Author | Chai Xuchen Editor | Zhou Zhiyu Faced with the trend of new energy electrification and the loss of market share under price wars, joint venture car companies have been "Renovating" their famous cars in an attempt to mount a strong counterattack. On May 30, SAIC Volkswagen's Touareg L Pro was launched. The car, which is said to be "the smartest gasoline car", had been preheated for nearly two months prior to its launch. The launch invited representatives from DJI Car and Tencent Travel, as well as the person in charge of iFLYTEK, all of whom attended in person to demonstrate the strength of its smart driving and smart cabin. As a "meritorious model" of SAIC Volkswagen, Touareg has been synonymous with Volkswagen SUVs for the past 15 years and was once the best-selling joint venture SUV. With a monthly sales volume of nearly 20,000 units for a long time, it occupies a 20% share of SAIC Volkswagen. SAIC Volkswagen hopes that the new Touareg will become a disruptor in the current market, from gasoline car intelligence to a stable price system with value-added buyback policy. In the view of Yu Jingmin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of SAIC Volkswagen, new energy vehicles still have range anxiety and gasoline cars have an advantage that needs no explanation, but the biggest difference between them and electric vehicles lies mainly in their appearance and intelligence. After fulfilling the core needs of contemporary consumers, this once "famous car" seems to be reborn. Thus, from DJI's advanced intelligent driving solution to iFLYTEK's smart cabin voice assistant, this 200,000 yuan-level SUV brings together the strengths of various parties, aiming to break through the industry's perception that gasoline cars are less intelligent than electric vehicles. The launch of the new Touareg marks the beginning of SAIC Volkswagen's counterattack. In a post-event interview, Yu Jingmin mentioned several times that due to external cooperation and the accumulation of joint venture partners, SAIC Volkswagen's technology center is actually ahead of many independent brands, but unfortunately the rhythm is too slow. The company will now accelerate its efforts to catch up and even surpass in electric, hybrid or gasoline cars. Yu Jingmin revealed to Wall Street News that the new Touareg is the first gasoline car product in the Pro series, which is focused on intelligence, and that the Passat and Touareg Pro versions will also be introduced within the year. While polishing its technology, it is also preparing for the intelligence of its A-class cars. A counteroffensive war ignited by a gasoline fueled chariot seems to be brewing rapidly. But to be fair, SAIC Volkswagen's intelligence still lags far behind new forces such as Huawei, Xiaopeng, and Ideal. At the same time, in the current context where BBA is crazy about price cuts and the BMW electric car at over 180,000 yuan is setting a new industry low price, the 236,800 yuan Touareg L Pro seems somewhat out of step and the counterattack is difficult to achieve. In response to the challenge, SAIC Volkswagen has given a three-year 20% discount buyback plan. Users no longer need to worry about the fluctuation of vehicle purchase costs and second-hand car prices. SAIC Volkswagen locks in the difference between the purchase and final selling prices of users' vehicles, in a move to crack the price war. This also buys precious time for SAIC Volkswagen to speed up product and intelligence catch-up. This is the backdrop of the efforts to win back the former "king" of the Chinese car market.

In today's weather is good. Today's weather is good.

After five years, Toyota Motor's chairman, Akio Toyoda, has rarely come to China and showed off his car skills at the Shanghai GR Motorsport Carnival. Along with him came the trend of Lexus localization. He is ready to follow in Musk's successful path.
According to reports, one of Akio Toyoda's itinerary during this trip to China is to establish a Lexus factory in Shanghai specializing in the production of high-end electric cars. He is also seeking a treatment similar to Tesla, including tax breaks, policy support, land grants, and conditions for sole operation.
Toyota China has changed its attitude of denying rumors to Wall Street News regarding this rumor, saying "no comment".

In the past 20 years, due to the booming sales, Lexus, which is in short supply, has occasionally had rumors about building a factory in China. After brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Land Rover successively localized, the rumors were even more rampant. But after weighing it internally repeatedly, the localization plan was still shelved.

