Seeing the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series bow their heads and reduce prices, Audi's high-end cars can't sit still.
480,000 Audi A7L, no aura! The 380,000 Audi A7L is impeccable! "In November 2023, Li Feng from Guangdong bought an official guide price of 47870,000 yuan SAIC Audi A7L 45TFSI Quattro S-Line Black Samurai Edition.
The price of the naked car is discounted by 100,000 yuan, counting the purchase tax and insurance, and the landing price of the full amount is about 420,000 yuan. As a car enthusiast, Li Feng told City Boundary that if it weren't for such a ruthless price cut, he wouldn't have paid attention to the car at all.
Although the Audi A7 has always had the title of "the most beautiful Audi" and "the most beautiful coupe" in the world, and the imported goods are not cheap, and it is the dream car of many people, but the Audi A7L, as the domestic version of the Audi A7, has been controversial.
Unlike the Audi A6L, A4L, A3 A3L, Q5L Q5L Sportback, and Q3 Q3 Sportback, which are very dazzling star models in the Chinese market, the Audi A7L does not belong to the camp of FAW Audi (founded in 1991), but the first model launched by SAIC Audi (established in 2021).
At present, SAIC Audi has only three models on sale: the Audi A7L, Q6, and Q5 e-tron electric vehicles. Among them, the Q6 and Q5 e-tron are both "special" for the Chinese market, and only the A7L is considered a localized global model, but there have always been doubts about styling changes and production support.
The Audi A7L is manufactured by SAIC Volkswagen, and the fastback styling and rear wing have been eliminated when it is localized. According to the analysis of industry insiders, the original Audi A7 is a niche model, and there are many people who like it and few people who buy it. Therefore, when carrying out localization transformation, SAIC Audi designed the A7L as a sedan version of the executive sedan to expand the audience, but it also directly made this car lose its "aura".
An Audi A6 AllRoad owner said that this is tantamount to cutting the A7's biggest selling point. "Originally, A7 took the sporty route, and many people bought it for the good-looking and personality of the fastback, which really didn't have the soul of A7. ”
The lengthened wheelbase is a regular move for localization, but the iconic fastback shape and lifting rear wing have been cancelled and forcibly changed to a sedan that "caters to the needs of the Chinese market". This change made many people say that it is unacceptable, and imported Audi owners are especially "despised".
In addition to this, some car enthusiasts believe that the same 2The 0T engine model, the A7L is too close to the calm feeling of the domestic version of the A6L in terms of the adjustment of the daily driving feeling, and the style is quite different from the light and sporty style of the original A7.
Based on the above, A7L was ridiculed by many netizens as "Audi A6."5L", "Audi A6L L", "Audi A6L Plus", etc.
In January 2022, the Audi A7L was launched for the first time, and the market response was very lukewarm. In 2022, only 3,801 units were sold, with an average monthly sales of 316 units. On September 1, 2023, the 2024 Audi A7L was officially launched with a facelift, with some minor adjustments to the configuration and price, with a price range of 41870,000 69970,000 yuan.
According to Sina Auto data, from August to November 2023, the monthly sales of Audi A7L were 1,037, 1,437, 1,645 and 1,806 respectively. In the same period, the average monthly sales of BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class of the same level exceeded 10,000.
Soon at the end of 2023, major car companies will start a first-class battle and show their reserve prices, and the owners who pick up their cars at the beginning of the year and in the middle of the year have almost become the norm of various brands, and even Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi owners have not been spared. Some imported models with high prices have also seen significant fluctuations.
It seems that whoever does not reduce the price will be eliminated by the market. Although SAIC Audi has set itself a target of 50,000 units a year, which is not high, it is also in a hurry with only three cards in its hand.
Recently, Shijie visited a number of SAIC Audi stores in Beijing, and the sales staff said that from October 2023, the A7L has increased its price reduction, and all models start with a discount of 100,000 yuan, an increase of about 40,000 yuan from the middle of the year.
For a high-end sedan priced at nearly 400,000 yuan, this new discount does not seem to be much, but because many consumers are accustomed to comparing it with FAW Audi's A6L, it suddenly highlights the cost performance of A7L.
