Before talking about their sales, Liang Zi can only say that I am a semi-French car fan. I used to have a Shenlong Fukang 988 at home, and I also had feelings for French cars. No prejudice against French cars. Peugeot and Citroen are old brands that have been sold in China for more than 65,438+00 years. In fact, everyone is familiar with them, and they may not have much resentment against them. According to the editor's calculation, in 20 19, the combined sales of French cars of Peugeot, Citroen, Renault and ds may not have exceeded 654.38+10,000.
Why can't sales go up? Have consumers forgotten?
Why? This is the question that Liang Zi has always wanted to ask. Why have French car sales plummeted so much in the past two years? In my college days, Citroen C5 was well-known in the B-class car market. Peugeot 408 has a good size. I've been in business for five years, and I've basically seen French cars go from OK to almost falling to the bottom.
In my opinion, there is not much problem with the dual-brand product sequence of French cars, especially Peugeot and Citroen. At present, Peugeot mainly sells cars and SUVs, mainly selling 408 and 4008 cars. Judging from the monthly sales of 1 1, Peugeot 408 sold 1403 vehicles, accounting for 29.38%, and Peugeot 4008 sold 1736 vehicles, accounting for 36.36%. The rest of the vehicles are basically in an embarrassing situation where the sales volume does not exceed 1000, which is in sharp contrast with the monthly sales volume of a car sold by Volkswagen for more than 10,000.
Citroen, 165438+ 10 * * sells 250 1 new car. The main sales product is the compact SUV Tianyi C5, with a sales volume of 65,438+0,498 vehicles, accounting for 59.9%, followed by C3-XR, Elysee and other products of 65,438+00-65,438+05 million. Other flagship products such as C5 and C4L have disappeared in previous years.
For Renault, the monthly sales volume of 1 1 is 2004 vehicles. Among them, a small pure electric SUV? E Nuo unexpectedly sold 1382 vehicles, accounting for 68.96%. The sales of the other three models, Koleos, Koleos and Koleos, were somewhat bleak, and none of them exceeded 1000.
On the DS side, it's quite simple. The monthly sales volume of 1 1 is fixed at 9, and there is no double-digit performance. Are they DS? 6、DS？ 5 contributed 5 or 4 cars. It is worth mentioning that after years of persistence, Changan PSA finally couldn't help it, and has started to sell some shares, hoping to find a receiver and bless it.
China people really don't understand the romance of the French? I don't think so. From the end of last century to the beginning of this century, Dongfeng Citroen almost stood at the top of China automobile market with Fukang. In the following years, especially in 2009-20 14, Peugeot sold over 10,000 yuan in May 2008 with its 308, 408, 508 and SUV models, while Citroen sold over 10,000 yuan in May with its Elysee, C4L, C5 and SUV models C3-XR. Not only that, at that time, both the product matrix and the publicity were not the same as today. At that time, French cars were not for sale. Why are there more and more products, but the sales volume is declining?
After understanding in many aspects, I will briefly analyze why French cars have changed from mass brands to today's minority brands from four aspects. Let's take Peugeot Citroen as the representative.
1. The dealer network is deformed, and the second and third tier cities are not sinking enough.
I checked in Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen official website, and their domestic dealer networks are not reasonable. Beijing and Shanghai are ok, but there is a serious difference in dealer network coverage between emerging first-tier cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen and some more important second-tier cities. In terms of quantity, Dongfeng Peugeot's national dealer network is about 565,438+09, including some secondary dealers. Dongfeng Citroen is relatively few, with 365,438+04 dealers. Compared with FAW-Volkswagen dealer network (960), the number difference is more than double.
The rapid development of China's economy is obvious to all the world. From a national perspective, the number of cars in first-tier cities is close to saturation, and even there is an oversupply of cars. Most second-and third-tier cities are catching the fast-developing trains in China, and their economies are growing rapidly. Among them, consumers' potential demand for car purchase is also higher. However, Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen have serious deficiencies in the establishment of dealer networks. This is the so-called "I want to buy a car, but I don't know where to buy it".
