French cars need to be repositioned in the Chinese market

At the beginning of the new year, sales of various companies in 2011 became the focus of attention. As far as I know, the annual sales volume of Dongfeng Shenlong exceeded 400,000 vehicles. Under the background of a marked slowdown in the growth of the auto market last year, the performance of the legal vehicle is worthy of recognition. However, specific to the B-class car range, the French car is not satisfactory. In the case where the overall share of the B-class car continues to increase, the monthly sales volume of less than 3,000 cars appears to be out of tune with the overall trend.

Where is the problem with the legal class B car? Some people think that the problem lies in the product itself; others think that the problem lies in marketing. But careful analysis, the answer is not so simple. Look at the Dongfeng Peugeot 508 or Dongfeng Citroen (microblogging) C5, whether it is the shape, power level or configuration richness, are not lost to competitors; marketing, whether it is to display the French car elegant, quality of advertising films, or in Attempts at implantable marketing and online marketing have made people feel that the company is making progress in this area. All in all, regardless of whether it is a product or a marketing level, the French car, especially the legal B-class car, does not seem to cause any obvious problems.

I think that the problem of French cars is precisely at a higher level - the company itself. I wrote an article several years ago. In my opinion, the brand is like a float in a water bottle. To make the brand "float" depends on several factors: enough water (product), time (consumer's cognitive process), and the method of pouring water (if the method is proper, the float will "float" quickly). In my opinion, Shenlong's two parent companies, especially PSA, set their own brand positioning. For the Chinese side, the “high hats” of the “three major and three small” joint ventures of the car were worn on the head and could not accommodate their own worth; for the foreign side, the history of French cars and their performance in other markets in the world , making it impossible to accept the reality that the brand's upward impact on the Chinese market is blocked. However, in the Chinese market, high-level cars in the legal system are now destined to allow them to accept the reality of repositioning.

A recent authoritative survey showed that in the minds of many consumers, different departments are divided into three levels. Among them, the Japanese, German, and American schools are the first, Korean, and legal systems are the second, while the independent brands are For the third level. This rating does not indicate whether there is a technical gap between products. On the contrary, such as Korean cars in the interior, appearance has become the leader in this class of models. The same applies to French cars. This grading merely reflects the difference in consumer familiarity with a brand. However, the results of this survey confirm my view that the legal car has a higher position on itself. Positioning is high, and marketing naturally falls short. The legal vehicle's propaganda directed at the German and Japanese cars can be described as holding high, which is precisely a gap with the understanding of consumers. Such propaganda is hardly effective.

In my opinion, in terms of publicity, the strategies of weak brands and strong brands should be different. Strong brands can promote culture and play concepts, while disadvantaged brands should adopt close-to-consumer perspectives to engage consumers. In this regard, Sonata’s experience is worth learning from. The Korean car Sonata, which belongs to a relatively weak brand, did not talk too much about culture and concept in advertising. Instead, it focused on appearance, configuration, fuel consumption, and maintenance mileage, which were directly related to the selling points of consumers, and used plain methods. Passing this information to consumers successfully established a firm foothold in the market. I remember that when Dongfeng Peugeot was founded, I once said that if Peugeot wanted to succeed in China, only when it was "advanced" was enough, it must be a "model worker." That is to say, as a brand that has had Guangzhou's Peugeot lesson in China, it will only succeed if it is paid more and better than others. Similarly, when French cars are blocked in the mid-to-high-end car market today, using this principle to analyze will find that it is not only not bad to set their own position lower, but also to inspire everyone to do more and better.

Therefore, the legal class B vehicle is facing the current situation, not the lack of product competitiveness, nor is it the sales company of the joint venture company does not give force, it is precisely in the positioning of the deviation. The situation in the auto market in 2012 is still not optimistic. The B-class vehicles with greater profit margins will undoubtedly assume more important positions in the company. Under such circumstances, I would suggest that rather than rushing to press the sales company, it would be better for the two parent companies of Shenlong to find the right positioning and set the standard tune. This may be more effective. A step back may be a brighter future.