China's automobile consumption areas vary widely

At the auto show site, I interviewed an independent Chinese brand leader with a media friend in Shandong. The dear friend raised a somewhat acute problem: Shandong is now at least the second largest local market for more than a dozen second- and second-tier car companies in China, and cars Since last year, the total sales volume has become the largest in the country. Why aren't auto companies customizing for marketing in marketing or even product design? Is it because Shandong does not have its own passenger car manufacturer?

I can understand that this colleague is emboldened by this statement because I know that the North School represented by Beijing Hyundai, FAW-Volkswagen and FAW Toyota, and the Southern School represented by Shanghai Volkswagen and Shanghai GM etc. have already fought in Shandong. For a long time. The channel's spelling is intriguing, and countless offline activities are contested. However, this friend did not say anything wrong. Regardless of the marketing strategy or product design, the car enterprises have not “put the Shandong market in their eyes”. In a more gentle way, companies have not done a good job. The preparation for regionalized precision marketing was launched, and regional product design was discussed.

As a regional market, China has different market characteristics from other similar market areas. The huge cultural differences in the region have forced companies to face very different audiences when promoting their products. For example, some people have summed up the different preferences of consumers in Shanghai and Shanghai to buy cars. It is often said that Beijing is tolerant and big, and Shanghai is alone. This means that Beijing's car buyers have irreplaceable requirements for space, while Shanghai's mainstream car buying needs are more about personal preferences. Therefore, brands such as Ferrari and Porsche are more willing to settle their headquarters in Shanghai, while Mercedes-Benz and Audi must occupy Beijing. Of course, there are other different consumer preferences in the two places. For example, if Beijingers buy off-road vehicles, they have more emphasis on whether the products actually have off-road functions. The Shanghai people's demand for off-road vehicles is that they look like they have a tone and comfort. If the consumer preferences of these two first-tier cities are based on the choice of products, then another one-line market, Guangzhou-Shenzhen, is based on brands. When Guangzhou people are considering buying a car with 200,000 or so cars, they often think that it is Do you buy a Japanese car, buy a Japanese car, or buy a Japanese car?

For the follow-up market development, what is more important is the preference of the second-tier and third-tier markets. It is still difficult to estimate how much development space this market will have. However, at least the southwest region centered on Sichuan, the North China region centered on Shandong, the northeast region centered on Shenyang in Shenyang, and the northwest region centered on Xi'an have all demonstrated car consumption that cannot be ignored. Their favorite car has gradually surfaced. For example, in the Sichuan area, while presenting a polarization of the characteristics of a good car and an economical car, after the Wenchuan earthquake, consumers have a soft spot for a hard-core off-road vehicle. An investigation agency in Chengdu has investigated the SUV model The requirements, tough style and reliable off-road ability are valued locally. At the same time, Sichuan people are also very fond of some details on the safety and storage configuration. In Shandong, although the consumption of economic vehicles still dominates the mainstream, from the standpoint of high-performance cars with the plain as the main landform, high-performance cars will become a follow-up hotspot in this market. At the same time, the Shandong people who have very heavy family values ​​also hope that their interior space can be larger. The harmony of power, control and space may be a small blind spot in China's current auto market. The tastes of the northeast and northwest markets are obviously biased. Due to the need for winter, they are more interested in large and medium-sized cars because the stability of vehicles in these vehicles is generally better. Once in the cold season to Ordos, where Land Rover sales make you hard to imagine much. Infiniti, Lexus and other brands of SUV products are very favored in the Dalian generation.

We can't expect companies to develop different models for different regional needs in China in the short term, but it is clear that marketing and simple matching for the region have become necessary in the era of the second and third line. Seizing the Guangshen to the north, the era of completion of marketing tasks has passed.