Higashimoto INSPIRE is a relatively depressed existence in the entire family sales system, and the sales volume is mediocre all year round. In the first ten months of this year, the cumulative sales volume was less than 30,000 vehicles, accounting for only 4.9% of Dongben's share. For reference, the Hiroomoto Accord, which is also a sister model, sold 155,800 units in the same period, which is three times that of INSPIRE and accounted for 24.91% of Hiromimoto's share. Looking at the data of the two sets of cloud and mud, I really felt indignant for INSPIRE.
However, in the past November, we were surprised to find that Honda's monthly sales of inspires reached 10,054 units. Although there is a gap of about 15,000 vehicles from the head Camry or Accord, looking back at the level of about 3,000 vehicles per month before INSPIRE, it is obviously an incredible leap forward, even surpassing the Asian Dragon with a monthly sales of 9879 vehicles. Together with Tianlai, Passat, Maiten and other models, it entered the mainstream B-class car camp.
What is the right decision to make INSPIRE achieve such impressive sales results?
The name of the Chinese who arrived late
In November, the month when INSPIRE sales soared, its mid-term revamped model was launched. As early as mid-October, Higashimoto announced that INSPIRE Chinese named "Yingshipai". The model, which has been on the market since 2018, did not have an officially recognized Chinese name until three years later. You know, a model based in the Chinese market did not enter the countryside to take a Chinese name, just by a string of English characters that even everyday consumers may not easily shout out, and how to expect consumers to have the desire to further understand.
Therefore, at that time, a small number of people preferred to transliterate it into English poetry, which is closer to today's Yingshi school. In fact, AS THE SUCCESSOR MODEL OF ESPIRA, IT IS HALF HIGHER THAN THE MAIN FAMILY ACCORD IN TERMS OF SPORTS POSITIONING, AND IT IS NO WONDER THAT SOME PEOPLE WILL NAME IT AS THE KING OF ACCORD. Just combined with the initial sloppy sales of INSERT, The Accord King is really not very pleasant to listen to.
As we all know, models with sports labels are generally difficult to sell high. In fact, under the current new trend of young people growing up as the main consumer force, sports and household labels have become more and more compatible. Accord is favored by the new generation for its sporty appearance that conforms to the times, and also strives to break into the mainstream B-class car market, and is not ambiguous in terms of household attributes.
As the saying goes: a person is like his name, a good name is often a beautiful meaning of his future long life. The same is true of car names, although Yingshipai is not the core force that began to sell popular models last month, but the establishment of new Chinese names can narrow the distance between them and consumers, and will not be as non-existent as before. A good example is the same As Honda's Haoying, as the sister model of cr-V, it brainstormed when it was warmed up and not listed, and established haoying as a rather grounded Chinese car name early, and sales were not to mention.
Sister models go hand in hand
Not surprisingly, this year's B-class car sales crown will belong to the Toyota Camry. According to the sales of passenger cars from January to November 2021 released by the Association of Passenger Vehicles, the overall sales volume of the Camry is 189572 units, about 17,000 units ahead of the second-place Accord (172539 units). According to the current sales performance of the two equals, with only one month left, it seems unlikely that Accord wants to achieve a counter-overtake.
However, this does not hinder the benchmark image set by accords in the field of B-class cars, after all, accords is last year's B-class car sales crown. As the sister model of accord, in my opinion, they are more like twin sisters, whether in the appearance of the shape, interior layout and performance parameters are almost the same, the price of the model is highly overlapping, the emergence of such a large sales gap is really confusing, even if the Accord's entry into the country for a longer time, and the reputation is outside.
Although the current Yingshipai on sale is a mid-term redesign, it is fair to say that compared with the old model, its changes are very limited, it is difficult for consumers to perceive and recognize, and it is more appropriate to understand it as an annual update. As far as the design of the Yingshipai is concerned, in fact, there is not much gap with the Accord, not to mention the similar interior layout and the same engine parameters.
In this regard, it seems to be a double-edged sword for Yingshipai: Accord's sales can be so eye-catching, and it is natural that Yingshipai is so similar to it that people have the same expectations; but even in the case of both are so close, consumers are often more inclined to the more familiar Accord option, creating a cold yingshipai.
In fact, under the influence of the inevitable homogenization factor, striving to differentiate is an indispensable step in the dual-vehicle strategy. Continuing to take Haoying as an example, CR-V Zhuyu is in front, how does Haoying break the game? At that time, Haoying came up with a better design than CR-V, which made sales start to skyrocket after listing. Including the GAC model that is about to be listed, the Si domain name is big enough, but the new generation of models has been criticized by many people for their home model. So the type is more thoughtful in terms of sports, and even provides a manual version that the Civic does not have, how effective is it? We'll see.
Today's Yingshipai can also be regarded as sitting on an equal footing with the Accord, letting go of the figure that was half a cut higher than the Accord in the past. After eating the dividends of the Accord sister models, it is time to think about how to make a differentiated competition that is more in line with the perspective of consumers.
Price control makes profits
In addition to providing the same mechanical quality performance as accord, Yingshipai also needs to be hard, and behind it is the mature assembly process of Higashimoto. In the final analysis, price will be the biggest attraction to promote consumers' purchase intentions, especially under the premise that the fame of Yingshipai is obviously at a disadvantage to accord, and its price concession margin will absorb some of the intended customers of Accord and other competing models of the same level.
As the flagship sedan of the Higashimoto family, the guided price range of Incepai is 179,900-25.59 million, compared with the Accord's 16.98-25.98 million. Although Yingshipai has just completed the redesign, some stores have hung up some models to enjoy a discount of about 20,000 yuan. On the other hand, in addition to the showroom car, almost all models have no discounts, and there are only one or two thousand yuan, and they need to be associated with nepotism conditions such as store insurance and mortgage car purchase.
Taking the hybrid sub-low of the English poetry school as an example, the guidance price needs to be 209,900, while the market's naked car quotations are mostly concentrated in 188,900. Compared with the low match of 219,800 in accord hybrids, the cost-effective advantage of The English Poetry School is particularly obvious. Of course, the configuration will be slightly inferior, after all, the Accord has more navigation voice intelligent car machines, front wireless charging, exterior mirror heating and electric folding and other functions than it. But these painless comfort configurations do not reflect the price difference of 30,000 yuan, not to mention, Yingshipai is equipped with a panoramic sunroof that can be opened, and the Accord is an ordinary small electric sunroof.
Again, Yingshipai is probably in the early 200,000s of this price can buy a comprehensive performance of good B-class hybrid car, the next door Toyota Camry's lowest match, even if you count the price concessions, the naked car price is still at 200,000. From this point of view, the part of the consumer who pays more attention to fuel economy, the cost-effective advantage of Yingshipai in the market is self-evident.
Figure | Sourced from the web
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