Subaru faces difficulties in China as its technology claims cannot stop sales decline
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Automobile is one of the industries with highly integrated technology. Although not all automobile companies are world-famous for their technology, technology IP is the cornerstone of enterprise development and is indispensable. Moreover, technology IP is the most penetrating IP. Once technology becomes IP, it will quickly become the dominant strategy of the enterprise and cover its products. At the same time, technology IP is also the IP with the most challenges, because it not only faces competitors, but also needs to continuously achieve self-breakthrough. Only when the speed of technological progress can exceed the speed of changes in consumer demand can technology IP stand firm. Subaru, which uses horizontally opposed engines as its selling point, is facing the dilemma of continued sales decline in China. It has been nearly 12 years since it entered China. Compared with other Japanese brands, Subaru is still a relatively niche brand in China. In the past two years, while the sales of Japanese brands have increased significantly, Subaru has declined against the trend. After reaching a sales peak of 57,000 vehicles in 2013, Subaru's sales in China began to decline. In 2014, it dropped to 54,500 vehicles. In 2015, Subaru's cumulative sales in China were 47,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 14%. Judging from some of the sales data that Subaru has made public, its sales in China are still declining. In this regard, industry analysts believe that "Subaru's difficulties in China are due to multiple factors, but the increasingly prominent quality problems and after-sales maintenance problems in recent years have made Subaru's development in China more difficult." As the world's largest automobile consumer market, the market share and sales of automobile brands ultimately determine the market position and development potential. How to break through the Chinese market has become an urgent problem for Subaru to solve. The reporter of "China Business News" sent an interview letter to Subaru on related issues, but no reply was received as of press time. Quality and after-sales constraints have always been the biggest selling points of Subaru, including the horizontally opposed engine and full-time four-wheel drive. However, in recent years, Subaru's proud horizontally opposed engine has caused more and more complaints. According to the reporter, these engine complaints are mostly concentrated on Subaru's third-generation horizontally opposed engine-the FB series engine. The modified engine was launched by Subaru in 2010. It is understood that the FB engine is a comprehensive update based on the basic framework of the EJ engine, which improves fuel efficiency by 10% compared with the original. This is the first comprehensive update in 21 years since the second-generation horizontally opposed engine was installed in the first-generation Legacy model launched in 1989. The FB engine has two models, FB20 and FB25 (2.0L and 2.5L displacement respectively). Subaru's popular models, Forester, Outback, XV, etc. are equipped with these two engines. Judging from the current complaints from car owners, the problems involved include burning oil, abnormal cam cover noise, oil leakage, and even valve spring breakage, connecting rod breakage and other situations. Mr. Li, a car owner from Zhejiang, bought a Subaru XV Comfort Edition vehicle in 2014. When it drove more than 2,000 kilometers (the first maintenance had not yet arrived), the new car's engine made abnormal noises. Moreover, the yellow oil warning light on the dashboard turned off after a few minutes. The 4S shop did not pay attention to it after inspection. Since then, the vehicle has also had yellow oil warning light information, and even the exhaust color has been blue. The local 4S shop has not given any solution. In August this year, when the vehicle had traveled nearly 16,000 kilometers, the yellow oil warning light came on and did not go out. Later, the local 4S shop suggested to Subaru to replace the engine assembly, but Subaru finally agreed to replace the cylinder head. In addition, according to the statistics of the China Automobile Quality Network under the supervision of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the 2011 Forester purchased by Ms. Li from Shandong was disassembled four times. The engine was replaced with camshaft devices, valve gaskets, engine rocker arms and other parts, but the abnormal noise faults were not eliminated and the abnormal noise problems were not solved. The 2013 Forester 2.5L model purchased by Mr. Jiang from Zhejiang was also equipped with the FB series engine. The vehicle only traveled 122 kilometers after purchase, and it was found that the engine had abnormal noise when starting, and then