Porsche slashes prices, loses its strength and endorses, the disenchantment of European luxury cars is just the beginning of cultural collapse

Ever since "Porsche price falls below 400,000" became a hot topic and the news that "Maserati's price was reduced to 500,000 and no one wanted it" spread like wildfire, discussions about Western luxury cars have never stopped in our public opinion field.

Some people question the rationality of the decision to reduce the prices of these luxury cars, while others question whether this is a new way of playing when they cannot cut the "leeks" of the domestic rich. In any case, everyone is interested in two aspects: one is why these European luxury cars have reduced their prices, and the other is why the Chinese rich are not as willing to "pay" as before.

The question of "why the price is reduced" is easy to answer, and a set of data is enough to explain everything. From January to September this year, the total import sales of Maserati was 878 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 79%. The sales of brands such as Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren also fell by 44%, 57%, 44%, 48% and 88% respectively during the same period. Cars are not selling well, and car companies need to survive. Cutting prices is the most direct and simple way to break through.

However, simple ideas are not necessarily useful ideas. Western luxury cars may not have considered another problem, that is, price cuts are actually not very effective for the rich in China. The sluggish sales have already reflected people's attitude towards these luxury brands. To put it bluntly, most of the rich in China are not short of money. Their unwillingness to choose these brands shows that their identification with these brands and the culture behind them has changed.

In the past, people often had an inexplicable fondness for Western products, whether it was cars or other products. And this fondness, in the final analysis, came from the recognition and even worship of Western culture.

As for when this identification began, in modern times we can trace it back to the Opium War. From the Qing court sending 120 boys across the ocean to the United States to learn advanced science and technology, to the later reform and opening up, further learning Western ideas, culture, science, technology, and capital. Over the years, we have indeed learned a lot of good things from it, and the Chinese have also formed the stereotype that "the moon in the West is rounder."

Especially in the subsequent industrial revolution, Western luxury cars used their national industrial strength and national credit endorsement to establish cognitive barriers.

This is actually to make people subconsciously bind together elements such as Europe and America, industry and culture, so that when people see these luxury brands, they naturally identify with the brand value behind them. Moreover, the stories told by Western luxury brands, such as century-old brands, lap time kings, royal cars, etc., are all linked to social status, wealth, and identity background, which is undoubtedly very tempting for the newly emerging Chinese rich group.

Times are changing, and all walks of life in China are rising. As the East rises and the West declines, the Chinese people's identification with Western culture has also begun to change. The stories of Western luxury cars in the past are unlikely to arouse the interest of the new generation of wealthy people.

In 2021, the Global Times conducted a poll on the theme of "Changes in Chinese Young People's 'Views' of the West". The survey showed that over the past five years, the proportion of Chinese young people "looking at Western countries on an equal footing" has increased by 6 percentage points, while the proportion of "looking up to" the West has decreased by about 30%.

As Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, said, in the past few years, the Chinese people as a whole have entered an era of "re-examination" of the West. Young people grew up in an era of rapid rise in China, and the country's prosperity has given them greater self-confidence. Therefore, in their interactions with the West, young people are more confident and more likely to adopt a "level" perspective.

More importantly, in recent years, the image of freedom and democracy that the West has worked hard to create is gradually collapsing, and Trump has personally punctured the myth of the Western political system, which has caused many Chinese people to take the initiative to "demystify" Western culture. When Chinese people no longer blindly identify with Western culture, the influence of luxury cars and even luxury goods is also undergoing drastic changes.

As time goes by, people's identification with Western culture is getting weaker and weaker, and few people like to listen to the old European car stories. In the past, Chinese car brands did not rise because people were not confident in their own culture. Chinese rich people need to get satisfaction from the brand stories of luxury cars to prove their success and strength.

Now, our own brands are good enough, easily crushing the electric drive system of top internal combustion engines, matching the configuration of traditional million-level luxury cars, and leading the intelligent advantages of traditional luxury cars, all of which can bring different and novel experiences to Chinese people. Moreover, instead of borrowing the history of super luxury brands to prove their own success, today's rich people prefer to participate in the luxury cars created by their own brands to create new brand stories.

Of course, it is undeniable that the hundreds of years of history of Western luxury cars will still have a certain impact on the market. Whether it is "Porsche falls below 400,000" or "Maserati drops to 500,000", these are unprecedented price cuts, and the middle-class audience with certain consumption power may be tempted by this. However, it is only possible to be tempted. After all, the current environment is like this, and tightening consumption willingness has become the norm. This is also the key reason why luxury goods such as LV, Hermes, and Swiss watches are not popular in China.

As consumer willingness tightens, Chinese people's identification with Western luxury car culture gradually decreases, and the possibility of people turning to domestic brands with high cost-effective new energy models will obviously be higher. Even if we put aside the brand value that the brands have built over the years, it is still unknown whether these Western luxury cars will achieve good results by lowering their prices to cater to the middle class.

In fact, the cold reception of European luxury cars in the Chinese market is just a "phenomenon". The underlying reason is that Europe's overall strength is rapidly shrinking, which has directly led to the Chinese people's reduced identification with their culture. Coupled with the increased confidence in their own culture, the combination of the two has made it natural for luxury cars to fall in price.

Again, what you buy is not a commodity, but a cultural identity. Once the strength that supports the culture declines and these luxury cars cannot tell a "new story", the value of the brand in your mind will inevitably be discounted at a rapid rate. What's even more cruel is that as a consumer product, the unsalable discounts of luxury cars are actually just the beginning of the overall decline of Europe. There will be many hard days ahead.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.