Former Nissan CEO Ghosn's prediction before fleeing seems to be coming to an end. Whether in China or in the global market, Nissan has a hard time.
13 In February, Nissan announced the financial report for the first three quarters of fiscal year 20 19:
Operating profit was 54.3 billion yen, down 82.7% year-on-year; The net profit was 39.3 billion yen, down 87.6% year-on-year, and the operating profit margin was only 2. 1%. The net loss in the third quarter of fiscal year 20 19 reached 26 1 100 million yen, and Nissan ushered in its first loss in eleven years.
At the same time, in order to recover the decline, Nissan plans to cut costs by 480 billion yen. In July last year, Nissan announced that it would lay off 654.38+0.25 million people worldwide, accounting for about 9% of the total number of employees in the world. By June this year, this number had expanded to 4,300. Nissan also plans to close two factories, cut the production line of 65,438+04 factory and reduce the production capacity by 65,438+00%.
In the China market, Nissan's performance in the past year is also a long story. Although on the whole, Dongfeng Nissan held the market and achieved a slight increase of 0.3%, on the one hand, the total sales volume of1170,000 failed to complete the annual task; On the other hand, compared with Toyota's 9% and Honda's 8.5% increase, Nissan has been left further and further.
From June+10 this year, under the dual influence of the Spring Festival and the COVID-19 epidemic, the daily sales volume of Dongfeng was? 92, 158? Taiwan Province, year-on-year decline? 8. 1%, the main models of Sylphy, Hacker and Qi Jun all declined to some extent, but correspondingly, Dongben and Guangfeng ushered in sales growth in adversity.
There is no doubt that Nissan has fallen into the biggest crisis since it entered China.
Exchange price for quantity
In 20 15, Nissan's sales in China exceeded one million for the first time. Toyota and Honda only relied on two manufacturers to draw with Dongfeng Nissan, all of which benefited from the business philosophy of "small profits but quick turnover" in Ghosn's era.
On the terminal side, compared with the main competing products, Dongfeng Nissan offers greater benefits.
Take the A-class car market as an example:
The sales volume of Sylphy ranks in the top three all the year round, and in 20 19, it dropped LaVida to the first place for four times, but this achievement was achieved by the marketing strategy of "substantial discount" and "two generations under one roof". Last year, the 14 generation Sylphy just went on the market for less than a month, and the discount given by the terminal was about 65,438+0,000. Correspondingly, the new generation of Corolla only dropped by 3,000, and Civic only controlled the discount within 5,000 after a long-term price increase.
There is also a B-class car that best represents the brand image:
Camry is the earliest replacement, with the highest discount of only 5,000 in two years and the Accord discount of only 654.38+0.5 million, mainly aimed at higher-priced hybrid models. As the last replacement product, Teana has achieved more than 20,000 discounts, but even so Teana only lingers on the sales volume of 1 10,000 units.
Then zoom in to the SUV camp:
From A0 level to A level and then to B level, the product prices of Hacker, Qi Jun and Loulan are significantly lower than those of Toyota and Honda at the same level. The transaction price of Qi Jun terminal is about 65,438+0.5-24,000 yuan, which is much lower than RAV4 and CR-V. Although part of the reason is that the products are approaching the end of replacement, don't forget that Nissan's three SUVs are "bullying the small with the big".
For many years, Nissan has been guided by the sales volume in China market, and exchanged prices and quantities with large discounts. Although this has brought a short-term surge in sales for Nissan, Nissan's profit margin has not been optimistic, especially the actual profit of dealers is not so glamorous, and more importantly, it has subtly lowered the height of Nissan brand in the hearts of consumers.
Unbalanced sales
For Dongfeng Nissan, another problem is the imbalance of sales.
At present, Nissan has 12 models on sale in China. In 20 19, only sylphy+hacker+Qi Jun accounted for 73.5% of the whole brand, and the total sales of the other nine models were less than 30%, which was extremely unbalanced.
Seriously, the sales share of these three models has a trend of further expansion, with only 67.3% in 20 16 and a slight increase in 20 17, but it jumped to 7 1.5% in 20 19, except for this.
This has two hazards.
First, the brand's ability to resist risks is low.
Once the replacement of one model fails or the market changes, the sales volume of the whole brand fluctuates greatly. In fact, during the transition from the old Sylphy to the new Sylphy in June and July last year, Dongfeng Nissan ushered in a two-year losing streak;
Second, the growth is weak.
Whether it is Sylphy or Qi Jun, the market capacity at the same level is almost saturated, which is even more difficult. However, if the sales volume of the whole brand wants to break through, it can only hope for the weak models, but the failure of Teana, Bluebird and Loulan basically declares Nissan's hopelessness.
It can be clearly seen that from 20 16, the daily sales progress is slow.
On the other hand, Nissan, although Toyota Corolla+Lei Ling+Camry is the top three cars in Toyota's sales volume, its sales share does not exceed 50%, and other models can guarantee a good brand sales share, which is the basis for Toyota to maintain a large sales volume and continuously improve.
Donkeys have poor skills.
Nissan is one of the first brands to pay attention to "technology" marketing in China market, and it is also one of the first brands to establish the image of "technology Nissan" in the hearts of domestic consumers.
This is due to the GT-R of the god of war. That VR38DETT engine not only abused European rivals in acceleration performance, but also had a very advantageous price. It can be easily converted into an amazing output power of more than 65,438+0,000 horsepower, and this engine is full of linear acceleration fields all over the world.
