182 days later, BMW Wuzi announced its withdrawal from the price war, the industry was in an uproar, at this time a non-local brand 4S store sales staff just said a sentence "high price, low configuration, who is willing to be cut", Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Toyota, Honda, etc. gladly followed up - price increase!
Even if you risk returning an order in violation of the rules, you must join forces to resist the price war. It seems that I endured it for a long time.
"Deliberately pointed the finger at BYD, but I don't know that it was Tesla's ...... that stirred the pond in the first place", another interpretation is: When resistance becomes the norm, the first person to stand out from the encirclement will also be pointed out by Qianfu.
In the past six months, all chains have been shrouded in the shadow of price wars, upstream and downstream have been feared, dealers have been repeatedly whipped, car companies have resisted, and Toyota, which has always been proud, has also put down its dignity. The price war lasted for half a year, and in half a year and 6 months, a history of Chinese automobile evolution was vividly interpreted.
The atmosphere of the Spring Festival is joyful, the news of Hainan restricting new energy vehicles on the ship has spread to the streets and alleys, Gaohe thunder has added a few shades of gray, Wang Fengying, who went to Guangzhou from Baoding to "support" Xiaopeng Motors, is worried about how to hand over a satisfactory one-year answer sheet, Lei Jun, who has crossed over to the car digitally, is still manipulating hunger marketing, and BYD is quietly preparing for the "table-lifting" plan at this time.
"798", referring to the horror. It is reported that once the Qin PLUS Glory Edition was listed, no less than 10 car companies followed up and made a small fuss on the terminal limited-time discounts.
The market is teaching car companies to behave.
Half a year later, according to statistics, in addition to BYD, Geely, Chery, and Changan, the target completion rate is considerable, and many large manufacturers such as GAC, Great Wall, and SAIC are hovering around 30%.
Specific to new energy, in addition to the world, ideal, and extreme krypton scenery, Xiaopeng, Nezha, and Zhiji are all pressed to the ground and rubbed, with a completion rate of about 20%, like a hollowed-out body, and the people who eat melons have begun to calculate in their hearts: who is the next Gaohe.
Shortly after the launch of the "Flip the Table" plan, on February 27, the always popular ZEEKR 001 decisively cut the official guide price, increased the configuration, and made a profit of 40,000 yuan. There is BYD "wolf" in front of him, and there is "Xiaomi" tiger in the back, Li Shufu criticized the "excessive involution", and at the same time hit the opponent in the most direct way, so that the business behavior of "integrity of the mouth" is common in the business logic of the bigwigs.
It is reported that in the past six months, Geely has become the only major automobile manufacturer to increase its annual sales target.
"It's all hard to hold on!" Not only the workers, but even the car companies with a market value of 100 billion began to sigh.
Half-year preview, a wail. According to the known financial data, in the first quarter, Changan's net profit fell by 83.39%, GAC fell by 45.08%, BAIC Blue Valley fell by 13.92%, and SAIC fell by 2.48%......
The days when the big factories relied on joint venture blood transfusion to lie flat and live were completely gone, and now the joint venture can't bear it, and the independence has not done well, so they resolutely resisted and shouted loudly - we need profits!
Profits, in the mouth of the hunger marketing master Lei Jun, are all loss-making businesses, only born for fever. Xiaomi SU7, which is sold at 215,900 yuan, has no room for further decline if it loses money. Unless, the upstream cost is pushed down.
The beauty of hunger marketing is that prices fall over time. Battery-grade lithium carbonate, the main raw material of power batteries, will increase from 600,000 / ton in 2022 to 200,000 / ton and 150,000 / ton in 2023, and then fall below 100,000 / ton in 2024.
Xiaomi SU7 orders are flying like pieces of paper, completing the annual sales target ahead of schedule and locking in market share, on the other hand, other major auto manufacturers who are really licking blood at the knife edge, when the "share defense war" is ongoing, what remains in the history of Chinese automobiles is - profit margin, hitting a record low!
According to data from the Passenger Car Association, the overall profit performance of the automotive industry in 2023 is not strong, with a sales margin of only 5%, a significant decrease from the historical normal. From January to May 2024, the sales margin of the automotive industry was 5.3%, which is still at a historical low.
