Changan Automobile, wake up! When marketing overshadows technology, it is the time when car companies go downhill.
In fact, in addition to Changan Suzuki, which has withdrawn from the China market, Changan Mazda and Changan Ford are now showing more or less fatigue in development. The technical level of "acclimatization" and the product field of "praise is not a good seat" have become important reasons for restricting sales. Comparatively speaking, with the release of "Blue Whale Power", Changan Automobile established its own technical IP; The "fancy marketing" all over the network has brought brainwashing publicity effect; Coupled with the gradual expansion of CS series and UNI series, Changan Automobile has become a difficult choice that cannot be ignored in the10-200,000 family car market.
To some extent, the development track of Changan Automobile is the epitome of the era of independent brands in recent years. By constantly consolidating the underlying technology, optimizing the brand image, seizing the joint venture brand market, we can achieve a double harvest of sales and word of mouth, thus promoting the virtuous circle and healthy development of the brand. However, in the face of overwhelming flowers and applause, Changan Automobile lost its development direction, and its quality, marketing and service levels kept declining, which eventually laid many hidden dangers for its future development.
The quality bubble will burst with a slight poke.
As the saying goes, "if a worker wants to do a good job, he must sharpen his tools first." The reason why Changan Automobile can hold its first-line camp has a lot to do with the birth of "Blue Whale Engine", especially the explosion of Changan CS75PLUS. It was from that time that Changan Automobile gave people a stable and lasting brand impression, which brought additional effects and had a positive impact on other models.
However, returning to the actual car life, Changan CS75PLUS is not as worry-free as expected. Last year's National Day holiday, it was supposed to be a good time for the whole family to drive together, but a Changan CS75PLUS with a Guangdong M license was parked in front of Changan Automobile's 4S shop with a white banner, and the words "Engine leaks after driving for thousands of kilometers" and "No complaints" on the banner were quite eye-catching. Choosing a "less decent" way to defend rights during holidays, even if you just hear about it, you can feel the bitterness.
Some people may think that this is just a case, but the author opened the search engine of the automobile quality network and found that there were not many quality complaints about "oil leakage" of Changan Automobile, which not only involved the 2020, 202 1 and 2022 second-generation Changan CS75PLUS, but also involved the best-selling models such as Changan CS55PLUS and Changan UNI-T.
What is even more irritating is that a car owner said in a complaint that when the fault occurred, the 4S shop sales were not only not ashamed, but wanted to come up with a solution to the problem as soon as possible; On the contrary, saying "you will win the prize" makes the host feel even worse. The contempt for technology and consumers runs counter to the "Technology Changan Smart Partner" advocated by Changan Automobile.
It is worth mentioning that, as another heavy product in Changan automobile car market, Changan Yidong, which will be listed at the end of this month, has a pre-sale price of 89,900-6.5438+0.10.99 million yuan, and is known as the "price butcher" in the A+ class car market.
But what many people don't know is that in the media test drive in February, some media exposed the video of Yida's front hanging right suspension tower breaking, which added a lot of unknowns to its listing. Of course, it is uncertain whether the fault is a human factor or a design defect, but if Changan Automobile takes the road of "reducing price and quality" for sales, it will bring a more serious blow to consumers' trust.
Exaggerate marketing, saying well is better than doing well.
In recent years, "intelligent technology" has become one of the high-frequency words in the automobile circle, which not only helps new energy products to rapidly expand the market, but also attracts more young people's attention to traditional fuel vehicles.
Of course, the development and installation of technical configuration requires a lot of cost. For Changan Automobile, Changan UNI-K, which locates the flagship of SUV, is the best "technology spokesperson"; However, the frequent rollover of Changan UNI-K in intelligent configuration has had a negative effect.
In March, 20021,UNI-K in Chang 'an held an activity called "Ten Square Meters Conference". As the chairman of Changan Automobile, Zhu Huarong incarnated as a "cargo officer" and personally took the platform of Changan UNI-K. During this period, Changan UNI-K demonstrated a function called "APA6.0 Remote Automatic Parking", that is, when there is no key in the car, the staff who are 0/9 km away from the vehicle/KLOC-0 can realize remote parking through their mobile phones, which has become one of its core "black technologies".
However, just as consumers once again lamented that "domestic cars stood up", in 2022, Changan UNI-K was caught in a "sales fraud" storm. According to the exclusive owner of Changan UNI-K 2.0T/ all-wheel drive, the vehicles purchased by Changan UNI-K 2.0T do not have the function of remote automatic parking, and later thought that they could be upgraded by OTA. However, compared with the 2023 model, it is found that it lacks side radar and is difficult to realize. In addition, there are L3-level automatic driving and light show, which were also promoted by the government in the early stage, but the first batch of car owners did not enjoy it. Until February this year 19, there were still car owners who initiated complaints against Chang' an Uni-K.
Objectively speaking, brand-new technology takes a long and rigorous time to polish. Take L3 autopilot function as an example. Even if technology permits, there is still controversy at the regulatory level, and Changan Automobile cannot understand this truth. However, it is a matter of subjective attitude of enterprises to publicize uncertain and unrealized functions and induce consumers to buy cars. Moreover, if Changan UNI-K really can't meet the needs of car owners, why did Changan Automobile choose "cold treatment" car owners instead of providing solutions for one year? Is such a negative attitude worthy of the trust of the chairman?
In addition to the previous "false propaganda", this year, many car owners complained that Changan UNI-K "in-vehicle system has not been upgraded for a long time", so that many functions including navigation system cannot be used. Ironically, Changan UNI-K, as a medium-sized SUV with a starting price as high as145,900 yuan, set high-end functions such as OTA upgrade and car networking as standard in the whole system at the beginning of its listing. Faced with today's "goods are not right" situation, many consumers feel disappointed, powerless and cheated.
Conclusion: "Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it". The success of Changan Automobile today is inseparable from the support and support of domestic consumers. Especially for many young people, it is likely that under the pressure of family members to buy joint venture cars, they finally firmly chose domestic cars. However, as far as the performance of Changan Automobile is concerned, it is quite similar to the joint venture car in previous years. It is blessed by its own reputation and aura, and it will never return on the road of "lying down to make money".
At any time, quality and users are the untouchable bottom line of car companies, and Changan Automobile should not only study marketing strategies and maintain online reviews, but also control product quality, listen humbly and sincerely accept suggestions from consumers. If car companies only focus on selling cars and forget to bow their heads to engage in technology, it is bound to usher in a day of devouring capital; When "shouting" overshadows "discussion", it may be the beginning of the decline of car companies.
This article comes from the author's car information, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author in any form. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.