However, times have changed, and in the face of drastic changes in the consumption structure, what is the "hard dish" of 202 1? The new Audi A3 is about to officially attack. What products have been upgraded after the replacement? Will it win the favor of domestic mainstream consumers in the future and eventually reshape the market benchmark image? With these questions, let's take a look.
First, the consumption trend: the high wind knows the grass, but behind the high heat in the market, there is also an undercurrent.
Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has previously said that corporate strategy should be based on "unchangeable" things, that is, things that need to be repeatedly emphasized for a long time to come. In fact, since the China auto market changed from incremental to stock, despite the long-term adjustment, COVID-19 epidemic and many other uncertain factors, the market has repeatedly caused waves, but behind the current turbulent and complicated situation, the mainstream trend of consumption upgrading and user rejuvenation has not changed.
Figure: Distribution of car purchase budget of potential users
Car home's recently released "China Automobile Consumption Guide 2020" also mentioned that, in sharp contrast to the continuous shrinking of the low-end market, under the continuous influence of consumption upgrading, the demand ratio of middle and high-end potential users with a car purchase budget of more than 200,000 yuan keeps rising. Among them, the car purchase price range of Audi A3 is 200,000-300,000 yuan. At present, the scale of potential users accounts for about 27% of the overall market, which is greatly improved compared with the previous period and will continue to be sought after in the future.
Figure: Focus matrix of luxury brand market segments
However, in the luxury brand market segment, from the two dimensions of product attention ratio and attention change rate, compared with the "potential market" with high attention and high growth rate such as medium-sized cars, compact SUVs and medium-sized SUVs, the luxury brand compact car market where Audi A3 is located is not at the upstream level at present, and the attention of this market has dropped the most, so it is expected that the downward pressure will be too great in the future. In other words, the luxury compact car market is being continuously explored by other market segments with the same price.
At the same time, with the rising purchasing power of the younger generation represented by Generation Z (1born in 2095-2009), it will eventually replace the existing major car buyers such as the post-70s and post-80s, and become the main consumer in the future market. Different from the existing general users, consumers of Generation Z have obvious diversified and personalized demands for automobile products and services, especially looking forward to products that are both economical and practical, full of scientific and technological sense and young sports, which will undoubtedly bring more challenges to automobile enterprises in building product selling points, enhancing the product strength of models and enhancing the commodity value recognized by users.
Second, the competition circle effect and the logic of product listing: the strong have their own hands.
Starting from 20 14, Audi A3 was the first to eat crabs, took the lead in entering the "blue ocean" market of luxury compact cars, and began to expand gradually, enjoying the market dividend exclusively; Subsequently, in 20 17-20 18, after the corresponding models of BMW and Mercedes-Benz brands appeared one after another, the products were in hand-to-hand combat and the competition became more and more fierce, and the situation of BBA German "iron triangle" lineup was initially established.
"BMW 1 Series"
After the market entered the "Red Sea", in the past two years, the competition between models has been relatively solidified because there are few new products in the luxury brand compact car market. The challenges Audi A3 faces mainly come from "latecomers" BMW 1 series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class. According to the comparison times of different cars in car home Big Data, the same conclusion can be drawn.
Figure: Sales trend of luxury brand compact cars.
However, from the sales trend of various models, Audi A3 leads the overall sales with its first-Mover advantage, but the gap with its rivals is narrowing. Especially when we compare the sales volume of sedan models, it is not difficult to find that since 20 19, the Audi A3 sedan version has been attacked by Mercedes-Benz A-class, and the sales volume has plummeted.
The strong breakthrough of Mercedes-Benz products in sales performance seems to be innate, but it is actually well-founded. As a "latecomer", Mercedes-Benz A-Class established the basic concept of being made for China at the beginning of product development. In order to cater to the preferences of Chinese people, when Mercedes-Benz A-Class was listed in China, the wheelbase was specially lengthened by 60mm (compared with the imported standard axle version). At that time, compared with other competitors in the same period, it not only ensured the best leading position of its peers in overall size data, but also completely crushed the old Audi A3 and so on in actual riding space. Secondly, in order to highlight the consistent luxury gene of Mercedes-Benz brand, Mercedes-Benz A-Class adopts eye-catching elements such as dual 10.25-inch full LCD instrument and central control panel joint screen design similar to the new Mercedes-Benz CLS, and the luxurious cockpit sense also ensures that Mercedes-Benz A-Class beats its rivals in the user's reputation evaluation of interior decoration, which has become another big selling point at the product sales end.
