Why does Geely Hao Yue, whose price is10.36-139,600 yuan, need to rely on Highlander with twice the price to have no dead ends?

While many independent car companies are still busy pushing their flagship models to higher prices, Geely has begun to push the average price of product lines to a higher level. "Pride" six years ago was the fist of Geely automobile brand; Today's "Hao Yue" is a sharp weapon for Geely Automobile to seize the upgrading needs of users of low-end models.

Six years ago, the fledgling Geely Automobile launched the Proud SUV, which launched a brave challenge to the medium-sized SUV market, and the result was not satisfactory. This year, Geely, which has grown into an international car company, once again marched into the medium-sized SUV market, and used "Hao Yue" to undertake the unfinished business of "Pride".

All-round space, no dead angle, 10.36- 139600 yuan, the focus of netizens' discussion is not only the Hao Yue product itself, but also Geely's marketing means and pricing strategy. Behind all these disputes, in fact, is the dislocation between consumers' psychological expectations of Hao Yue and manufacturers' actual goals. Find the right product positioning, clear the fog in front of you, and you will see a more pragmatic Geely.

Controversy about Geely Hao Yue

Before going public, people had high expectations for Geely Hao Yue. It is generally believed in the market that as a product launched by Geely Automobile to attack the medium-sized SUV market again, Hao Yue should undertake the task of upgrading Geely brand, and its position in the product spectrum of Geely brand should be the same as Haval H9 of Great Wall, Roewe RX8 of SAIC passenger car and GS8 of GAC Chuanqi.

Just as the flagship SUV occupies an important position in the brand product spectrum, its target users are mostly social subjects, and the publicity for these users often pays attention to style and taste. However, before Geely Haoyue went public, two rounds of marketing offensive: one with "lying to win" as the spreading point, and the other with "hanging the house with bolts and getting wet" as the experimental means, were difficult to impress the upper and middle class users.

However, the announcement of Hao Yue price really surprised people. 10.36- 139600 yuan, not only not exceeding the moon and the stars, but even within the price range of job. Looking back on the past, the price of Haoqing SUV listed on 20 14 reached12.29-152,900 yuan.

Some people are slightly disappointed, thinking that Geely lowers its posture and exchanges price for quantity; Someone clapped their hands and praised Geely for producing a good car with high cost performance; Some people also questioned Hao Yue's position in Geely's product range.

Geely Hao Yue's car platform

At present, Hao Yue is facing many controversies, starting with the story of pattern code. According to the previously disclosed product planning scheme, Geely plans to launch a medium-sized MPV with the code name "VF 12" and a medium-sized SUV with unknown code name in 20 19. In fact, these two cars are not listed on 20 19.

However, in May, 2065438+2008, a spy photo of a Jili Zhang large-size car came out on the Internet. Thick camouflage makes it difficult to tell whether this car is an SUV or an MPV. However, the car followed the Jiaji exposure code "VF 1 1" at the time point, so it was considered as the medium-sized MPV code "VF 12". There is also a view that judging from the long engine front cabin, the car may be a medium-sized SUV or a crossover.

20 19 April, the publication of the catalogue of 3 19 batches of vehicles declared by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology made this car show its true colors. It turns out that it is a medium-sized SUV, which is the protagonist of this article-Hao Yue. However, when Hao Yue boarded the catalogue of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, he did not use the long-rumored code name "VF 12", and the logo "VX 1 1" was affixed at the end.

This is where the fog in Hao Yue began. Reject "VF 12" and use "VX 1 1". Is Hao Yue from CV platform with Cargill or an unknown model from NL platform? Many ordinary consumers, from the body shape of SUV, think that Hao Yue and Job come down in one continuous line, and a bigger Hao Yue will be more advanced than Job.

As the listing approaches, more information about Hao Yue is revealed. The track and width are similar, and the structure of torsion beam-dependent rear suspension is the same, which confirms that Hao Yue and Cargill come from the same platform-CV platform. The title of "MPV for Cosmetic Surgery" in Hao Yue will spread like wildfire.

In fact, Geely CV platform has the ability to develop SUVs, which is not the exclusive architecture of MPV. Cargill, as the first model of CV platform, shows obvious SUV attributes in many details.

