Chapter 493 New 3-digit Car Development Plan
Even in later times in China, if a certain car model had monthly sales of over 10,000 units, it would be a remarkable achievement.
Of course, this cannot be compared with the average monthly sales of 20,000 to 30,000 for Didi's entire range of electric vehicles.
But that is China, and this is Japan.
China has a population of more than one billion, while Japan has just over 100 million. The two countries are incomparable in terms of market size.
For a small place like Xiaorizi, if the monthly sales of new models exceed 10,000, it can definitely be considered a great success.
What really surprised Shirakawa Kaede was that Japan's automobile market had reached this level even though it was not even the 1990s.
I don’t know if it’s because of the bubble or because the Legacy series is so good.
Or both, neither of which can be missing.
After all, it was the bubble era, and people's purchasing power exploded. Buying a luxury car worth 4-5 million yen was as easy as buying groceries, and even fewer people took out loans.
Seeing Shirakawa Kaede's surprised expression, Nakamura Takao said with some pride.
"Mr. Shirakawa, you may have forgotten that the consumption tax will be implemented starting April 1st.
I have to say that the information you disclosed was very accurate, and our 'New 3-Digit Car Development Plan' will be launched soon."
After Nakamura Takao's reminder, Shirakawa Kaede suddenly remembered that the much-discussed consumption tax would soon be officially introduced to the public.
As for why consumption tax will affect car sales, and what is the "new 3-digit car development plan"?
This needs to be viewed in conjunction with Neon’s current environment.
Why was the Subaru Legacy, a luxury car, able to sell nearly 20,000 units in the first three months?
In addition to the eye-catching full-color LCD screen, Neon’s social environment at the time was also a great help.
One could say this is the power of bubbles, but that is just an appearance.
Since 1987, sales of Neon's luxury cars have been rising steadily, but it is still dwarfed by the soaring housing prices.
From 1985 to 1989, wages more than doubled, housing prices increased more than sixfold, and land prices in Tokyo were even more unattainable.
Therefore, many young people who have just graduated feel that the dream of "My Home" may be shattered in this lifetime.
Thinking about the outrageous housing prices, they don’t want to save money to buy a house anymore. It’s too late to save money anyway given the current situation.
Although it is impossible to buy a house, it is also true that wages have increased. With money in hand, it is natural to want to spend.
Coupled with the crazy social environment at that time, young people quickly became the front line in driving domestic demand.
Eating and drinking are just minor things. Looking at the generous salary in their hands, cars come into the sight of young people.
I can’t afford a house, but I can afford a car. Besides, if I want to be a goddess’s errand boy, how can I do it without a car?
It so happens that at this time, car prices have remained in a reasonable price range due to fierce market competition.
For example, the Toyota Corolla, which is now popular on the streets, and the Golf hatchback, which is aimed at students, have prices that basically fluctuate between 1.6 million and 2 million yen.
This price is not difficult for new employees to get, and they can get it with half a year or a year's salary.
It is common for employees of large trading companies to replace their cars with higher-end luxury cars after receiving bonuses two years after joining the company.
Compared with the above, "My Car" becomes easier to achieve than "My home".
In addition, buying a car is no longer something exclusive to office workers who have just entered the society. There are many students who buy cars.
It may sound outrageous, but this is reality.
In 1987, Volkswagen Neon first launched the "Student Loan Car Purchase Plan". The model launched at that time was the 2nd generation Golf hatchback travel version, with a standard price of 1.88 million yen.
Volkswagen targets third-year college students, and students only need to pay 10,000 yen per month while they are in school to pick up a car.
The balance will be repaid at a monthly rate of 30,000 to 70,000 NTD after you start working, with a maximum term of 5 years and an interest rate of 25% to 50%.
It is said that this program is very successful. Many students sign up, and most of them pay off their loans within six months to a year after joining the company.
Some smart students managed to secure their loans during the briefing period.
After all, at this time, in order to attract people, companies are not only giving gifts of all sizes, but they are also often competing to pay students' loans.
A loan of one or two million yen for a college student is a great bargain. Sometimes, this amount of money can be spent in one night by taking a few selected students with you.
So in Japan at this time, buying a car is really not a difficult thing, even if you are a college student with zero monthly income.
Since more people are driving, and many of them are students.
So what would those who used to drive Corolla or Golf think?
Of course it’s changing cars. The neon lights at this time are very exaggerated.
After owning a luxury car, the social phenomena of "ranking people by car" and "looking at cars with a dog's eye" have occurred frequently.
This is why Nissan CIMA is such a hot seller. Coincidentally, Subaru Legacy was launched not long after CIMA was launched.
If you want a status symbol and a unique gimmick, you have to look at the full-color LCD display instrument of the Lion.
In the past, when I was the goddess’s “errand boy”, a Corolla was enough.
But it’s no longer possible now. The cheapest one has to be Toyota SOARER, Nissan CIMA or Subaru Legacy.
Especially the Legacy. Every time the goddess stretches her neck like a curious baby after getting in the car, I can’t tell you how satisfied I am in my heart.
The slender white neck and the faint fragrance of hair. The errand boy shouted in his heart, this 5 million yen is worth it~!
Because of this competitive mentality, even a BMW E32 is embarrassed to drive into Roppongi.
