Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

A few days ago, a domestic new energy car brand announced a price increase of 2000 yuan to 6000 yuan for some of its models, which attracted market attention. This is in sharp contrast to Tesla's recent price reduction of more than 10, 000 yuan for two models in the Chinese market. However, what makes consumers more concerned is that the traditional luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz has to "put down its posture"-cutting the price of its pure electric models by as much as 230000 yuan, while the sales price of EQE has fallen to 400000 yuan.

The sales of BBA's new energy models are obvious to all in the industry, and industry insiders believe that Mercedes-Benz's official price reduction may be directly related to the downturn in sales of its pure electric models. Mercedes-Benz EQA, EQB, EQC and EQE sold 94, 133,6 and 678 vehicles respectively in October, adding up to less than 1,000 vehicles, according to the Federation of passengers.

In the first 10 months, its cumulative sales were less than 12000 vehicles, which could not even match the monthly sales level of some independent brands of single pure electric models. It can be seen that on the new energy track, Mercedes-Benz, the century-old car brand in BBA, also began to use "price reduction" to respect.

So what is the reason for the low sales of Mercedes-Benz electric cars in China? After Guanxuan cut prices, can Mercedes-Benz boost the follow-up sales of related models? In the process of new energy vehicles moving towards high-end, will the Big three of BBA have a chance after all?

"01" new energy car track does not recognize BBA? The depressed sales of Mercedes-Benz pure electric cars have made many consumers feel that the "trigeminal star", which was once high above and represented by German luxury cars, has also begun to be overshadowed. In fact, this sentence is only half right.

According to the 2022 ranking of high-end cars and high-end SUV released by the Federation of passengers, the cumulative sales of Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Mercedes-Benz C-Class in the first 10 months were 122725 and 114085 respectively, up 7.9% and 1.9% from the same period last year.

The cumulative sales of GLC and GLB in the first 10 months were 126923 and 46830 respectively. Among them, the sales of GLC models still increased by 14.8% compared with the same period last year. In other words, only electric cars are underperforming Mercedes-Benz.

In fact, German luxury brands that cannot sell new energy vehicles include BMW and Audi in addition to Mercedes-Benz. However, compared with Mercedes-Benz, the prices of BMW and Audi new energy cars dropped early. According to media reports, the BMW i3 has begun a "big sale" in the first half of the year, with a terminal drop of more than 70,000 yuan.

Audi e-tron, which once sold 700000 yuan, has dropped 123000 yuan since it was made in China. A prospective car owner revealed that the current Audi e-tron terminal price, and even a discount of about 100000 yuan. And Q2L e-tron "starting price", is only 185000 yuan.

Even so, BMW, Audi's main new energy vehicle sales are still depressed. According to Galaxy, BMW sold 1152 i3 vehicles in the first half of this year, and although iX3 has a cumulative sales volume of 10804, the two together are only 1/10 of Tesla Model Y sales in the same price range.

As for Audi e-tron sales in the first half of the year, it is only 403 vehicles, while the "price reduction" Q2L e-tron is not on the list. The former German high-end brand is dejected on the track of new energy vehicles.

As for the reasons behind, some people in the industry have revealed that this is closely related to the lack of sincerity and competitiveness of the models that BBA "competes" in China's new energy vehicle market. After all, with the exception of EQE, EQS, BMW i3 and Audi e-tron, Mercedes-Benz EQ series are almost all "oil-to-electric" models.

After several years of development, under the "education" of independent brands and new forces, domestic consumers are becoming more and more demanding on new energy vehicles. In the minds of most users, new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles obviously belong to two completely different species.

BBA's cutting-edge technology, experience and attainments in traditional fuel vehicles continue to be applied to new energy models, which is difficult to impress domestic consumers. Paying for technology is out of the question.

In addition, the main reason is that the exorbitant pricing of BBA new energy models is also an important reason why many domestic car buyers are prohibitive. After all, many new energy car owners who are willing to pay NT $400,000, 500,000 or more are no longer BBA fans.

For example, consumers can buy their own brand pure electric vehicles with L2 driving assistance for about 200000 yuan. But in BBA's new energy car camp, only the Q2L e-tron has a landing price of 200000, and a small pure electric SUV with a range of less than 400km does not even meet the threshold of "luxury".

The Mercedes-Benz EQC with a price of 450000 yuan has only about 60% of the independent pure electric vehicles at the same price, and the product power is on the low side. As for the battle for millions of top pure electricity, the Mercedes-Benz EQS, which is based on the EVA platform and complained of a high starting price, does not seem to have more brand premium power than the Porsche Taycan.

Thus it can be seen that BBA's lack of sincerity in new energy products, coupled with too "arrogant" pricing strategy, are the key factors leading to the difficulty of its new energy models.

This time, as a traditional German luxury car brand with a "halo" blessing, how effective can it be if it wants to boost sales through price reduction and "dimension reduction"?

Is the "02" BBA new energy model flattering at both ends? After the price reduction, the price of the Mercedes-Benz E-Series-EQE, known as the "luxury threshold", has fallen to the range of 400000 yuan. According to industry insiders, if terminal discounts are included, the current naked car price of EQE is expected to reach about 460000 yuan, which is equivalent to the models of new power brands such as Weilai ES7 and ideal L9, and slightly higher than Tesla Model Y.

It is also a new energy car, and it is also within the range of 400000 yuan. isn't buying Mercedes-Benz more respectable than independent brands and new car-building brands?

