Reborn Tokyo Golden Age.

Chapter 488 The New Brand
Although Legacy means legacy in English, it was actually later introduced to China, and its translated name is: Legacy.

But this is something for later, Bai Chuanfeng has not thought of this yet.

"Now that the new car series has been decided, what are the differences between the versions sold in Neon domestically and overseas?"

New car series are sold in different countries, and most of them will have some subtle differences. This is normal operation.

Nakamura Takao and others have also considered this for a long time, "For Legacy, we are planning to sell the standard version in Neon, and in North America we will add a travel version in addition to the standard version."

Because of different regions and cultures, people in Neon and Beimi also have obvious differences in their car preferences.

The biggest difference is the displacement. In the past, the streets here in Neon were full of light vehicles with a capacity of less than 600cc, but in Bei Mi, no one would even look at a car with a capacity less than 1600cc.

Neon has a narrow territory, a large population in big cities, and a lack of resources, so light vehicles are more popular.

But North America is just the opposite. The vast territory and the American soldiers who are always ready to grab oil have created an application market for large-displacement models.

However, because Subaru is making high-end luxury models, in order to ensure power at the beginning of the design, the displacement of Legacy is basically above 1800cc.

After conversion, this is 1.8L. This power, let alone Neon, is not empty even in Beimi.

It coincided with the boom of Neon's domestic car market during the bubble period. At this time, people rarely considered fuel consumption when buying cars.

Before 86, light vehicles accounted for 37.5% of the neon car market demand, but now this share has dropped to less than 10%.

On the contrary, the market share of luxury models with a displacement of around 2000cc has begun to rise significantly.

This is also the reason why Nakamura Takao and others dare to design the Legacy series of models. In the final analysis, it is because there is a market and demand.

After hearing that Nakamura Takao said that two versions would be released, with a travel version at home and abroad, Shirakawa Kaede felt that this was not necessary.

“In the future, we can also try to sell a travel version in Neon. The minimum displacement must be more than 2000cc, and 3000cc would be the best.

Don’t underestimate the market demand in other places outside Tokyo. You must know that Tokyo has the fewest neon vehicles per capita. "

Everyone laughed as soon as Bai Chuanfeng finished speaking. This was not a joke, but a fact.

Last year, according to the "Japan Automobile Inspection and Registration Information" statistical report released by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, data on household car ownership covering 1741 wards, municipalities, and villages across Japan were displayed.

The bottom 10 are all members of Tokyo's 23 wards. Isn't it incredible that the most developed areas have the least car ownership?
But if you think about it carefully, it’s not too strange. After all, Tokyo’s public transportation is very developed.

Because of the overcrowded population and the uneconomical cost of fuel, parking fees, and various taxes, people are more accustomed to taking trams and subways.

This is also the reason why the bubble has come in the past two years, and the number of people driving has gradually increased.

But even so, the number of cars per capita in Tokyo is still the smallest, and the largest number is in remote areas.

For example, coastal Fukushima, Gunma, Akita and other places with many mountains and hills are all in the top ten of the statistical table.

The reason why households in these places have so many cars is also related to public transportation.Due to terrain constraints, main lines such as railway networks are very sparse.

People in Tohoku, Kyushu and other places can only rely on cars when traveling.Therefore, the number of cars per capita in remote areas is far more than that in Tokyo.

This is why Shirakawa Kaede wants to sell the travel version in Neon. He is targeting the areas surrounding Neon.

In the past, people might have been hesitant to buy a luxury car like Legacy, but at least it won't become a threshold in the past few years.

After some consideration, Takao Nakamura and others agreed with this view. They would test the water with the regular version first. If the market feedback is good, they would add a travel version.

But this is only a short-term plan after all, an emergency measure to improve Subaru's financial problems.

If you want to address the root cause, simply selling new cars won’t do the trick.

"Then Nakamura-san, I leave the Legacy series to you. Apart from these, does Subaru have any other development plans?"

“We are planning to add another SVX model to the ALCYONE platform.

It is an upgraded version of the former, still targeting the wealthy class in Neon China. "

If the Legacy series is a mid-size luxury car that focuses on handling and space, then the Alcyone SVX is a super coupe with a sci-fi style.

The two face different customer groups, and the former pays more attention to practicality and performance.

The latter may be more popular among young people. Just looking at the concept map, Shirakawa Kaede thinks its appearance is very flamboyant.

"The Alcyone SVX will proceed as planned first, but in addition to launching new models, Subaru also needs to change its marketing strategy."

Bai Chuanfeng's simple words cheered up everyone in the conference room.

They knew that this Shirakawa-san was going to perform major surgery on Subaru.

"The former Fuji Heavy Industries, which is now Subaru, focused too much on words like horizontally opposed and full-time four-wheel drive."

Seeing Nakamura Takao and the others suddenly became heavy-faced, Bai Chuanfeng quickly smiled and waved his hands.

“Of course this is not a criticism, it’s a good thing that Subaru has its own unique technology.

The achievements you have made have become Subaru’s business card to the world today. "

When Bai Chuanfeng said this, everyone's faces relaxed slightly, but they knew that this was not the point.

“However, from the perspective of the entire enterprise, the market is the first thing that needs to be considered.

