Competition in the Chinese auto market is increasingly fierce. Almost all of the top 20 auto brands in the world have entered China. German, Japanese, French, Korean and domestic brands are constantly competing for more market share. The strength of domestic brands has only been gradually demonstrated in recent years, but before that, joint venture/imported models were all sought after by domestic consumers. For example, Santana, as the earliest joint venture brand model introduced in China, was once regarded as a generation of god car by countless citizens. However, with the rise of domestic brands, the myth of Santana began to be broken, and it began to decline in 2017.

The spirit of craftsmanship, joint venture discontinued

I believe everyone has the impression that many people would choose joint venture models or imported models without hesitation when buying cars in the past, and only some consumers chose domestic brands because of insufficient funds. However, this situation has gradually disappeared, because many people have gradually begun to prefer domestic brands when buying cars. Because domestic brands of automobile products are not only highly configured, but also more guaranteed in quality. After all, Japanese and German brands, which were once labeled as "durable" and "good quality", have been exposed to product problems one after another this year.

On March 12, 2021, Mercedes-Benz announced a major recall in China. According to the latest release on the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Mercedes-Benz (China Automotive Sales Co., Ltd.) and Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Ltd. have filed a recall plan with the State Administration, and will recall some imported and domestic models from April 12, 2021. The domestic model plan covers mainstream models sold in China, involving up to 2.6 million defective vehicles at this time.

Seeing such a huge base, 91che can't help but be shocked. According to data, Mercedes-Benz sold 774,382 vehicles in China in 2020. Combining the two sets of data, it takes almost three years of Mercedes-Benz sales to reach this number. If time is not used as a criterion, the quality defects of Mercedes-Benz products have lasted for many years.

In April 2020, a video of a female Mercedes-Benz owner defending her rights went viral, allowing everyone to truly see Mercedes-Benz's product quality issues and after-sales attitude. In this regard, 91che, while sympathizing with the car owner, also has doubts about Mercedes-Benz's quality issues. As a first-tier luxury brand that has entered China for many years, its attitude towards the public remains the same, making it difficult for people to believe whether its products are guaranteed.

If Mercedes-Benz's product quality issues are already shocking, then Japanese brands are completely despairing.

At the end of February 2021, according to foreign media reports, Akebono Brake Industry Co., Ltd. recently discovered that there was tampering with inspection data in brakes and related parts manufactured in domestic factories. Currently, about 114,000 products are related to this improper behavior, including forged quality inspection data of brakes and parts. This fraud involves 10 Japanese automakers including Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.

Japanese automobile-related manufacturing companies have been involved in fraud cases for a long time, such as Takata's airbags, Kobe Steel's tampering with strength and size data, Mitsubishi's material data fraud, etc. The point is that the vehicle data involved in these incidents is unimaginable. Although my country's automobile market has entered the era of "four modernizations", the quality of automobile products is still the focus of consumers. When product quality cannot be guaranteed, how can our many consumers dare to buy joint venture and imported automobile products?

Autonomy begins to prevail

Compared with the quality defects and reduced configuration of joint venture/imported automobile products, domestic brands have won the recognition of many consumers in product quality control and began to rise rapidly. In the first half of 2020, the market share of domestic brands fell to 32% at one point, and began to gradually recover in the second half of the year. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in December 2020, the sales volume of domestic brand passenger cars continued the growth momentum in November, with sales of approximately 1.037 million vehicles that month, an increase of 8.8% month-on-month and 12% year-on-year, and the monthly share rose to 43.6%. In general, since February 2018, the market share of domestic brands has continued to decline year-on-year for 20 consecutive months, with the lowest being only about 36%. Since the fourth quarter of 2020, the market share of domestic brands has gradually recovered.

91che believes that the decline in market share in the first half of the year is largely due to the impact of the epidemic, which has caused a corresponding shrinkage in the overall automobile market. In addition, the real time point for the development of domestic brands is set in the second half of the year. For example, Great Wall Motors has launched a number of models such as the Tank 300 and the Big Dog since the second half of the year; Geely Automobile also launched the vast SEA architecture in November last year. In contrast, joint venture brands frequently experienced quality incidents in the second half of the year, resulting in a rapid increase in the market share of domestic brands.

