On August 8, 2016, the Rio Olympics were in full swing, the Chinese team won two gold medals in one day, and the Japanese mascot spoke to reveal that he may abdicate due to age, and the British are holding a daily strike. In China, a major event related to automobiles quietly happened, SAIC-GM Buick's last Triumph rolled off the assembly line, which has been a veteran in the Chinese market for 13 years, and the final sales volume was fixed at 2.68 million units.
In the official statement, Buick used this ceremony called "Farewell to Kaiyue, continue to excel", announcing that the brand is fully upward, and today it seems that this so-called upward is not a success.
But in the summer of 2003, the Kaiyue, as the head of the new three, did open a new era for Buick. 13 years, one end to the other, whether it is for the Buick brand or consumers, the Kaiyue is indeed worth commemorating.
American car?Korean cars?
Before talking about the Kaiyue, let's ask a question: Shanghai GM Buick Excelle, is it an American car or a Korean car?It's not that I'm delirious after washing my feet too much, and it's not that South Korea steals everything......Everything, Kaiyue does have an inexplicable relationship with South Korea.
It all started in 1997. This year the South Korean Daewoo code J100 Traveler was launched, Italy Ide.Company A designed, with Ricardo and Holden involved in the development, was originally designed to be positioned in the A+ market, so it looked like a B-class car at first glance, and the interior space was also quite good, and it sold well.
Around 2000, Daewoo launched the second generation of the Voyager, saying how many upgrades, but in fact it can only be regarded as a facelift, as can be seen from the codename, it was only changed to J150.
But Daewoo was in a bad situation at this time, and after years of continuous expansion and the impact of the financial crisis of '98, Daewoo declared bankruptcy. From the beginning of Daewoo's establishment, it hooked up with the general righteousness of the relationship, and spent 2 in 2002Acquired Daewoo Motors for $5.1 billion, established GM Daewoo, and was deeply involved in model development. The first car, the true second-generation traveler, Lacetti, codenamed J200, and the name ** is derived from the Latin Lacertus, which means young. This thing is familiar to us when we look at it, except for the front face is a Daewoo family design, the others are the same as the domestic Kaiyue Yidime.
At this time, GM is rich and rich, is exhausting all brand resources, and vigorously promotes the development of globalization, manufacturing globalization, brand globalization, marketing service globalization of the four concepts, such as lacetti, the sedan version of the design from Pininfarina, the hatchback version of the design by Giugiaro, the use of General Motors global platform, Daewoo design body structure and chassis, Opel and Lotus engineering tuning suspension, powertrain the same ** Opel, this practice in our northeast, called stew.
In terms of branding, GM has also engaged in a global hodgepodge, using different brands in different countries and regions to cater to the preferences of different consumers. Therefore, Lacetti has a lot of identities in the world, which can be Horton Viva, Chevrolet Optra, Chevrolet Lacetti or Nubira, or Russian R**on Gentra, etc., adding up to more than ten names, but in GM's hometown of the United States, it is called Suzuki Forenza or Reno, and in China, it is called Buick Excelle Excelle.
So back to the question just now, is the Kaiyue an American car or a Korean car?Yes, maybe the "global car" is more suitable, but that doesn't matter, let's talk about the story of Kaiyue in China.
The first generation of Kaiyue: open a new three
In 2003, China's automobile market was extremely lively, with domestic BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Volkswagen Golf, Toyota Land Patrol, Ma Liu, and Honda Accord piled up on the market, but the limelight of Japan's two major automobile powers, but was snatched away by an American car, Buick Excelle.
In April 2003, Buick Kaiyue officially landed in China, positioning the Buick brand as an entry-level family car, but inherited the Buick century, Buick old Regal won the title of "big Buick", known as "Buick". At that time, the popularity of Kaiyue was comparable to today's Qin 998, why?The amount is large and the tube is full.
Look at the shape, the body is stocky, the lines are simple, and the meanness is durable;Looking at the space, the 2600mm wheelbase is only 75mm shorter than the real B-class car Lao Ma Liu, which was launched in the same yearLook at the interior, except for the steering wheel as big as the basin, the others are much stronger than the same level of cars, the early versions are basically soft, and the central control wood trim is also extravagant;Looking at the configuration, there is only 1 at the beginning6L manual and 18L automatic two, low configuration has leather seats and sunroof, high configuration automatic wipers, multi-disc CD or something on the full;Look at the price again, 149800 and 179800, which are higher than the Bora** low configuration, and they are sold out directly. There are even car owners who increase the price to pick up the car, and they can't even think of today's Buick.
Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Kaiyue has redefined China's A-class car market, and the division between the new three and the old three is also bounded by Kaiyue.
In fact, the success of Kaiyue is unintentional. Shanghai GM just wanted to build a car that competed with Bora, and it was necessary to configure the quality, and the Kaiyue was not on the list, and the first choice was the Opel Astra Astra, which was sold in Europe, but the cost was too high. So the talent of South Korea's man-made cheap car won, and Daewoo Lacetti became the Buick Excelle. As for Opel Astra, it was sold for a while as an import in 2005, and then it was not sold well because it was too expensive, so it was relabeled as Buick Yinglang and Valeant, and then sold well.
Here's a small episode, some people say that the two engines of the early Excelle were imported, which makes sense but is not all right, and like the car, their pedigree is complicated. These two engines belong to the TWIN-TEC series at SAIC-GM, but GM's internal code name is E-TEC II, which is the work of GM's Opel Power Division, but it was assembled in Holden, Australia, and Daewoo, South Korea, and later became domestic assembly. So it's imported, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Returning to the book, the hot sales of Kaiyue made GM's eyes shine, and it was found that the Buick brand had made a great difference in China. Striking while the iron was hot, the hatchback version, that is, the Kaiyue HRV and the Kaiyue station wagon, was introduced to China, becoming the only A-class car with so many models at that time. In particular, the Excelle HRV is really beautiful, and together with the Golf, it reversed the impression that Xiali left a hatchback on people as a low-end car, and the tail later became the imitation object of the BYD F3R.
It was sold smoothly for 5 years, and Kaiyue took Buick to kill. In 2008, the Kaiyue replacement model was launched, and it is said that it almost changed the appearance of the Taiwan version, but at the critical moment, the precipice was reined in, and a special version of the new ** was made, mainly changing the shape of the headlights and taillights.
It was smooth sailing at home, but the parent company of GM abroad was miserable. In 2008, the financial crisis caused GM to declare bankruptcy, and its brands were sold off, leaving only four brands: Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. Among them, the Buick's stay is controversial, and the American people are more inclined to keep Pontiac, and the reason why GM finally decided to keep the Buick brand is the sales of the Excelle in the Chinese market. In 2008, Kaiyue bicycles sold 1750,000 units, and there is still growth potential, while the Buick brand's global sales were only 4350,000 units, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a general motors bottle and blood pack.
It stands to reason that Shanghai GM is guarding the cash cow, it should be replaced, it should be updated, and it is no problem to eat for more than ten years. But around 2010, I learned from the North and South and began to toss.
From Kaiyue to Yinglang
My first car was a used hatchback Peugeot 307, 16L+4AT, smooth but fuel-efficient, and the steering wheel is like a basin, and the French car is old and repairs it hurts, so I sold it in 2019.
Before buying a new car, I always rent a Buick Yinglang, 1The 6L+6AT model, in addition to the power is not very good, is surprisingly easy to drive. Recently, on a whim, I wanted to rent another one to reminisce, and suddenly found that the car rental platform had gone out of business, and my TM deposit of hundreds of yuan was gone. The reason why I think of this incident is because the replacement model of Kaiyue is Yinglang.
It's still about the public. In 2006, Volkswagen Suteng opened up the A+ market, squeezed Bora to a lower level, and took the lead in forming a dual-line product strategy among many joint venture brands, and sold well. Shanghai GM has followed the example, and before and after this year, the price of Kaiyue was lowered to more than 100,000 yuan, and 1The 8L version and the bells and whistles of the HRV as well as the station wagon, only the 16L manual and automatic models, and began to divide the configuration in detail.
By 2010, the cumulative sales of Kaiyue exceeded one million, but seeing that Suteng's sales were getting better and better, Shanghai GM couldn't sit still, or took the original first choice Opel Astra, and turned into an Excelle GT sedan and Excelle XT in a hatchback, the same English name as Kaiyue, but the Chinese name became Yinglang. Both cars are 16l and 1The combination of 6T, one is mainly for domestic use, the taillight white-eyed eagle king thief has characteristics, and the other is mainly sporty, with a round and full hatchback shape, and more than 400,000 units were sold in the year of listing.