But this will be the closest Lexus has come to localization. At present, it is encountering unprecedented challenges in the Chinese market.

After experiencing 17 years of continuous growth, Lexus showed a downward trend in 2022, with sales of 0.1839 million vehicles in the Chinese market, a year-on-year decrease of 18.6%; in the first half of last year, China's imported car brand sales fell to Mercedes-Benz.
In contrast, last year, Lexus welcomed growth of more than 20% in other global markets outside China, with year-on-year growth rates exceeding 60% and even reaching 130% in the Middle East, Japan, and East Asia.

In the first five months of this year, Lexus sales in China increased by nearly 30% year-on-year, with sales of 0.069 million vehicles, but the result was achieved by sacrificing price. According to Lexus sales personnel, the main product Lexus ES, which required an additional price of 0.01 to 0.02 million yuan to take delivery of in previous years, now has significant discounts opened in many places, up to nearly 0.09 million yuan, and the final landing price has dropped to more than 2 million yuan.
Insiders close to Lexus pointed out that such "price for quantity" not only damages the brand, but also has greater uncertainty in whether it can continue to stimulate market demand by lowering prices.
Because the significant price reduction is a huge blow to Lexus's market confidence, its high residual value "signature advantage" will be henceforth collapsed.

According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association, Lexus's three-year residual value rate fell from 87.5% in 2021 to 58.3% in June this year, a one-third decrease. In addition, Lexus, which boasts of service, has been surpassed by players such as NIO.

The drop in terminal selling prices has put pressure on first-line dealers. Toyota China's executives have sounded the alarm, pointing out that due to market pressure, dealer profits have decreased and even loss has occurred. If this trend continues, a large number of fuel vehicle dealers may exit in 2024, which is a considerable impact on the brand, and we are trying to find a solution to this problem.

Nowadays, new energy vehicles are accelerating to eat away at the market share of traditional fuel vehicles, and brands such as Xpeng have begun to subvert the luxury car race track. This transformation has made it difficult for Lexus to maintain its "premium pricing" myth and has pushed it to a breaking point.

And the turning point of its fate is hidden in the electrification strategy of the Toyota Group.

After the leadership of the Toyota Group was reorganized in April last year, its ambiguous attitude towards electric vehicles finally changed. The new president, Akio Toyoda, proposed to launch 10 pure electric cars by 2026, with an annual sales volume of 1.5 million pure electric cars; by 2030, this number will further increase to 3.5 million units.
This means that in two years, Toyota will compete with Musk. The ambition of Akio Toyoda is difficult to conceal.
At this year's Tokyo Motor Show, Lexus announced that the brand will enter the electrification revolution in 2026, and released the LF-ZC concept car. The vehicle will use a modular architecture, the production mode will also undergo a major change, and the software platform will be completely redesigned.
Finally, the decision to focus on electric vehicles made by Lexus also became a harbinger of its localization.

If Lexus successfully establishes a factory in China, a series of mature new energy industry chains in China will become readily available resources. In fact, Toyota has cooperated with partners such as BYD through various paths.
At the group level, Toyota's joint venture companies in China are moving faster. At the end of June, GAC Toyota announced at the Technology Day that it will cooperate with Momenta on end-to-end smart driving systems for on-board terminals. Previously, it had already cooperated with Huawei to accelerate localization in the smart cockpit field.

To consolidate its position as the king of global auto industry, this company is embracing China's industry chain.
However, in this competition for the future, Lexus may have missed the opportunity.
As the domestic competition in the new energy vehicle market enters the deep water area, the discourse power of the luxury car track gradually shifts to domestic car companies under the successive efforts of companies like Qoros, Xpeng, Nio Inc and Weilai. At this time, whether Lexus can strive for conditions similar to Tesla's in the beginning is uncertain.
But Lexus has no way out. It must show greater sincerity and further increase the pace of reform. Because what is at stake for it is not only the fate of the entire Toyota behemoth, but also the script of the world's automotive industry.
In the upcoming upheaval, Lexus and Toyota refuse to blend in with the crowd.