48 Car Tour 2: lexus ES, who cut leeks, finally became a petty bourgeoisie.

Fortunately, when I was still working in my old club, Lexus lent us an ES300h executive edition. I have been driving this car for two days. On the last day, I sent a circle of friends, revealing half of the steering wheel of this car. As a result, the goddess who secretly loved me in high school gave me an unprecedented comment below: this is my favorite car. When can I sit down?

Lexus ES, the best-selling car under its brand. However, the best-selling of this car has been controversial. On the one hand, the idea of cutting leeks has never stopped, and on the other hand, "thunder powder" people flock to think that this is the most worthwhile car in the world. Let's talk about how lexus es achieved the goal of "cutting a crop in ten steps, leaving a trail thousands of miles away".

The story should start from domestic production.

A large part of lexus ES's success comes from the success of its brand. As far as I know, around 20 18 years ago, Toyota had an idea to make Lexus in China. President Akio Toyoda visited China several times in 20 18 and 20 19. In addition to inspecting the market and giving a speech in Tsinghua University, he also has an important purpose, which is to inspect the possibility of making Lexus in China.

Starting from Toyoda Shoichiro, the former president of Toyota, there has been a tradition of "pre-operation", that is, judging the direction of the company's operation through on-the-spot investigation, simulated operation and profit estimation.

For the important sub-brand Lexus and the important China market, Akio Toyoda chose to personally inspect it. Toyota and FAW executives should have had some kind of intention exchange, so there will be no news that Lexus will be handed over to FAW.

It is said that at that time, some domestic Lexus fans left messages on Akio Toyoda's social platform and official website, asking Lexus not to be made in China. Later, Lexus blocked all news of localization and even used public relations to warn the auto media.

Fans thought the old man followed their advice, but according to my understanding of Toyota, with the concept of giving priority to interests, if the domestic money can be more than now, maybe all the models of its brands can be localized within one year. And most importantly, the domestic turmoil has attracted too many people's attention, and many potential consumers of luxury brands have turned their attention to Lexus.

The appearance of TNGA architecture brought ES onto the stage.

The primary school math teacher taught that triangles have stability. Before Lexus stepped onto the stage, the luxury brand market was stable. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi have firmly controlled the domestic luxury car market through years of operation in China, while Jaguar, finidi, Cadillac and Volvo enjoy their respective shares around the triangle. In short, the scope of luxury brands is still clear.

Lexus was originally smuggled into China through coastal car dealers. At that time, Lexus left a deep impression on people who used it. Later, Lexus entered China to set up a sales company, which has been sought after by its fans as an imported niche car.

Lexus's domestic storm blew this pool of water, but the ensuing Toyota TNGA architecture completely muddied this pool of water, because this architecture almost completely subverted Toyota's previous concept of building cars, mainly reflected in the highlights. A team of well-paid engineers from Germany and France pulled Toyota's loose suspension to an unprecedented height, and the safety of the car was greatly improved. Even a compact car like the new Corolla has an independent rear suspension and comES standard with multiple airbags, not to mention lexus es.

The birth of lexus ES is like a butterfly effect. Cadillac first realized something, ATS-L quickly cut prices, and the unresponsive Jaguar was completely in the cold. XEL and XE, both imported, can only sigh that Yu Shengliang was born, while the British finidi Q50L and imported Q50 realized the rise of lexus es, but it was too late to see through.

Of course, the biggest influence is the top three in Germany. It is hard to say that the price reduction of mercedes benz c, BMW 3 Series and Audi A4L has something to do with the rise of lexus es. Of course, the price reduction is a good thing, but the subsequent scandals of other luxury brands have added impetus to the rise of lexus ES.

Positioning is tricky, you can increase the price.

Lexus originated in Japan, but was born in America. When German and American systems dominated the American auto market, Toyota, Honda and Nissan successively launched luxury sub-brands. In order to open the market quickly, the three companies adopted the vehicle positioning strategy of "always high half level". Therefore, it is not true that Lexus "sells on its knees" in the United States.

The latest generation of ES vehicles landed on the market as medium and large vehicles. Compared with the above BMW 5 Series Mercedes-Benz E-Class, es is cheaper; Compared with the following A4L and C grades, it has larger size and more space. The tricky positioning has given it room for fare increase, and over time it has formed a "tradition" of fare increase.

After all, the fare increase is not a good thing, and the criticism of Lexus has never been broken. ES200 has the power of Camry, the space of Asian dragon, and the configuration of Corolla, starting from 290,000. Of course, 290,000 is only the bare car price, and the landing price has to be calculated by the beautiful sales girl to help you figure out how many years of warranty you need to buy before you can pick up the car.

But strangely, people who like this car and buy it are still in an endless stream. It's definitely not true that people are stupid and have more money. People who can spend 300 thousand to 400 thousand to buy a car are not stupid. Just think about the message of the high school goddess. Lexus es successfully packaged himself into a petty bourgeoisie fashion product.

Price increase? You can't see how much it costs to buy a pair of genuine Joe's, and you can't see Ed Hardy's limited edition T-shirts become wealth management products. As long as it is labeled as a trendy product, as long as it is a petty bourgeoisie, it is a small problem to increase money. It is better to buy Lexus than buy the same old Mercedes as my parents. Lexus's routine is exactly the same as when it captured the American market, that is, it takes care of culture first and then cars.

However, as stated at the beginning, the success of Lexus is based on the success of Toyota. Although Toyota is good, it has also been over-mythical. Although Lexus is good, it is not without problems. All kinds of negative news last year and this year reminded consumers and Lexus itself that the sales of all models should be based on quality.

Subjective viewpoint

According to the law of market supply and demand, the price increase of Lexus is a willing process, so don't be too demanding. Some people are even proud of buying a fare increase car. This kind of mistake will make Lexus, which provides the "immersive leek" experience, be sought after by more people. Of course, this is just a personal subjective view.

You can't cut leeks without some level. We should not only see the disadvantages of Lexus. The brand behind it and Toyota's understanding of the automobile market, psychological control of consumer groups and even the pursuit of quality are all worth learning and learning from all industries.

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