After Toyota's continued “localization” attitude in 2012, the new posture of the Chinese market was first reflected in the joint venture company FAW Toyota’s 2013 plan, and “Langshi” was unveiled.

On March 12th, FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. released a joint venture brand strategy in Shanghai and announced that its joint-venture brand will be named "Langshi," and will debut its first model, the EV pure electric concept model, at the Shanghai Auto Show next month.

At the same time, Toyota’s strategic model in 2013, as well as its Toyota 86 in China’s first sports car, also announced on the same day that it was formally introduced by FAW Toyota.

The release of FAW-Toyota’s joint venture brand, which has been brewing for many years, is only part of Toyota's strategy to deepen localization. As a development platform for the localization of the FAW Toyota vehicles, FAW Toyota once again stressed that FAW Toyota Technology Development Co., Ltd., a joint venture between FAW and Toyota, was established at the end of last year.

In addition, as the last member of the three major Japanese automakers to release joint ventures in China, GAC Toyota, another Toyota joint venture in China, will also release its own joint venture brand this year.

The introduction of the sports car 86 is also considered to be an important effort for Toyota to practice “rejuvenation” in China. In Toyota's localization strategy, "younger" is listed as the top key word. At the same time, the rebirth of this “Tyumen Mountain chariot” promoted by Toyota Motor Corp.’s President Akio Toshio in 29 years is also consistent with the “Re BORN” (rebirth) slogan that has constantly emphasized the reshaping of the brand image in the past two years. .

In light of the large-scale personnel reshuffle announced by Mr. Toyoda’s just-in-time management team in China, the release of new FAW Toyota models and new brands has also made the subjective sincerity and objective effect of Toyota’s localization strategy in China officially enter the test. status.

The "Langshi" as the Romans do

“After years of cooperation, FAW Toyota's time to develop its own joint-venture brand has matured.” Tian Ming, deputy general manager of FAW Toyota, said that the joint venture brand “Langshi” is “RANZ” in English, which means “opening a bright and optimistic life journey and Create a humanized car world."

For the LOGO with "Large diamond shape and hollow N shape", the official interpretation of FAW Toyota is full of collaboration meaning: "N stands for New and Natural, which indicates that the FAW Group and Toyota's new cooperation areas, the future full of hope , and green, environmental protection research and development direction."

FAW Toyota stressed that the FAW Toyota Technology R&D Center has been upgraded to FAW Toyota Technology Development Co., Ltd. in November last year. It is a joint venture between FAW Group and Toyota. The biggest achievement of the technology R&D center established in August 2008 was the localization improvement of Corolla in 2010, which led to a monthly sales increase from 4,000 to 10,000.

The new joint venture company will move out of Tianjin FAW Toyota plant, located in the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone, after the completion of the initial formation of product design and development, ordinary automobile testing, new energy vehicle testing capabilities. Its goals are targeted at three levels, first to meet the diversified needs of Chinese consumers; second, to cultivate the ability to develop entire vehicles and parts in China; at the same time, the ultimate goal of promoting the research and development level of the joint venture's own brands is to form a complete vehicle. Development capabilities.

However, Ma Chunping, director of public relations at FAW Toyota, said that the company will still mainly undertake the localization of FAW Toyota's introduction of models.

After the other two Japanese brands, Honda and Nissan, launched their joint-venture brands in 2011 and 2012 respectively, FAW Toyota’s “Langshi” was considered to have no opportunities and new ideas. However, Tian Ming, deputy general manager of FAW Toyota, said that FAW Toyota will not adopt a simple model of changing outdated joint venture vehicles into autonomous vehicles, and it may be possible to do high-end entry from the outset.

In fact, as early as two years ago, FAW-Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. released a joint-venture independent brand that will be put into production by the end of that year, and there have been arguments for Vios pure electric vehicles and Crown pure electric vehicles. Among the existing Japanese-owned joint ventures' own brands, the Guangyuan concept S1 focuses on the A0 class, and the Dongfeng Nissan Kai Chen's two cars are similar to the Dongfeng Honda's Siming, and are designated as compact A-class vehicles. The unified approach of these models is to continue to sell the joint venture models that have been discontinued after they have changed their joint-venture marks.

At present, FAW Toyota has adopted a route to enter the market with electric vehicles. Although FAW Toyota refused to disclose more specific plans for joint venture autonomy, the industry speculated that its first self-owned brand pure electric vehicle may eventually adopt the Corolla EX platform.

It is certain that the follow-up models of "Langshi" have already been planned, and FAW Toyota also stated that "in the future, with the abundance of commodity camps, we will discuss different attributes of different models using the different colors of the N-letters of trademarks."

Test water "rejuvenation"

As the main content of localization, Toyoda Took the list of “Shaping younger brand image” in the first list of China’s task list in 2012. Compared with Astro Boy, Doraemon and the red bow with "Re BORN," the Toyota 86 sports car is clearly more convincing in China.

On March 12th, Hirano Yasuo, general manager of FAW Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd., dressed in racing suits, announced that the new Toyota 86 sports car, Toyota's strategic model, was officially listed in China.

The car has a total of 2.0 luxury manual version and 2.0 luxury automatic version of the two levels, the price was 269,000 yuan and 279,000 yuan. The new Toyota 86 is the flagship product of Toyota's return to the sports car market after Toyota Akio started the "Face to Car Fun, Resurrection Mass Production Sports Car" strategy in 2007. It is also the first sports car in FAW Toyota's entire car series.

FAW Toyota said that the introduction of the new Toyota 86 sports car not only means that the product line has become more abundant, but more importantly hopes to create an opportunity to win more young Chinese customers interested in sports cars.

The ultimate goal of Toyota is to use the attractiveness of the 86 to drive young people's attention to other models of FAW Toyota and promote the youthfulness of the entire target consumer group. For the performance of the 86, Hirano Yazai hopes to go the same path in Japan as in Japan: first from young people, then expand to more people.

Ma Chunping revealed that for Toyota's 86 sales in China in 2013, Toyota has given a sales ratio of 3,000 units. At present, the nationwide dealership stores have received more than 1,000 orders.

Concerns remain. 86 engine technology from Subaru, Toyota and Subaru cooperation, the Toyota D-4S technology grafted on this engine. According to the latest news, the BRZ sports car with the same engine will be launched in China on March 21. In terms of shape design, the two cars are similar.

In the eyes of the outside world, the listing of FAW-Toyota’s joint-venture brand and sports car 86 also diluted the controversial interpretation of the Toyota personnel adjustment incident in China.

A week ago, Toyoda Toshio revised the personnel arrangement in China while reshuffling the company’s operating cabinet. Toyota Motor Corporation’s Chief Executive Daisuke Hiroshi will continue to serve as China’s Minister, replacing Shinji Kitada and Toyota Motor Corporation (China). ) Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Toyota China") General Manager; Toyota Motor Corporation executive Kobayashi Ichiro will succeed Koji Takahiko and will assume the position of general manager of GAC Toyota, and will also serve as a copy of the head of China's headquarters.

Faced with frequent personnel adjustments and lackluster performance, the domestic industry expressed its disappointment at Toyota's decision to refuse to adopt local Chinese executives, and its eagerness to reshape its brand image and market confidence in China, while reluctant to abandon Toyota’s remote control right. It is imperative to come up with more "localized" product solutions.