it could not be started again. After inspection by the 4S shop, it was found that the intake valve spring of the engine cylinder 1 was broken. In addition, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China announced that Subaru Automobile (China) Co., Ltd. has recalled many popular models such as Subaru Legacy and Forester in batches twice due to safety hazards. The first batch of recalls was launched on November 14, 2016. This recall includes imported Legacy and Outback series models, involving a total of 71,227 vehicles. This batch of recalls is due to improper manufacturing of the internal circuit of the front wiper motor bottom cover, which poses a safety hazard; another batch of recalls will be recalled from November 25, 2016, and some imported Legacy, Forester, Impreza series vehicles will be recalled. According to the company's statistics, a total of 9,219 vehicles are involved in mainland China. Due to design problems, some vehicles within the scope of this recall may cause the relay contacts that control the secondary air pump to melt and stick, causing the air pump motor to run continuously, which in turn causes the air pressure in the air pump air pipe to rise, and the air pump temperature to rise. In severe cases, it may cause the resin parts to melt, emit odor, smoke or even catch fire, posing a safety hazard. Multiple dilemmas to be solved After reaching its sales peak in 2013, Subaru confidently announced that it would achieve annual sales of 100,000 vehicles in 2016. As sales fell, Subaru lowered its annual sales target for 2016 to 50,000 vehicles last year, only half of the previous target. Embarrassingly, 2016 is coming to an end, and Subaru's early sales are still sluggish. Subaru, like Lexus, uses imported car sales in China. At the same time, just like Lexus is backed by Toyota, Toyota is also an indirect major shareholder of Subaru. In 2004, Toyota acquired 16.5% of the shares of Subaru's controlling shareholder, Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries, sold by General Motors, and thus became an indirect shareholder of Subaru. It was also in this year that Subaru began to enter the Chinese market. However, unlike Lexus, which has introduced more people-friendly policies that are in line with the Chinese market, Subaru has not made corresponding changes for the Chinese market. Lexus has implemented free regular maintenance and labor services within 6 years or 150,000 kilometers (whichever comes first) in China, while Subaru still implements free maintenance services for 3 years or 100,000 kilometers (whichever comes first). At the same time, Subaru's localization process is still a long way off. Last year, Akira Mabuchi, executive vice president of Subaru China, made a clear statement that "even if the Chinese government approves the joint venture project between Subaru and Chery, there is no plan to continue production in China." Akira Mabuchi said that cooperation with Chery requires profit sharing, and Subaru needs to ensure twice the export volume to make a good profit. This is regarded by the outside world as an excuse for the failure of cooperation. Chery's cooperation with Jaguar Land Rover is obviously better than its cooperation with Subaru. In fact, as early as the 1980s, Subaru had sought to start production in China, but failed for various reasons. Since entering China as an import in 2004, Subaru has also been trying to seek cooperation with domestic automobile companies, but all ended in failure. In 2012, Subaru's sales in the Chinese market fell sharply by 24%. Subsequently, Subaru's parent company, Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries, signed a contract with Pangda Group to establish a joint venture sales company. Relying on Pangda Group's channel advantages, Subaru's sales rebounded significantly in 2013, but this rebound was only a flash in the pan. Subaru, which has not solved the fundamental problems, is still struggling in China. Among the models currently sold by Subaru in China, the lowest official guide price is 189,800 yuan for the Subaru XV, and the starting price of the best-selling SUV Forester is 239,800 yuan. Compared with the starting price of about 100,000 yuan for domestic brands and about 150,000 yuan for joint venture brands, Subaru's models obviously exclude many consumers from the door in terms of pricing. However, compared with its weakness in the Chinese market, Subaru's performance in the US market can be described as strong. In 2015, Subaru's sales in the US market totaled more than 580,000 vehicles, up 13.4% from the sales data of 510,000 vehicles in the same period of 2014, setting a new sales record for the seventh consecutive year. Among them, the hot-selling models such as Forester and Outback all set annual sales records. 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. |
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