Blowing One's Own Horn Is Illegal, It's Time to Regulate Car Industry Marketing

In today's increasingly competitive car market, in order to attract consumers' attention, car manufacturers continuously work on their products, from design to intelligence, from space to power, from handling to comfort... equipping their products to the teeth to cope with the intense and even brutal market competition.

In addition to focusing on their products, car companies are getting increasingly creative with their marketing. For example, Lexus’s champagne tower commercial, SAIC Volkswagen’s replacement of a burned ID.3 with a new car, and many domestic brands collaborating with popular Chinese cultural trends.

However, some marketing strategies that go viral can gradually deviate from their intended path. For instance, at many new car launches, we often hear small cars boasting about space, large cars talking about agility, low-priced cars discussing intelligence, and luxury cars emphasizing cost-effectiveness. In fact, a few years ago, some car companies even engaged in stunts like racing cars with high-speed trains to prove the car's speed, or dropping cars from heights to demonstrate safety. Such examples are numerous.

In intense competition, manufacturers are increasingly engaging in eye-catching promotions, even falling into the trap of logical contradictions.

When such phenomena shift from being sporadic occurrences to appearing openly and prominently in the automotive market, it inevitably raises the question: Has the marketing direction of the automotive industry gone astray?

01Chaos stems from the struggle for survival; departing from the facts is inadvisable.

At the hundreds of new car launches each year, we often see a compact car with a wheelbase of less than 2.5 meters and cramped rear seats, being advertised for its spaciousness; in contrast, a full-size SUV over 5 meters long and nearly two tons in weight is eagerly promoted for its "agile handling" in commercials. This marketing phenomenon is continuously playing out in the Chinese automotive market.

It seems that car companies are scrambling to "highlight their weaknesses while avoiding their strengths," creating marketing noise that is difficult to understand in the crowded track.

However, this kind of mismatched promotion of "space and flexibility" is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing chaos in the automotive industry. For instance, power parameters are embellished, promotional videos are deliberately edited, comfort is vaguely described, and intelligent features are exaggerated to an incredible extent. Regardless of consumer acceptance levels, there often exists a self-consistent space between marketing rhetoric and physical laws, which can be both amusing and frustrating.

Certainly, ridiculous phenomena have their helpless side.

As the market shifts from a growth market to a stock market competition, in addition to efforts in product and brand, the pressure on the marketing department begins to increase sharply. Because product homogenization is becoming increasingly serious and technical barriers are constantly being leveled, when "you have it, I have it, everyone has it," how to make consumers take another look at your product among a wide array of options is a topic the marketing department cannot avoid.

As a result, many "counterintuitive" marketing phenomena have begun to emerge in the market. For automotive marketing departments, this is a shortcut to gaining widespread attention. After all, in the eyes of many, if they can't outshine others with product strength, they can only reshape consumer perception. This is akin to how we've been brainwashed over the years with slogans like "No gifts this holiday season," which represents a victory in marketing.

This approach also involves "finding loopholes."

When it comes to aspects like space and handling, most people's perception of a car's space is vague, and their understanding of "maneuverability" is even more subjective. Car companies are well aware of this and create the illusion of "spaciousness" or "agility" through rhetoric and packaging.

At the same time, the absence of standards has fueled the occurrence of disorder. This is because different manufacturers have varying methods for measuring space. For example, a fist-sized difference in rear legroom could be significantly related to the thickness of the seat or adjustments to the measurement reference point. Handling is also difficult to quantify, as manufacturers often selectively showcase agile performance in specific scenarios while avoiding the clumsiness in everyday driving.

Therefore, when the manufacturer holds the final right of interpretation, marketing can repeatedly jump between being truthful, exaggerated, and false.

However, this type of marketing is by no means a harmless game. Especially when consumers are attracted by such advertising and find that the actual performance of the car significantly deviates from the advertisement after purchase, it can further erode their trust in the brand. Once trust is broken, the cost of rebuilding it far exceeds the benefits of marketing.

02Marketing needs to return to authenticity.

When these marketing strategies become shortcuts, some car companies are no longer willing to focus on product development or strengthening their marketing capabilities.

Small cars could focus on aesthetic design, extreme energy efficiency, or urban commuting convenience, while large cars should work on ride quality, safety redundancy, or long-distance comfort. However, when marketing resources are misallocated, the industry, amidst the chaos of "highlighting weaknesses and avoiding strengths," will gradually lose the drive for differentiated innovation.

Moreover, when a car company gains short-term traffic by blurring boundaries, competitors are often forced to follow suit, sometimes even escalating their marketing efforts. In this vicious cycle, "the bolder the people, the more impressive the cars," marketing gradually deviates from the essence of the product, becoming a game of boldness and imagination.

If this continues, the false prosperity under excessive marketing packaging will cause the industry's innovative soil to become increasingly barren.

In the short term, off-track marketing may gain short-term traffic, but it can also backfire and become the target of criticism; in the long term, such marketing can render the industry's innovative soil barren, becoming a pain for the industry.

Therefore, marketing should return to the essence of value, communicating the true advantages of the product with sincerity. For example, small cars like the Honda Fit or Wuling Bingo have never relied on false promises of space for their success, but have focused on flexibility, economy, and the charm of personalized design. In contrast, the concept of comfort and safety is deeply ingrained in the large cars of Volvo and "Wei Xiaoli." Thus, only when marketing and the core strengths of the product create a synergistic effect can consumer trust and favor be earned.

At the same time, it requires appropriately "contextualized" expression.

Just like how small cars can demonstrate agile parking in narrow lanes and efficient maneuvering in congested areas, larger vehicles should showcase their ability to comfortably transport the whole family, as well as their stability and safety during long-distance driving. This allows consumers to truly understand the product in specific life scenarios.

Moreover, the industry urgently needs to establish transparent and unified standards to correct the course of marketing.

The measurement of luggage compartment volume should strictly adhere to ISO standards; the evaluation of handling performance can incorporate tests that are closer to everyday road conditions. Some new car companies have proactively disclosed comparisons between CLTC and WLTC range, taking a step towards honesty.

Finally, car manufacturers should be brave enough to honestly acknowledge the applicable boundaries of their products. For example, small cars could clearly indicate a "recommended best occupancy," and large vehicles could include a reminder of the "limitations in urban commuting convenience," allowing marketing to "highlight strengths without avoiding weaknesses." This honesty is not only a sign of respect for consumers but also a responsibility for the long-term development of the brand.

Returning automotive marketing to the right track is a necessary path for the automotive industry to achieve maturity and sustainability.

In an era of information overload, consumers long for not just car products filled with parameters, but also a sincere attitude. Whoever can first break away from this off-track marketing quagmire will have the opportunity to gain consumers' trust in this fiercely competitive market.