豐田打造Y世代車主終極座駕
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????年輕消費者，也就是營銷人員口中的“千禧一代”，對汽車廠商的高管來說似乎是個謎團。多年來，他們一直認為這些年輕人追求的是最新酷車，哪怕他們還沒有這個購買力。但現在，這種情況似乎正在發生變化。 ????從東京到芝加哥，再到柏林，這些地方的年輕人比起X世代（出生于1970年代的美國人）或Y世代（出生于1980年代的美國人）的人要晚熟得多?，F在他們離開家門，找了份工作，也需要買輛車了。他們用來表達個性的手段是手機、電游、紋身和服飾。據維亞康姆公司（Viacom）咨詢部門的分析師斯克萊齊稱，美國的千禧一代，也就是那些生于1981年或之后年份的年輕人，與他們的長輩相比，拿駕照的可能性要低六倍。 ????對買車、開車缺乏熱情到底是說明沒興趣、不認同還是可能對新車型感到厭倦呢？在豐田汽車（Toyota Motor）的總裁豐田章男看來，應該是后者。他交代自己的工程師和設計師們，如果年輕人不買豐田的車，那就是“我們自己的問題”。 ????豐田GT86跑車以賽恩（Scion）FR-S的名義在美國發售，它的設計理念顯然是為了激發年輕人的興趣，如果還談不上激情的話。這款車底盤很低，配置簡單，除了能播放iPod之類的裝置，沒有什么花哨的配備。它就是打算憑借賽車般的操控讓年輕人血脈賁張，因為它盡管只搭載了一臺2.0排量的引擎，卻能釋放200馬力的能量。 ????FR-S的基本售價約為24,000美元。它的燃油經濟性也頗為吸引人：試駕顯示，在城市路況和洲際公路上它能做到每加侖油耗跑32英里。【四十年前，大產汽車（Datsun）——即現在的日產汽車（Nissan）——推出過240Z，也是一款極為流行的簡配跑車?！?/p> ????通用汽車（General Motors）雪佛蘭分公司的發言人安娜麗莎?布魯姆稱，年輕客戶“想要的是外表看起來比實際更貴的車，他們想要獲得別人的認可。這個群體中多數人買不起20,000美元以上的車，所以我們必須考慮，對他們來說，什么樣的車才會比二手車更好?！?/p> ????但是很多年輕客戶已經習慣自己父母的車了。這些車往往寬大、快速，有不少像電動加熱座椅和天窗之類的舒適配置。他們肯定不會因為開上一輛經濟型的簡配車而欣喜若狂。 |
????Young buyers -- "millennials" in the parlance of marketers -- present an enigma for auto executives. For decades, they have taken for granted that young people will lust after cool new cars -- even if they can't yet afford them. Now, that appears to be changing. ????Today's young, from Tokyo to Chicago and Berlin, are much slower than Gen X or Gen Y to grow up, move out of the house, find a job and, therefore, need to buy a car. They express individuality by dint of their phones, video games, tattoos and clothing. According to Scratch, the consulting unit of Viacom, millennials in the U.S. -- those born 1981 or later -- are six times less likely to have a driver's license than previous generations. ????Is the lack of enthusiasm for owning and driving a car a sign of indifference, hostility – or perhaps boredom with new models? Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor (TM), suggests it's the latter. He has told engineers and designers if the young aren't buying his company's cars "it's our fault." ????Toyota's GT86 sports car, sold in the U.S. as the Scion FR-S, was designed expressly to excite the interest, if not the passion, of the young. Low to the ground, basic, with few frills other than those meant to enable iPod use during driving, the FR-S seeks to excite with race-car handling and steering, though with only a two-liter engine that generates 200 horsepower. ????The FR-S's base price is about $24,000. And it's fuel efficiency is relatively attractive; a test drive showed it to be 32 miles per gallon around town and on the Interstate. (Forty years ago Datsun -- now Nissan (NSANY) -- introduced the 240Z, a wildly popular no-frills sports car.) ????Young consumers "wants a car that looks more expensive than it is, they want to be validated," said Annalisa Bluhm, a spokesperson for General Motors Co.'s (GM) Chevrolet division. "Most of these customers can't afford more than $20,000, so we have to figure out what will be better for them than a used car." ????But many young drivers are used to their parents' cars, many of which were big, fast and had lots of creature comforts like heated seats and sunroofs. They're surely not wild about having to drive econoboxes. |
