Beijing Benz GLB purchase trend based on data: driving needs give way to interior space needs

199IT News: With the launch of the new GLB model overseas by Mercedes-Benz at the end of November 2019, the Mercedes-Benz GLB has been criticized by Chinese netizens. Many netizens believe that the use of a 1.3T engine in a car priced around RMB 300,000 is simply a tax on the IQ of Chinese car owners.

(Netizens joked that GLB is not a big talent, but a small horse pulling a big cart)

But existence is reasonable. On the one hand, GLB has a very strong sense of interior design, including dual 10.25-inch screens, multi-touch central control screen, floating design, and especially 64-color ambient lights, which basically kill a lot of female car owners (female passengers). On the other hand, the 7-seat space is the only 7-seat version of luxury brands (BBA) of the same price. For families with two children, the couple and two elderly people on one side travel together, and GLB meets the travel needs in terms of space.

Regarding the criticized 1.3T engine with 163 horsepower, many netizens and car reviewers said that it was suspected of being a small horse pulling a big cart.

However, in terms of GLB sales, 4,534 units were sold in January 2020, 880 units were sold in February, 4,505 units were sold in March, and 4,300 units were sold in April. The sales data did not meet the pessimistic expectations of many netizens and car reviewers.

There are still many car owners who pay for the GLB, which shows that the GLB does meet the actual car-buying needs of some people. It also indirectly shows that the current car-buying population (unfortunately, no age distribution data of the car-buying population was found) has partly given up its driving needs to the interior space (including interior decoration and space size).

First-time car buyers don’t have much idea about power, so they give up driving needs over interior space and decoration. Second-time car buyers, who have endured the interior design of Japanese feature phones for many years, are also tempted when they see the GLB’s interior design.

There are many different opinions on the actual driving experience of GLB. Many car reviewers who are suspected of being recharged have given feedback that it is "enough", and some car owners also said that it is indeed enough for urban driving and home use. After all, not all car owners have the heart to climb Akina Mountain. At the same time, because car reviewers who have test-driven many high-powered models are accustomed to high power, they must be disdainful of the 1.3T, and have not considered the feelings of those Buddhist car owners who have no requirements for power.

The general suggestion is to buy the GLB200 directly, which can reach 163 horsepower. It is more powerful than many three-cylinder 1.5T cars. However, the price of GLB200 is higher than that of GLB180, which may exceed the budget of some car buyers.

Judging from the proportion of GLB in Beijing Benz's total sales and the proportion of all SUV sales, GLB's position in Beijing Benz is still relatively high, but it is estimated that it has not met the expectations when it was released in 2019. At that time, GLB was hailed as the most important model of Mercedes-Benz in 2019.

I wonder if Beijing Benz executives will adjust the parameters of future GLB models based on sales data and introduce the overseas 2.0T version. In the eyes of many potential car buyers, if the price of the 2.0T version is not too high, they will be more willing to pay for it. This may also be the wishful thinking of car owners.

Because from the perspective of the car manufacturer's senior management, the parameter configuration considerations of a model cannot affect the sales of models in other product lines. The situation facing the senior management of Beijing Benz is that if the 2.0T version of GLB is introduced, it will inevitably affect the sales of GLC products.

We really don’t know what Beijing Benz’s top management thinks, but the launch of the GLB model does fill the needs of some car owners for luxury brand 7-seat SUVs. To borrow Brother Nan’s words about the affordable price: Mercedes-Benz has made a good start, and BMW and Audi may follow suit with 7-seat SUV models of the same price. (Ralf)