It is no wonder that the fierce rhetoric of the chairman of GAC "anti-involution" has attracted a scolding war on both sides. There is really no way, in the past, the net profit was tens of billions of yuan a year, but now it has fallen to billions of yuan, and I am used to big fish and meat, how can I resist coarse tea and light rice?
"Due to the high pressure of competition, profits mainly rely on exports to make foreign wealth and high-end luxury, and the profits of most other enterprises have declined sharply, and the survival pressure of some enterprises has increased." It comes from a passage analyzed by the Passenger Federation based on the profit margin hitting a record low, and there is a lot of taste under the tasting.
Based on this analysis, it is easy for us to understand why some car companies still have to stand up and shout knowing that they will be impacted by public opinion, and why some car companies choose to stand in line with the word "volume", even if SAIC's own brand is run in a mess, there is no high opinion after the "soul theory", after all, SAIC relies on exports, and it is tightly moisturized.
Profit margins are declining, car companies are not idle, but when targeting foreign markets, successive tariff policies have cut off the last straw for companies that are not competitive at home and want to use foreign markets as a safe haven.
Tariffs have been raised, and the domestic car companies that have lost their price advantages are completely confused, while on the other side of the country that has not yet raised taxes, some media involved in the export market have painted a port picture: "Seeing that the freighter is bringing more and more vehicles to the country, the senior management of sales and agents has to quickly stop: stop continuing to import!" ”
These small scenes could not withstand the attack of the Chinese with intelligent minds. BYD built a factory in Thailand, SAIC's first European factory will land in Spain, Chery is expected to produce electric vehicles in Spain within the year, GAC Aion organized an inspection team to about six countries in Europe to determine the best localization strategy, will be the high-end brand Haobo that cannot be sold in China - export can not build a factory, the goal is to sell to other countries!
"If it's gold, it will always shine, and if it's good, someone will always buy it."
In fact, not only car companies, but also battery manufacturers, can't stand the "infighting". In 2023, CATL, known as "Ningwang", will have a domestic market share of 42.7% and BYD 30.1%, while in 2021 and 2022, Ningwang's market share will be 52.1% and 48.2% respectively.
It is not only BYD that pulls King Ning off the horse, but also other car companies, all of which are "King Ning for a long time". It's not a good thing for a single company to have absolute pricing power over core components.
In the first quarter of this year, CATL's revenue was 79.77 billion yuan, down 10.41% year-on-year, and its net profit was 10.5 billion yuan, up 7% year-on-year.
All of a sudden, there was a yin and yang argument of "King Ning was forced overseas by King Di". Although this is not the case, looking at the call of "100 days of struggle" and the implementation of the "896" work system, the pressure of the CATL era can be seen.
Someone said, "Even if it's true, it's much better than companies that have to make mass layoffs because they are not competitive and unprofitable." ”
"Keeping a job is more important than anything else." The salesmen who were used to "lying" in the joint venture 4S store were faced with the situation of "falling down and scattering".
Many years ago, Tesla pioneered the direct sales model, which attracted latecomers to follow suit, and for a while, car dealers all over China were speechless.
In 2023, Zhejiang Zhongtong will have the news of bankruptcy, Pangda Group will miss the "Pangda" again, delisted, and the founder Pang Qinghua's 20 years of hard work will finally be burned; Recently, Guanghui Group owed employees wages, stores were closed one after another, and car owners could not pick up their cars after payment, etc., flooded the Internet.
Professionals point out: "The direct sales model has gradually replaced the traditional distribution model as the mainstream trend, which has brought a huge impact on the existing business pattern. ”
However, new energy vehicle brands, including Xpeng and AVATAR, in the face of dismal performance, gradually abandoned the direct sales model and focused on the distribution model - manipulated as they pleased, and any dealer was easily manipulated to be frightened.
It is reported that in 2023, more than 40% of auto dealers will lose money, and more than 1,620 auto 4S stores will be closed and withdrawn from the network; According to a report by the China Automobile Dealers Association, less than one-third of dealers will achieve their sales targets in 2023, and the loss ratio will be as high as 43.5%.