In fact, even so. Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen has a large number of dealers. Due to the rare cold winter in China in the past two years, the automobile market grew slowly, even declined. It is even worse for the Peugeot Citroen dual brand, which is quite small. Through Baidu search, we can easily find it. In the past two years, the living conditions of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen dealers are worrying. The situation that the manufacturer pressed the car and the dealer could not clear the inventory broke out. It didn't improve slightly until the second half of 20 19.
However, despite the worrying survival of Shenlong, Shenlong Automobile has repeatedly made high-profile statements. We should join hands with dealers to overcome difficulties. Actually, I'm scared at this crisis. The manufacturers and distributors went to war in an all-round way, which was really irreparable. According to the editor's understanding, the current situation of Dongfeng Peugeot dealers selling new cars in Beijing is acceptable, and they are fully capable of supporting their survival.
2. The configuration is a little stingy, and the top match is really good.
I believe that people who have bought Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen cars know something about it. For configuration, these two brands are a little "stingy". Some are already standard in other brands and need to be equipped on the top models of Peugeot and Citroen models. This is not uncommon in the messages of major forums and netizens. This has caused the embarrassing situation that the low-priced models are not cost-effective and the high-priced models are too expensive. And now there are many models of the same class on the market, and the price is similar.
Many consumers choose to buy other models because they are not satisfied with the configuration. After checking many car owners' comments on Peugeot Citroen models, most car owners put a tick in the column of "low configuration" ...
The word-of-mouth impression has become that French cars look good, but they are really expensive to repair.
In the mouth of consumers who know a little about cars, French cars have become "forbidden zones". Many friends who know cars actually have no antipathy to French cars, and prefer the romantic design of French cars. However, behind the overly romantic design, it is often more "anti-human". Many old owners of Peugeot Citroen said that it was too much trouble for Peugeot Citroen to repair the car at one time. Some relatively simple parts replacement has completely changed the concept here in French cars. Replacing the air conditioning filter often requires a large disassembly of the vehicle, and replacing the oil filter even requires removing the chassis. This sensational maintenance really happened on the French car body.
Word-of-mouth marketing has always been an important reference object for Chinese people to buy cars. Word-of-mouth will gradually form an impression in the hearts of consumers. Actually, to be honest. You can go to major vertical websites and see the reputation of car owners in the legal system. Basically, it is quite impressive. I didn't find it difficult to repair cars by word of mouth. This old concept really needs to be changed.
Price reduction is a double-edged sword. If Peugeot Citroen loses its brand in sales volume, it will be in a dilemma.
Take Dongfeng Peugeot 508L, which was listed at the beginning of 20 19, as an example, and its official guide price is 15.97-225700 yuan. After listing, I have also been to Dongfeng Peugeot's dealership in Beijing many times. After at least 3 shop visits, and the interval is basically more than 3 months. Whether there is any discount for Dongfeng Peugeot 508L, the answer we get is "no". Moreover, many consumers who look at cars do have a high degree of love for 508L. Basically, I will sit down and listen to the sales talk in person, but when I hear that the price is not favorable, there is often no following.
As far as I know, Peugeot sales is also very picky about this matter. Manufacturers are afraid that once the door of price reduction is opened, some of them can't control it, thus losing their brand height. In fact, this is understandable. Just like Cadillac, it is easy to reduce the price by 6.5438+10,000. Indeed, the sales volume will increase, but the loss is the brand thickness. This double-edged sword will always make us gain and lose.
Summary:
It is no accident that French cars are not acclimatized in China. At present, China automobile market is in a "reshuffle period", which is also a period of substantial integration of resources. Not only French cars are in trouble, but American cars and Korean cars also have their own troubles. People in China think more and more about car consumers. If a joint venture brand wants to operate smoothly in China, it must fully respect China consumers. To know what products China consumers really need, we must really know what products China people like to buy. We also have reason to believe that if we actively seek change, French cars still have hope to return to the peak.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.