AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)06/28 Report--

In May this year, the well-known BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class sold tens of thousands of cars in the ranking of medium and large sedan sales. one of them, Volkswagen Huieng, which once regarded luxury cars as competitors, sold less than a thousand cars in May.

According to sales statistics released by the Federation of passengers, Huieng sold 920 vehicles in May, down 54.0% from a year earlier. From January to May, its sales were 4659, down 51.5 per cent from a year earlier. In May, sales of models priced at more than 300000 yuan rose 6.3% from a year earlier, according to another set of data from the Federation of passengers.

Huieng is a C-class flagship car launched by SAIC-Volkswagen in October 2016. with the same platform as the Audi A6L and the same size and luxury as the ABB intermediate car, the new car set a high-profile starting price of 349000 yuan and directly matched several luxury C-Class cars.

However, in the next few years, the performance of the car in the market did not surprise Volkswagen.

2018 was the highest selling year for Huieng, with a total of 25000 vehicles sold, while the Chinese figure was only two months' sales of the Audi A6L.

As early as 2017, Huieng's monthly sales fell to 200 vehicles, and only after the price adjustment did Huieng's sales pick up. In July 2017, SAIC-Volkswagen launched 2018 models, of which the main model guidance prices of 2.0T and 3.0T versions were reduced by 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. The price cut played a role, with Huieng's sales rising to 26000 vehicles in 2018, almost twice as much as in 2017.

By 2018, the price of Huieng was lowered again, and the price of the whole department fell by about 10,000 yuan. After two price adjustments of the main models, and the official reduction of the models in response to the reduction of the purchase tax in April, the guidance price finally fell at 34-639000 yuan. However, this adjustment has not brought a pick-up in sales to Huieng. In 2019, sales are depressed again, selling less than 1000 vehicles a month, and sales are expected to be the same as in 2017.

Huieng's sales fall short of public expectations, and there are many factors that affect it. From the perspective of market competition, at the price of 400000 yuan, consumers can buy many low-configuration models of the same grade of luxury brands, in addition to Audi A6L, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5-Series, there are Cadillac CT6, Volvo S90, Jaguar XFL and other models. These second-tier luxury brands usually offer huge discounts at the end of the market.

In fact, SAIC-Volkswagen is not the only non-luxury brand in the C-class car market. Toyota Crown, Buick LaCrosse and Ford Taurus are all representatives of joint venture brands attacking the C-Class car market. At present, with the exception of the Toyota Crown, several other models, including the Huien, are not performing well.

SAIC-Volkswagen, as the sales champion of Chinese auto companies, has a strong demand for brand impact. Unlike joint ventures, SAIC-Volkswagen has many brands and its use is urgent. It is precisely for this reason that the prices of new products such as the Tuguan L and PoloPlus recently launched by SAIC and Volkswagen have increased a lot compared with the old models.

But also taking the high-end route, SAIC-Volkswagen SUV Tuang performed better, with sales of 86200 vehicles in 2018. However, the price of Tu Ang 30.89-518900 yuan is much more conservative than the high-profile Huieng.

In view of the adverse performance of Huieng, some analysts have analyzed that Huieng may be going to stop production. There is a precedent for Volkswagen, whose flagship D-class sedan, Huiteng, officially stopped production in March 2016 after selling only 6300 cars worldwide in 2015.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat