Wuling's sales in April fell 21.6% month-on-month. Why is the legendary car no longer legendary? It's all because of its people-friendly positioning.

Do you still remember the Wuling cars that were everywhere in the streets back then?

Wuling back then was able to sell cars and create memes. In terms of influence, it contributed many famous scenes such as "a van full of people came down", which made many netizens exclaim "this car has never let me down".

Before the launch of BYD Song PLUS, Wuling's Baojun 510 was the only SUV that took away the monthly sales champion from Haval H6, and it can be said that it was popular in the entire market.

But do you have the feeling that Wuling doesn’t seem to be as amazing in the past two years?

This is not an illusion. Wuling's last sensational model was the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV. In April 2024, Wuling Motors sold only 51,998 vehicles, a month-on-month decrease of 21.6%. Although April is traditionally a low season, this result is still not impressive.

So, why is the once-famous Wuling car no longer so popular? To figure this out, we must first understand how the Wuling car became so popular.

Wuling's reputation as a god car is mainly due to the Wuling Hongguang series. This car has always been ahead of Buick GL8 in the MPV sales list. It has a large space, is cheap, and is tough and durable. It also provides first-class product quality among cars of the same price. It has been selling well for so many years, and there has been almost no major quality problems.

But the problem lies here. What do people buy Wuling Hongguang for? To transport goods and set up stalls. In other words, it is actually a tool vehicle and has never entered the range of mainstream passenger cars. In recent years, due to various reasons such as the epidemic, the market demand for this low-end MPV has plummeted, and the sales of Wuling Hongguang have also been sluggish. In April 2024, the sales of this car were only 6,251 units.

In fact, it is not just Wuling Hongguang. The sales of models such as Wuling Rongguang, Wuling Zhiguang, and Baojun 730 are also declining. They do not have any quality problems, but consumers no longer need them.

In fact, Wuling has also launched models such as Wuling Kaijie and Wuling 360, trying to add some household attributes. The product performance of these models is still good, but the image of Wuling Automobile as a "tool car" is too deeply rooted in people's hearts, resulting in these models being short-lived and quickly withdrawing from the mainstream market.

Anyone who knows the auto market knows that low-end MPVs like Wuling Hongguang had already shown a clear decline before the pandemic. However, in 2021 and 2022, Wuling Motors' sales have exploded again, achieving astonishing growth. This is not Think Wuling Hongguang has been "resurrected" because of the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV's debut.

As soon as this car was launched, it immediately became a hit with its cute appearance and low price, sweeping the entire micro pure electric vehicle market. In 2021, the sales of this car reached 426,000 units, and in 2022 it further soared to 554,000 units, with an average monthly sales of more than 45,000 units. With this car, Wuling Motors' sales have risen again.

But the problem now is that Wuling Hongguang MINI EV is not doing well now. The sales of this car plummeted to 237,000 units in 2023, and the monthly sales of this car were only 12,000 units in April 2024. For a low-end model starting at 29,800, this result is obviously not impressive.

It can be said that the trend of Wuling Hongguang MINI EV is very similar to that of Wuling Hongguang back then. They have a common problem, that is, their uses are too single. Wuling Hongguang attracts users by positioning itself as a low-end tool vehicle, while Wuling Hongguang MINI EV focuses on being a low-priced commuter vehicle.

Wuling Hongguang MINI EV was launched in July 2020. At that time, there were not many high-quality and low-cost new energy vehicle models in the domestic new energy market. Wuling Hongguang MINI EV is naturally suitable for transportation, and consumers have no special needs for it. It is the type of car that "just can run", so this car became very popular.

But if you really check out this car, you will find that its cost-effectiveness is not high, because it can only be used for transportation. This car does not support fast charging, has a short range, and is not comfortable. Apart from its low price and ability to protect against wind and rain, it basically has no highlights.

Spending tens of thousands of yuan to buy a large mobility scooter for the elderly is troublesome to charge, and you also have to bear the costs of insurance and maintenance. To put it bluntly, it does the work of a mobility scooter for the elderly, but users pay the cost of a passenger car. Therefore, after the first wave of users were harvested, its sales naturally fell sharply.

In addition, Wuling Hongguang MINI EV has too many competitors. Chery, Geely, Roewe, Changan and others all have their own models of the same level. The market demand is getting smaller and smaller, but there are more and more players. Wuling Hongguang MINI EV's original potential customers are diverted, and sales decline is inevitable.

Faced with this situation, Wuling also tried to make changes and launched new models such as Wuling Bingo and Wuling Starlight plug-in hybrid. These models are priced higher, but the configurations are also improved. The overall strength is still good, which has brought considerable growth to Wuling.

But the classic problem reappeared: Wuling's models seem to lack some consistency. Wuling Bingo's cumulative sales in 2023 reached 167,000 units, but only 42,000 units were sold in January-April this year; Wuling Xingguang plug-in hybrid version had monthly sales of more than 10,000 units in January this year, but fell back to 5,000 units per month in the next three months.

It seems that Wuling has returned to its old ways: launching new cars, booming sales in the short term, gradually becoming mediocre after the first wave of sales, and then gradually disappearing. This is true for both fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles.

The "people-friendly" positioning has made Wuling a success, but it has also made it difficult for it to break through. To give the simplest example, if Wuling's small pure electric vehicles, such as Bingo, break through further, they will face the big devil, BYD Seagull, but it does not see the hope of defeating it in the short term.

Wuling Motors has changed its brand image somewhat by launching models such as Wuling Xingguang and Wuling Bingo, and to some extent, has made people forget the stereotype of "tool car", which is a big progress. Whether Wuling can launch models with long-term advantages in the future depends on its own skills.

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.