Another classic BBA model ushered in a new generation.
A few days ago, the all-new BMW 5 Series was officially launched in China. As the world's eighth-generation and domestically produced model, the new 5 Series has released a total of 12 models, with a price range of 43990,000-63990,000 yuan.
In addition to the long-wheelbase version customized for the Chinese market, the BMW 5 Series has also launched a pure electric version of the i5 for the first time in history, and played the "same price of gasoline and electricity" card, that is, the starting price of the fuel version and the pure electric version of the model remains the same.
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Gao Xiang, President and CEO of BMW Group Greater China, said, "The all-new BMW 5 Series marks the beginning of a new era of intelligence for the best-selling BMW. ”
Judging from the past competition, in the 400,000-level medium and large luxury car market, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz's "56E" (5 series, A6L, E-class) maintain the trend of catching up with me, taking last year's monthly sales curve as an example, Audi A6L has repeatedly gained the upper hand. How will this market pattern evolve as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series have been replaced, and China's independent new energy brands continue to enter the underground?
56e" last year's monthly sales curve **Sohu Auto** screenshot
Strengthen the intelligent label, can the 5 Series reproduce the past performance?
According to combing, the BMW 5 Series has gone through 8 generations of models since its birth in 1972, with cumulative global sales of more than 10 million units. In 2003, the BMW 5 Series started the road to localization, and the official data at the end of last year showed that since the fifth generation began to be produced in China, the 5 Series has more than 2 million Chinese customers, and the previous generation of the 5 Series alone is about 1.1 million.
As a replacement model, whether the all-new BMW 5 Series can reproduce its past performance has become the focus of attention in the industry.
From the product point of view, the new 5 Series has undergone a lot of changes in appearance, interior and configuration, including the lengthened wheelbase, the first introduction of flowing gold trim, and the exclusive C-pillar "5" glorious logo as standard in the Chinese market. The most significant change is the first launch of the pure electric version, as well as the intelligent field.
It is reported that in terms of pure electric models, the i5 eDrive35L model provides a maximum output of 210 kilowatts and a peak torque of 410 Nm, and the i5 M60 has a maximum output of 442 kilowatts and a peak torque of 795 Nm. The Times reporter learned from BMW that the excitation synchronous motor equipped with i5 is self-developed by BMW, which has the characteristics of high integration, modularity and sustainability. The petrol version is equipped with the BMW Group's latest-generation inline four-cylinder engine, with a maximum output of 190 kW and a peak torque of 400 Nm for the 530li model. At the same time, in the gasoline version, the 48V mild hybrid technology assists the fuel engine.
In terms of intelligence, in addition to the introduction of the WeChat car version of the car machine, the rear row is also equipped with 8K definition, 31-inch giant screen, which can be interconnected in real time after activation, and supports 32:9 panoramic ** mode. Intelligent driving is also a major selling point of its main promotion. It is reported that the new BMW 5 series is equipped with an automatic lane change function with gaze confirmation; To ensure that the driver is fully engaged at all times, an attention monitoring system and a capacitive-sensing steering wheel are also applied.
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Taking the automatic lane change function as an example, the reporter saw at its South District Innovation Experience Day that after the intelligent driving assistance system PRO is started, the vehicle enters a high-speed cruising state, such as a slow car in front, and the automatic lane change function with line of sight confirmation tracks the driver's eyes and head movements, when the traffic conditions meet the conditions for lane change, such as in high-speed and closed road environments, the speed is within the range of 60 km h - 180 km h and other conditions, the vehicle will take the initiative to change lanes and overtake suggestions according to the speed of the vehicle in front and road conditions. At this moment, the driver only needs to look at the exterior mirror to confirm the lane change, just like the usual lane change.
According to the official introduction, the L2+ intelligent assisted driving system equipped with the new 5 series is built with the concept of "safety first", and this system has been debugged more than 2,000 times in China, and the local R&D test footprint covers more than 400 cities. The Times reporter learned from the official that facing the future, the new BMW 5 Series long wheelbase version has the ability to expand to L3 level automatic driving in terms of technology.
