For car consumers, there are many reasons for buying a car, but if you want to win the long-term favor of a group, it must be the unique temperament of this model. For consumers in the 7-seat SUV market, Highlander is definitely an unavoidable choice. The common favor of more than 5 million car owners around the world is enough to explain the problem.
The ultimate quality creates the "iron Highlander"
Why the 7-seat SUV market has created the phenomenon of "rivals come and go, but Highlander remains" may be closely related to the unique consumption characteristics of consumers, especially consumers of 7-seat SUVs.
What reasons would prompt consumers to choose 7-seater SUVs? Family may be an answer that will not be absent. Because of family, they need a more comfortable ride to take care of the riding experience of each family member; because of family, they need a larger and more flexible space to accommodate more storage needs; because of family, they need a more stable model quality to "shoulder" everyone's life. Compared with MPV users, consumers who have a rigid demand for 7-seater SUVs obviously have certain requirements for driving characteristics.
Therefore, a stable model that understands user needs and has strong product power will naturally leave a deep impression and good reputation in the hearts of 7-seat SUV consumers. If it happens to be able to maintain the same quality for multiple generations, it will inevitably form a strong word-of-mouth scale effect and an outstanding product image, and radiate outward step by step to influence more consumers. The Highlander is such a model that perfectly meets the "quality" attribute pursuit of family users.
Regardless of the second-generation Highlander, which was hailed as a "goddess" after it was produced in China in 2009, and the third-generation Highlander, which has become the "stereotype" of 7-seater SUVs for countless people, let's just talk about the fourth-generation Highlander launched in 2021. Whether it is the all-round improvement of driving control and riding experience, or the comprehensive upgrade of intelligence, or the online car booking service that realizes the digital integration of the entire value chain from production and manufacturing to pre-sales and after-sales services, they all reflect the user-centric brand concept of Highlander and GAC Toyota and the insight to continuously solve pain points for users and create value for users, but they have not changed the most important "quality" attribute of Highlander. It is the consistent "quality" that has shaped the "iron Highlander" and is also the main reason why Highlander can still be popular and become the first choice of many people under the general trend of the new energy wave today.
Now, the Highlander, which no longer needs to prove itself, has ushered in a new transformation and will continue to write a legend in the hearts of its fans.
Stay true to the truth and be surprising, becoming a Highlander that "understands you" better
Times are changing all the time. GAC Toyota and Highlander, who are familiar with the 7-seat SUV market, know that although the core needs of consumers who choose 7-seat SUVs have not changed, consumers in each era have their own unique user needs. Highlander also keeps up with the times, anchoring the consumer pain points of users, and constantly upgrading and transforming itself. Facing the tide of the new era, the answer given by GAC Toyota and Highlander is to "keep the right and be surprising". On the basis of maintaining the original "quality" and "energy saving", the "comfort" and "intelligence" attributes of the whole vehicle are further improved.
Therefore, we see that the 2024 Highlander launched this time has upgraded NAPPA leather seats with double the texture, added rear seat adjustment buttons and co-pilot boss buttons, and also upgraded a total of 17 sound insulation materials in five major parts: the dashboard, driver and co-pilot floors, second row floors, rear cabin floors, and central sound insulation channel floors to enhance the quietness of driving.
In addition to comfort, Highlander’s more important transformation is intelligence.
When you enter the car, the new 12.3-inch full LCD instrument is even more eye-catching. The three display modes that link driving modes and colors are just routine operations, while the built-in 8155 chip + 12G running memory and deeply customized applications have completely brought the Highlander's intelligent experience to the next level.
Today's 2024 Highlander not only has a voice assistant deeply empowered by Huawei Voice, a car machine that is fully connected to mainstream mobile phones, and high-precision intelligent navigation and car-home intelligent interconnection that can achieve sub-meter (less than 1 meter) positioning accuracy. More importantly, the overall improvement in computing power brings not only smoother operation and more complete functions, but also more than 40% of computing power redundancy gives it a huge OTA upgrade space, which not only truly allows Highlander to get rid of the hat of "poor intelligence level" in the past, but also makes it become an increasingly "smart" and "understand you" intelligent car the more you drive it, achieving an amazing transformation compared to the past.
