On the first day of March, "Xiaomi Auto 2190,000 sales, Xiaomi Wanghua issued an article to refute rumors", which caused heated discussions.
Although this is not the final pricing of Xiaomi cars, after BYD fired the first shot of price reduction at the beginning of the year, many new energy vehicle companies have joined the price reduction team, which has really brought certain challenges to the pricing of Xiaomi cars.
The more car companies cut prices, the more embarrassed Lei Jun becomes" has become the title of the ** report, and people in the car circle are talking about "BYD Qin plus, destroyer 05 glory version official guide price 7."980,000 yuan", I couldn't help but "sweat" for the latecomer Xiaomi Auto.
In fact, BYD's "7"980,000 yuan" is just the first shot of new energy vehicles. BYD's "** butcher knife" has been waved four times in a month, and many other car companies have also kept up with the pace of price reduction.
The situation is pressing - in 2024, there may be great changes in the new energy vehicle industry: the industry will accelerate the differentiation and realize the large-scale effect, and the rest of the car companies may be reshuffled and cleared.
01 BYD "flipped the table", triggering a chain reaction
According to the Beijing News, BYD has cut prices four times since the beginning of the year. On February 19, BYD launched the Qin plus and destroyer 05 glory edition, playing "7980,000 sales", as of February 29, in just ten days, BYD has carried out "four consecutive drops" on many models.
Source: Compiled based on public information.
This wave of operations not only made BYD the hottest brand in the automobile circle after the beginning of the year; Looking at it at a deeper level, it has also made more and more people realize that the "rule" of "100,000 yuan car is a joint venture car position" has been completely broken.
In fact, not only BYD Qin plus is the car within 100,000 yuan, but also Lavida Xinrui and Yilan ** Ge have been set at more than 70,000, and even the Mazda Ankesaila, which has landed nearly 160,000 yuan before, has a starting price of more than 80,000 yuan.
While the decline of oil vehicles gives consumers more choices, it will inevitably bring pressure to new energy vehicle manufacturers. "If you don't let me eat meat and drink soup, then I can only flip the table", a blogger said to "BYD 7."980,000 sales"; The side reveals the current situation of new energy vehicle manufacturers: it is difficult to have room for survival without price reduction, and large-scale price reduction has become an inevitable trend.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this realization that after BYD "lifted the table", many participants in the "table" could not sit still, and SAIC-GM-Wuling, Changan Qiyuan, Nezha Automobile, Geely Automobile and other car companies have taken action and have lowered their models**.
On the same day that BYD fired the first shot of price reduction, Nezha Automobile also officially announced a price cut. Among them, Nezha x dropped 220,000 yuan to 9Starting from 980,000 yuan, Nezha Aya reduced the price by 8,000 yuan to 6From 580,000 yuan. Changan Qiyuan also has an official guide price of 8The starting price of Changan Qiyuan A05 from 990,000 yuan has been adjusted to 7Starting at 890,000 yuan, the starting price is lower than that of BYD Qin Plus.
The next day, the Wuling Starlight Plus 150km advanced version model of the Qin PLUS was benchmarked against the Qin Plus, and the ** was also changed from the previous 10580,000 yuan to 9From 980,000 yuan; Geely also joined the ** war, and its Emgrand L HIP Longteng version has a maximum discount of 6,000 yuan, with 8The price starts at 980,000 yuan.
Source: Jiwei Network.
At the same time as the large-scale price reduction, the slogan of "the same price of oil and electricity" that was the main theme of new energy vehicle companies last year has also become "electricity is lower than oil". It is not difficult to see from thisThe status of new energy vehicles is quietly changing, and the era of "electricity is more expensive than oil" has become a thing of the past.
02 Car companies "cut prices", a good thing or a bad thing?
So, why does BYD, as a pioneer of new energy vehicles in China, continue to cut prices? Why can new energy vehicle companies now subvert the "tradition" of "electricity is more expensive than oil"? In a comprehensive analysis, there are at least two levels of factors.
One,Price reduction is the only way for new energy vehicles and oil vehicles to compete for the scale market. Taking the A-class car market, which is attracting attention from new energy vehicle companies, as an example, according to the data of the Passenger Car Association, its annual sales in 2023 will reach 9.58 million units, and its share in the market of all class models will reach 442%, accounting for almost half of the entire automobile market.
In 2023, the overall sales of A-class vehicles will reach 9.58 million units, of which 2.26 million will be new energy vehicles, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will be 2359%, well below the industry average of 357%。
Source: BYD Auto's official WeChat.