BBA attacks on intelligent electrification.
From the perspective of market competition, in the 400,000-level medium and large luxury car market, the strength of BBA's "56E" is still strong. According to Autohome data, as of December last year, in the car market in the range of 400,000-500,000**, the cumulative sales of BBA models such as Audi A6L, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class occupied the top 4.
Among them, one of the major rivals of the BMW 5 Series, the Mercedes-Benz E-class, also ushered in a replacement at the end of last year, and it is also adapting to the changes in the Chinese market to strengthen its intelligent performance. It is reported that the new long-wheelbase E-class car is the first model equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 intelligent cockpit chip, and has a "2+1" MBUX super screen, the third-generation MBUX interactive system, etc.; The first L2+ navigation assistance system is the first driver assistance system developed by Mercedes-Benz's local R&D team in China.
In addition to the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the strength of the old rival Audi A6L should not be underestimated. According to data from Sohu Automobile, in December last year, Audi A6L sales reached 2140,000 units, BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class sales were 1310,000 and 7,419. In the market segment focused on the pure electric i5, a number of new players such as NIO ET7 have already joined the battle.
It is worth noting that behind the first pure electric version of the BMW 5 Series, BBA is accelerating the transformation of electrification.
Gao Xiang previously said that the all-new BMW 5 Series has realized the electrification of all BMW mainstream models on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has become the latest proof of BMW's future mobility vision with breakthrough innovation in the field of digital intelligence. It also pointed out that with the launch of the BMW i5, the number of BEV products offered by the BMW brand to Chinese customers has increased to seven, and the BMW Group's BEV products cover almost all major market segments.
Mercedes-Benz also announced that it would adopt a "petrol and electricity" strategy. According to Xinhua News Agency on January 26, Duan Jianjun, president and CEO of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales and Service, said that in 2024, the new energy of the whole product series will be further promoted, in addition to the high-end luxury product matrix to accelerate the electrification process, in the core luxury product matrix, a new long-wheelbase GLC SUV plug-in hybrid model, a new long-wheelbase E-class plug-in hybrid model, etc.
In addition, on January 26, with the first Audi Q6 e-tron pre-production line off the assembly line, Audi's first pure electric vehicle production base in China, Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle***, also officially started pre-production production. It is reported that the annual production capacity of this production base is more than 150,000 units, and from the end of 2024, the Audi Q6 e-tron and the Audi A6 e-tron series will be put into production from the end of 2024, which are based on the Audi PPE pure electric platform and specially designed for the Chinese market.
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From the perspective of the overall market performance of BBA, the BMW Group delivered more than 82 percent in the Chinese market last year490,000 BMW and MINI vehicles, up 4% year-on-year2%；In 2023, Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of about 7650,000 new vehicles, basically the same as the delivery in 2022; Audi delivered more than 72 percent of its deliveries in China last year90,000 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 135%。In other words, in terms of rankings, BMW will take the top spot in the BBA list in 2023, followed by Mercedes-Benz and Audi third.
Although it continues to lead the luxury car market, BMW is also feeling the market volume. Gao Xiang previously said frankly, "In 2023, the pattern of China's auto market has undergone tremendous changes, with new players joining the battlefield, new technologies being rapidly applied, and the competition becoming more and more intense." ”
Among them, there are many independent new forces that have entered the hinterland of the BBA market. Taking Li Auto as an example, Li Xiang, Chairman and CEO of Li Auto, said, "Looking forward to 2024, we will continue to challenge the limits of growth and strive to become the No. 1 luxury brand in the Chinese market in terms of sales." According to official data, in December 2023, Li Auto delivered 50,353 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 1371%, successfully achieved the target of 50,000 units per month. For the whole year of 2023, it delivered a total of 376,030 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 1822%。
With the new independent forces becoming more and more courageous, what is the combat effectiveness of BBA after continuous increase in intelligence and electrification, and can it win market votes? Whether the replaced BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class can reproduce their former achievements and hold the cake of the 400,000-level medium and large luxury car market is left to the market to answer.