Yinglang and Kaiyue have a clear division of labor, one plays speed, and the other plays Baolai.
In February 2013, Kaiyue, which had been the bicycle sales champion for two years, ushered in a new generation again, the old 16L+4AT was finally replaced with 15L+6AT, the sales volume of the new Kaiyue that year was close to 300,000 units, and the gap with Lavida Suteng was only a millimeter. As for the Yinglang brothers, they can only barely squeeze into the top ten.
If nothing else, an accident is about to happen, and on August 8, 2016, the last Triumph rolled off the assembly line. Shanghai GM announced that the annual sales of at least 150,000 Kaiyue directly stopped production, leaving the vacated market to Chevrolet and Yinglang, and the original Yinglang position was replaced by Valeant, and the prototype was still Opel Astra.
It's a bit messy, and it's a wisp for everyone. At the beginning, Kaiyue's positioning was here, after Yinglang was listed, Kaiyue automatically declined, and after Valeant was listed, Yinglang also automatically declined, and Kaiyue disappeared directly. That is to say, at that point in time in 2016, Valeant is the former Yinglang, Yinglang is the former Kaiyue, Kaiyue is a fart, general, general, a few degrees of sunset red or you are calm.
Doesn't Kaiyue make money?You can earn it, but you can only earn a little. The production of Kaiyue, Shanghai GM wants the entire Buick brand to go up, and the price of the Regal LaCrosse Envision, which has been listed one after another, is quite high. But from God's point of view, this is a bad move, and even indirectly led to the collapse of the entire Shanghai General ** system. From the internal point of view of the brand, whether it is Yinglang or Valeant, it has not played the same dominance as Bora Langyi Suteng in the market, and has been downgrading and reducing prices for sales, and the same brother Chevrolet Corvoz, as well as the new Santana and the new Jetta are also crazy to participate in the competition. Later, Shanghai GM strangled Yinglang with his own hands with a three-cylinder engine, which is another sad story.
Kaiyue = Kaiyue?
By the time of production in 2016, Kaiyue sold a total of 2.68 million units, unlike Jetta Santana Fukang Xiali, Kaiyue because of fuel consumption is almost meaningful, slightly more small problems, so few cities take it as a taxi, this sales are real family cars, many people also miss this car and hope to resume production.
As the saying goes, listen to people's persuasion to eat a full meal, Shanghai GM sees that the masses are so high, and Kaiyue resumed production in 2018, don't say that you don't have face, you can't just don't want money for the sake of face, right?But the resumption of production of Kaiyue seems to be basically the mini youth version of Regal.
It is only sold for 83,900, and there is a discount of at least 20,000, with 13L three-cylinder plus CVT. Compared with the original generation, it is at least one and a half levels lower, and its prototype is the Opel Corsa, and the last time the Corsa came to China, it was called the Buick Sail, which was later the Chevrolet Sail.
It stands to reason that the classic model has returned at a reduced price, and the person who shouted nostalgia at the beginning should welcome it with a money clip and buy it directly. But there are many mouths, but there are few real purchases, and then I look at the three-cylinder engine, and I am persuaded to withdraw a batch, is it not fragrant to buy domestic products?Therefore, SAIC-GM was basically fooled and lame, and there was basically no splash after the new Kaiyue was launched, and the sales volume in May was even only double digits.
If you think about it carefully, Jetta Santana is relegated and returned, supported by the taxi market, and you have returned to a lonely place. The new Kaiyue, on the contrary, has become a symbol of the official bankruptcy of the Buick brand's upward plan, and slapped itself hard.
The Excelle is not a model with a long history, so there is not much to talk about in the car itself. But no matter from what point of view, Kaiyue should be a car that has been recorded in the history of Buick and even Chinese automobiles, its arrival has opened a new era, and its discontinuation has also witnessed the change of a brand, I don't know how many families have the first car is Kaiyue, and now I don't know how many families will choose Kaiyue again.
Now Buick is vigorously engaged in electrification, and has released several new E series cars, and the entry-level family sedan represented by the word "Kaiyue" does not know what form it will appear in again.