A car brand or popular model relies not only on technology, but also on appearance, interior, publicity and after-sales service.
If we really want to calculate the percentages for these five factors, Li Mu believes that technology can account for up to 30%, and appearance and styling can account for at least 4-50%. Especially for female users, appearance and interior can account for a higher proportion.
In fact, the technology of first-tier car companies is generally quite similar. If the power of BMW's high-power 2.0T engine can reach 250 horsepower under normal circumstances, then the 2.0T high-power engines of Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Toyota, Ford and even Cadillac The power can definitely beat BMW by about ±10.
As for the sense of control and comfort, it is a matter of opinion and wisdom. Only the appearance and interior are the most intuitive.
With its compact body and narrow space, the Land Rover Evoque had a price increase of more than 200,000 yuan in China when it was first launched. Why? Mainly because it looks good. At that time, the Aurora's styling was a killer.
But why did the Land Rover Evoque become less popular in the following years? So that you can drive it home with more than 200,000 yuan? The main reason is actually aesthetic fatigue. The models have remained the same for several years, with basically no changes in appearance and interior, and in the end they were lost to everyone.
All models need to be constantly updated, but success may not be guaranteed every time. Even Toyota does not have such ability.
There are many models with good sales that have fallen into disrepute due to the failure of replacement. Aurora is a typical example.
Like the Range Rover, it is basically unchanged and unbeatable, but it is not as strong and powerful as the Range Rover, so it is naturally becoming more and more sluggish.
In addition to Aurora, another typical model is an SUV model named IX35 from South Korea's Hyundai.
This car was also an extremely popular model at that time. Because the shape used many three-dimensional lines, it looked very intimidating at first glance in that era.
For at least three years, the monthly sales of IX35 in China have been more than 10,000 units. However, due to the failure of replacement and the gradual loss of cost-effectiveness, this car was once extremely sluggish.
Therefore, consumers are all visual animals. If the performance, appearance, and price of a car are all balanced, the role of appearance will not be obvious. But if the appearance of a car is poor, or the appearance is very good, The gap widened immediately.
Mercedes-Benz also experienced a period of depression in China for a long time. Later, it relied on a completely new set of exterior and interior design styles to regain its prominence in China.
Mercedes-Benz has never really risen in China since entering 2000. It was not until 2014-2015 that they ushered in a real turning point.
The new S-Class Sedan, E-Class Sedan, and C-Class Sedan have been launched successively. All three car series of different grades adopt the latest design, and for the first time, Mercedes-Benz has integrated the design language used on the S-series into the E-Class and C-Class. The grade body is known as "family design".
As a result, the Mercedes-Benz C and E of that year became the models with the most beautiful appearance and the most luxurious interiors in the price range of 300,000 and 500,000. Sales increased all the way and they made a wonderful turnaround.
The ambient lighting of the new Mercedes-Benz E has been nicknamed disco-nightclub style, but countless consumers still pay for it. Nearly 20,000 units can be sold in a month, which is more than the A6L and BMW 5 Series combined. Why? Isn’t it just beautiful
Then Mercedes-Benz got a taste of the sweetness and applied the same design language to the GLK's replacement model, the GLC, which also sold well.
As a result, Mercedes-Benz has firmly established itself as the king of interiors, with sales rising steadily.
So, have there been any technical improvements in Mercedes-Benz after 2015
not at all.
The main reason why it can be sold all the way is that it looks good.
The appearance is good-looking, and the interior is also good-looking. For consumers, as long as it looks good to a certain extent, any price-performance ratio, part-to- whole ratio, failure ratio, road noise, tire noise, wind noise, abnormal noise and even service attitude can be ignored. The back of the head.
Having said that, isn’t it the same with finding a partner
If the other person looks average, both men and women will choose the other person's education, personality, character, family background, and even bride price, dowry, whether to buy a house, and whose name to write.
If the other person is very good-looking, all other factors will be forgotten. Even if the other person has nothing but good looks, there will still be a large number of suitors pursuing him.
Good-looking celebrities can make hundreds of millions a year by cutting out pictures;
An unattractive celebrity may not earn as much as a cutout star in a day after working hard for a year;
For a good-looking girl, even if she is a mistress, if she is beaten by her original partner on the street, many people will stand up to defend her;
Even if a girl who is not good-looking catches her mistress in the street and wants to beat her up, many people will stand up to stop her and accuse her.
Good-looking singers can record songs by imitating dog barking into a microphone and can be on the major charts;
A singer who is not good-looking, but has talent, strength, and hard work, will at best be as popular as another famous singer.