Therefore, for new energy vehicle companies, if they want to occupy a larger market share, they must be able to come up with stronger products and lower ** to convince consumers. As BYD insiders said, the company holds two hole cards of "product power and pricing power" to accelerate the process of oil to electricity in the automobile market.
SecondThe cost of domestic new energy vehicles has been reduced, which has brought confidence to car companies to reduce prices. For example, the price reduction of lithium batteries is one of the main driving factors.
As we all know, the battery cost of electric vehicles accounts for a high proportion of the cost of the whole vehicle, even up to 30% to 40%. However, with the progress of domestic new energy vehicle industry technology and the emergence of large-scale production effects, the cost of key components such as lithium batteries is declining.
Cao Li, vice president of Leapmotor, previously said in an interview that the purchase price of Leapmotor's iron-lithium battery cells has reached 0$4 wh, which will be less than 0 in the middle of the year$4. Zhu Ronghua, chairman of Changan Automobile, also mentioned at the industry forum that the new energy vehicle industry has bid farewell to the past situation of "less electricity, lack of electricity, and expensive electricity", and the domestic battery industry has overcapacity.
In other words, the rise of the new energy vehicle industry has made many manufacturers see that batteries can generate great profits, so they have to mine lithium ore, and then with the emergence of oversupply, the raw materials are natural; At the same time, with the continuous upgrading of industrial technology, many car companies have also developed sodium-ion batteries, semi-solid-state batteries, etc., and the demand for lithium carbonate is also decreasing. These factors have well reduced the cost of new energy vehicle companies, so that they have the premise of price reduction.
However, having the capital to reduce prices is not necessarily a good thing. When everyone's cost is reduced, the threshold for competition will become higher. To put it bluntly,Large-scale price cuts are good for consumers, but for car companies, it is only the beginning of accelerated involution.
03 To live or to perish? Industry differentiation has begun
The first key point to accelerate involution is who can afford to fight the "** war". As Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Passenger Association, said, 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 battle.
It is foreseeable that in this "battle", which may be "protracted" and covered by full firepower, only the leading few can win.
This trend can also be seen from other industries, such as the two-wheeled electric vehicle field, Yadea and Emma are the "biggest winners". The former has 40,000 stores and the latter has 30,000 stores. Even in the sinking market and Maverick Electric, No. 9 and other "rising stars" to fight the first battle, they are also "big guys" with the advantage of "small profits and quick turnover".
The same will be true for the new energy vehicle industry, manufacturers with low production and low sales will undoubtedly struggle to fight with the top brands in the data, and they will inevitably be overwhelmed in the long run. In particular, many new energy vehicle companies are still in a state of huge losses, and large-scale first-class wars will only be more unfavorable to them.
It is foreseeable that the differentiation of the new energy vehicle industry has begun, and the future market will appear in the situation of "two heavens". On one side,Enterprises with advantages in products, technology and sales will not only be easier to survive in the first war, but will also be favored by the market and capital because they can get "big results"; But on the other side,If the brand awareness is not started, the car companies with high product pricing and lack of competitiveness may only face the cruel ending of being eliminated.
Source: Li Auto's official WeChat.
Just like a few days ago, Li Auto handed over the answer sheet, and in 2023, they actually completed the "small goal" set by Chairman and CEO Li Xiang for himself - to achieve a breakthrough in the scale of 100 billion revenue in 2023.
According to the financial report, in 2023, Li Auto will achieve revenue of 1238500 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1735%。The total number of vehicles delivered reached 376,030, a year-on-year increase of 1822%。Affected by the strong performance, the company's stock price soared, and a large number of ** praised it for "filling the five-year loss in one go".
On the other hand, the Gaohe car is not so "lucky". At the same time, it was revealed that the suspension of work and production was suspended for six months. At this time, the luxury pure electric brand under Human Horizons has only been established for five years, and compared with other new energy vehicle companies, it can almost be said that it has not caused much splash in the market.
In just a few days, one is extremely highlight, and the other is regretful, revealing the surging challenges under the wave of rapid development of the new energy automobile industry.
Conclusion
A few days ago, Ouyang Minggao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association, mentioned in the professional forum that the market share of new energy vehicles is expected to exceed 40% in 2024. It is foreseeable that the penetration rate of the domestic new energy market is expected to continue to increase, and the market prospect is also bright.
However, as the above analysis is, for many car companies, greater challenges are still ahead, especially in 2024, which will inevitably be a tough battle. And at the end of the day,Only brands that occupy favorable terrain in the differentiation of the industry with hard power can become the "final winner".