In October, the A7L's entry-level model, the 45TFSI S-Line, built a dream and was priced at about 360,000 yuan. The same is two-wheel drive, 2The A6L 45TFSI with 0T high-power engine selects the Zhiya type, and the landing price is basically 370,0380 yuan in the same period, and the overall configuration is slightly lower than that of the A7L. The sales said.
However, due to the fact that the Audi A7L has received too little attention before, the price reduction news has lagged. From October to November 2023, the monthly sales volume only increased slightly, and it only ushered in an outbreak in December. It is reported that when the price reduction was the largest in December, the purchase of A7L through a loan could be cheaper by 120,130,000 yuan.
SAIC Audi officially announced that 6,281 units of the A7L were sold in December 2023. According to the data of the easycar app, the total sales of the car in the four weeks from January 1 to 28, 2024 have reached 4,801 units.
It seems that as long as the ** is in place, no matter how controversial the car is, it can't escape the law of true fragrance.
An interesting episode is that the city boundary found on platforms such as Chedi and Xiaohongshu that due to the low popularity of SAIC Audi and the few offline stores, many intended consumers mistakenly entered FAW Audi's online live broadcast room and offline 4S store to consult A7L's **.
In Li Feng's view, compared with the original imported A7 on sale in the Chinese market, the domestic version of the A7L has a reduced appearance, but the power specifications are very affordable.
For example, Audi's proud quattro four-wheel drive system is only available in the imported version 30T will only appear on the A7, and the current market terminal naked car ** is about 660,000 yuan. And the Audi A7L, in addition to the entry model, both use 20T engine 45TFSI model, or 3The 55TFSI model with a 0-ton engine is equipped with a Quattro all-wheel drive system.
Personally, I think the one with the quattro is the real Audi, but fortunately the A7L is not as stingy as the imported version. Li Feng said.
Therefore, when the news of the price reduction came, many consumers who originally "disliked" the A7L still ran to see the car "honestly".
City boundary found on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu that the owners of the A7L who posted were generally young people, most of whom were around 30 years old, and many were returned international students in their 20s.
Zhao Pu, the owner of the A7L Black Samurai Edition, is one of them. According to him, in the third quarter of 2023, the manufacturer launched a preferential campaign for duty-free cars for international students across the country.
Photo source February 2024, official website of China Automobile General Duty-Free Vehicle).
Liu Shan, a returned student from Jiangsu, also said that the Audi A7L she bought in December 2023 was 100,000 yuan cheaper, and after tax exemption and intermediary fees, the final landing price was more than 390,000 yuan. Liu Shan chose the "Midsummer Special Edition" model with an optional package, and also picked his favorite body color, "If it is an ordinary version of the model, it can be lower." ”
In February 2024, there are tax-free car ** institutions that have increased their preferential efforts for international students, indicating 3After the maximum discount of 130,000 yuan for 0T A7L, you can enjoy full exemption of purchase tax at the same time, and you will also get a fuel card or an equivalent shopping card of 1,500 yuan.
Photo source: Little Red Book).
However, there are 2 on the marketThe 0T version of the A7L is still around 400,000 yuan after the discount, and there are too many models with optional options, such as Audi A6L, Mercedes-Benz E-class, and BMW 5 Series. Moreover, these cars will have the greatest discount of about 100,000 in 2023, and a tax-free policy has also been introduced. Comparatively, the Audi A7L is too niche, why do young people love to buy it?
Zhao Pu said that in addition to the duty-free policy, he chose the A7L more because "this car is rare on the road".
Niche means unique, in line with the aesthetic taste of young people "the more special the better, the more individual, the better". According to the observation of the city boundary, many owners who choose A7L are from niche models such as BMW 4 Series, Audi A5, Audi A4 **ant, and AVATR 12.
Although the A7L's removal of the fastback styling and rear wing is full of controversy, the sedan design by the German designer is not completely unrecognized. "As long as you don't compare with the imported A7, only compare the sedan medium and large sedans of the same level on the market, and the appearance of the A7L has few rivals. A consumer who is considering buying said.
In the eyes of some young people, mainstream models such as Audi A6L, Mercedes-Benz E-class, BMW 5 Series, Lexus ES, etc., are "either too business-like or old-fashioned", and they don't care how much A7L and A7 have to do with it.
As for "how to please young people", it is the homework of many car companies, and SAIC Audi has also paid a lot of tuition for this.