Otherwise people will laugh at you and say, “Look everyone, this is the Corolla from Roppongi~”
Haven’t you heard of the popular rhyme at that time?
Ordinary employees drive Corolla, section chiefs drive Corona, department heads drive Mark II, and company presidents drive Legacy. Note: Legacy is limited to the deluxe version.
The idea behind this jingle is to mock the strict hierarchy of Japanese companies by using the currently popular low, medium and high-end car models.
But in fact, these days, it is common for ordinary employees to drive Legacy.
It is not uncommon to see people getting on and off the road in their cars, because there are more and more unscrupulous ways to make money.
No matter what era or where, success or failure still depends on money...
What Baichuan Feng has to do now is to further promote the Lion to the general public and further lower its purchasing threshold.
The consumption tax that will be implemented in April is a great help. For this reason, Shirakawa Holdings and Subaru have jointly formulated a "new three-digit car development plan."
Although many people oppose the 3% consumption tax, it is actually a good thing for the automotive industry.
Because although the consumption tax was added, the previous commodity tax was cancelled.
In this era, the Japanese government divided the commodity tax on passenger cars into three levels.
Ordinary passenger cars account for 23%, small passenger cars account for 18.5%, and light vehicles account for 15.5%.
At first glance, it seems that there is not much difference, but when we look at the actual price, there is a big difference.
Take the current models as an example, the official price of a luxury version of Legacy is 5.4 million yen.
The 23% article tax makes it 1,242,000 yen, and the 81,500 yen tax on cars with displacements of 2.0 or more and 3.0 or less makes it 1,323,500 yen.
This is not the end yet, there is still the final vehicle inspection tax of 43,000 yen, totaling additional expenses of 1,366,500 yen.
In other words, the landing price for people to buy a Legacy is 6,766,500 yen.
This is almost equivalent to more than twice the annual salary of an ordinary person. With such high expenses, it is no wonder that there is a saying that "Leishi has to be the president".
But if it is a mid-to-low-end 1.6-displacement Corolla, the official price is 1.45 million yen.
Based on the calculation of 18.5%, taking into account various other tax rates, the final additional expenditure is 328,700 yen.
The total price of the car is only 1,778,700 yen, which is much more affordable for ordinary people.
As for the additional tax, it is almost one-twelfth of the average person's annual salary. The difference is obvious after comparing them.
But now that the goods tax is about to be replaced by a 3% consumption tax, the situation will change again.
The same Legacy, which is priced at 5.4 million yen, now only needs to pay 162,000 yen in taxes.
Compared with the previous 1.3665 million, 162,000 is not even a fraction of it.
As for the affordable Corolla, it has become 43,000 yen.
Previously, the tax difference between Legacy and Corolla was 1.15 million yen, but now it is less than 120,000 yen.
The spending gap between luxury cars and economy cars is no longer so huge, and the Japanese people are the happiest at this time.
In the past, it cost more than one million to buy a Legacy, but now it is almost the original price, which is equivalent to a 29% discount.
A cool full-color LCD screen is 29% off? What are you waiting for? Why not buy it now?
For many people, the news of the upcoming implementation of consumption tax is like a license plate starting with "3" waving to them.
A license plate with a prefix of "3"? This has to be related to Subaru's next "new 3-prefix car development plan".
In Japan, there are good license plates and ordinary license plates. Of course, they are different from the consecutive numbers "888" or "666" in China.
In Neon, except for light vehicles, self-driving passenger cars are divided into two types of license plates.
One is an ordinary passenger car with a capacity of less than 10 people and a displacement of more than 2.0, and the license plate begins with "3".
The other type is a small passenger car with a seating capacity of less than 10 people and a displacement of less than 2.0, and the license plate begins with "5".
In the past, few people drove cars with large displacement of 2.0 or above. They were license plates reserved for dignitaries and the wealthy.
Ordinary people can just drive a small car with a car number starting with "5". Large-displacement cars are not only expensive to fuel, but also have high commodity taxes.
Because of long-term social consensus, the public has formed the social impression that a license plate starting with "3" means high status.
But after consumption tax replaced commodity tax, the high tax expenditure on luxury cars was almost completely cut.
With the blessing of bubbles, license plates starting with 3 fell from the sky to the earth.
Baichuan Feng and his colleagues firmly believe that by then the middle-aged and young people will be full of energy and will buy mid- to high-end cars without hesitation.
In order to seize this opportunity, Shirakawa Holdings and Subaru formulated a "new three-digit car development plan."
It started from two aspects. One was to expand the production capacity of Legacy. The four main engine plants in Gunma were running at full capacity, striving to achieve a monthly output of 10,000 vehicles.
For this reason, it doesn't matter if the old models are delivered later. After all, the sales volume is limited and there are still some stocks.
On the other hand, the "3-digit license plate" is highlighted during publicity, and Subaru 4S stores also provide license plate registration services.
Everyone has vanity, and Subaru is responsible for magnifying them.
A luxury car with a price starting with 3, are you really not tempted?
After getting the reminder from Nakamura Takao and looking at the report in his hand, Shirakawa Kaede almost smiled crookedly.
However, there is good news, but there are also signs of destruction.
1989 was the year when the Japanese government started to commit suicide.
