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A few days ago, Automotive Industry concern released the 2023 ranking of unpopular luxury brands in the Chinese market. According to the list, the top 10 most unpopular brands are Acura, Alfa Romeo, Polestar Star, Genisseth, Infiniti, Gaohe, MINI and Jaguar, of which Acura ranks first, that is, the most unpopular luxury brand.

It is not surprising that Acura ranks first. As early as April 2022, GAC Honda announced that it would integrate GAC Acura's operating resources and stop producing and selling existing products of the Acura brand since 2023. This also means that Acura will officially withdraw from Chinese mainland from January 1, 2023 and no longer produce or sell existing models. However, in order to clear the inventory, it still has a small sales performance in the end market, clearing a total of 178 vehicles from January to July 2023, and sales are no longer available after July 2023, making the Acura brand a thing of the past.

In fact, Acura brand domestic life is not easy, due to the limited investment resources, so that its market awareness and influence can not be opened. In addition, Acura's product system is relatively single, and only two or three cars dominate the world, which makes the products too focused to meet the needs of different types of consumers. Acura eventually withdraws from the Chinese market is also reasonable.

Other brands with less than 1,000 vehicles include Alfa Romeo, a well-known Italian carmaker, and Polestar Star, which imported Giulia/Stelvio into the Chinese market in April 2017. As one of the century-old automobile brands, Alfa Romeo has a very small position in the domestic market, and Giulia/Stelvio has not made considerable achievements after it was introduced into the Chinese market. As for Polar Star, it is a high-end electric car brand launched by Geely and Volvo, with monthly sales of about 100 vehicles, which is almost incomparable with the domestic mainstream electric vehicle brands.

Genisse, a high-end brand of Hyundai Automobile Group, re-entered the Chinese market in April 2021 and returned to the Chinese market again by import, including G80, GV80/ pure electric, G70, GV70/ pure electric, G60 and G90 models. Although there are many products, Genisse, as an imported brand, is not an audience, and the current life of Korean brands in the domestic market is not easy, and the high-end luxury brand market is extremely involved. Genisse has always been unable to keep up with the pace of the market in brand awareness and marketing promotion. In 2023, Genisis sold only 1558 terminal vehicles in China, with the highest sales of the G80, with 822 vehicles.

Infiniti is a luxury brand owned by Nissan, which belongs to Toyota's Lexus and Honda's Acura. Compared with the two Japanese luxury brands mentioned above, Infiniti is not so bleak that it is delisted, but life is also very difficult. The terminal sales in China in 2023 are 6069 vehicles (including imports). The highest sales model is Q50L, which is 2260, QX50 and QX60 are 2001 and 1475 respectively. Earlier, according to domestic media reports, more than half of Infiniti dealers had closed their doors and withdrew from the Internet. According to the data, Infiniti's sales network in China peaked in 2018, with 131 stores and 122 after-sale stores nationwide, but now there are only 58 Infiniti stores across the country, and some of them have changed their big stores into small ones. Some Infiniti models have even been incorporated into the Dongfeng Nissan showroom for sale.

Gaohe is a new power brand in China, which has launched three models: HiPhi X, HiPhi Z and HiPhi Y, of which HiPhi Y is the cheapest model aimed at reversing sluggish sales. However, Gaohe HiPhi Y did not meet official expectations. Data show that the sales of Gaohe HiPhi Y from September to December in 2023 were 1444, 1000, 511,468 respectively, showing a decline in monthly sales. no, no, no. In recent months, Gaohe has frequently exposed negative news, including layoffs and store withdrawals. Although the official response is negative, it is undeniable that Gaohe is currently facing a market crisis.

The seventh place is MINI, which sold 18151 vehicles at the end of the Chinese market in 2023, accounting for 6% of the total global sales. It is worth mentioning that MINI will be localized in 2024, and Beamlight, a joint venture between BMW and Great Wall, will go into production of the new MINI COOPER S, which is expected to go on sale in the first half of the year. By contrast, the progress of domestic MINI is particularly slow. As a competitor, smart is one step ahead in electrification. Since the joint venture between Geely and Mercedes-Benz in 2019, smart has begun to transition to motorization and has launched two motorized models so far. Data show that 41416 smart terminals were sold in 2023.

Whether it is Acura, which has been delisted, Genisse and Infiniti, which are in the doldrums, or Lexus, Cadillac and Volvo in the second tier, it will not be easy in 2023. The transformation of traditional luxury brands to new energy is facing a difficult situation. On the one hand, traditional car companies need to consider whether trams will catch up with and surpass fuel cars after their profits dry up; on the other hand, car companies will also worry that if the performance of electric products is better now, will they reverse to seize their own fuel vehicle market, resulting in brands losing their source of profit now.

Today, the window for fuel cars is tightening, and carmakers have made it clear that they will not invest or at least continue to develop fuel cars in the future, which means that fuel vehicles still have profit margins, but not a long-term business model. Of course, survival of the fittest is the choice of market survival, but also the result, those brands that do not have a sense of existence will face the transformation pain of intensified competition in the future, and for consumers, it is obviously not a bad thing that more choices, lower prices and higher-quality models continue to emerge.

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