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

In the European new energy vehicle market, Model 3 and Model Y are two cars that can not be ignored. In the past three years, it is with these two products that Tesla has achieved the delivery of nearly 500000 vehicles, making it a feared existence for even traditional automobile giants.

With very few products to complete the occupation of the European market, Tesla conquered the European market so quickly. By contrast, Chinese car brands are still on the edge of Europe. In 2021, the total number of Chinese cars exported to Europe is only 523000, of which the export of new energy vehicles is relatively limited, many of which are contributed by Tesla. According to the statistics of the Federation of passengers, in 2021, Tesla Shanghai Super Factory exported 163000 vehicles, accounting for half of China's new energy vehicle exports that year.

With the export volume of China's new energy vehicles reaching 629000 in 2022, more and more Chinese brands are trying to use the electric car track to attack overseas markets, especially the European market. According to the relevant research data from Deloitte report "Leap from Sea to Globalization", almost all Chinese car companies plan to focus on the main European markets such as Germany and France in the next 3-5 years. For them, if they want to occupy a place in this market dominated by local strong brands, Tesla's European expansion process can not be ignored.

It has been nearly 10 years since Tesla occupied Europe since the first Tesla Model S landed in Norway. In the past ten years, Tesla's sales in Europe have been showing a growing trend. However, limited by the electric car market demand, product positioning and brand development, Tesla experienced a long process of market integration at the beginning of entering Europe.

Tesla Model S was launched in Europe in August 2013.

At the beginning of that year, an analyst asked Musk about the current distribution of demand for Model S, because about 1 Universe 4 bookings came from outside the United States. "I think we can sell at least 10,000 vehicles in Europe within a year," Musk said at a revenue conference on May 8, 2013. "

Indeed, as Musk said, less than 60,000 electric vehicles were sold in Europe in 2014, but Tesla was among the top 10 best-selling electric models in Europe in the first half of that year with a score of 5409 Model S. By 2015, Tesla's sales in Europe had reached 14000. In 2017 and 2018, the combined sales of Tesla Model S and Tesla Molde X ranked in the top three of the annual pure electricity sales list, and it should be noted that these two cars are also the most expensive cars on the list.

At this point, Tesla's brand influence has begun in the European market, which has laid the foundation for the layout of cheap electric models.

The period from 2018 to 2019 was the key point for the change of Tesla's sales in the European market. Tesla's European sales soared from 30, 000 vehicles to 111000, and the products played a vital role in Tesla's market. In 2019, the Model 3 began delivery in Europe and became the best-selling electric model in the market.

In fact, as an important part of Tesla's global market, the change of delivery volume in European market is closely related to the change of global delivery volume. With the increase of global market sales, Tesla's European market is also expanding.

After years of ploughing, Tesla's sales in Europe increased from 14000 in 2015 to 111000 in 2019, a nearly tenfold increase in five years. However, the important distinction of Tesla's European "war history" also belongs to the export of Tesla made in China.

At the beginning of 2020, Tesla Shanghai Super Factory officially landed. In October of that year, Tesla announced that Model 3 made in China was exported to Europe for the first time, and the first batch of 7000 cars were sold to Germany, France, Italy, Spain and other countries. At that time, the industry predicted that China would become a production and export base for electric vehicles.

The export of domestic Tesla is an important reason to support Tesla's rising sales in Europe. In 2021, thanks to Chinese factories as a new export base, Tesla's annual sales in Europe reached about 170000 vehicles, an increase of nearly 70% over the same period last year, breaking the 2020 adjustment in Europe and returning to the upward trend. Tesla exported 271000 cars from China in 2022, more than 1/3 of the output of the Shanghai factory, most of which were exported to the European market, according to the Federation of passengers.

In 2022, Tesla Model Y began to succeed Model 3 as the top seller of new energy vehicles in Europe, with sales of more than 130000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 417%, even beating a large number of fuel models. The localization of production at the Tesla super factory on the outskirts of Berlin has contributed to the frenzied growth of its sales. Tesla Model 3 fell to second place from 2021. Tesla's two cars lead the European new energy car market in 2022.

Today, Tesla is an important presence in the European market, squeezing the market share of local fuel car brands, and its steep rising sales curve has made BBA, which has been stuck in a sales bottleneck for years, on pins and needles. In Germany, Europe's largest car market, the electric catfish forced many German luxury brands to accelerate the electrification process.

Tesla can, but can Chinese brands? Throughout Tesla's offensive rhythm in the European market, in addition to the blessing of external new energy policy factors, there are two factors that are very important: one is the product strength of breakthrough experience, and the other is the sustainable layout of the industrial chain.

It must be admitted that the super product power played a key role in Tesla's rapid occupation of the European market and even the global market. Zhu Xiaotong, president of Tesla China and vice president of the world, once said in an interview that compared with the fluctuating price, the customer's recognition and experience of the product is what Tesla really cares about. In other words, what Tesla should really worry about is the product power. As long as the product is still attractive to consumers, no matter how the price changes, it will not affect Tesla's sales volume.

In the continuous explosion of production power, the accelerated improvement of production capacity helped Tesla's sales take off and quickly occupy the market. By 2022, Model 3 and Model Y will take turns to dominate the list of best-selling electric models in Europe, prompting European car companies to work together to deal with Tesla.

Among them, the opening of the super factory in Shanghai in 2019 and the delivery of the plant in Berlin, Germany in 2022 have pushed Tesla to continue to occupy more market share in Europe. In particular, the completion of the Shanghai super factory has completed the reconstruction of Tesla's industrial chain, helped its core models achieve capacity breakthroughs, and directly promoted the export of domestic Tesla to Europe.

