Author l Yifan.
The 2022 squat is for a better jump in 2023. β
When Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, said this, Great Wall really made up its mind to transfer its strategic center to new energy, and in 2023, Great Wall's new energy will indeed hand over a good answer, but it is far from the starting standard.
According to the latest December sales released by Great Wall, in December 2023, Great Wall achieved 29,816 new energy vehicle sales in a single month, a year-on-year increase of 16859%, the annual sales volume of new energy vehicles was 261546, a year-on-year increase of 9839%γ
Great Wall Motors official.
Judging from the growth performance, Great Wall New Energy seems to have completed the jumpHowever, it should be known that behind the above dazzling data is the low base of Great Wall in the same period of 2022, as well as the channel and market advantages of Great Wall itself in the field of oil vehicles.
Therefore, it may be too early to judge the success of Great Wall New Energy's transformation only from the data performance in 2023, and from the perspective of the development status of Great Wall New Energy, problems such as the lack of explosive products, the discrepancy between product positioning and new energy market demand, and the confusion of brand recognition have been integrated. In this context, it is difficult to imagine that the future support point of Great Wall New Energy is in the first place.
A dark horse of domestic fuel vehicles
Forced into new energy?
Judging from the overall development process of Great Wall Motors, it is indeed a dark horse for domestic oil vehicles.
In the early days, with the model of "three imitations and one kill", that is, to learn from more mature foreign car brands in terms of appearance, interior and power system, and then "kill" it to become a new star of domestic fuel SUV. Its Haval, Tank, Wei brand, etc. are even more well-known to the public, and it is precisely because of this that the Great Wall has been living a very nourishing life until 2022.
Even in 2022, the revenue will only increase slightly by 0 year-on-year69%, but the net profit attributable to the parent of Great Wall still maintained double-digit growth in the same period, with a year-on-year increase of 229%γIn 2021, the two figures were 3204% and 2543%γ
It's just that the balance of the market has begun to tilt towards new energy, especially with the ideal to achieve profitability this year, so that the market's attention to new energy is far greater than before, under the coercion of the times, the Great Wall finally made up its mind in 2022 to be a "follower of the new energy industry".
This sentence first came in 2016, when China was still in the early stage of the development of new energy, and Wei Xiaoli had just been establishedBYD's annual new energy sales are only 960,000 vehicles, and everyone is on the same running line at this time.
Although the Great Wall was aware of the prospect of new energy at this time, for the Great Wall at that time, in the face of the continuous high investment in new energy, as well as the marketing logic completely different from that of traditional oil vehicles, and the market status quo of selling more and more, it was in stark contrast to the fuel SUV that had just embarked on the roadLet Wei Jianjun make the decision that "the Great Wall is only a follower of the new energy industry".
Looking back at Wei Jianjun's decision with hindsight is indeed a misjudgment of the form, and it lacks forward-looking vision. But from the perspective of the enterprise, Wei Jianjun's decision is correct, if the Great Wall at that time abandoned the oil car track that had just found a way, but like BYD Stud New Energy, it may not be able to achieve the same achievements as BYD, on the contrary, it is difficult to say that the Great Wall will not fall into the same profit crisis as the new forces.
Therefore, it is difficult for us to evaluate the rights and wrongs of Wei Jianjun's early decision, and we can only say that he chose the road that may not be the most correct, but it is the most suitable for the Great Wall.
Since then, Haval has become the light of domestic SUVs, and tanks have also become popular overnight, and Great Wall has been smooth sailing in the category of oil vehicles. It's just that once the original path is formed, it is difficult to reverse, but although the Great Wall has firmly chosen the oil truck route, it has not given up on new energy.
In 2018, Great Wall embarked on a differentiated route and launched a new energy brand, Great Wall Ora, positioning itself as a compact new energy company, mainly for female audiences. Although Euler was a smash hit, the low cost of manufacturing is not low, which also makes Ola applauded and difficult to support the new energy territory of the Great Wall.
In 2021, Euler's sales exceeded 1350,000 units, but by 2022, sales will drop by 23% year-on-year to only 1040,000 units. Also in 2022, the market penetration rate of China's new energy passenger vehicles reached 318%, more than the 20% tipping point, means that this category is about to become the mainstream of the market.
