Editor's introduction: The sales of the main model LS6 are sluggish, and the volume model L6 is difficult to walk, betting on the range extender is the last hope for self-help, but there is not much opportunity for trial and error left for Zhiji.
Repeatedly caught in public opinion turmoil and frequent price cuts did not give positive feedback to Zhiji's market share and sales, but made the existence of its brand more controversial.
Last week, Zhiji Auto announced the launch of the "00Di" welfare policy for the Zhiji LS6, that is, 0 down payment, 0 interest rate, and low monthly payment financial policy. It is reported that this is the industry's first "0 down payment" and "0 interest" financial policy, and it has to be said that Zhiji has "invested a lot" to boost the sales of LS6. However, judging from the sales trend of the LS6, it is not difficult to understand the operation of Zhiji.
LS6 that opened high and went low again
Since the launch of the LS6 in October last year, the car has become an important sales leader of Zhiji Automobile, and once helped the brand's monthly sales exceed 10,000 in December last year. The good times did not last long, and the popularity of the LS6 only lasted for 3 months, and its sales halved in January 2024.
According to the data, in December 2023, the sales volume of Zhiji LS6 will be 9,878 units, approaching the 10,000 mark, and in January, it will be halved to 4,612 units, and its sales volume will be 491 units in February, which is less than 2,000 units; In March, there was a slight month-on-month increase of 2,630 units, but it was only a flash in the pan, falling back to 456 units in April; Sales of the LS6 in May were 483 units, which has fallen to less than 20 of its peak.
On July 1, the latest sales data released by Zhiji did not mention the sales of LS6 single models, but from the overall sales of the brand of 6,015 units, L6 accounted for 4,100 units, and the remaining 2,900 units should be evenly divided into 3 models, so the sales of LS6 in June are likely to be only hovering in 1,000 units.
In fact, the LS6 is not the first model of the Zhiji brand to drive high and go low. Before the LS6, several models launched by Zhiji seemed to be unable to avoid the same problem, that is, the high interest at the beginning of the launch, its sales also climbed rapidly, and then began to decline dramatically.
According to the data, in June 2022, SAIC Zhiji's first model, the Zhiji L7, was delivered, and after reaching sales highs of 1,007 and 1,019 units in August and September of the same year, respectively, sales have been declining, and even sales have fallen to single digits at the beginning of the LS6 launch. In 2024, although its sales have picked up, the sales in April and May will only be 16 units; In December 2022, Zhiji launched the Zhiji LS7, which reached a sales peak of 1,900 new cars in March 2023, but sales began to decline in July 2023, and in 2024, it will only maintain around 100 units per month. This phenomenon was once jokingly called the "three-month law of Zhiji" by netizens, and it is clear that LS6 has not been spared.
However, as the model that has set the highest sales record for the Zhiji brand, the Zhiji LS6 is still full of high hopes, and it is not difficult to understand why the industry's first favorable financial policy will appear on this model. But under the premise that the price war is intensifying, can the LS6, which has already missed the market, reduce its price again to save sales? Not necessarily.
Marketing frequently overturns, and it is difficult for wisdom to break through
Zhiji, who once relied on marketing to get out of the circle last year, will be caught in a brand image turmoil in 2024 in a marketing regeneration incident.
At the first press conference of Zhiji L6, Liu Tao frequently mentioned Xiaomi SU7, hoping to open the market with the help of the latter's traffic, and even directly compared the parameters of the two models at the meeting, but unexpectedly marked the key parameters of Xiaomi SU7, causing a public relations crisis.
Subsequently, at the request of Xiaomi, Zhiji Auto apologized three times through its co-CEO Weibo and official Weibo. In addition, the employee story told by Liu Tao at the end of the press conference was also complained about, causing netizens to ridicule "singing praises of suffering". Although it is full of "presence" on the hot search, it is difficult to call it a good impression.
This is not the first public apology of its co-CEO in 2024, as the Zhiji LS6 received a large number of complaints at the beginning of the year, including the failure of the audio-visual system, radar, and air conditioning, the abnormal noise of the vehicle, and the error on the main page of the in-car system.
Subsequently, in response to the quality problems of Zhiji Automobile, Liu Tao publicly apologized on Weibo, saying: "Recently, some vehicles have the problem of missing display screen information and reversing prompt sound, which has caused everyone inconvenience and trouble, and I would like to apologize to users on behalf of Zhiji Auto." However, consumers' concerns about quality issues still prompted the sales of Zhiji LS6 to be cut in half in January.
