China doesn't need a new 'crown'

In the current Chinese auto market, compared with the move ofnew energyvehicles to speak with their strengths, how to consume feelings will always appear in the existing strategies of traditional auto companies.Especially in the Japanese car camp, the topic of paying for feelings can always be woven into marketing words.Up to Nissan 400Z, Toyota Supra, down to a series of models such as Honda Fit, are involved.

But at the same time, we must admit that as the main body of automobile consumption begins to focus on the post-95s-centered population, and the inherent IP is packaged, the influence it can produce is indeed declining year by year. .

In the past, the so-called JDM can always cause some people's intracranial orgasm in an instant, and Toyota and Honda are the first beneficiaries.At this stage, when BYD sells out of stock in the terminal market, "Wei Xiaoli" closely follows Tesla to become a traffic password, and some confidence is really time to let go.

Just like one of the most connotative models in Toyota's history, according to existing information, the Crown is expected to transform into a crossover car with a wider audience, but to revitalize this car series, and even return to China to survive, I still want to Ask, what is the new idea of ​​the "old" crown, and where does it come from?

The unexpected "resurrection"

When asked about the status of the "Crown" in the Toyota lineup, almost everyone would blurt out the word "irreplaceable".After the replacement of fifteen generations of models, the Crown has huge fans in most of the core markets around the world.Especially in China and Japan, with a long enough historical background and excellent public reputation for car use, the crown is like a spiritual totem engraved on the scrolls of each era.

But how can the development of reality be as good as imagined? Since the fifteenth generation of Crown was released in June 2018, it was announced that it would no longer be introduced to China. The outside world has long known that the era of Crown has finally come to an end.In the context of the intensifying "new four modernizations", the significance of the crown to Toyota is no longer profound.

When luxury brands such as BBA continue to drop to the subdivision area near 200,000 yuan, no matter how much Toyota invests in Crown's IP operation, to make consumers who only follow the brand continue to pay for Crown's people, It is difficult.

Now, watching the 15th-generation Crown gradually lose ground in Japan, what can Toyota do?Either completely let the name of "Crown" belong to history, or rewrite a new story for it, changing the pattern of the market from the source.

A few days ago, some overseas media exposed a set of Toyota's new-generation crown patent images.Not surprisingly, the new car will be consistent with the exposed pictures, using a design style that is very different from previous models.Leave the sedan attributes and turn to crossover models.

In addition to the larger and wider radical design at the front and rear, the most noteworthy detail is that the new generation of Crown adopts the usual fastback design of the coupe, which makes the overall shape biased towards Citroen Versailles, Ford EVOS and other similar models.

In other words, the new car that is about to appear in front of us, in addition to the continuation of the name, the model itself is very different from the past.

Of course, since the development platform that Toyota currently relies on is its own TNGA global architecture, it is impossible to develop a new rear-drive crown on this basis.The reason why Toyota chose to revive the Crown in such a way that is not recognized by most people, I think, its practical significance is that in many places around the world, the Crown's higher-end model image can be used to complete the expansion of the original market.

Just like Toyota's play in the Chinese market, with the successive discontinuation of Reiz and the 14th-generation Crown, Toyota has long since made no achievements in the 300,000-class sedan market.Perhaps this is the inevitable result of market differentiation in the end, but there is no doubt that this is not what Toyota wants to see.

Previously, sister cars Wilfa and Highlander entered the market under the name "Crown".Well, it may not be a bad thing for Toyota to completely revive the crown by planning a new car.Toyota has always been a profit-oriented car company. When selling feelings can make money, the crown is just another bargaining chip that it can hold.

In other words, in Toyota's world view, the Subaru BRZ can be sold into the 86's body until it is out of stock, and the BMW Z4 is regarded as the spiritual continuation of JDM in the name of Supra. There is no reason why the crown should not be used as the next scythe to harvest the market. ?

China does not pay for feelings

The global auto market has come to this day, and Toyota and Volkswagen are full of nervousness.All this is not only due to the rapid development of electrification, but also to the anxiety that the inherent market is gradually being eroded by newcomers.In contrast, the Chinese market is very competitive.

Since last year, Toyota's deployment in China has been accelerating.On the one hand, it is true that Chinese consumers have been fascinated by the Toyota brand in recent years.Under such a posture, Toyota does not want to widen its market boundaries. On the other hand, Toyota must know that when the electrification transformation of the Chinese auto market is so intense, it can have the opportunity to take advantage of the afterglow of the fuel era to strengthen its defense. Will never let go.

It is also because of this that it has fallen back to the "crown", and the model has been discontinued due to the decline in market acceptance, which will only make Toyota more unwilling.Seeing that the big IP "Crown" can still play a role in China's "keyboard" car industry, how to continue to dig its remaining value has become a top priority.

On July 15, 2021, FAW Toyota, Toyota's joint venture in China, officially announced that "Crown" has become its high-end flagship brand. Its models on sale will include the previously imported luxury MPV Wilfa and GAC Toyota's sister car, the Crown-Lu Fang .And a month later, the latter really wanted to use the title of "crown" to suppress all competing products of the same level.

But so far, what has the "crown" brought to Toyota?Is it fame and fortune, or is it less than expected?

Data show that in May this year, the sales volume of the Crown-Lufang was 3,268 units, while the cumulative sales in 2022 were 19,484 units.For comparison, the Highlander sold 39,215 units from January to May.It can be seen that, regardless of whether FAW Toyota falls behind in terms of marketing methods, the crown incarnated as a product spokesperson obviously does not show its due level.

When the FAW Toyota Edition was released, I thought it would be prefixed with "Crown" again, but it was shown with the new name "Grevia", which may also be meant to explain that even Toyota itself began to notice that restart The "Crown" plan has now faced new difficulties.

Judging from the existing information, Toyota has not yet planned to turn the new crown into a crossover car to attract China, but judging by Toyota's dumpling-like behavior in the Chinese market for more than a year, this new car has been introduced into China. is still possible.

Just to say, looking at the development direction of the entire Chinese car market, based on the current volume of joint venture brands in the promotion of new cars, and the judgment of future market segments, the arrival of the new crown has long been no longer in the majority of young people. consumers' attention.

In the past few days, there are many traditional brands in the newly released models in the Chinese market.However, once a horizontal comparison is made, the explosive traffic generated by the Weilai ES7 and the ideal L9 almost drowns all new cars from traditional car companies.It is conceivable that with the passage of time, it will be so easy for traditional car companies to continue to rely on so-called feelings to impress Chinese users.

China does not need a new "crown", it is no longer alarmist.Even in the context of the global market, instead of continuing to rack their brains to tap IP dividends, for most car companies, it may be the right way to really do a good job in the planning and research and development of new products.Stronger than Toyota, no exception.