And VQ series engines. The VQ series, which cost 57 billion yen to develop, was put into production in 1994, rising from 2.0 to 4.0 liters. During 14 years, 14 different types of engines were produced every day. What is rare is that each VQ engine has inherited DNA with high efficiency, silence, fluency, light weight, high compatibility and high reliability, and set a continuous record of 65,433.
And CVT gearbox. It is Nissan's persistence that makes CVT's ride comfort and fuel economy advantages stronger and stronger ... A series of leading technologies make Nissan's technology truly famous all over the world.
However, as soon as the small displacement turbine becomes the general trend, the VQ series large displacement self-priming gradually loses its use; Secondly, after Ghosn took over Nissan, he strictly controlled costs and greatly reduced technology research and development. Nissan is a bit "technical". In recent years, the traditional fuel field lacks the technology of "technical daily production".
In terms of power, there are only a few slightly old 1.5L, 1.6L, 2.0L and 2.5L engines, and the 2.0T VC-TURBO variable compression ratio built over the years has not achieved the expected results. On the one hand, the production capacity is limited, and only two new cars, Scorpio and QX50, are equipped with high prices, so ordinary consumers cannot feel the technical benefits of Nissan; On the other hand, the reputation of the terminal is not as good as advertised, and the performance and fuel economy that users care about are not obvious compared with the same level.
At the level of intelligent driving, Nissan is also facing a similar dilemma. How does Toyota's TSS Zhixing safety system compare with Honda's? Sensing safety extrasensory system, Nissan's "Nissan Zhixing" system, especially ProPILOT super intelligent driving technology, are not as widely used as the first two. At present, it is only carried on the Seventh Generation Teana and the 2020 Qi Jun.
It can be said that the technical strength that consumers can perceive from Nissan models is getting narrower and narrower. Compared with TNGA of Toyota, "buy an engine and send a car" of Honda, or "one person and one horse" of Mazda, Nissan today has only the name of "big sofa".
A failed counterattack
Nissan is not unaware of the brand crisis, but the two counterattacks basically ended in failure.
Used to be "young? Nissan's brand revival strategy.
20 15 Nissan proposed "young? The brand slogan "Nissan" started emotional marketing, and launched models featuring individuality and sports, such as Bluebird, Sima and Xinloulan. , the pursuit of maverick design, and strive to meet the aesthetic needs of a new generation of users.
It's just that the shapes of Bluebird and Sima are too unconventional and angular, deliberately emphasizing the novelty of the design but ignoring the practicality; At the same time, it is produced on the same platform as Xuanyi and Teana. The same three big pieces, the driving space is short board, and the price is still high. Compared with the soul-moving designs of Angkor Vesela and Artz that appeared in the same period, Nissan's modeling is obviously backward. At present, the monthly sales volume of Bluebird is only about 4,000, and Sima is about to stop production.
Another time was the listing of the flagship car, the Seven Generations of Teana.
Nissan has high hopes for this car, not only equipped with VC-TURBO? 2.0T engine, through the brand-new V-Motion design language, endowed the seven generations of Teana with the fashion style of not losing the ten generations of Accord and the eight generations of Camry, but the seven generations of Teana still failed.
Compared with the peak monthly sales of 30,000 in the past, the average monthly sales of Teana today is less than 1 10,000 vehicles. Last year, the cumulative sales volume was only 86,587 vehicles. Compared with the sales of the 220,000 Accord and the 654.38+08 million Camry, the former top three Japanese companies are now only soloists of the Japanese duo.
The rejuvenation of the brand and the collapse of the flagship car are fatal to Nissan, which not only means that Nissan may lose its first-Mover advantage in the next competition for the mind of a new generation of consumers, but the collapse of the B-class car representing the brand image also implies a sharp decline in Nissan's brand power.
Nissan's hope
So, is there any hope for Nissan?
Of course, Nissan, which has a history of building cars for nearly a hundred years, naturally holds the king bomb in its hands, and new energy technology is Nissan's killer weapon to lead the future.
As early as 1947, Nissan launched the first electric car-Tama? EV, with more than 70 years of experience in electric vehicle research and development and more than 25 years of experience in automobile battery research and development, Nissan's most representative product in the electric field, Leaf Wind, has been ranked first in the global electric vehicle sales. At present, there are more than 400,000 car owners in the world, maintaining a record of zero major battery accidents with a cumulative mileage of 654.38+0 billion.
There is also the e-Power hybrid system, which has excellent dynamic response and acceleration ride comfort. The fuel consumption of the first model Note is only 2.7L per 100 kilometers. In 20 18, Note also defeated Toyota Prius and became the new sales champion in Japan. It is reported that Dongfeng Nissan is expected to launch four products equipped with e-Power technology in 2022.
Undoubtedly, betting on Nissan's pure electricity and hybrid technology of new energy will be the key to its future success. But the question is, can Nissan survive this crucial two or three years?
summary
As the cornerstone of brand sales and profits, Nissan relies too much on pillar products, and its sales are gradually unbalanced, with less technical support and declining brand power.
However, the tweeter has not been introduced into China, and there is still a two-year transition period for E-power. At this time, the hybrid of Toyota THS and Honda i-MMD has accumulated a strong sales and word-of-mouth base in China market. In this way, Nissan's future is not optimistic.
If the new energy source loses power again, then the only thing waiting for Nissan is bankruptcy.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.