"Mercedes-Benz Class A"
In addition, in addition to facing the challenge of the core competition circle, the second gradient luxury brand and some mainstream joint venture brand products will "miss each other" with Audi A3 in the retail price range of about 200,000 ~ 300,000 yuan, which will have a certain impact on the existing luxury compact car market. For example, Cadillac CT4, which just went on the market at the beginning of the year and is positioned in a medium-sized car, has built a more cost-effective image compared with Audi A3 at the same price in terms of size, power and configuration with the strategy of "Tian Ji Horse Racing" to make up for its inferior brand power with BBA products, the first echelon of luxury brands.
Although the Cadillac CT4 is not a hot seller in terms of market performance, the recent warming trend of this car is quite obvious. More importantly, it does divert some potential consumers of Audi A3 to some extent. In the face of the grim situation of strong enemies, Audi A3 undoubtedly has great external pressure on sales volume, and it is urgent to find ways to break the situation.
Third, can the brand-new Audi A3 become the "king of sales" from now on?
In fact, no matter in which "Red Sea" market, existing models want to achieve sales breakthrough and be invincible. In addition to the continuous systematic promotion of brands and servers, the most fundamental thing is to return to the product level. By focusing on the consumption characteristics of target users and the core pain points of key nodes such as product replacement or mid-term replacement, the commercialization of the model will be enhanced and strengthened, so as to continuously gather customers and shape the IP image of excellent products with excellent commodity competitiveness in the fierce competition with competitors.
Figure: Comparison of dimensions and dynamic performance parameters between Audi A3 (sedan version) and main competitors.
Whether from the historical sales data or from the market segment trend, Audi A3? Luxury car (sedan version) is the main market sales force of this model. Compared with the current Audi A3? Luxury cars, from the promotion of goods and the intuitive feelings of consumers, the new generation of products are worthy of the name and have a lot of information.
Specifically, first of all, speak with data, around the old Audi A3? Luxury cars are often criticized for their weak size in the same class. In order to fully meet the demands of local users for large space consumption preferences and cope with unfavorable market competition, Audi A3? Luxury cars have been replaced, filling the shortcomings in scale. Compared with the old model, the wheelbase is 5 1mm longer and the length is 92mm longer, and the overall size is greatly improved. Compared with old rivals such as Mercedes-Benz A-Class and BMW 1 Series, Audi A3? The size level of luxury cars is also at a disadvantage from the old models and gradually returns to the mainstream level at the same level.
"New Audi A3 Interior"
Secondly, regarding the user experience of the cockpit, there has long been a saying in the market that "Mercedes-Benz luxury, BMW sports, Audi technology". Compared with the high-grade temperament created by Mercedes-Benz's overall A-class interior modeling, the "old brand" Audi A3 is obviously a bit dwarfed, and the existing cockpit design and functional experience are far from meeting the needs of Z-generation users. However, Audi is not out of stock. The interior of the new Audi A3 can be described as bursting with science and technology, and its style is close to that of Audi A6L and Audi A8. The recently listed mid-term redesigned Audi A4L has not been used, which shows the determination of the new Audi A3 to restore the reputation of interior technology.
Moreover, in this high-tech cockpit, in addition to the full LCD instrument, large-size screen, and the same electronic shift lever as Porsche, the new Audi A3 is also equipped with the latest MMI system and Audi? Internet connection technology, etc. To provide personalized configuration memory and smooth language interaction with the times for China users, thus reshaping the benchmark of scientific and technological products in the luxury compact car market.
Photo: Audi A3 (sedan version) vs main competitive highlights.