If "comfort", "intelligence" and comprehensive upgrades are the "surprise" of the 2024 Highlander, then the consistent "original quality of a large manufacturer" is the "orthodoxy" of the 2024 Highlander. And this is exactly why the Highlander has been favored for a long time.
Rich configuration is easy to imitate, but the quality of big manufacturers is difficult to copy
In the more than 20 years since its birth, the reason why Highlander has continued to win the favor of batches of consumers and has gained over 5 million car owners worldwide is inseparable from its outstanding "original quality from big manufacturers", which is also difficult for many competitors to replicate.
Why is it difficult to replicate the “original quality of a large manufacturer” of Highlander? This is because the “original quality of a large manufacturer” of Highlander comes from Toyota’s advanced manufacturing technology, strict quality standards and quality culture that is deeply rooted in its bones.
Take quality standards for example. As we all know, the national standards in the field of automobile manufacturing often only stipulate the lower limits of certain items. However, GAC Toyota and Highlander have raised these standards to the industry's top-level upper limit. For example, due to the high requirements for body rigidity, Highlander uses a large amount of high-strength steel throughout the vehicle. Not only does it use 1500 MPa hot stamping reinforcements in key parts such as AB pillars and front floor, it has also become the first car company in the industry to use 1190 MPa ultra-high-strength steel in details such as door hinges. And the aluminum alloy material strength of the front anti-collision beam and the deformation redundancy standard during stamping have reached twice the industry average for Highlander.
It can be said that GAC Toyota and Highlander have indeed achieved "others' upper limit is just our lower limit", but these are just the tip of the iceberg of GAC Toyota's strict quality standards.
The GAC Toyota factory that builds the Highlander is a global model factory with a "zero defect rate". Its quality inspection standards are directly benchmarked against the "Swiss watch" quality inspection standards. The first-time pass rate of its production line can reach more than 99.2%, which is nearly 10% higher than the industry average. And every Highlander built on this production line must go through 5 processes, more than 10,000 quality control inspection measures and more than 3,000 quality inspections before it can be shipped off the production line. Its ultra-high manufacturing quality allows its full inspection defect rate to be as low as 0.01%, and its quality can be said to be constantly improving.
It is these little details in the manufacturing process, and the quality system cultivated and accumulated over a long period of time, that constitute the foundation of GAC Toyota's "original quality of a large manufacturer", shaping the superior quality of Highlander, and becoming a unique advantage that is difficult for other competitors to copy and surpass. For those users who pursue the quality of family travel life, a Highlander that looks comprehensive in appearance, has a comprehensive transformation inside, and has "original quality of a large manufacturer" will still be the only choice in their car purchase list.
Even though I was trusted, I never slacked off.
From "always being benchmarked, never surpassed", to taking the lead in the "5+2+7" high-quality life relationship, the Highlander, which has a superior position in the 7-seat SUV market, has actually been keeping pace with the times and continuing to lead the tide of the times. After all, heroes do not talk about yesterday. The glory of the past comes from the accumulation of word-of-mouth, and the bright future comes from unremitting efforts and persistence in the right direction. Just like the 2024 Highlander Dual Engine Edition that has just been launched, it not only improves its own product strength to a higher level, but also the official price of the 2.5L intelligent electric hybrid dual engine is reduced by 43,000 yuan for the entire series, and the official price of the 380T gasoline version is reduced by 53,000 yuan for the entire series, which greatly reduces the purchase threshold. Now you can buy a Highlander for only 229,800 yuan! The competitiveness at the price level has been comprehensively strengthened, and it can also better cope with the new competitive situation in the auto market.
In today's increasingly competitive auto market, if you don't make progress, you will fall behind. If you make slow progress, you will also fall behind. For Highlander, which has been used to the ups and downs, it is undoubtedly facing a more difficult test. However, GAC Toyota and its Highlander have better controlled the core needs of users, transformed the traditional "product thinking" into a "user thinking" and "product thinking" that are closer to consumers, and maintained their leading position in the tide of the times, and maintained their own strategic determination and original intention. They are the benchmark kings created with real "achievements".
We also see that with the earnest favor and expectations of millions of car owners, Highlander and GAC Toyota are not afraid of the involutionary market, and still adhere to the bottom line called "quality", constantly transforming themselves, creating unlimited value for users with excellent quality, and writing a new chapter in the "legendary" story of Highlander.
