Middle-aged men's favorite Land Rover is only over 200,000 yuan.

"A man cannot have both a Land Rover and low self-esteem, unless you are driving a Chery Jaguar Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L." This industry joke has made the once "most beautiful Land Rover" extremely embarrassed. From being hard to find to continuous price cuts, the vehicle has been in the Chinese market for over a decade and has become a microcosm of the Land Rover brand in China to some extent.

"The most beautiful Land Rover" is being snatched up like crazy.

"The Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L has a big price cut! Plenty of stock available, meeting the conditions can get a 50% discount off the suggested price!" In March 2024, news of the significant discount on the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L began to spread on social media, attracting the attention of potential buyers. "Land Rover Evoque L price cut by nearly 200,000 yuan" and "Can buy a Land Rover Evoque L for just over 200,000 yuan" related content has attracted the attention of potential buyers.

A new car owner from Sichuan told "Shijie" that the official suggested price of the Collins Ancient Bronze Special Edition, purchased through installment payments, was 42,980 yuan, and after the discount, the bare car price was 238,000 yuan, including interest, the final price was around 275,000 yuan. "It's like getting a 45% discount on the car price, a reduction of about 190,000 yuan."

Another car owner from Jiangsu purchased the luxury version with a total landed price including loan interest of 268,000 yuan, for a suggested price of 425,000 yuan. "After the discount, the bare car price is less than 230,000 yuan. I've recently compared the purchase prices of many other car owners and feel it's very reasonable."

Lin Kai, a salesperson at a Land Rover 4S store in Beijing, told "Shijie" that the reason for the larger discounts on the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L in March and April 2024 was that the 2023 models were being cleared out to make way for the new 2024 models. "In March, our store required to clear out more than 60% of the 2023 models in stock, and before the new models arrive in April, we need to clear out all the old model inventory."

As a result, the salespeople pulled out all the stops and released promotional bottom prices in April. "The Elite Edition for 389,800 yuan, all-inclusive for 248,000 yuan" and "The luxury edition for 425,000 yuan, all-inclusive for only 265,000 yuan." In short, the situation at the time could be described in one sentence: the price is not the lowest, only lower.

On social media, a car owner from Beijing stated that they bought an Elite Edition model with a bare car price of 185,000 yuan, which was originally priced at 389,800 yuan, but they had to take out a loan to get this price. "Including one year's interest, the total landed price is just over 230,000 yuan."

This price reduction strategy was indeed effective, as all the 2023 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L models at Lin Kai's store had been sold out by mid-April. Recently, "Shijie" visited several Land Rover 4S stores in the Beijing area, and the salespeople all said that there were no more 2023 models available for sale.

As the salespeople said, the price reduction of the old Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L was to clear out the inventory, so theoretically, the prices of the new 2024 models at the beginning of their launch would be relatively firm. However, the actual situation was unexpected.

At the 2024 Beijing Auto Show, the new Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L arrived. Due to the addition of many configurations, its official price of 392,800 to 475,800 yuan was almost a straight increase compared to the 2023 models.

According to Lin Kai, "The suggested price of the 429,800 yuan Yuguang Zunyao Edition is the main selling model, and the bare car discount price for installment purchase is around 250,000 yuan. For a loan, 80% of the car price can be borrowed, and it can be repaid in advance for a year, so although the interest is over 9,000 yuan, it is actually more than 10,000 yuan cheaper than buying the car in full." Including one year's interest, purchase tax, and insurance, the landed price of the 2024 mid-range model is around 300,000 yuan.

Although the new car's price on the surface is not as low as when the old model was clearing out, the overall discount is indeed considerable. In fact, even before the new car's price was announced, the 2024 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L had already arrived at various 4S stores across the country. At that time, a salesperson in the Shanghai area had speculated that the bare car price of the 2024 model could be discounted to 60% of the suggested price if purchased in installments.

Seeing the old model being heavily discounted for promotion and the new model's price not being firm, some old car owners lamented that they "bought too early." "I bought the luxury edition (old model) in June 2023 for 330,000 yuan, and I regret not holding back." Some people bought a year ago and now estimate a loss of about 60,000 yuan, feeling for the first time that buying a car is more exciting than buying stocks.

