With the rapid development of domestic new energy brands, there is a hot stalk on the Internet that "no matter how hard you work, you can only buy BBA". It seems that singing about traditional luxury brands has become the mainstream of the current **.
However, with the release of the 2023 results of major global car companies, we can take a look at how BBA and some second-tier luxury brands will perform in the Chinese market in 2023 from the perspective of sales volume.
BMW
In 2023, the BMW Group delivered a total of 8250,000 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 42%。
Although the official has not announced the specific sales volume of a single model, according to the sales data disclosed by the online platform, it can also be seen that the BMW 3 Series 5 Series and BMW X3 X5 are still the main sales force of the BMW brand.
Among them, the BMW 3 Series has the highest proportion of sales. According to statistics, the sales volume of the BMW 3 Series in 2023 will be close to 150,000 units, with an average of 120,000 units. The average monthly sales of the BMW 5 Series can exceed 10,000 units. It can be seen that the recognition of BMW brand fuel models in the market is still good.
However, what is surprising is that the sales of BMW Group's pure electric models are also remarkable. In 2023, the BMW brand's pure electric models will increase by more than 138% year-on-year, with sales of nearly 100,000 units. You must know that the annual sales of NIO, a hot new force in car manufacturing, are only 160,000 units, and that of Xpeng Motors is 1420,000 units.
However, behind BMW's sales growth, there are also many hidden diseases, the most obvious of which is tantamount to the shrinking of the brand's premium space. Among them, the BMW i3 and BMW ix3, which account for a high proportion of pure electric models, have given a nearly halved price at the terminal. As a medium-sized sedan, the price of BMW i3 at the dealer side has come to 210,000-250,000, which is nearly 90,000 yuan lower than the NIO ET5 of the same level, and is almost the same starting price as Xpeng P7; As a mid-size SUV, the BMW ix3 has also been reduced by nearly 160,000 yuan from the original price range of 400,000-450,000 yuan.
The price of the top version of the BMW 3 Series, the main sales force of fuel models, has also come to less than 300,000 yuan. You must know that according to the definition of the Passenger Association, only models with a price of more than 300,000 yuan belong to "high-end cars".
BMW, as a luxury brand, has now entered the market of 200,000-300,000 to grab sales.
But in 2023, which is extremely involuted, BMW can hand over 82It is not easy to answer the sales questionnaire of 50,000 units.
At least, in the current camp of traditional luxury brands, BMW's electrification transformation is leading the way. In particular, the brand's new BMW i5 and BMW MINI pure electric versions will also be available soon, which may bring new growth points to the BMW brand in 2024.
Mercedes
According to the official, the Mercedes-Benz brand will deliver about 76 in 202350,000 new cars, compared to 75 in 2022With sales of 170,000 units, the Mercedes-Benz brand has risen slightly by 1 this year86%。Specifically, the Mercedes-Mai** brand and the G-class off-road vehicles achieved annual growth of % respectively. It is reported that the sales of pure electric models of the Mercedes-Benz brand have also doubled compared with last year.
However, according to the statistics of third-party platforms, Mercedes-Benz's pure electric models EQ series, EQE, EQB, EQA and other models are difficult to break 1,000 in a single month in China.
Although the official said that in the domestic sales structure of Mercedes-Benz, the proportion of high-end products is getting higher and higher. But at the same time, it should also be noted that the price of the main sales model Mercedes-Benz C-Class is gradually decreasing. It is reported that in December last year, Mercedes-Benz C-class gave a price reduction of nearly 110,000 yuan at the terminal.
Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to discontinue the production of the A-Class and B-Class models worldwide in 2025. Once the A and B classes are discontinued, the Mercedes-Benz C may become the new entry-level product.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz also announced its product plan for 2024, including a new pure electric G-class off-road vehicle, a new Mai**EQS pure electric SUV, a new CLE family, a new generation of EQA and EQB SUVs, including 15 products will be unveiled one after another.
Audi
The Audi brand delivered 72. to Chinese customers in 202390,000 new cars, achieved 13With a year-on-year increase of 5%, it ranked third in the sales ranking of BBA brands. Deliveries of Audi's all-electric e-tron series were 31,025 units, accounting for only 4 percent of the brand's total salesAbout 3%.
On the whole, the Audi brand is still a little "cautious" in terms of electrification. On the one hand, there is a shortage of pure electric products, and there are currently five new energy models on sale under the Audi brand, namely the Q2L e-tron, Q4 e-tron, Q5 e-tron, e-tron and A6L new energy. The Q4 e-tron, the main sales force, only sold about 2,000 units in a single month. On the other hand, Audi's all-electric models don't have much premium power in today's market.