After repeated marketing overturns and the CEO publicly apologized, Zhiji Auto was forced to carry out marketing integration. According to insiders of Zhiji Auto, Zhiji Auto has recently established a new position of CMO to oversee marketing, communication and other businesses, trying to enter users from the marketing side and reverse its brand image.
In fact, four years after its establishment, Zhiji Automobile is still staggered and difficult to break through in the competition in the auto market, and it is not just a "pot" for marketing. From the point of view of the product line, Zhiji Automobile is not in the real sense of the market segment product layout, its launch of LS7 and LS6 are very similar, and from the point of view of the decline of LS7, many consumers will be equipped with no less than LS7, but the cheaper Zhiji LS6 as a better choice, except for the different models, these two models are at the same level in most functions and configurations.
In addition, frequent price reductions hurt the brand image. For example, from pre-sale to promotion, the starting price of the Zhiji LS6 ranged from 230,000 yuan to 229,900 yuan in a few months, and then to 214,900 yuan after the limited-time offer. In December last year, Zhiji once again launched a limited-time offer, reducing the starting prices of LS6 and LS7 to 217,900 yuan and 249,800 yuan respectively.
In the case that the brand image and product quality are questioned, the "volume" model Zhiji L6 launched by Zhiji has also become the existence of "hitting the street", although the latest sales data show that Zhiji L6 sales soared to 4100 units in June, but this number is really difficult to link with the word "volume".
Can the range extender be the key to breaking through?
Zhiji, who has always been unable to do anything in terms of sales, has chosen a new track for himself - range extender.
A few days ago, some media reported that Zhiji will release a range-extender SUV model that benchmarks the ideal L7 in the first quarter of 2025. According to people familiar with the matter, this model, as Zhiji's first extended-range car project, has been approved as early as the second half of 2023, and it is expected to open up the market with SUV positioning.
This decision is not difficult to understand. After all, in 2023, Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji Automobile, expressed his affirmation of range extension technology in an interview, believing that range extension products have market potential in the next 3-5 years or even 5-8 years. In the report forecast released at the 2024 academic annual meeting of the State Information Center, it is also pointed out that the range anxiety of pure electric vehicles is difficult to solve in the short and medium term, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will slow down significantly after 2028, and plug-in hybrid and extended range routes will become the fastest growing market.
In fact, the range extender market has maintained a good growth rate in the past few years, with the growth rate of range extender models from 2021 to 2023 being 206%, 116% and 173% respectively. In 2023, the sales of extended-range electric vehicles will be 627,000 units, with a market share of 2.9%, which has also led to most car companies stepping into the market.
According to the data, in 2023, the main growth force of medium and large SUV models in the range extender model track is ideal L7/L8, ideal L9 and Wenjie M7, and the growth of medium-sized sedans and SUV models comes from the follow-up entry of Leap Run, Changan Deep Blue, etc., this year AVATR has also quietly moved towards the range extender, it is reported that in June, the list of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has appeared in the extended range version of AVATR 11 and AVATR 12, and the extended range version of AVATR 07 is also about to be launched. In addition, He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xpeng Motors, also said in the conference call after the release of the first quarter financial report, "What is the next generation of range extenders, at this time we think more"; Xiaomi Auto also quietly released the recruitment information of "Range Extension System Design and Development Engineer" and "Fuel System Engineer".
The market welcomes the judgment that extended-range vehicles are also becoming the consensus of more car companies. At present, the extended-range market is also fiercely competitive, and in the first quarter of next year, the extended-range track will undoubtedly usher in more models.
This means that Zhiji's end range extender may be a little more challenging than you think. First of all, in terms of popularity, the ideal has occupied a place in the medium and large range extender SUV market, and it is not difficult to see from its rising sales that its popularity is far from a big step away from Zhiji; Secondly, since its establishment, Li Auto has focused on range extender technology, and in terms of time and technical accumulation, it is also difficult for Zhiji to surpass.
For Zhiji Automobile, the sales of the main model LS6 continue to be sluggish, and the volume model L6 is even more difficult to "move", and the brand image is even more "messy". In this context, betting on the range extender is not an "all in" self-help, but the market has not left much opportunity for trial and error.