"How long can 'price for volume' last?"

Compared to the million-level mid-to-large SUV Land Rover Range Rover, the Range Rover Evoque is a compact SUV launched by the British luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover under the Land Rover brand, which made its global debut in November 2010.

Due to its avant-garde design, it was extremely outstanding at the time of its launch, and it achieved great success in the market, winning numerous media awards and being dubbed the "most beautiful Land Rover." Many celebrities at home and abroad are owners of the Range Rover Evoque.

In April 2011, the first-generation Land Rover Range Rover Evoque began to be imported and sold in China as a complete vehicle. The official suggested price for the five-door model was 628,000 yuan, and the three-door Coupe model was 638,000 yuan. Due to the initial market response, the Range Rover Evoque still needed an additional 100,000 yuan or so to be delivered, and the landed price once exceeded 800,000 yuan. Subsequently, the Range Rover Evoque also introduced some special and limited edition models, achieving impressive results in the niche car market.

In November 2012, the joint venture company "Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automobile Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Chery Jaguar Land Rover") was officially established with equal investment from Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. and Jaguar Land Rover.

In February 2015, the domestic version of the first generation Land Rover Range Rover Evoque was officially launched with an official price range of 448,000 to 582,800 yuan, positioning it as a mid-size SUV to compete with BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC, and Audi Q5. However, in July of the same year, the domestic version of the Range Rover Evoque had an official price reduction, with prices adjusted to 398,000 to 552,000 yuan.

In July 2019, the domestic version of the second generation Land Rover Range Rover Evoque was unveiled, with a further guide price range of 355,800 to 505,800 yuan. In June 2021, Chery Jaguar Land Rover introduced the domestically produced long-wheelbase version of the second generation Evoque, renamed as "Evoque L", with a price range of 389,800 to 475,800 yuan for the 2021 model.

Currently, the 2023 and 2024 models on sale are minor upgrades based on the 2021 Land Rover Evoque L.

Interestingly, "Chery Jaguar Land Rover Range Rover Evoque L" is currently the longest car model name in the Chinese auto market. Many netizens mockingly comment on its full set of buffs. However, this model's competitiveness and defense in the Chinese market have not been enhanced.

Perhaps due to its dazzling debut, the current price of the Range Rover Evoque L has left many old import version owners feeling conflicted, only able to console themselves with "enjoying it sooner after buying it earlier."

The Range Rover Evoque L, which had high expectations, saw a decline in sales figures after domestic production instead of taking off, which led to successive price reductions.

Industry insiders believe that from a product perspective, apart from appearance, the Evoque L does not have advantages in driving quality, space, fuel consumption, power, when compared to its competitors, and combined with Land Rover's declining brand strength and reputation in China, the once aristocratic appeal has diminished.

Looking at the performance of the 2024 new Range Rover Evoque L and the old model, the direct reason for the declining sales is the sales pressure.

According to the YiChe app, the Evoque L sold 14,576 units throughout 2023, with monthly sales consistently above 1,200 units. Monthly sales of the Evoque L have remained relatively stable, with no significant fluctuations except for a slight decline starting from July 2023 due to price wars in the auto market.

Chery Jaguar Land Rover responded quickly by further lowering prices to stabilize sales, achieving sales figures of 1,320 units, 1,239 units, and 1,357 units respectively from November 2023 to January 2024. In March 2024, Evoque L sales surged to 1,521 units, marking the highest monthly sales since September 2022.

Although sales were maintained through price reductions, it is an undeniable fact that compared to other luxury mid-size SUVs in the same segment, the presence of the Range Rover Evoque L is relatively low.

Since its launch in June 2021, its monthly sales have never exceeded 1,600 units, typically staying around 1,000 units annually. This performance is not comparable to models like the Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3, Audi Q5L, Volvo XC60, Cadillac XT5, or even the Lincoln Navigator.