Maybe not. Cui Shudong, secretary-general of the Federation of passengers, said that even if the price is reduced, Mercedes-Benz's electric cars will still be difficult to grab the share of Wei Xiaoli, because the former and the latter are still on two tracks.

The "Insight report on the consumption behavior of New Energy and fuel vehicle users" released by the China Automobile Circulation Association and understanding car Emperor shows that young users pay more attention to new energy vehicle products, accounting for 43% of new energy users under the age of 30. The proportion of consumers of new energy vehicles under the age of 40 is as high as 84%.

"Young consumers pay more attention to battery life and intelligence when buying new energy vehicles than brand premiums." Judy, a sales manager of a domestic new energy vehicle, revealed that the technological changes of independent and new power brands in the field of new energy vehicles in recent years can be called by leaps and bounds, and their market share can also be described as preconceived.

Compared with traditional luxury car brands, independent and new power brands are better at catering to young users in car scenes. There are only many intelligent configurations, such as active security, automatic parking and interconnection, and convenient functions such as V2L are also gradually standard.

According to the "Research report on China's New car purchase intention in 2021" released by consumer insight and market research institution Jundi, nearly 1/4 of consumers regard intelligent experience as the most important factor in car purchase decision-making.

New Travel released the "2021 Chinese users New Energy vehicle consumption decision and attitude Survey report" shows that: nationwide research, the attractiveness weight of new energy vehicles, a high degree of intelligence accounted for 37.66%, brand weight is not high.

But look at the BBA brand, not to mention new energy vehicles, even in the most confident field of traditional fuel vehicles, its intelligent process also lags behind the new power of car-building, independent brands, as for the sense of luxury, has also been new power brands, independent car companies "pile up" to overtake.

So, who is the "regular" consumer group of BBA?

Judy said that high-income people over the age of 40 are often the main consumers of BBA. In particular, more than 400000 yuan of Mercedes-Benz E-Class, S-Class, BMW 5-Series, 7-Series are the first choice for medium-and high-end users to demonstrate their identity.

"this kind of user buys a car, the main concern is safe, luxurious, intelligent is not considered in the dimension. but on the other hand, pure electric vehicles, as an emerging product, are also not models that this kind of consumers will buy." As a result, Judy believes that BBA's new energy vehicles have nothing to do with the brand's high-end consumers, whether they cut prices or not.

In addition, luxury brand premium gives cars the attribute of "wealth management products", which is also the focus of traditional high-end consumers. For a long time, the value preservation rate of BBA fuel vehicles is among the best in the domestic market, but the value preservation rate of its new energy vehicles is quite high.

It is not difficult to find out that the first-year preservation rate of Mercedes-Benz EQC is only 52% and only 56%, Audi e-tron is 55%, and the highest is BMW i3, but only 59%. No wonder some netizens satirized: cutting leeks does not need a knife. It can be said that the brand premium (face) that high-end users care about has nothing to do with it.

Does the "03" independent brand focus on the high-end blank of BBA? What is puzzling is that in the past year, including Mercedes-Benz, new energy vehicles from traditional European and American luxury brands have been cutting prices in exchange for sales. On the contrary, they are new energy vehicles owned by independent brands and new car-building forces, and their prices are constantly on the rise.

At present, the prices of the ideal main volume models are in the range of 400,000 to 500,000 yuan, and some independent brands have also launched new energy vehicle brands with higher positioning and higher prices. Some brands even put the price of high-end models up to 80 million yuan.

Is there any hope for independent brands and new forces in the high-end new energy market that even the traditional luxury brand BBA can't understand?

In fact, in the same crazy fight in the high-end new energy vehicle market, independent brands and BBA seem to have different strategic considerations.

"even if there is no price reduction and a big sale, the impact of BBA's revenue in the domestic auto market is not great for the time being." Zhang Chong (a pseudonym), an analyst engaged in auto market research, said that although the domestic sales growth of BBA is not obvious, thanks to the inherent beliefs of high-end users, its fuel vehicle sales are still not to be underestimated.

In other words, BBA in the domestic auto market is still living a good life in the short term. Strong brand power is still an important guarantee for the sales of BBA fuel models in China. However, whether in the global market or the domestic market, new energy vehicles are always the trend of the times.

"sooner or later, BBA will have to face up to the trend of electrification, and if it is a little slower, the market will be occupied by other brands." Zhang Chong said frankly that with the gradual shrinkage of the fuel vehicle market, if BBA does not come up with highly competitive electric products, in a few years, its good days in China will come to an end.

However, on the contrary, the new forces of independent brands and car building have gained a firm foothold in the middle and low-end new energy vehicle market. According to the statistics of the Federation of passengers, in the first nine months of this year, the proportion of independent brands of domestic new energy passenger vehicles has reached 83.2%, far exceeding joint ventures and imported brands.

"the volume of medium-and low-end new energy models ensures the basic revenue of independent brands and car-building new forces, and launches brands and models with higher positioning and higher prices, and the goal of car companies is to further improve profitability." Zhang Chong said that independent brands upgrading the new energy product matrix is more like the icing on the cake.

[conclusion] even if it is difficult to obtain considerable sales of high-end models, independent new energy brands can improve the premium ability of brands to a certain extent, empower medium-and low-end and entry-level models downward, and shape word-of-mouth to boost sales. Once the sales of high-end models increase, car companies can make considerable profits.

As for electrified and intelligent technology, domestic car companies do not necessarily lag behind "late-developing" joint venture brands. All this may be the strength of independent new energy car companies to impact high-end.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: know Notes (ID:dongdong_note), author: Shenle, Editor: Qin Yan

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