There is no car that cannot be sold, there is only a price that cannot be sold.
In 2023, as consumption continues to slump, this sentence has been continuously confirmed as the truth in the automobile market.
Fuel-burning vehicles cannot be sold, electric vehicles are reduced in price with additional options, and luxury cars are increased in price to make profits. Countless "price wars" are taking place in the Chinese auto market. In the case of
, even if the Chinese automobile market has turned from growth to decline in 2019, there has not been such obvious and fierce price competition.
The price war is the easiest way to understand the Chinese automobile market in 2023. In March this year, we published an article titled "How many grievances has the "price war" caused? "reported on the brutality of the price war.
This time, we might as well combine the latest price information to examine the underlying logic of the price war in the Chinese automobile market.
Tesla is the initiator of every price war. 2023 will be no exception.
In January this year, Tesla China announced that it would lower the prices of all Model 3 and Model Y models. Among them, the price of the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version dropped from 265,900 yuan to 229,900 yuan, and the price of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version dropped from 288,900 yuan to 259,900 yuan.
Subsequently, Wenjie announced price adjustments: the adjusted price of Wenjie M5 EV starts from 259,800 yuan, and the adjusted price of Wenjie M7 starts from 289,800 yuan. The starting prices are both reduced by 30,000 yuan.
Xpeng Motors subsequently launched price reductions for the G3i, P5, and P7. The overall price reduction for the three models ranged from 20,000 to 36,000 yuan.
html In March, France’s behavior of “turning the table” price self-explosion attracted the attention of car users across the country.Dongfeng Group’s multiple joint ventures and independent brands, including Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng Peugeot, and Dongfeng Citroen, suddenly collectively announced “limited-time government-enterprise subsidies.”
According to incomplete statistics, this Dongfeng series "price earthquake" has affected the automobile market across the country, and has involved more than 30 car companies.
On the other side, in addition to simple and crude price cuts, some car companies have chosen to launch new products and adjust services to face price competition.
For example, BYD launched the Qin PLUS DM-i Champion Edition in February this year, with the starting price dropped to less than 100,000 yuan, a disguised price reduction of 14,000 yuan.
On June 12, Weilai announced that it would adjust the prices of all new cars and the car rights of first car owners. The starting price of all models has been reduced by 30,000 yuan, and user rights such as warranty, battery replacement, and Internet of Vehicles have been reduced.
For example, in September, the official price range of Xpeng G9 was 263,900-359,900 yuan. Compared with the old model, the price dropped by RMB 46,000. During the same period, Wenjie M7 officially announced a facelift, priced at 249,800-329,800, which is 40,000 lower than the current model.
Even, on November 30, Jiyue 01, which had cut its price just after it was launched, announced that the entire series would drop by 30,000 yuan. Tesla also officially announced again that you can enjoy a discount of up to 21,000 when you pick up the Model 3/Y at the end of the year.
is more than that. Following the big promotion in November, BYD announced price cuts on its main Dynasty series models on December 1. Among them, BYD Qin PLUS DM-i Champion Edition is directly reduced to the 80,000 yuan range. BMW iX3 and Mercedes-Benz EQE also dropped the luxury body segment, with price cuts reaching more than 160,000 yuan.
In order to achieve the annual sales target, Li Auto will provide a car purchase subsidy of up to 36,000 yuan. In addition, consumers will also receive a fuel card worth 2,000 yuan.
What is even more unexpected is that Porsche, which has always had strong prices and needs to increase prices, already has a 20% discount on the Taycan and Macan, and models such as the Panamera and 911 also have discounts of up to 15%.
In addition, the Mercedes-Benz Big G model, which used to have a price increase of 800,000 yuan, also has a discount of 200,000 yuan.
We can summarize it this way:
The car price war in 2023 is a long-term competition that continues throughout the year, from simple and crude price adjustments at the beginning of the year, to the recombination of products and services, to the relay competition for sales targets at the end of the year. Any sign of an end to the war.
At the same time, this is another undifferentiated price war.Since the fermentation of new energy vehicles, they have been guided in the traditional fuel vehicle market, and eventually spread to the high-end market that is usually rarely affected. It can be called an undifferentiated and all-round hot price war.
Let me start with the conclusion. The price war in 2023 is a necessary process for the new energy transformation of the Chinese automobile market, and it is a painful period that must be overcome.
There are no absolute winners and losers. Everyone makes price judgments based on their own goals.
Some people may say that when product prices fall, users will benefit. But when the price drops, users will naturally take over at the "original price" or "high price", and the entire market is in a zero-sum game.
Even if it rises to the level of competition among car companies, if some car companies increase their sales due to price wars, some car companies will inevitably be kicked out of the market because of price wars.
So besides the long-term changes in the market, what other reasons have contributed to the price war? There are roughly four reasons:
First, the scale of the new energy vehicle market is expanding, and the scale effect is gradually amplifying. Car companies have the ability to strengthen cost control and still maintain profit margins. For example, BYD achieves large-scale cost control by vertically integrating its supply chain and conducting self-research and production of its core supply sectors.
The second is the impact of new energy vehicles, which has forced the traditional automobile industry to think about its long-term development: it is particularly important to stay at the poker table and continue to play cards. "Electric Pai" learned that luxury brands are willing to provide more rebates to help dealers overcome the difficulties of price wars.
The third is the change in market consumption trends. The "post-epidemic era" still continues the inertia of slow consumption, and the automobile market cannot make more increases. Therefore, in the state of stock competition, price wars between automobile companies are inevitable.
The fourth is the dilemma of product innovation, which leads to the convergence of product functions, configurations, and forms. The result of large-scale product launch is that products have to fall into price competition, especially in the price range of 200,000-300,000 yuan.
Fifth, the contradiction between production capacity and consumption has led to an intensifying price war. Shen Jinjun, President of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said when attending the China Automobile Finance Industry Summit recently, "The excessive release of production capacity in the automobile market has resulted in relative insufficient demand, which has become the main contradiction of the Chinese automobile market at this stage."
Comprehensive review, 2023 The price war inertia of 2020 may continue until 2024.
Some media reported that many car company executives said that price war will still be the main theme of the car market in 2024. Yi Han, vice president of marketing at Xpeng Motors, believes that "the price war is more like an irreversible trend."
exchanges price for volume to achieve scale, achieves cost reduction with scale effects, and then lowers prices to attract consumers to continue to achieve scale. Improvement has become another closed-loop truth for the development of car companies.
It’s just that as the competition between car companies and products is cleaned up and reshuffled, more strong players will stand out.
NIO founder and CEO Li Bin said at yesterday’s media conference that the high-end smart electric vehicle market will explode in 2024-2025.
solidifies the foundation and basic skills, and may be the next choice for Chinese brands.
Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, said, "This year's auto market is booming, and it will be even bigger next year. With a high degree of homogeneity of products, coupled with weak domestic demand, competition will be very fierce next year."
Stay in the brand If you want to win, you have to continue to charge prices, and you even have to get used to price wars.
