In this context, Volvo and Lexus, the two luxury brands with the mildest tonality, have basically stayed out of the complicated public opinion war for many years, until a big V in the automobile circle recently posted on the Internet that "Lexus doesn't deserve to mention shoes to Volvo", which instantly detonated the confrontation between fans of the two brands.
Now that it has risen to a large-scale debate, it will certainly be mixed with some extreme and even insulting words, let's not say it for the time being. However, based on the operating conditions of the two brands in China market, the view that Volvo is inferior to Lexus has been widely supported. Even many people think that Lexus has been able to rank among BBA-class first-line luxury camps, and Volvo's identity as a luxury brand has to be questioned.
This article is about this question: Is Volvo really inferior to Lexus?
Volvo's neglected global sales
"The market is the only criterion for testing products." This sentence is regarded as the truth by many people, and many people despise Volvo because of its performance in the domestic market.
This is not to say that Volvo's sales in the past two years are not good. In fact, this brand has maintained a steady growth in China in the past few years. In 20 19, domestic sales were155,000 units, an increase of 18.7% compared with 20 18. Although there is still a gap with the 25% increase of Lexus in the same period, the growth trend is much higher than that of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Cadillac. Volvo is not optimistic because of its terminal price.
Regardless of XC40, XC60, S60 or S90, the pricing of Volvo domestic models is very close to that of BBA products of the same level, but their terminal prices have amazing discounts. For example, before S60L was replaced, the terminal price threshold dropped to about 6.5438+0.8 million yuan, while S90, a medium and large car, can be bought naked for 280,000 yuan, with a preferential margin of about 6.5438+0.8 million yuan. In addition, XC40, XC60 and other models also have a discount of more than 20% for each model.
In other words, Volvo's sales growth is achieved under the premise of substantial discounts, even cheaper than some mainstream brands at the same level. As a luxury brand, it can be said that it is a disgrace, especially for some old car owners who plunged tens of thousands soon after buying it.
At the same time, there has never been a domestic Lexus, but it is a completely different scene. Almost all models are not discounted. ES, a popular model, even needs to increase the price by about 20 thousand yuan in about 2 months to barely pick up the car. The terminal price of ES, which was originally cheaper than S90, is much higher. Even so, Lexus has steadily surpassed Volvo in sales.
According to "the market is the only criterion for testing products", Volvo is indeed much worse than Lexus, and consumers have given a clear answer through their own cash.
However, many people often forget that Volvo and Lexus are global brands, and these two brands exist widely in the United States, Europe, Japan and other regions except China. And from a global perspective, how are their respective performances?
In 20 19, Lexus sold 765,000 vehicles worldwide, a record high, including 202,000 vehicles sold domestically, up 25% year-on-year.
In 20 19, Volvo sold 705,000 vehicles worldwide, a record high, of which China sold155,000 vehicles, up 18.4% year-on-year.
In other words, in the past year, Lexus and Volvo both hit record highs. From the global market as a whole, the sales of Volvo and Lexus are 60,000 vehicles apart. If the China market is excluded, the sales of Volvo and Lexus in overseas markets are almost the same.
Let's look at the specific sales distribution. Europe is Volvo's home base and its largest regional market. 20 19 contributed more than 48% of Volvo's sales, nearly half.
Lexus's largest regional market is North America, dominated by the United States, with sales accounting for more than 42% of global sales. In fact, we can also regard the United States as the home market of Lexus, because the brand was specially built for American consumers at the beginning of its birth, and the first model was first listed in the American market.
Relatively speaking, except North America and Europe, Lexus has a wider presence in the Middle East and East Asia than Volvo, but in the European market, Lexus has always been a niche brand, and its sales volume is far from Volvo. This is related to the fact that European consumers pay more attention to traditional luxury genes and are not keen to accept new brands.
If the market is the only criterion for testing products, then from the perspective of overseas markets outside China, Volvo and Lexus have their own strong areas. If the scope is limited to Europe, North America and Japan, the sales of Volvo and Lexus are almost the same. Considering the sales volume in these markets, can we simply judge whether Volvo or Lexus is higher or lower by market performance?
Professional car critics in Europe, America and Japan have a kind heart.
"You asked me if I wanted to buy this car. My advice to you is to see how much cheaper it can be. If it's really cheap, you can't refuse. When you compete with Accord and Asian Dragon, it may be the reason to buy it. After all, it is also a Volvo. "
There are not a few car critics and consumers who hold similar views in China. Volvo's product strength is really unbearable, can it only be compared with similar models of Toyota and Honda?
Volvo's highlights in design, safety, health and environmental protection are not detailed here. Domestic car critics often have a strong preset position when evaluating cars, and they are free to praise or criticize them. Here I provide a new perspective to see how foreign professional Car commentators view Volvo. The reference standard is also very simple, and the annual car selection (CAR? Yes? That? Year).