At the end of the day, it just comes down to two words: face control.
Face control is the essence of society, or in other words, the essence of most people in society.
Although this kind of value control of appearance is very distorted, there are indeed many people who pay for it.
This principle also applies to cars.
If Li Mu takes over Volvo this year, and then makes the Volvo XC60 look like the Land Rover Evoque, this car will be sold all over the world;
If Li Mu can add a Mercedes-Benz interior to the Aurora-style XC60, this car will be invincible and can dominate the global auto market. In front of SUVs of this level, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Toyota, Honda, and Ford , GM, no use.
If Li Mu can put the styling of the new Audi A4L into a B-class car priced between 150,000 and 250,000 yuan, and then put the Mercedes-Benz interior into it, whether it is equipped with the Jaguar or Volvo brand, it can be compared to the Camry. Bestsellers like Accord and Accord cannot find a home;
If Li Mu can put the styling and interior of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class on the Volvo S80, the C-class car market will definitely be invincible;
If you take the styling and interior of the S-class and put it on the Jaguar XJ, you can also dominate the D-class car.
The car styling in 2004 is incomparable to that of more than ten years later. Even if the most powerful car designers at this stage were hired, they would not be able to compare with Li Mu's aesthetics in this aspect.
What Li Mu has to do is to find a team of designers, just like designing panda bears, tell the designers bit by bit what he wants, and let them help him restore the shapes of those classic models bit by bit according to their own memories. That's it.
As long as the appearance and interior are taken care of, product competitiveness can be greatly improved.
At that time, copy all the styles that can be copied from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Toyota, Honda, and Mazda. As long as we can guarantee the overall leadership in appearance and interior design within a few years, it will be enough to establish Makino The top position of the automobile group.
By that time, surpassing Toyota will be inevitable.
Moreover, if the total automobile market remains unchanged, if Makino Auto Group succeeds, it will be equivalent to taking the rice out of other people's bowls into its own bowl. By then, whether it is a German car or a Japanese car, it is possible that will be greatly affected.
In that case, surpassing Toyota will no longer be a dream.
What's more, I also have Tesla's technical support. Using Tesla's technology to catch up with Toyota's hybrids should not be a big problem.
In addition, there are many new technologies that are relatively alternative but can greatly enhance the appeal of the model, such as full LCD instrument panels, human-computer interaction and car networking systems.
The cost of a full LCD instrument panel is not high, but the quality is not as high as usual. If you invest in a R&D and production company of LCD instrument panels now and bring mature LCD instrument panel technology to the market as soon as possible to compete with competitors, It can also differentiate its products from those of its competitors.
At this point, Volvo's safety technology can also be a blessing. If all mid- to high-end models are equipped with a pre-collision system as standard, the competitiveness will be greatly improved.
Just like what Li Mu said to Elon Musk, achieving one hot product after another will inevitably lead to a top automobile company.
When Tesla first debuted in a previous life, it relied on one Model S to dominate the world. However, this model alone made Tesla famous. The huge LCD central control screen in the interior made countless people famous. Consumers are flocking to it.
The later Model
In addition to these, Li Mu also has his own trump card.
He has two teams that can build operating systems, one is the Apple OS team and the other is the Android team. These two teams will come up with two of the world's top mobile smart operating systems in the near future. By making changes, these two systems can be adapted to the car. By then, the Internet of Vehicles will be more than just a concept.
Just like in later generations, Apple's CarPlay has also become an important reference standard for users to choose cars. Cars that support CarPlay can better adapt to Apple's iPhones and bring a better experience to the car. Apple is not a car company. , so any car can apply to Apple to use CarPlay. However, in the future, iOS and Android will be their own, and the in-vehicle systems derived from them will also be their own. They can completely refuse other car companies to use their own in-vehicle systems and build the in-vehicle system It has formed its own unique closed loop. On this point alone, no car brand in the world can compete with itself.
Therefore, Li Mu firmly believes that no matter whether Toyota or Volkswagen, no matter how smooth the life is now and no matter how unshakable the status is, they cannot withstand his exclusive insights and understanding of the world more than ten years from now. Even if Toyota's current profits are almost worth The combined profits of all car companies in China are even higher, but if you give yourself five years, they will all be left in the dust behind you.
By that time, Germany's Stuttgart and Japan's Toyota City may become the Detroit of Asia and Europe. For traditional industries, once the pillar companies collapse, the collapse of the building will not be far away!
(End of chapter)