Generally speaking, the minimum ground clearance of MPV is mostly below 150mm, such as 143mm for Volkswagen Touran L, 134mm for Honda Ailishen and 165mm for Jiaji.

Looking at the tire size and Cargill's three tires, the tire diameter is about 690 mm. In contrast, the tire diameter of Volkswagen Touran L, which is also a compact MPV, is about 650mm, and the tire diameter of BYD Song Max is about 670mm, both of which are much smaller than Cargill.

In fact, Geely's product idea of building SUV/MPV based on the same platform is not unique. Volkswagen Wei Ran, which has just been listed recently, is also derived from Tuang, which is a medium and large SUV. But the difference is that the production scheduling plan of "MPV first, then SUV" virtually deepens consumers' misunderstanding of Hao Yue's "MPV".

Product Positioning of Geely Hao Yue

Knowing the vehicle platform, we can understand why the price in Hao Yue can't surpass Job, and we don't have to worry about the internal competition between the two cars. After all, Hao Yue focuses on big space, while Job focuses on quality family cars, with totally different target groups. It's like ten dollars can buy 5L ordinary mineral water from Nongfu Spring, but only 1L low-sodium fresh mineral water from Nongfu Spring.

Some people wonder why Geely should develop an SUV with a similar size to the platform after Cargill. The answer is simple. SUV is more popular than MPV, and it is easier to make money, especially Cargill, which has completely cooled down after the short frenzy of 20 19.

In fact, in order to leave room for Cargill, Hao Yue also made some concessions. Although it supports the 5-seat /7-seat layout, Hao Yue will focus on the 5-seat version from the optional status of the third row of seats. Therefore, at the price of 10- 15000 yuan, the scheme to meet the comfortable travel scene of many people was given to Cargill.

So, who are the core users of Geely Hao Yue? The answer has to start with the selling point of the model and return to the user portrait. Hao Yue was born on the MPV platform, and has the atmospheric appearance of a medium-sized SUV, which has more face than MPV. Spacious interior space, flexible seat layout and strong storage capacity have always been the core advantages of Hao Yue.

Self-employed individuals upgraded from Wuling Hong Guang and other tool carts need such a large-size SUV, which can not only take care of face, but also pull people to carry goods. It is not only durable, but also cost-effective. In this way, Geely's slightly exaggerated marketing methods can be understood. Sticking 360 degrees on Highlander is a direct way for Geely to clearly convey the core value of "big space and durability" to the main target users in Hao Yue.

The appearance of Geely Hao Yue is an easy move for Geely Automobile to cope with the consumption upgrade in the automobile market. Logo by going up one flight of stairs, a self-owned brand, is not only a breakthrough of the flagship model to a certain price ceiling, but also an increase of the average price of the whole brand. With the automobile market gradually turning to the era of stock competition, independent brands compete with joint venture brands for the first time to buy users, and the more important issue is how to retain the upgraded users of their own camp.

Geely Hao Yuejin's price of 10- 15000 yuan is the mainstream direction of consumption upgrading of low-end models below 10000 yuan, and SUV is also a more popular body form for upgraded users. At present, the market share of this price segment is rising. As for how to meet the upgrading needs of users of the original10-150,000 models, Geely's solution may have to wait for the advent of DMA architecture (medium and large car architecture derived from CMA architecture).

At the same time, this also leads to a very interesting topic: Geely has four models with different sizes and different personalities in the price range of mainstream household SUV of about 654.38+ 10,000 yuan. And this kind of market segmentation not only depends on the price, but also on the needs of users.

Write it at the end

20 14 By 2020, the whole automobile market environment is very different, and the strength of Geely Automobile has also undergone tremendous changes. After owning Lexus, Geely Automobile has no shortage of hard and rigid products with its joint venture rivals, and it no longer needs to show off its strength with the so-called flagship model. The core problem is how to improve the average price of the whole product line.

The upgrade demand of users of low-end models below 65,438+10,000 yuan has become an important breakthrough, and Hao Yue is aiming at this market. Today's Hao Yue is playing a different role from the lofty sentiments of six years ago. It is not the flagship of winning the lottery, but a cornerstone of Geely.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.