At present, there are several globally influential awards, including North American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year, Japanese Car of the Year and so on. Aside from other brands, let's take a look at the performance of Volvo and Lexus in these annual car awards around the world.
First of all, it should be pointed out that Lexus was a "new brand" born in the late 1980s, so we only refer to the years after 1990 when comparing with Volvo.
North American car of the year (North? American? Cars? Yes? That? Year)
Best SUV in 2003: Volvo XC90
Best SUV of 20 16: Volvo XC90
Best SUV of 20 18: Volvo XC60
These are the three best models won by Volvo brand in North America's annual car review. In addition, Volvo S90 was nominated in 20 17, and S60/V60 was nominated again in 20 17.
As for Lexus, although North America is its most popular market, in the annual car selection in North America, Lexus did not win the annual car award, and only GS was nominated for the annual car with 1998.
European car of the year (Europe? Cars? Yes? That? Year)
Europe is Volvo's home base. Lexus was not selected once in the annual car review in Europe. From 200 1, the top seven cars in Europe were ranked according to scores. Even so, the Lexus brand has never appeared once.
For Volvo, S60 of 200 1 won the seventh place, C30 of 2007 won the seventh place, S60 of 20 1 1 won the sixth place, V40 of 20 13 won the third place, and XC40 of 20 16 won the third place.
It can be seen that in Europe, Volvo has a high degree of recognition, while Lexus has a weak sense of existence, both in terms of sales volume and brand reputation. Not only has it never won the annual automobile award, but it has not been ranked in the top three or seven in the past years.
Japanese car of the year (Japan? Cars? Yes? That? Year)
If the European judges are biased towards Volvo, or the North American judges fail to show the love of ordinary consumers for Lexus, then let's take a look at the hometown of Lexus, Japan, which car judge of the year prefers.
The annual Japanese car selection starts from 1980. By 2020, Volvo won the annual car awards in the last two years without winning any prizes in the first ten years, among which XC60 won the car of the year from 20 17 to 20 18 and XC40 won the car of the year from 20 18 to 2065438.
In these 40 years, Lexus only won the annual Japanese car award once, namely the Lexus LS460 in 2006-2007.
Seeing this, you may say, do Japanese judges "worship foreign things and flatter foreign countries" and don't like domestic brands?
In fact, in the past 40 years, foreign brands won only three awards in the annual Japanese cars, except for Volvo's XC60 and XC40, and the other time was Volkswagen Golf's summit on 20 13-20 14. As for other years, they have been replaced by Japanese brands such as Honda, Toyota, Mazda and Nissan.
What impressed the Japanese judges in the last two years was actually the models currently on sale by Volvo. In this generation of Volvo product lineup, XC90 and XC60 won the North American SUV model of the year, S90 and S60/V60 won the North American Car of the Year nomination, XC40 won the European 20 18 Car of the Year Award, and XC40 and XC60 won the Japanese Car of the Year for two consecutive years.
In other words, the main models currently sold by Volvo are those recognized by professionals in the most developed, professional and mature markets such as Europe, North America and Japan. In this field, Lexus's performance is far less than Volvo's.
Market performance is not the only reason to evaluate product strength?
Just as each brand has its own advantages and disadvantages, each brand also has its own strong regional market. German cars dominate the China market, while Japanese cars are very popular in the US market. We can't simply judge which brand is better according to the performance of a market.
The current market momentum of Lexus in China is really in full swing. Only in the form of import, we beat second-tier luxury brands such as Cadillac, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover and finidi in terms of sales volume and pricing power. In addition to the appearance design, interior texture and quality reliability, the chassis texture and handling performance of the new generation products have made great progress compared with the previous generation.
In contrast, Volvo's performance in the domestic market is not so strong. The brand's proud safety features have been weakened with the progress of other car companies. In the past two years, new platform products such as S90 and XC60 have also encountered * * *, which has damaged the reputation of the products. The continuous price-for-quantity policy has really affected consumers' confidence in buying new cars. Even so, in terms of pure product strength, Volvo is favored by many professional auto media people in China. The winner of China Car of the Year Award in 20 18 was Volvo S90, while the China Design Car Award in 20 19 was awarded to Volvo XC40.
If it is a suggestion for ordinary consumers to buy a car, then it involves Volvo products, reminding consumers to be more careful and not to start immediately when a new car comes on the market. This is what a qualified car critic should do. However, from the perspective of professional automobile evaluation, the market performance of a car should not be the only factor to evaluate the comprehensive product strength of a car.
The market level represents ordinary consumers. Volvo's momentum in China is not as good as that of Lexus, but it is comparable in overseas markets; The annual car selection represents the views of professionals. Volvo has won more awards than Lexus in the annual car selection in Europe, America and Japan, and the criteria for car selection in these years are based on the comprehensive strength of design, performance and handling.
On the whole, Lexus is far from getting rid of Volvo's advantages.
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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.