"Price stability is good for the interests of users and the market, and we have no intention of increasing prices in the short term." In late March this year, when many new car-making forces and traditional car companies began to plan, or have already increased prices at the time node, the above remarks of Weilai Automobile became a "light" in the chaotic car market, which not only gained the goodwill of a large number of car owners, but also became a model of "Ling Han and Proud Snow" in the industry.
However, just as industry insiders have analyzed in depth how WEILAI Automobile has resisted this round of widespread "price increases" from the aspects of product positioning, marketing model, and even corporate responsibility, a "description of weilai's character integrity" on the home page of The WEILAI APP on April 10 has made consumers soberly aware of the reality of the capital market. How high the "righteous indignation" of the past is, how depressed is today's "seeking perfection by bending the curve".
Objectively speaking, compared with Tesla's tens of thousands of yuan, the ES6, EC6 and ES8 involved in the Weiwei Lage whole have risen by 10,000 yuan, which does not seem to be much; and for users who choose the BaaS battery rental model, the long-lasting battery pack rental cost is adjusted from 1480 yuan / month to 1680 yuan / month, and the price increase of 200 yuan / month is not obvious. In addition, coupled with the explanation of Weilai founder Li Bin for the price increase of raw materials, the impact of the epidemic and other reasons, his sentence "price increase is also forced" poked the hearts of many users.
In response to this "price adjustment statement", there are two voices in the comment area of the Weilai APP alone. One is "applause", some people support or even "encourage" reasonable price increases; another is "singing down", some people believe that this measure harms the interests of car owners, especially users who choose the BaaS battery rental model.
In the face of today's market conditions, is the price increase really forced? First of all, from the perspective of subsidies, because the price of WEILAI Automobile's vehicles exceeds 300,000 yuan, it does not enjoy the new energy subsidy policy (except for purchase tax subsidies). In other words, compared with models such as the Xiaopeng P7 and tesla Model 3 entry-level, whether the price increase of The Weilai model depends on the "raw material price", and this may be the reason why it can directly point to the price increase plan announced this month.
Secondly, from the comparison of the 2021 "Wei Xiaoli" financial report, the total revenue of Weilai Automobile last year was 36.136 billion yuan, far exceeding Xiaopeng and Ideal; the gross profit margin of the car reached 20.10%, second only to the ideal of 20.60%; the marketing and management expenditure was 6.878 billion yuan, which was also far more than the other two brands. On the one hand, it is comparable to the gross profit margin of ultra-luxury brands, on the other hand, it is the marketing expenditure of billions of yuan, in the eyes of many people, the "price stability" of Weilai Automobile is not entangled in "can not be", but landed on "willing or unwilling".
From this point of view, Weilai Automobile does have a reason for the price increase of products, but some consumers are dissatisfied that Weilai Automobile still chooses to rise by 10,000 yuan in the case of a price that is not low, is this increase reasonable? From last month's "price stability" to today's "forced price increase", does Weilai Automobile's "two-level reversal" have the demeanor that a leader should have? I believe that everyone will have an answer in their hearts.
Conclusion: "The comment area is really too magical....The first time I saw consumers encourage merchants to increase prices..."As the netizen said, the "success" of the Weilai brand is that it sells not only a car, but an identity attribute and car experience, after getting the founder Li Bin's personal explanation, consumers feel unprecedented respect, even if the price rises, there will still be a large number of believers. If consumers can be happy to pay money, I am afraid that it will come. However, after calming down, it is not difficult to realize that when the so-called "feelings" are compared with the increase in car purchases of tens of thousands of yuan, which is more cost-effective, it can only be a willing to fight a wish.