with a global delivery of 23,000 units; the 2017 Panamera also achieved outstanding sales performance, with its sales volume increasing by 200% year-on-year, making it the strongest growth model. In the Chinese market, the two SUVs Cayenne and Macan have become Porsche's sales pillar. At the beginning of the year, when answering a question from the Economic Daily-China Economic Network reporter, Porsche Xiao Da, Vice President of Sales of China, said that Porsche’s dominant Chinese market is SUVs, namely Cayenne and Macan, which account for about 80% of total sales. . This time, when the reporter visited the 4S shop, he also found that consumers are mostly concerned about these two models.

In this regard, Wang Cun believes that “the rapid growth of Porsche’s previous sales was mainly due to the listing of Macan, and with the gradual retreat of the new car effect and the emergence of a “successful car-free” situation, it is normal for Porsche’s sales growth to slow down. ."

"Super running" brand positioning decline

In the past decade or so, the dispute between Porsche brand positioning and real products has never ceased. Traditionally, Porsche is undoubtedly a super sports car brand. However, with the advent of the first SUV, the Cayenne, and the compact SUV, Macan’s follow-up and the launch of the Panamera, the Porsche’s overall sales were quickly increased, but to a certain extent Porsche’s The brand power has been affected. Most people think that Porsche still competes with luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi.

Taking Macan as an example, the current starting price of about 583,000 yuan in the Chinese market has greatly reduced the barriers to entry for consumers to purchase Porsche, but it poses challenges to Porsche's past self-positioning.

Wang Cun said, "Macan's listing has even led to a change in the end consumer groups of Porsche. Before Porsche's consumer groups were mostly high-end elites, and now many middle-class consumers are starting to pay attention to the Porsche brand, even before The bargaining phenomenon seen in the sales of Porsche models has now become commonplace, which makes dealers very distressed."

During the interview, the Economic Daily-China Economic Network reporter also learned that the dealers are distressed, and even cry and laughter is not limited to this, such as the promotion of SUV products - Cayenne is "a sports car for five people." After more than 130 years of development, the inside and outside of the industry has defined each type of vehicle with a very accurate and clear definition, or is a conventional classification. The sports car is a sports car; the SUV is an SUV. If the division is based on the "cognition" of a single company, will it appear to be far-fetched or "referring to the deer?"