Moreover, with the booming trend of new energy vehicles in the Chinese auto market, the Evoque L, despite offering a PHEV plug-in hybrid model, averages less than a hundred units per month.

Chery Jaguar Land Rover has managed to stabilize sales through substantial discounts due to their strong financial foundation, but how long can their "volume for price" strategy hold up in the fiercely competitive auto industry?

Focusing on the high-end market

In the Chinese auto consumer market, the saying "70% Land Rover and 60% Jaguar" has long been circulating, implying that prices of domestic Land Rover and Jaguar models can be discounted by 30% and 40%, respectively, from the listed prices. Given the current market conditions, this trend may further intensify.

Currently, Jaguar Land Rover is in the stage of transforming to new energy vehicles. Compared to this joint venture company, there is more external attention on Jaguar Land Rover's next steps in breaking through the Chinese market. For joint ventures, the most urgent need is to quickly enhance product strength with up-to-date new models.

As early as 2021, Jaguar Land Rover announced the "Refocus Future" strategy to accelerate the brand's electrification transformation. Specifically, Jaguar will not launch any new models before 2025 but will focus on transitioning to a super luxury all-electric vehicle brand, aiming to align with brands like Bentley, Aston Martin, and Porsche. Land Rover, on the other hand, will launch new models, focusing on the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Defender, all within the million-yuan high-end product line.

The domestically produced "Evoque L" and "Discovery Sport" by the joint venture company are entry-level models of the Land Rover brand. The timing of updates and new energy transformation remains to be observed. In the short term, continuous price reductions seem to be the only way to maintain sales.

In April 2023, Jaguar Land Rover announced the "Brand Reshaping" strategy, aiming to establish the Range Rover, Defender, Discovery, and Jaguar as four independent brand families with different market positioning and styles, clearly differentiating between high-end and low-end product lines to enhance the added value and premium capability of high-end models.

These two major strategies have indeed further heightened the super luxury positioning of Land Rover's original high-end models, achieving impressive market performance. Jaguar Land Rover's 2023 annual sales in the Chinese market showed that the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport sold over 25,000 units in a year, a 31% increase year-on-year; while the Defender's annual sales nearly reached 20,000 units, a high growth of 59%.

The Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Defender have become the weapons for harvesting the global market.

According to the sales data from the official Jaguar Land Rover UK website: from October to December 2023, the global sales of these three models increased by 10.7%, 96.0%, and 45.2% respectively compared to the previous year, with a total sales ratio accounting for 55.7% of the entire Jaguar Land Rover sales. From January to March 2024, the global sales of Range Rover Sport and Defender increased by 49.1% and 18.1% respectively compared to the previous year, while Range Rover experienced a slight decline of 4.0%, but the total sales ratio of the three models still reached 55%.

The continued strong sales of high-end models also continue to drive the company's revenue growth. In the third quarter of the Jaguar Land Rover 2024 fiscal year (October to December 2023), global revenue was 7.4 billion pounds, a 22% year-on-year increase, and an 8% increase over the previous quarter. The total revenue for the first three quarters of the 2024 fiscal year (April to December 2023) was 21.1 billion pounds, a 35% year-on-year increase and also a historic best.

The company's pre-tax profit was 627 million pounds, far exceeding the 265 million pounds from the same period of the previous fiscal year and hitting a new high. The EBIT margin was at 7.3%, significantly higher than the 3.7% from the same period of the previous fiscal year. Free cash flow was 626 million pounds.

In April 2024, the new Land Rover Range Rover Sport SV Edition One limited edition was imported into the Chinese market as a whole vehicle. With a price tag of 2.438 million RMB, the mainland’s allocation is only 15 units, undoubtedly catering to the "wealthy."

At the same time, Jaguar Land Rover officially announced that the pure electric version of the Land Rover Range Rover and the first model of the new Jaguar electric brand will make their debut in 2024, taking a crucial step in the transition to new energy.

However, for the joint venture company, the upcoming high-end new energy models from Jaguar Land Rover raise many uncertainties as to whether the technology can be transferred to domestic entry-level models, including the Range Rover Evoque, to boost their sales out of the quagmire.