Only with enough markets and enough sales can Subaru grow healthily. "

Sure enough, in the final analysis, it is still profitable.

Although Takao Nakamura and the others understand, as men of science and engineering, this is still somewhat incompatible with their ideas. "So in order to solve the long-term problem Subaru will encounter similar problems in the future, we may also need to lower our profile in terms of operations."

In the past, Fuji Heavy Industries paid too much attention to the so-called safety, four-wheel drive, and horizontally opposed vehicles, and gradually went further and further down this niche road.

It's true that there is craftsmanship in making cars, but this is not in line with Shirakawa Kaede's status as a capitalist. He only wants to maximize profits.

The niche Subaru may become the belief of some fans, but such a superior Subaru is destined not to explode.

That's why Bai Chuanfeng said that he would lower his attitude and start taking a people-friendly approach.

"The Subaru brand is undoubtedly deeply rooted in people's hearts. A series of previous models have established its popularity and the image it has among people.

Therefore, I decided that in the passenger car market, Subaru would do brand classification. "

"Brand classification?" Nakamura Takao and the others subconsciously asked.

"Yes, brand classification." Bai Chuanfeng nodded and confirmed everyone's thoughts.

"The Subaru brand is retained. It still focuses on the mid-to-high-end market and only makes mid-to-high-end models.

Your achievements in horizontally opposed and full-time four-wheel drive can be unleashed on Subaru models in the future.

Of course, correspondingly, we need a more people-friendly brand. Subaru does not need all the advantages it has.

Two-wheel drive, fuel economy, and cost-effectiveness are the first design factors we need to consider.

Perhaps we can call this people-friendly brand SIKADE (Shirakawa Automobile). "

SIKADE, these letters are the Roman abbreviation of Shirakawa Kaede's name.

Originally, he wanted to use Roman pronunciation instead, but although he was comfortable reading it in Japanese, it was a bit difficult to pronounce in English.

So in order to increase fluency and facilitate future dissemination, I simply changed it to an abbreviation.

“SIKADE will operate as a separate brand, and not only that, we will also register the relevant companies.

However, considering the current situation, SIKADE will first be affiliated with Subaru and then segment it after it officially launches its own models in the future. "

To put it bluntly, it is to establish a new brand first and take a people-friendly route. As for Subaru, it is still positioned in the high-end market.

As for SIKADE's two-wheel drive technology that will become popular in the future, Shirakawa Kaede is not very worried.

Because Subaru did not use a four-wheel drive system in its first few models.

It also slowly transitioned from two-wheel drive, so Subaru still retains the accumulation of two-wheel drive technology.

But after all, it has been discontinued for several years, and now we are picking up the two-wheel drive technology.
"Shirakawa-san, it's not like Fuji Heavy Industries has never tried a people-friendly two-wheel drive before, but the effect was not very satisfactory."

Nakamura Takao said it more euphemistically, but the meaning was very clear.

The reason Subaru takes the current route is not because it wants to, but because of the market's choice.

For those more economical two-wheel drive vehicles, why don't people choose Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other more well-known car manufacturers, but choose Shirakawa Motors with no foundation?

Of course Shirakawa Kaede understands this, but the place where he plans to promote the SIKADE brand is not neon.

"Nakamura-san, SIKADE will not be listed on Neon in the next three years, or Neon is not its main battlefield."

"Eh?" Everyone was confused. Didn't they agree to delve into the neon market?

"For a cost-effective model like SIKADE, I want to put its first stop in China."

"China?" Everyone subconsciously exclaimed. In this era, it is not an ideal market for cars.

“I know everyone thinks that China is not the main force in the automobile consumer market now, but what we are investing in is the future.

As a brand new brand, it is difficult to gain recognition whether in Neon or overseas.

In this case, why don't we go to a brand new market, where there is almost no car-related market, which is suitable for SIKADE to take root.

If we establish a joint venture automobile factory there, then SIKADE (Shirakawa Automobile) will become the first Japanese automobile to enter China. "

Yes, that's right, Bai Chuanfeng has always dared to be the first in the world.

Although nominally Toyota and Nissan entered China in the 70s.But that is mostly dealer-style cooperation, and occasionally one or two technical support.

Currently, no Japanese car has invested in a true joint venture OEM.

Except for Volkswagen and Jeep, no other brands seem to have OEMs in China at this time.

But if Shirakawa Motors goes there, it will be the third company in the joint venture and the first Japanese company.

Things are rare and valuable. Although the current market in China is limited, at least Baichuan Automobile does not have to worry about its popularity.

No matter what happens, you can hang out the Subaru brand and attract a wave of attention.

Moreover, Shirakawa Kaede went in the opposite direction and directly developed the SIKADE brand in China first, and then considered supporting Neon or overseas later.

“Subaru’s previous two-wheel drive models, Subaru 1000, FF-1, R-2, and even the current LEONE series can all be improved.

Then it was transformed into the two-wheel drive series of Shirakawa Motors and introduced to China.Their design concept is as mentioned just now, with cheap, fuel-efficient and cost-effective as the first elements. "

Subaru has two-wheel drive technology, and what it needs to do now is to iterate the technology and localize the design.

(End of this chapter)