Recently, the sales information of a Buick dealer on the Internet shows that a Buick GL8 business class on the road reported 19The *** of 990,000 yuan is 3 times cheaper than the official guide price of the entry-level model30,000 yuan. Another GL8 road business class 652T luxury type directly posted 350,000 yuan discount.
It is reported that most of the above-mentioned preferential models are 2022 models, and the production time has been more than one year, and the inventory period of the oldest model has exceeded 14 months. Because it is close to the end of the year, it cannot be played normally, so that the discount **.
Such an ultra-long inventory cycle reflects the current situation of Buick GL8 to a certain extent.
After years of growth, the market performance of Buick GL8 has gradually fallen into a downturn in the past two years. **Publicly disclosed data shows that in 2022, the annual sales of the Buick GL8 will only be 126838 units, with an average monthly sales of more than 10,000 units, a decrease of more than 40,000 units from 2021.
In November this year, only 7,761 Buick GL8 units were sold. In the first 11 months of this year, the Buick GL8 sold a total of 107377 units, with an average of less than 10,000 units per month. Not surprisingly, the Buick GL8's "two consecutive declines" in China are almost a foregone conclusion.
An objective factor is that the MPV market is still a non-mainstream consumer market, and its own market volume is limited. According to the data of the passenger association, in the first ten months of this year, the cumulative sales of MPV models in China were only 9060,000 units, accounting for only 5% of the total sales of passenger cars19%。And in the past two years, the market share of MPV has not increased significantly.
However, in the past few years, many heavyweight models have emerged in the high-end MPV market in which the Buick GL8 is located. In particular, the combined sales of Toyota Sena and Grevia have surpassed that of the Buick GL8. The Trumpchi M8, which has been closely following the Buick GL8, still maintains a high market favor.
The rise of new energy vehicles has further intensified the competition in the MPV market. In the past two years, new energy MPVs such as VOYAH Dreamer, ZEEKR 009, and Denza D9 have entered the market. In particular, the DENZA D9, with the blessing of BYD's DM-i golden signboard, has quickly become a hot-selling car in the high-end MPV market.
Over the past year, DENZA's first MPV, the DENZA D9, has quickly become an upstart in the high-end MPV market. The sales of Denza D9 and Buick GL8 have become a beautiful scenery. After a year of entanglement, the Buick GL8, which has been "dominating" the MPV market for many years, was finally pulled off the altar by the Denza D9.
But that's not all. You must know that in the current high-end MPV market, more new energy models such as Ideal MEGA and Xpeng X9 are still pouring in. It can be expected that the competition in this segment will become more and more intense. Traditional hot-selling MPVs, including the Buick GL8, are facing challenges.
This is not good news for Buick today.
According to public data, as of November 2023, SAIC-GM's cumulative sales volume is 89630,000 units, down 1670%。Among them, the cumulative sales of SAIC-GM Buick are only 481212, 23% of the same time, and only more than 40% of the peak is left.
Behind this, the sales of Regal, LaCrosse, Valeant, and Envision all declined in the first 11 months of this year. Envision's sales fell by nearly half of the total. Among the four main sales forces of SAIC-GM Buick, Buick Regal's sales have been hovering outside the top ten, Valean has slipped to nearly 20, and LaCrosse's ranking has fallen to outside the 20th. At one time, these cars were popular models in their respective segments.
As sales gradually decline, many Buick models are being sold at reduced prices. It is understood that Valeant Pro, Envision, Encore Banner and other models range from 50,000 yuan to 80,000 yuan.
According to the information of multiple vertical car platforms, there is basically no discount for the Buick GL8 ES Luzun terminal, and the **ENIR version has a discount of about 10,000 yuan.
Some analysts pointed out that SAIC-GM Buick has fallen behind in the field of sedans and SUVs in recent years, and only the MPV market still retains the GL8 as a trump card. And now, Buick's few trump cards, the GL8 halo, are also being overshadowed by competitors. Based on such market performance, it is not excluded that the Buick GL8 terminal will also give discounts.
In the long run, Buick's challenges in China don't stop there.
At that time, the penetration rate of electrification in China's auto market continued to increase. The market popularity of traditional fuel vehicles is visibly declining. Against this backdrop, the market performance of almost all traditional hot-selling cars is declining. Buick is just one of them.
The problem is that while the "BYD" relied on the hot sales of electrified products to ride the dust, the market performance of "Buicks" electrified products was relatively bleak, and they were sold at a discount.
Take Buick, for example:
In late October, SAIC-GM Buick officially launched the E5 Pioneer Edition. The manufacturer's guide price of the new car dropped directly to 16990,000 yuan, which is in the same price range as the BYD Song Plus, which is two levels lower. According to public data, in November, Buick E5 sales were only 1,221 units.
Of course, SAIC-GM Buick has realized the importance of accelerating electrification.
It is reported that the Buick GL8 will adopt a new generation of PHEV plug-in hybrid technology developed by SAIC-GM and Pan Asia Automotive Technology CenterBy 2025, the Buick brand will launch five new all-electric vehicles on the Autonen platform, covering the mainstream sedan, SUV and MPV marketsStarting in 2025, the Buick brand will be fully electrified.
It can be seen that SAIC-GM Buick is accelerating the process of electrification in China. With the launch of these new electrified products, the market performance of the Buick brand is also expected to usher in **. Time will tell.