On February 19, BYD launched the Qin PLUS Glory Edition model, with a starting price of 7980,000 yuan, the first shot of the 2024** battle, and BYD's way of seizing the opportunity continues. Today, BYD's other pillar model - Dolphin has also launched a glory version of the model, the new car is upgraded with four-link independent suspension, 50W wireless charging of mobile phones, and ventilation of the front seats, but ** has been reduced by more than 10,000 yuan, and the starting price is only 9980,000 yuan.
In 2023, BYD Dolphin will sell 3670,000 units, completely rewriting the entry-level market below 100,000, and the former A0-class overlord Fit even rumored to be forced to stop production. After this price cut, the Dolphins' offensive has undoubtedly been further strengthened, and the car market ** battle has escalated again in just a few days.
In the 200,000+ high-end electric vehicle market, Tesla, Zeekr, and Weilai are also increasing their efforts. On January 12, Tesla China officially adjusted the price of the Model 3 Y rear-wheel drive version and long-range version, reducing the price by 6,500 yuan to 15,500 yuan. ZEEKR and NIO have recently increased the discount of old models, and NIO has played a discount of up to 40,000 yuan, and a NIO sales person told us that now NIO ET5 battery leasing ** is only 18 at the lowest29, and the battery buyout is only 25290 thousand. In order to welcome the new model, ZEEKR is also clearing the old model of 001, with a maximum discount of 370,000 yuan, the starting price is 2690,000 yuan.
Obviously, the best battles in the market at all levels have begun, and the all-out hand-to-hand combat in 2024 has officially begun. On February 18, Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, also mentioned in his speech at the Guangdong Provincial High-quality Development Conference: "The development of new energy vehicles will only run faster and faster, and will not give us the opportunity to stop, slow down, and take a breath." ”
** Fight and escalate
The reason why BYD cut prices again is the core reason for growth pressure and rival catch-up. In 2023, BYD will complete the annual sales target of 3 million, and in 2024, BYD's ambitions will not decrease, and the target will be set at 4.5 million to 3 million units, that is, the average monthly sales of new cars will reach 37More than 50,000 units.
In the context of the slowdown in the growth of new energy vehicles, BYD's growth pressure can be imagined. But just in January of this year, BYD sold 20150,000 units, a 41% month-on-month decrease, and at the same time, it was overtaken by Geely and lost its position as the sales champion.
From the perspective of market segments, BYD's core products are facing competition from latecomers, such as Baojun launched the dolphin counterpoint cloud, Geely Galaxy L6, Emgrand HIP, Qiyuan A05 aimed at Qin PLUS and destroyers, Galaxy L7, Deep Blue S7, and Leap C10 directly competed with Song PLUS. In addition, car companies such as Wenjie, ZEEKR, and Xiaomi are also eyeing the high-end market where Tang, Han, and Denza are located.
In the face of competitors catching up, BYD urgently needs to regroup and resume a strong sales offensive, and it is imperative to replace, increase and reduce prices of core products.
As the head car company, BYD fired the first shot of the first battle, which will intensify the competition in the entire auto market, and the competition situation is becoming increasingly fierce. Judging from this round of price cuts, after a year of baptism of war and anxiety about the future, major car companies have become more sensitive to the smell and actions of the market trend than last year.
In 2023, Qin plus will drop to 9After 98, it took 1 month for the same level market to achieve a general price reduction, but this time 798, other car companies quickly followed. Within 48 hours of Qin Plus's price cut, Wuling, Changan Qiyuan, Geely, Nezha, Beijing Hyundai and other car companies followed suit.
SAIC-GM-Wuling launched the Wuling Starlight 150 advanced version, with an honor price of 9980,000 yuan. The starting prices of the Q05 and A05 models have also been lowered to 7890,000 yuan, A05 two high-end models also gave a limited-time cash reduction of 2$30,000 for activities; Nezha Automobile's Nezha X models are all reduced by 220,000 yuan, ** down to 9980,000 yuan. The next day, Geely Emgrand L HIP also released the Longteng version of the model, and the entry price came to 8980,000 yuan. In addition, brands such as Cadillac, Buick, and Beijing Hyundai have also followed up with price cuts.
However, compared with the independent brand, there are still new energy models of the same level that can have a battle with Qin plus, and most of the price-cutting models of the joint venture brand are oil vehicles, and there is not much power to fight back against the bombardment of independent brands, and the living space has been significantly squeezed.
First of all, in terms of product strength, the Qin plus Glory Edition not only has the advantages of fuel saving and energy saving of the hybrid system, but also comes standard with 101-inch smart car machine, reversing image, autohold, heated rearview mirror, keyless entry, automatic headlights, mobile phone wireless charging and other functions, while the Sylphy and Lavida at the same price still do not have reversing images, not to mention the intelligent car machine that consumers increasingly value.