Although domestic brands started much later than foreign automobile companies, with unremitting efforts, the product quality of domestic automobile products is no longer inferior to joint venture/imported automobile products.

In the top ten car complaint lists in January 2021, four models of Volkswagen brand, namely Magotan, Sagitar, Tiguan L and Tanyue, are on the list, as are Camry and Levin under Japanese brands, and Teana and Sylphy under Dongfeng Nissan. Among the independent brands, only GAC Trumpchi GS4 made the top ten. The reason why 91che chose the complaint list to discuss product quality with everyone is mainly because the data given by users is more convincing. Under such circumstances, consumers may be more inclined to independent brands in the future, and the market share of foreign car companies in China will be further reduced.

Consumers' attitudes towards domestic auto products and joint venture/imported auto products can also be reflected in the sales of auto companies. In 2020, SAIC Motor's vehicle sales reached 5.6 million units, ranking first in China for 15 consecutive years. Among them, SAIC Motor's "independent brand camp" sold 2.6 million vehicles, accounting for 46.4% of the group's total sales, setting a record high. The sales of domestic brands continue to set new highs, which undoubtedly shows that people's recognition of domestic brands is getting higher and higher.

In the future, the sales of domestic brands are expected to reach a new height. Especially after the start of the "14th Five-Year Plan", China's automobile industry will have a clearer plan, and domestic brands may usher in new development opportunities. This is also reflected in the automobile market sales list in February this year. Since January 2021, Geely Automobile and Changan Automobile have strongly entered the top three of the domestic broad passenger car wholesale sales rankings that month, breaking the previous pattern of FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen, and SAIC General Motors, the three joint venture brands, occupying the top three monthly sales of domestic broad passenger cars for a long time.

In fact, through the data on the increase in sales of domestic brand automobile products, we can also get a message that consumers are not continuing to blindly follow the trend to buy cars, joint venture brands are no longer the "single" option, and everyone is beginning to become more rational.

Joint venture brands are weak in follow-up

The new energy vehicle market will be a new battlefield for major automakers, so many automakers are actively transforming to the new energy field. However, BBA, as a first-tier luxury brand, has failed in new energy vehicles one after another. Take the BMW iX3 as an example. Its sales performance has been poor since its launch. After the BMW iX3 was launched in November 2020, the number of license plates in the first month was only 184, and until December, it was only 275. Such sales results have no advantages compared with new forces car companies or independent brand car companies such as BYD.

On March 6, BYD officially announced its production and sales in February. Official data showed that BYD sold 20,695 vehicles in the month, a year-on-year increase of 280.6%. New energy vehicle sales were 10,123, a year-on-year increase of 269.6%. According to statistics, BYD's cumulative total production and sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 940,000 vehicles, and new energy vehicles have ranked first in the country in sales for eight consecutive years.

In terms of new energy vehicle companies, NIO delivered a total of 5,578 new cars in February, up 688.97% from the same period in 2020; Xpeng Motors delivered 2,223 new cars, up 1,280.75% from the same period in 2020; Li Auto delivered 2,230 new cars, and its sales increased by 755% compared with the same period in 2020.

Overall, the independent camp has great potential in the field of new energy vehicles. Perhaps many readers will say that the sales volume of Tesla vehicles far exceeds that of domestic new forces car companies. However, Tesla's product quality problem is a very serious problem, and its problems such as automatic driving out of control and battery explosion have occurred frequently. Therefore, 91che also hopes that consumers can pay attention to this issue and consider the safety of the vehicle and the after-sales service attitude during the subsequent driving process in the process of choosing a car. After all, Tesla recently blamed the State Grid for the failure of the charging pile, which made us have to question whether Tesla is a responsible car company.

As for the establishment of the joint venture/import "myth", 91che has always believed that its products have been highly recognized by the market with their excellent product strength, thus being hailed as a myth. As the product reputation is established, its effect is positively fed back to the brand and radiates to new products, resulting in the brand having such influence in the domestic market. The same is true for the collapse of the "myth". Consumers are beginning to become more rational, and domestic brands are growing. If foreign car companies do not pay attention to domestic consumers, let alone reshaping the "myth", it is not impossible that they will be eliminated by the market.  

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.