In addition, Great Wall has also entered a phased growth bottleneck in the oil vehicle category, and it is in urgent need of a new performance growth point to continue its life. At this time, Wei Jianjun, who was repeatedly entangled between oil vehicles and new energy, finally made up his mind to transform into new energy, and based on its brands such as Haval, Tank, WEY brand, and Ora, he entered the game with a hybrid mode combining oil and electricity.
From this point of view, the new energy road of the Great Wall in the real sense will only start in 2022, and it is quite reluctant to be coerced by the times. It's just that the new energy of the Great Wall seems to be difficult to replicate the miracle of the Haval H6 and the tank.
Great Wall New Energy
The future is hard?
From the perspective of the Great Wall's product strategy, its successful path is to rely on large single products to open the way, the early Haval H6 main 100,000 yuan compact SUV, Tank 300 created a 200,000 yuan compact hard off-road SUV category, it is with these two product series, the Great Wall in the domestic oil car to kill a bloody road.
At the end of 2022, after the Great Wall adjusted its organizational structure, it formed four major business segments, namely: Haval business segment, pure electric business segment composed of Salon and Ora, high-end intelligent new energy business segment and pickup truck business segment composed of Tank and WEY brand.
As a result, Haval's product strategy is gradually clear, as long as each plate can reproduce the miracle of Haval H6 and produce a large single product, it can support the Great Wall to go on, but in the face of the increasingly volatile oil truck market and menacing new forces, Haval's large single product strategy is becoming more and more difficult.
As a result, the Great Wall will turn its hopes to new energy sources, although judging by the data,In 2023, Great Wall New Energy will achieve sales of more than 260,000 units, ranking fifth among many new energy brandsHowever, there is still a big gap compared with the head brands, and in the field of new energy technology, it is difficult for the Great Wall to compete with new forces such as Wei Xiaoli, which has been deeply cultivated for many years.
Internet.
The core factor driving the sales of Great Wall new energy is still the first drive, taking the Haval new energy series as an example, the lowest starting price of the Haval Thunder is less than 140,000, the starting price of the most expensive Haval Raptor is less than 170,000, and the starting price of the high-end Wei brand new energy is also 20-410,000.
It's just that the positioning of the Great Wall New Energy is highly overlapping with Wei Xiaoli, and the competition in the sinking market below 140,000 is even more fierce, so from the perspective of the first system, the Great Wall has no advantage.
In addition, from the perspective of products, from Haval to Wei brand, and then to tanks, Great Wall Motors is mainly oriented to the SUV or off-road field, and the positioning of such products is not fully compatible with the public's functional perception of electric vehicles. Especially for tank brands, although Great Wall launched the tank Hi4-T hybrid series, as a hard-core off-road vehicle, fuel is still the mainstream.
In addition, the Haval PHEV series is also higher than the same brand of oil vehicles in terms of pricing system, and will directly face competition between the same brand and the same series of products. After all, for users, it is also Haval H6, why not choose the fuel version that has no range anxiety and is tens of thousands cheaper? And Euler's positioning is niche, and it is even more difficult to become atmospheric.
In addition, the Great Wall has a bold and earthy temperament in brand naming, such as Haval Divine Beast, First Love, Chitu, Cool Dog series, Ora Good Cat, Ballet Cat, Lightning Cat, Black Cat, White Cat, etc., Wei brand Mocha, Latte, etc., which seem to have a unique personality, but in fact they are extremely embarrassingIt is not only difficult to capture the brand goodwill of young and middle-aged people, especially those in first- and second-tier cities, but also makes the public's brand perception quite confusing, and it is difficult to form an effective brand imprint.
From this point of view, although Great Wall New Energy will hand over a good report card in 2023, under in-depth research, the dilemma of Great Wall New Energy's road may not only be backward in the technical dimension, but also that the product system, brand awareness and other dimensions do not have the potential to form a blockbuster.
For the Great Wall, which started with large single products, if a Haval H6 cannot be reproduced in the new energy category, I am afraid that the new energy dream of the Great Wall will still be difficult to continue. What's worse is that the more new energy is sold, the more it loses, it is still the norm, if it is difficult to see the dawn of profitability in the new energy track, can the Great Wall still go on firmly?
Disclaimer: This article is only for knowledge sharing, just to convey more information! This article does not constitute any investment advice, and any person makes investment decisions based on it at his or her own risk.