Furthermore, although it has not been officially launched, there is still some uncertainty about the price and configuration level of each version of the new Audi A3 model, but refer to car home data (refer to Audi A3? Limousine's new and old top models and competing cars with the same price), the new products focus on active safety such as active braking and adaptive cruise, full LCD screen, independent air conditioning in the rear row, PM2.5 filtering in the car and other internal and air conditioning configurations, and these highlights are precisely its advantages compared with the current core competitors.
In addition, in the whole luxury compact car market, the BMW 1 series 1.5t engine is a three-cylinder model, while the Mercedes-Benz A-class rear suspension is a torsion beam non-independent suspension (except the top-mounted model), so it has been criticized and there are many customers with different opinions. With the appearance of the new generation Audi A3, it is bound to become the most balanced model among the three BBA brands of the same level in the future, and it will be more attractive after the interior, size and new technology application level are greatly upgraded.
After talking about brand power, talk about target users. As mentioned earlier, the consumer groups of Generation Z have gradually occupied the mainstream, and their spending power is increasing. But at the same time, the attention of luxury brand compact cars is gradually declining. In order to succeed in this market, it is not enough to rely only on the traditional product dimensions such as interior and wheelbase. If you really want to embrace Generation Z, you have to work hard on marketing. At this point, Audi has done a good job.
"The new Audi A3? Sportback Ebo Co-branded Limited Edition "
1 16 10 16, Audi first released a new generation of Audi A3 Ebo co-branded limited edition. The price of the new car is 268,500 yuan, limited to 23 sets, including 20 sets of manganese stone black color matching and 3 sets of ultra-blue green color matching. If you want to buy this limited edition car, it is useless to rely solely on hand speed. You must make an appointment to kill people and help your friends. Moreover, the snapping cycle is not short, and it lasts until the end of 65438+February. During this time, all kinds of publicity of the new Audi A3 have been screened.
The "straight man" who often visits the car forum may not know Ebo. Many labels on this small fresh meat match Audi, such as extreme sports, professional motorcyclists and street dance trends. More importantly, his appeal is very poor. As of press time, Yibo Sina Weibo has more than 36 million fans. According to relevant statistics, 45% of his fans are below 18, 34% are between 18 and 24, and 9% are between 25 and 29. And this is the Z generation user that Audi has always wanted to embrace.
"The new Audi A3? Sportback Ebo Co-branded Limited Edition "
In addition, Audi's choice of this limited edition model is also quite elegant, and it is based on the new A3? The Sportback model adopts the joint logo of Audi xYIBO at the front grille, front fender and back door, and the interior adopts YIBO's signature. Through the above sales analysis, we also know that we choose to buy Audi A3? Sportback model (hatchback model) consumers are a minority and belong to personalized groups. The operation of Audi directly makes the personalized group more personalized.
"The new Audi A3? Sportback Ebo Co-branded Limited Edition "
On the day of the release of the limited edition model, more than 20,000 users made an appointment to kill this limited edition model. In the next few days, even car fans said through social media that they "bought" this car from others for more than 600,000 yuan (the authenticity is doubtful). But after all, it is limited to 23 models, which is nothing compared with the enthusiasm of fans, but they can buy the prototype of this car-the production version of the new Audi A3? Sportback, rounded, can also be called the same paragraph in Ebo. And those consumers who have no feelings about Ebo can buy an Audi A3 that is more oriented to the mass market? Luxury cars have their own needs, while Audi "kills many birds with one stone".
Fourth, summary.
In the new car listing plan of 202 1, brand-new Audi A3 series, brand-new Q5L, brand-new Q2L and domestic Audi e-tron are impressively listed, and Audi intends to attack the market with heavy punches. In the rivers and lakes of luxury brand models, a "big drama" of market struggle is about to be staged.
Whether the brand-new Audi A3 can help Audi win a "good start" is bound to become the focus of attention of all parties in the market. Judging from the development of this replacement model, Audi A3 pays close attention to the changing characteristics of consumer demand in China local market, and strives to create a new situation in the changing situation, so as to better meet the mainstream consumer demand in the future and have stronger comprehensive strength. Its future prospects are still very worth looking forward to. (Text/car home Industry Commentator? Che Yong)