In addition, the brand power that joint venture brands were proud of in the past is gradually decreasing with the change of offensive and defensive forces, especially many young consumers are no longer prejudiced against car brands, and some are even more willing to buy Chinese brand cars.
In 2023, in order to cope with the competition, the joint venture sedan will have to keep the price and quantity, and the starting price of the Corolla, Valeant, Lavida, Sylphy and other joint venture A-class cars has been reduced to 7-80,000 yuan. Nowadays, after the independent brand has played the tactics of the same price of oil and electricity, and even the lower price of electricity than oil, how to follow up with the joint venture car is a thorny problem.
In short, the slower pace of transformation of the joint venture brand has led to the loss of monopoly advantage, while the independent A-class car has quickly grabbed the cake of the joint venture brand by virtue of the advantages of hybrid energy saving and intelligent high configuration. In 2023, the market share of Chinese brand vehicles surpassed that of joint ventures for the first time, reaching 52%. And this is not the end, because in December 2023, the market share of Chinese brands has exceeded 58%, and now the new round of ** war continues to increase, and it is expected that the market share of Chinese brands will continue to rise.
The A-class car rises, and the dumbbell structure disappears
Before 2023, the new energy market is a typical dumbbell-shaped structure, and the hot-selling models are the low-end cars represented by Wuling Hongguang MINI and the high-end models represented by Tesla Modle 3 Y. With the leadership of BYD, plug-in hybrid A-class models began to sell well, and new energy entered the 10-200,000 market in a big way, and began to accelerate the replacement of fuel vehicles.
After the Spring Festival, the first shot of price cuts by mainstream car companies invariably aimed at the huge A-class car market. As the largest segment of the auto market, A-segment car sales account for almost half of the total market sales. In the past, in the era of fuel vehicles, the A-class car market was strongly monopolized by joint venture brands, and the sales of Sylphy, Lavida and Sutar ranked first, and few models of independent brands could enter the TOP10. The same is true for the more entry-level A0 segment, where the Fit, Polo, and Yaris series account for almost all sales in this market.
However, in the past two years, new energy vehicles have completely rewritten the two mainstream markets of A0 and A-class vehicles, and the substitution effect of new energy vehicles in the mainstream market has become increasingly obvious. After the BYD Dolphin became an instant hit, the sales of Fit and Polo were directly cut in half, and the sales volume in 2023 is only 1 6 of the Dolphin.
In terms of A-class cars, in 2023, the cumulative sales of BYD Qin PLUS will reach 45580,000 units, surpassing Sylphy and Lavida, won the annual sales championship of the A-class car market for the first time; GAC Aion AION S has a cumulative sales volume of 2250,000 units, and also broke into the top 5 sales of A-class sedans. In the A-segment SUV market, the sales volume of BYD Yuan PLUS and Song PLUS DM-i are both around 300,000 units, ranking first and second respectively.
According to the statistics of the Passenger Association, the domestic sales of A-class sedans in 2023 will be 43760,000 units, of which 97 are new energy vehicles20,000 units, although the market penetration rate is still less than that of entry-level cars and high-end models, it has exceeded 22%. At the same time, China's new energy vehicle sales in 2023 will reach 77420,000 units, 2.26 million units of A-class models, with a market share of 29%, close to 3 percent, as if it has become the mainstream.
As the core demand model of Chinese families, the A-class car is the most direct expression of the car demand of Chinese consumers. The rise of A-class new energy vehicles means that the anxiety and prejudice of mainstream consumers about new energy vehicles are gradually disappearing, and the product power of new energy vehicles has been able to carry the car needs of mainstream people, which will drive new energy to accelerate the replacement of fuel vehicles, and the market share of A-class new energy vehicles will continue to increase.
In recent months, the raw materials of power batteries have continued, which has also brought confidence to the price reduction of new energy vehicles. Li Yunfei, general manager of the brand and public relations department of BYD Group, said bluntly on Weibo that the best of BYD's plug-in hybrid vehicles can be lower than that of fuel vehicles of the same level, which will completely open the decisive battle between new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles.
It is foreseeable that in order to win a chance to stay at the table, price reduction will still be a normal means for car companies to compete for the market in 2024. The competition of car companies is obviously the most beneficial to our ordinary consumers, and if you plan to buy a car this year, then, you can hold your wallet tightly so as not to be backstabbed.
The innovation of electrification and intelligent technology has brought the company into a great change unseen in a century, and the change of the old and new order is accelerating. Yu Chengdong once predicted that there will be fewer and fewer auto companies under the competition, and perhaps the number of major players in the Chinese market will be less than five. And in 2024, it will be interesting to see who will be squeezed off the table.