Other data: In June 2024, the inventory warning index of China's auto dealers will be 62.3%, up 8.3 percentage points year-on-year and 4.1 percentage points month-on-month.
"Approaching the half-year task assessment node, the inventory level of dealers has risen. In order to hit the semi-annual task goal, dealers have more price for volume, the price of new cars has dropped seriously, and the gross profit of naked cars is low. The survey shows that the completion of dealers' sales tasks in the first half of the year is significantly differentiated, of which, 18.4% of dealers have completed the task, 34.8% of the dealers' task completion rate is more than eighty, and 13.5% of the dealers have completed the rate of less than fifty percent. ”
Last year, less than three percent, in the first half of this year, 18.4% of dealers completed the task, decreasing several data, all sad. However, in order to survive, dealers cannot follow the example of car companies to "change face", even if it is the norm for car companies to press dealers in order to do a good job of financial statements, dealers have to "break their teeth and swallow in their stomachs".
Even the dealers smiled bitterly, and the new energy vehicles that had collapsed themselves - changed to a pair of skins, and had to use gasoline.
According to the data of the Passenger Association, in the first six months of this year, the cumulative sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles were 1.17 million, 510,000 range extenders, and 2.42 million pure electric vehicles. Don't look at the 2.42 million pure electric bluffs, in terms of growth rate, plug-in hybrid has reached 53%, range extender is as high as 126%, and pure electric is only 16%.
In addition, the sales of pure electric new cars are mainly distributed in the two major ranges of 20-300,000 yuan and 10-150,000 yuan, and the plug-in hybrid is mainly distributed in the range of 10-150,000 yuan.
Unexpectedly, the "backward" is the most advanced, and here, the credit of ideals and Huawei is indispensable. It is also necessary to know that MEGA, which once had to be sold for 529,800 yuan, wanted more people to know what "5C" was, and finally couldn't get rid of the shackles of market laws - a little gasoline smell, in order to make people feel at peace?
After turning around, Li Bin of Weilai was still slapped in the face.
In this way, Qin L, who sold "998", ran to a range of more than 2000km, and it was inevitable that someone would find out: "What is it by eating oil?" ”
The first joint venture brand to be dissatisfied was GAC Toyota.
For its own fifth-generation intelligent electric hybrid technology, GAC Toyota clarified its advantages with the characteristics of "not simply driven by the motor or engine, not pursuing the thermal efficiency of the single point extreme value of the laboratory, not pursuing the ultimate low fuel consumption under specific working conditions, not relying on simple stacking to achieve long battery life, and not reducing fuel consumption at the expense of power".
In short: "I also use oil, I also have absolute high economy, and I am also suitable for this era." ”
finally let go of their dignity, and the executives took short videos to brush their faces, and it was a historic time to hold a science and technology day to show off their skills; Toyota's boss, Akio Toyoda, is still the "conservative" who resists electric vehicles, but he saw that the "Lexus" trump card in his hand was almost fallen, and he raised his arms and shouted: Domestic!
The domestic production of Lexus used to be coveted by many people, but now it is not exciting, but has attracted many questions. Follow Tesla's example, build factories, gamble, etc., etc., but it should be understood that the policy does not support - pure oil.
"No one knows, next, who will fall."
"I believe that no one has ever experienced such a brutal business war."
Half a year, 6 months, 182 days, the price war has hollowed out the bodies of everyone in this industry, and some people say that this is not evolution, but degradation.
It must be known that this is a knockout match without gunpowder smoke but full of rumors and soldiers, elimination and evolution go hand in hand, the strong win, the weak lose, and the eternal truth.
But is that the end of it? In the "Global Auto Market Outlook", AlixPro predicts that by 2030, the number of new energy vehicle brands in China will drop sharply from 137 in 2023 to 19, what is this concept?
Returning to the Chinese auto market, I read a history of the evolution of Chinese automobiles in half a year, and suddenly found that before the storm, Gaohe's thunder was like a thunderclap, which reminded everyone.
When we thought that a history of Chinese automobile evolution had been completed in just half a year, as soon as July arrived, we ridiculed BMW for not knowing how to lift up, still not recognizing the situation and withdrawing from the price war, and also discussing whether the entire industry would return to the calm of a few years ago. ”
How do you feel?