Well-known car companies have recently announced price cuts, kicking off the tense competition atmosphere in the auto market in 2024.
On the second day of the return to work during the Spring Festival holiday, BYD announced the start of this year's "** war" in the most simple and rude way.
BYD, which was still shouting "the same price of oil and electricity" last year, changed its slogan this year, and in order to achieve "electricity is lower than oil", BYD launched a lower-priced hybrid model.
Plug-in hybrid models lead the way.
BYD's official information shows that on February 19, its Qin plus and destroyer 05 glory version were listed, with an official guide price of 7Starting from 980,000 yuan, BYD told the "International Financial News" reporter that the company is fully impacting the A-class car market.
With 7980,000 yuan of BYD swiped the circle of friends, a car owner who bought the BYD Qin PLUS DM-i Champion Edition last year complained, "I thought it was 9980,000 is low enough, who would have thought that it would drop by 20,000 this year! Naked backstab! ”
According to the reporter's observation, affected by the listing of the Glory Edition, in some regional dealer stores, BYD's 2023 Qin Plus DM-i Champion Edition will start to reduce the price, with a minimum of 580,000 yuan can be landed, BYD official response said that this is the dealer's own behavior, not the company's official price reduction.
In this wave of price cuts, Changan Automobile reacted the fastest, following the official announcement on the day of BYD's price cut, and shouted the same slogan "electricity is lower than oil".
Changan Qiyuan A05, as the main model of the company's A-class plug-in hybrid sedan market, has reduced its price by up to 230,000 yuan. After the price reduction, the price range of Changan Qiyuan A05 is 7890,000-11090,000 yuan, also reaching the level of 70,000 yuan. At the same time, Changan's other A-class car of about 100,000 yuan, Changan Yidong Plus, also announced a price reduction, a decrease of 220,000 yuan, the price is only 7190,000 yuan.
Not only that, as a B-class car, Wuling Xingguang has not been left behind, with the deputy general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling brand division Zhou Yu posted on his personal Weibo "One word, with!" The price of the 150km advanced version of the Wuling Starlight plug-in hybrid model is increased from 10580,000 yuan was adjusted to 9980,000 yuan, the price dropped to less than 100,000 yuan.
In addition, new energy vehicle companies such as Denza and Nezha have followed suit to reduce prices, of which 30The SUV Denza N7 with a minimum price of 180,000 yuan has launched a limited-time event, and you can enjoy 2,000 yuan off 520,000 yuan; Nezha X, Nezha S, and Nezha Aya are all on sale with price reductions, and the price reduction is 080,000 yuan—220,000 yuan, minimum 6580,000 yuan can pick up the car.
It is worth noting that the curtain of the "first war" was opened this time is the plug-in hybrid model, and the main position of the car companies led by BYD is the market of less than 100,000 yuan with a large market share of the joint venture fuel car company.
BYD said that the price reduction for joint venture fuel vehicles will not only "lift the table", but "tear down the house".
According to the data of the Passenger Association, in 2023, in the market of 50,000-100,000 yuan, the share of plug-in hybrid models will be 06%；In January 2024, the share of plug-in hybrid models in the 50,000-100,000 yuan market will rise to 24%。
In the face of the menacing new energy vehicle companies, the joint venture car companies did not sit still. In order to maintain its market share, Beijing Hyundai Elantra lowered its selling price to 7At the same time of 580,000 yuan, the slogan of "oil is stronger than electricity" was shouted, which was obviously aimed at BYD and others shouting "electricity is lower than oil".
SAIC-GM's Buick brand announced that it will reduce prices or subsidize some models from February 19 to February 29. Among them, Buick LaCrosse, Valeant Pro, and Envision Plus provide 350,000 yuan, 550,000 yuan, 650,000 yuan bicycle discount and replacement subsidy.
Market competition has intensified.
In fact, for BYD's low-priced new products, there is another voice in the industry: "BYD is nervous." ”
In 2023, although BYD will complete a breakthrough of 3 million units for the whole year, whether it is traditional car companies such as Changan and Geely, as well as new forces such as Wenjie and Ideal, they are growing rapidly, and the saturation of China's auto market is gradually increasing. If BYD wants to make more breakthroughs in the domestic market, it must find another way, and "price reduction" is the fastest and easiest way to seize the market.
Auto analyst Zhong Shi told reporters that BYD's sales pressure this year will increase a lot compared with last year, in addition to the pressure given by other car companies, whether dealers can swallow a large amount of inventory this year as in the past will also be a problem. "BYD wants to maintain its total scale in the current environment, and the price reduction can send competitors in this price range into a 'dangerous period' in advance."
At the same time, Zhong Shi believes that in the market segment of 50,000-100,000 yuan, consumers' loyalty to the vehicle is not high, and the cars in the price range are roughly the same.
On the day of BYD's price cut, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger association, said in his personal article that 2024 is a key year for new energy vehicle companies to gain a firm foothold, and the competition is destined to be very fierce. With the rapid increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, the scale of the traditional fuel vehicle market is gradually shrinking, and the contradiction between the huge traditional production capacity and the shrinking fuel vehicle market will bring a more fierce "war".
Whether it is a car company or a related unit, all of them reveal the fierce competition in China's auto market this year.
At the Guangdong Provincial High-Quality Development Conference, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said in the opening letter that the new energy vehicle industry is facing three major development opportunities, including the further deepening of vehicle electrification, the reshaping of China's electric vehicle brand and the acceleration of the export market.
It believes that the current transformation of the automobile industry has entered the deep water area, the electrification transformation continues to drive in the fast lane, the intelligent transformation has begun to shift gears and speed up, and the development of new energy vehicles will only run faster and faster, "will not give us the opportunity to stop, slow down, and take a breath."
There is also a "sense of crisis" He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, who said in a letter to all employees on February 18 that 2024 will be the first year for Chinese auto brands to enter the "sea of blood" competition, and a "fight" in a fierce competition is inevitable.
In order to enhance the market competitiveness of Xiaopeng Motors, He Xiaopeng said that this year will become the first year of the accumulation and outbreak of Xiaopeng's product and technology platform, "about 30 new products or facelifts are planned within 3 years, and the company will invest more manpower and invest more than 40% of the R&D budget year-on-year."
In addition, in the opening letters of Geely Automobile and SAIC Group, the company's executives are emphasizing this year's "volume". Geely Automobile Group CEO Gan Jiayue said that 2024 will be the most "volume" year. According to the plan, the Geely brand will launch three new energy products this year, including a hybrid and two pure electric models; Chen Hong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of SAIC, said that it is necessary to grasp the innovation and transformation strategy, especially the product innovation strategy in the first place.