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Toyota Vietnam’s thirst for MPV market share

After the rapid decline of Innova, two cards Avanza, Rush were not as expected, Toyota is hungry for MPV market share more than ever.

1,560 cars/month is the goal of Toyota Vietnam for the newly launched MPV duo: about 360 cars for Avanza Premio and 1,200 cars for Veloz Cross. This number is higher than the sales of Mitsubishi Xpander an average of 1,130 vehicles/month, figures for 2021. Toyota did not say anything about its ambition to dominate the segment like Innova did, but the 4-digit target means that the Japanese joint venture wants to re-divide the market share.

More than ever, Toyota’s brand position in Vietnam is shaking a lot when its previous nail products are increasingly losing their position. The Japanese automaker is still a “giant” in the Vietnamese market, and the push in the MPV segment will still cause headaches for competitors, whether success or failure is unknown.

Trails

The Vietnamese car market has been established for nearly 30 years, then 25 years is the land of Toyota. Absolute brand strength, durable cars, high resale value are the things that hit the needs of users in a country where the average income of 20 years can only afford to buy a small car. But in the past 5 years, when the main workforce has gradually moved from Gen X to Millenials and Gen Z, consumer demand for cars has been very different.





Avanza 2021 old model imported from Indonesia for sale in Vietnam.

Avanza 2021 old model imported from Indonesia for sale in Vietnam. Photo: TMV

Toyota Vietnam is inherently good at serving the right needs of customers, but it is not good at eliciting needs. Successful models such as Altis, Vios, Innova, Fortuner are all in very traditional segments. With the brand advantage and shopping habits of loyal customers who make up the majority, prioritizing practicality, Toyota almost only slightly innovates product design year after year, adding a few features. and… sell.

Suggesting or in other words introducing new consumer trends, Ford is the pioneer. The American company takes advantage of the small crossover segment with EcoSport. Before that, Hyundai soon brought Creta in the ambiguous segment (although unsuccessfully). Most recently, Mitsubishi revived the small MPV group with an Xpander with a young design, sufficient comfort and reasonable price, breaking the shopping habits of users who only give absolute favor to Innova.

The definition of a 7-seater family car that must be as big as Innova is no longer appropriate. Innova gradually lost ground and lost the battle. But it is also recognized that, besides the design and reasonable price for a 7-seater car model, there was a falling point in the market at the right time when Vietnamese people’s living standards increased as well as personal cars and running services. bloom from 2017 onwards.

Consumer tastes pivot to cheaper price options, while the 7-person capacity can settle with names like Xpander, Ertiga, XL7. At that time, Toyota Vietnam immediately brought back Avanza and Rush to “fight”, but both failed, because of the same old design style, old shaping, everything on the car was also old. Rush is also semi-occupant, Avanza alone becomes sluggish.

Change

Until Innova failed because of Mitsubishi Xpander, Toyota Vietnam was still “sleeping on victory”. Fortunately, this company just dozed off, not overslept. Corolla Cross Launched in 2020 can be considered as a medicine to help Toyota wake up. Followed by coffee cans like Raize, Camry, Altis with hybrid engines or the newest Veloz and the new Avanza.

What’s in Avanza Premio and Veloz Cross?

Avanza is still positioned in the lower segment as before, while Veloz replaces Rush’s position in the higher money range. The positive point is that both cars have a much more modern and youthful design, in contrast to the boredom seen before in Toyota models. With this design, the prejudice about cars only for service business people is also somewhat reduced.

Avanza is cheap, so it has less technology and convenience. While Veloz is like a letter to challenge Toyota to rival Mitsubishi with the TSS (Toyota Safety Sense) package. This is the keyword used throughout the marketing and sales system of the Japanese automaker to attract customers.

But Veloz’s amount of technology is quite contradictory, when TSS brings overwhelming things to 700 million riders such as pre-collision warning, automatic high beam / cos or lane departure warning, cross-traffic warning. In the rear… the car lacks cruise control, which is gradually becoming the norm with customers, as the highway system in Vietnam is expanding.





Avanza Premio new generation in Vietnam.

Avanza Premio new generation in Vietnam. Photo: TMV

The rest is the price, so how has Toyota priced its two new products?

The firmCarVersionPriceDistance
SuzukiErtigaMT500
ToyotaAvanza PremioMT5487
MitsubishiXpanderMT555
SuzukiErtigaAT560
ToyotaAvanza PremioCVT588twelfth
SuzukiXL7AT600
MitsubishiXpanderAT63018
ToyotaVeloz CrossCVT648
MitsubishiXpanderCross67018
ToyotaVeloz CrossCVT Top688

Unit: million dong

In the comparison table above, it can be seen that, excluding the Ertiga whose sales are too low, almost no longer competitive, the Japanese automaker has set the prices of two of its products to cover four prices, according to the principle of “Cars in the low segment will be cheaper than competitors, cars in the high segment are a bit more expensive but have many amenities.”

In the price range of over 500 million of manual transmission cars, Avanza Premio is cheaper than Xpander. Up to nearly 600 million, Avanza will compete with XL7 and also be cheaper. At the threshold above 600 to nearly 700, both versions of Veloz are 18 million more expensive than rival Xpander. This pricing method will make consumers very confused, until Xpander returns to the country.

As for Suzuki’s Ertiga and XL7, the appearance of Veloz and Avanza is like a real test for the position of these two models in the segment that promises more fierce competition. Not to mention Truong Hai player is also about to launch Kia Carens (old Rondo) in 2022.

Ambitious

A few days after the launch, every day Toyota dealers receive about 200 Veloz orders, Avanza less, about 20. Therefore, the target of 1,200 Veloz cars, 360 cars/month becomes realistic. This can be considered a positive signal with the return of this Japanese company in the 7-seat MPV segment.

“We are not afraid of failure like the old Rush, Avanza,” said the head of a Toyota dealership in Ho Chi Minh City after completing a product training course organized by Toyota. He is confident that the price, shape and facilities of the two new names are all very good and is only concerned that there is not enough supply to realize his ambition to be at the top of the segment.





Toyota Veloz Cross rolls in Da Nang.

Toyota Veloz Cross rolls in Da Nang.

Of the orders Veloz has ordered, the ratio is 50/50 for the two versions CVT and CVT Top, different from the original plan of 80/20. And then, the story of “beer with peanuts” recurred. To own a car early, customers need to pay extra for an accessory package that costs tens of millions of dong. Veloz, priced at VND 648-748 million, has the potential to bite the market share of the B-sized crossover segment, where car prices fluctuate from VND 600-750 million.

But these numbers are just an early effect when a new product launches. The same story happened with Rush and Wigo when launched in 2018. Initially, these two models also had a “beer with peanuts”, but then sold out.

Focusing on small MPV could be Toyota Vietnam’s answer instead of saying goodbye to Innova, a name that had no rival for a while. When only Xpander, Innova lost, now there are two more MPV models in the same house, the chance for Innova to still have a name on the catalog is very difficult.

This change is helping the company’s product portfolio gradually become new and more accessible to young customers. A “very different Toyota” in Vietnam is gradually appearing. But the competitors also do not sit still, the market is therefore more and more exciting. MPV or crossover, Korea or Japan, the more competitive the market, the more consumers benefit.

Thanh Nhan – Duc Huy
Photo: TMV

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