Tesla adheres to the global layout of factory investment, and based on Musk's forward-looking judgment on the industrial chain, insists on self-research in core links such as batteries, and establishes a super local capacity supply system. The construction of global industrial chain is the key for Tesla to realize cost advantage and economies of scale and accelerate product penetration.

European consumers stress the practicality of their products, but the intellectualization and software pursued by the Chinese market have limited appeal to them. And Tesla's product advantage superimposed price advantage is enough to enable Tesla to cope with the fierce competition in the European market.

It should be noted that no matter the product or the construction of the industrial chain, these factors are the right weapons in the global market. The reason why Tesla's products can enter the European market more smoothly, in addition to Musk's own global influence, but also has something to do with the Tesla brand and the European genes carried in the products.

Franz von Hoshausen, designer of Tesla Model S, said he spent quite a lot of time in Sweden. "it was a period of time when I was fully exposed to European culture, which more or less changed my design philosophy and incorporated more European aesthetics." Tesla's soul designer began his career as an assistant chief designer at Volkswagen. In addition, Tesla's first model, the Roadster, is almost entirely designed by the British car brand Lotus. It can be seen that Tesla's products have natural European design attributes.

More importantly, Europe is a major market that Tesla attaches great importance to. Before entering, Tesla also carried out years of research work.

Some advantages that can be learned and cannot be learned need to be considered. The background and ideas of automobile brands are different. Compared with Tesla, the export situation and export positioning of Chinese car companies are also different. Tesla's successful experience, for Chinese electric cars to enter the European market, how much can be used for reference?

Tesla, as an American brand, belongs to the Latin world as well as Europe, and has a natural sense of belonging. It will take time and patience for Chinese car companies to surpass the industry with electric cars and make their voices heard in the European market.

At present, the performance of Chinese car companies in the European market shows the characteristics of sound volume and no actual performance. The only brands that can appear on the sales list are Geely's Polar Star and Shanghai Automobile Group's Mingjue, which are already from Europe. Other brands, such as BYD, Great Wall, Weilai, Xiaopeng and so on, are in the stage of just opening the market and preparing to put into products.

With its subversive technology, product experience and planning, Tesla's supply chain system has crushed European local brands. for brands like Tesla and Lulai, they do not have the core advantages that GWG has.

In Germany, Europe's largest car market, traditional car brands such as Volkswagen, Renault and Hyundai accounted for 67% of the new energy market in 2020. According to eu-evs statistics for 11 European countries (Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland), traditional car companies such as Volkswagen, Renault, Hyundai, Peugeot, Kia, Audi, Skoda, BMW and Mercedes-Benz almost occupy the top 10 in brand sales in 2021. The market share of electric vehicles in Europe is almost occupied by these traditional forces in transition, with only Tesla sawing each other. When Chinese car brands enter Europe, they are bound to face the squeeze of these brands.

In addition, subject to European policies to protect local brands, Chinese electric cars are entering the European market with challenges from costs, tariffs, a stringent market regulatory environment and a long review cycle.

"Chinese electric car companies still lack outstanding performance in the European family car market," said a project manager in charge of global procurement of electric car parts at Volvo's Swedish headquarters in Sweden. It is worth noting that although electric vehicles are said to be zero-emission, the manufacturing process of electric vehicle batteries will produce a lot of carbon emissions. If BYD exports the whole car to Europe, it will also generate carbon emissions during transportation. At the same time, the EU has increasingly stringent standards for carbon footprint, which is a real problem for Chinese electric car companies, including BYD.

Unlike Norway, big European countries have a huge car industry to protect. In addition to various tariff policies and trade barriers, China's export of cars may also face market regulatory policies at the EU level. Chinese electric bicycles exported to Europe have been subject to anti-dumping and countervailing duties by the European Union since 2019, leading to a large market of electric bicycles in the European market.

Different motivations of car companies to go abroad will also bring different strategies and choices. Although the export of automobile brands is based on the needs of market expansion, there are still slight differences in ideas and driving forces. Tesla has given his global expansion a grand vision of accelerating global sustainable energy development, while Chinese brands exporting overseas markets are also charged with the task of overtaking Chinese cars at corners. This also determines that these brands will bring indelible Chinese elements in the process of promotion in the European market.

As the most powerful new energy vehicle brand to compete with Tesla, BYD grew up in the traditional car-building concept. Although it is very different from Tesla's Internet attribute, it has completed the subversion of its own brand through transcendent product technology and vertical supply chain system, and went hand in hand with Tesla. The advantage of BYD in the three power technology and vertical integration industry chain is the key to Tesla's success, so he can best refer to Tesla's experience.

According to the analysis of the research on the cool of fast-painted cars, it is not easy to go to sea, nor is it temporary. China's new energy has to bear the challenges of international competition, lack of brand strength, barriers to going to sea and so on. Tesla, as a leader in the electric vehicle market, already has a certain legendary nature. When Chinese electric cars are exported to Europe, we can learn from Tesla's experience in improving product power and strengthening the industrial chain. based on the Chinese market and adhere to the domestic industrial chain, combined with their own strength to explore the localization of the industrial chain. It should be noted that in order to really break into new markets, there are unique barriers that need to be overcome.

This article is from the official account of Wechat: automobile News Agency (ID:automobile-news), by du Qiu.

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