Text/Photo by Pan Liang, an all-media reporter of the Yangcheng Evening News

  In recent years, with the promotion of the comprehensive two-child policy and the improvement of domestic consumption levels, the travel demand of Chinese families with multiple children has gradually increased.

The previous sedans and SUVs sacrificed some riding comfort and driving convenience while ensuring the shape and handling, or could no longer satisfy the travel of multi-population families.

  In this context, MPVs show a rising trend with their practicality, comfort, safety, and versatility.

Many car companies are keenly aware of the new direction of this market segment, and increase the R&D, design and production of MPV products to meet the needs of consumers for family cars.

trend:

High-end MPV will welcome new demand

  In the latest MPV sales rankings in April 2022, the top five are divided into Buick GL8, Wuling Hongguang, Trumpchi M8, Senna and Odyssey.

Wuling Hongguang is mainly for light trucks, and the other four models are almost all mid-to-high-end MPVs ranging from 250,000 to 400,000 yuan.

  Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Passenger Car Association, believes that in the past decade, the national MPV market has been the most volatile market in the passenger vehicle market.

From 4% of the passenger car share in 2011 to 11% in 2016, and then back to 4% in 2022, forming a process of reincarnation.

  The reincarnation trend of MPV market share rising and falling back to the original place is formed. The main driving force is the explosive growth of the A0-level MPV market that began in 2012, followed by the explosive growth of the A-level MPV market in 2016, which connected with the growth of A0-level and then entered the market. a relative fallback period.

On the whole, the mid-to-high-end MPVs of Class B and Class C have returned to the absolute dominant position in the MPV market, while the MPV market below Class A has shrunk and returned to the high-end situation.

  Compared with the MPV market in 2011, the proportion of the high-end market has increased significantly, and the A-level market and A0-level market have shrunk significantly, forming the current large-scale and high-end MPV market.

  The report from the Passenger Federation shows that the current mainstream MPV owners have significant characteristics: male, average age is 35.7 years old, highly educated and high income, married and have children, small achievements in career, mature and stable, easy and stable life.

  Cui Dongshu pointed out that the epidemic has not significantly slowed down the development of the household MPV industry. In recent years, SAIC-GM-Wuling, SAIC-GM Buick, GAC Passenger Vehicle, SAIC Passenger Vehicle, Dongfeng Fengxing and other brands have launched special household MPV models to cater to the new market demands.

Visit:

Mid-to-high-end MPV knocks on the "door"

  Recently, a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News visited a number of brand 4S stores in Guangzhou and found that MPV mid-to-high-end models are increasingly popular among families with many children.

  In the second half of 2021, GAC Toyota MPV Saina will be officially launched, with a pre-sale price of 309,800 to 405,800 yuan. This model is very suitable for multi-person family travel, and it has attracted great attention from the market at the beginning of its launch.

  Manager Sun, the sales consultant of GAC Toyota's 4S store, told reporters that the consumer groups who buy MPV Saina are mostly family members. And the convenience of daily travel, and in order to travel with their families, they will choose to purchase an MPV as the second car for their family.

  "At present, if you order the car, you need to queue up until August to get the car. There is no need to increase the price but there is no discount. As a dual-engine car, it is very fuel-efficient and the turning radius is only 5.7 meters." Manager Sun said.

  Another seven-seat star model, the Buick GL8, has been sitting on the top spot in the mid-to-high-end MPV market all year round.

Manager Yu, a sales consultant of a 4S store in Guangzhou, told reporters: "At present, the most popular GL8 business class on land is priced from 232,900 to 329,900 yuan, with a preferential subsidy of 12,000 yuan, and there is no need to increase the price. Considering family members For the comfort of travel, most consumers buy the GL8 as the second car in the family." Manager Yu said that most of the customers are men in their 40s with successful careers who travel for their families when they live a relaxed and stable life. Comfortable, so buy MPV mid-to-high-end models.

  Recently, new cars including Denza, Dongfeng Lantu, and GAC M8 have been released one after another. The mid-to-high-end MPV market is in full bloom. Cui Dongshu believes that at the beginning of market development, most car brands chose to open up the market with commercial MPVs.

With the intensification of market competition and changes in market demand, various car brands have carried out product improvement or innovation, enhancing the household attributes of existing MPVs or launching IKEA-friendly MPVs.

In recent years, the two-child and three-child policies have promoted the development and growth of the household MPV market and stimulated some car brands to launch special household MPVs.

Today, some car brands have formed a multi-product management system in which commercial, household and even IKEA-type MPVs coexist.

future:

Where is the soul of home MPV

  Recently, a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News interviewed Mr. Liu, a family with two children in Guangzhou. Regarding the rigid needs of MPVs, he said that in the case of three rows of use, the trunk can hold at least two boxes, and it can save energy as much as possible.

At the same time, the second and third rows have air conditioning adjustment function.

Mr. Liu emphasized: "It is best to have electric sunshades in the second and third rows, so that children can have a comfortable sleeping environment in the car when they travel."

  Nowadays, there are more and more MPV models for family travel needs. So, what kind of MPV do consumers need?

Especially in the pure electric era, what are the characteristics of pure electric MPV products because the structure is more flexible than that of fuel vehicles?

  Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Motors, said on social media a few days ago that the new energy MPV models (including pure electric, plug-in hybrid, and extended range) that meet the needs of large families mainly focus on two parts: first, the effective utilization of vertical space , that is, the relationship between the length of the vehicle and the available space, including the longitudinal space consisting of four rows, one row, two rows, three rows, and the trunk.

The core is how much space is wasted by L113 (Note: L113 is the distance between the front wheel axis and the driver's toes).

The space flexibility of the combination of trunk space and three-row space under the second and four-wheel drive dual-motor structure.

Shopping in a large family supermarket with a large population is spread out on the suitcase, not vertically placed like a standard box. The trunk alone cannot meet this demand, especially during the epidemic.

There is also the delivery of children's bicycles and other items.

  These two parts are the soul of the home MPV model structure, and experienced MPV users naturally understand it.

This is also the biggest challenge facing the design of new energy MPV products.

Except for commercial use.

  The above two points raised by Li Xiang are the key points of attention for many home users when purchasing MPVs.

The flexible combination of space loads more items for travel, which is undoubtedly the "soul" of an excellent MPV.

  The survey report of the Passenger Federation pointed out that there are three upgrade and innovation directions for household MPVs: high-end, energy-saving and intelligent.

  The report believes that more and more brands pay attention to the home MPV market, start to deploy home MPV products, and launch models that meet the needs of families, with comfortable driving experience, spacious interior space, rich intelligent configuration, perfect safety configuration, and stylish appearance. The demand of household MPV consumers has promoted the innovation and improvement of household MPV products.

  In terms of consumer behavior and habits, when consumers buy a car, safety, comfort, cost-effectiveness, etc. are the main factors that car owners pay attention to. Driving comfort, safety, and body stability are the main demands of car owners.

  At this stage, household MPV products still have room for improvement, and are currently being improved and upgraded in the direction of intelligence, networking, high-end, energy saving and youth.