The Audi A7L has launched a precursor version, a seer version, a black warrior version, a white mage version, a wind knight version, a paladin version, etc., and many other special edition models, SAIC Audi wanted to rely on these unique models to achieve a balance between sales and profits through scarcity, but unfortunately this strategy was not successful at first.
Although SAIC Audi claims that its owners are concentrated in the age of 25-35 years old, from its launch in January 2022 to March 2023, the sales volume of less than 1,000 units per month shows that before the big price cut, there are very few young people who are really willing to spend tens of thousands more than the A6L, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz E-class to buy the A7L.
On the other hand, another BMW 4 Series, which takes a niche route, is similar to the A7L**, and was once sold at a higher price, but it sells better than the Audi A7L. In 2023, the BMW 4 Series will be able to sell more than 1,500 units every month.
Young people are not "stupid people with a lot of money", if you want to impress them, either the product is good enough or individual, or ** sincere enough, you have to take the same.
In this round of price cuts, Audi A7L's approach is wise and helpless. And this helplessness began when SAIC Audi "magically changed" the A7 into the A7L that was ridiculed by the group.
The birth of the A7L is directly related to Audi's strategic changes in the Chinese market in the past decade.
Before the establishment of SAIC Audi, Audi had only one joint venture in China, FAW Audi, which was established in 1991. For more than 30 years, FAW Audi has achieved enough success in the Chinese market.
In 2023, FAW-Volkswagen will sell more than 1.91 million vehicles for the year, of which the Audi brand will contribute 365% of sales.
Photo source: Tianyancha).
Seeing that the old rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW are making money in the Chinese market, Germany's Audi is unbalanced and is also trying to seize more market share and introduce more models. The easiest thing it could think of was to set up another joint venture to make a higher profit.
In 2016, SAIC and Audi signed a cooperation agreement. Unexpectedly, the cooperation was met with collective opposition from FAW Audi dealers. It wasn't until April 2021 that SAIC Audi was officially established, and in the same year it released its first model, the A7L.
But since its establishment, SAIC Audi has not had many comfortable days. Because there are too few original models that Audi can directly localize, and the main models in the product matrix have basically been taken away by FAW Audi over the years, only a few niche and high-end car series such as A5, A7, and Q7 are left to be developed.
Audi not only wants to maintain its brand image by importing high-end cars and performance cars, but also wants to make a domestic model that can be accepted by more Chinese consumers, and it cannot affect the imported version, so it can only move out the old routines of "lengthening" and "sedan".
Somewhat different from the previous localization, the "sedan" of the A7L may be a helpless choice made on the basis of "lengthening".
After the original A7 was lengthened, a cross member was added to increase the strength of the rear section. If the fastback shape is still continued, the cost will increase significantly. Of course, manufacturers who have not yet made money prefer to make sedans.
In fact, in addition to the styling and slightly complicated life experience, the A7L itself does not have many slots. The body size, mechanical specifications, and design style are also basically in line with the global positioning that the A7 is slightly higher than the A6.
In the U.S., for example, the standard wheelbase version of the A6 sedan starts at 5730,000 US dollars (about RMB 41.)20,000 yuan), while the starting price of the A7 is 7120,000 US dollars (about 51 yuan.)20,000 yuan). The price difference between the two models is exactly about 100,000 yuan.
In Germany, the standard wheelbase version of the A6 sedan starts at 5380,000 euros (about 41 yuan.)80,000 yuan), the starting price of the A7 is 6350,000 euros (about RMB 49.)30,000 yuan), the difference is about 7 yuan50,000 yuan.
Therefore, when the A7L is cheaper than the A6L, it has indeed succeeded in attracting some consumers who pay attention to cost performance. "Whoever likes to spray it, spray it, and it's all over with your own incense. In the opinion of some car owners, "the more you spray, the cheaper I buy".
Some people say that the price reduction of the A7L has brought SAIC Audi back to life, but after exchanging price for volume, the high-end positioning of the A7L may be shaken. However, in the face of the increasingly volatile Chinese auto market, SAIC Audi thinks very openly, and sales are king.
The interviewee in this article is a pseudonym).
Author |Huang Shuo.
Edit |Tian Yanlin.
Operations |Liu Shan.