The biggest driver behind Audi's "dismal" electrification is the multiple difficult births of the pure electric platform PPE, and the new car originally planned to be mass-produced in 2023 has to be postponed to 2024. The first new car to be equipped with the PPE platform, the Audi Q6 e-tron, is expected to be released by the end of 2024 at the earliest.
The Audi brand's future plans are to launch 20 new models by 2026, half of which will be fully electric. In terms of production plans, Audi will launch its last internal combustion engine car in 2025, and from 2026, Audi will only launch pure electric vehicles for the global market.
However, in its current form, more than 90% of the Audi brand's sales in the Chinese market are still the best in terms of gasoline models. In the future, it remains to be seen whether the Audi brand will be able to complete the transition to new energy as expected.
Cadillac
As a second-tier luxury brand, Cadillac delivered a total of 1830,000 new vehicles decreased by 5% month-on-month compared to 202267%。It has become the brand with the highest month-on-month decline in the list.
From the perspective of specific models, the CT5 is a hot-selling model that contributes almost half of the brand's sales. As a mid-size car, the CT5 currently has a range of 220,000-290,000. With the launch of the facelifted model in December 2023, sales of the CT5 may increase further.
However, Cadillac's lack of electrification has also become an important reason for the decline in brand sales. As a medium and large SUV, the price of IQ Ruige is about 300,000 yuan, and the CLTC range is 502km, and its market competitiveness is slightly insufficient compared with models such as M7 and Ideal L7.
In terms of future product planning, Cadillac plans to produce another pure electric model, the Cadillac Optiq, which will be produced domestically, may assume the heavy responsibility of the brand's electrification transformation.
Lexus
Although it has been sung down, Lexus still handed over an 18The sales volume of 140,000 was a slight decrease of 1 year-on-year56%。
But if you take a closer look at the sales composition of Lexus, you can see that its sales are too dependent on a single model. According to the brand's official website, there are currently 11 models on sale, but only one model, the medium and large sedan ES, is really supporting sales. According to third-party platform statistics, in 2023, Lexus ES will account for 64% of the brand's sales.
In this way, the performance change of Lexus ES has greatly affected the performance of the entire brand. And in 2023, the Lexus ES is also relying on large discounts to stabilize sales. It is reported that the car is currently given a preferential range of about 50,000 yuan at sales terminals in many places across the country, which is in stark contrast to the perennial price increase of 20,000-30,000 yuan in the past.
In terms of electrification, Lexus can be said to be too slow to turn around and seems to be being "abandoned" by the times.
In February last year, Lexus launched its all-new midsize electric SUV, the Lexus RZ. This is the first pure electric vehicle built by Lexus under the e-TNGA architecture, with a total of 3 models and a guide price of 36990,000-45990,000 yuan. In December last year, the all-new RZ 300E was launched in China, further enriching the RZ model lineup and optimizing the optional equipment. However, it is difficult to find traces of its sales on multiple platforms.
On the whole, the current Lexus can only be said to have not declined too badly, but as for the prospects in the Chinese market, it is still difficult to judge.
Volvo
In 2023, Volvo came up with 18020,000 units sold in China, achieving 1123% year-on-year growth.
However, Volvo also shows the same "symptoms" as Lexus and Cadillac: the proportion of sales of single-fuel models is too high. It is reported that Volvo XC60 almost contributes 30%-40% of brand sales.
However, in terms of electrification transformation, Volvo seems to have more "expectations" than other second-tier luxury brands. Although the brand's pure electric models are inevitably questioned as "oil to electricity", in terms of product planning, Volvo has ambitiously set the goal of achieving 50% of pure electric model sales in 2025 and becoming a pure electric luxury car company in 2030.
Thanks to the support of Geely Group, Volvo's first pure electric MPV model, the EM90, has been officially launched, but the price starting at 800,000 yuan seems to turn most consumers away.
In 2024, Volvo's pure electric luxury SUV EX30 and pure electric flagship SUV EX90 will also be launched one after another. At that time, it is not known whether it will bring more opportunities for Volvo in electrification.
Write at the end:
On the whole, the consumer group of luxury fuel vehicles in the market in 2023 is still huge, and the high-end brand image of BBA is deeply rooted and difficult to shake in a short time.
However, there is no doubt that the market situation of traditional luxury brands is not as good as before, and they have to rely on price cuts to maintain their sales positions in the face of the pressure of independent brands.
In particular, a large number of domestic new power brands have made no secret of their ambitions to challenge or even surpass luxury car brands such as BBA. Even, Li Xiang, chairman and CEO of Li Auto, declared that he is confident that he will challenge the sales of BBA in China in advance in 2024.
However, although traditional luxury brands are slow to take a step forward in the transition to electrification, they are also actively seeking solutions to the situation of electrification. This indicates that the tug-of-war between "advance" and "retreat" in the traditional luxury market will continue to intensify in the coming years.