If you want to choose a joint venture SUV with a starting price of less than 80,000 yuan, who can you think of?
Is it a blank in my mind, because there are so few eligible options. There may be a few models in the terminal market after the price reduction, but from the official guide price, there are indeed very few models that meet the prerequisites of 80,000 levels and joint venture SUVs.
Dongfeng Renault, which has become history, has launched an electric small SUV Renault e-Nuo, with a starting price of less than 80,000 yuan, of course, this car has long been discontinued. Ford Yibo also had an annual model, which lowered the guide price to less than 80,000 yuan, but this car has also been discontinued. There is also an atypical joint venture brand, Venucia (now a brand of Dongfeng Nissan), which has launched a small electric SUV Venucia e30 with a starting price of less than 80,000 yuan, which has long been discontinued. There is also one that is still on sale, Kia Yipao, with a starting price of 69,800 yuan, which is a small SUV.
The four cars are all small SUVs, and they are all niche models, and the only product that counts as a volume is Ford Yibo, but during the sale of this car, in fact, the starting price for most of the time period is more than 80,000 yuan.
It can be concluded that even in the context of increasing market pressure in recent years, many joint venture brands are exploring the market, but the SUV market below 80,000 yuan is basically a forbidden place for mainstream joint venture brands. After all, less than 80,000 yuan is already a low-end market in the absolute sense, and the layout of products in this market segment may not have a great impact on the market scale, but the impact on the brand image is certainly not small. There are very few joint venture sedan products in the market segment, not to mention SUVs whose prices are generally higher than those of the same class of sedans.
But at the recent Chengdu Auto Show, Volkswagen did an unexpected thing, lowering the price of one of its compact SUVs to less than 80,000 yuan.
As soon as the news came out, it shocked the industry.
Volkswagen fights
On August 30, the first day of the opening of the Chengdu Auto Show, SAIC Volkswagen released heavy news at the slightly deserted Chengdu Auto Show.
SAIC Volkswagen officially announced the official launch of the new compact SUV, Tuyue Xinrui, with a price of 125,900-153,900 yuan.
At this point, everything is still normal, a German compact SUV, with a starting price of 125,900 yuan, in the current domestic market environment, it is also decent. But the next official time-limited preferential policy is definitely beyond most people's expectations, Tuyue Xinrui's entry model Ruijin Edition, a time-limited price of 79,900 yuan, the top Ruixiang version, a time-limited price of 106,900 yuan, Tuyue Xinrui has become the German SUV with the lowest price threshold so far.
Tuyue Xinrui price, image source: SAIC Volkswagen
You can say that the Tuyue Xinrui is not a new version of the Tuyue model on sale, after all, there is a big gap between the two cars in terms of body size, wheelbase and many configurations. The length, width and height of the Tuyue are 4355mm, 1762mm and 1605mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2651mm, which is smaller than the current Tuyue (body length of 4453mm, width of 1841mm, height of 1632mm and wheelbase of 2680mm). The chassis specifications have also changed, and the Tuyue is equipped with a four-wheel independent suspension (front MacPherson independent suspension + rear multi-link independent suspension), while the Tuyue's cutting-edge rear suspension has become a torsion beam non-independent suspension. In addition, in some comfort configurations, Tuyue Xinrui has also made some cuts, such as the steering wheel of the middle and low version is plastic, and the air conditioning control of the middle and low version is manual, and the middle version of the current Tuyue has a leather steering wheel and automatic air conditioning.
Therefore, there is a view that although Tuyue Xinrui is placed in the Tuyue car series, this car is more like a large Tu Kai, and the body size of Tuyue Xinrui and Tu Kai are closer, and the chassis specifications are similar. But from an official point of view, the Tuyue is obviously more marketable than the Tukai PLUS, first of all, the market awareness of the Tuyue is higher, and secondly, the identity of the joint venture compact SUV, and the starting price of 79,900 are put together, which is more shocking, and it can better meet consumers' expectations for the comprehensive "uncoiling" of the joint venture model. Of course, there is a big premise that although the Tuyue Xinrui is not long, its wheelbase of 2651mm is not inappropriate to be placed in the category of compact SUVs.
Image source: SAIC Volkswagen
In addition, although Tuyue Xinrui has lowered the price threshold to less than 80,000 yuan, this car does not have a too obvious sense of cheapness. We have compared the differences between the Tuyue Xinrui and the current Tuyue above (or the weakened places), and then let's talk about the highlights of the new car.
At present, the most capable joint venture entry-level compact SUV on the market is the "two brothers" of Corolla Ruifang and Fenglanda, which can often deliver monthly sales of around 10,000 units. Compared with Toyota's Gemini, the Tuyue Xinrui is small in size, but the wheelbase is longer, and the interior space performance is not bad. In fact, in terms of space utilization, Tuyue Xinrui may have more advantages than Japanese products of the same level that have always been selling on excellent space performance.
In terms of power matching, the lowest configuration of Tuyue Xinrui is a 1.5L+6AT automatic transmission combination, and the top and sub-top versions are equipped with a 1.5T+7-speed dual-clutch combination. The full range of automatic transmissions, in the current market consumption environment, is a good plus, and there is no manual transmission in order to reduce the cost of the entry version. The power combination of 1.5L+6AT may be average in terms of explosive power when accelerating, but the advantage lies in the maturity of technology and good stability.
In terms of other configurations, it is true that you don't want too many surprises, but it definitely won't be too cheap. Electronic handbrake, reversing image, LED headlights, LCD instrument, automatic parking, hill assist, four-door window one-key lifting, etc. are all standard configurations, and the sub-low-end model with a limited price of 88,900 yuan is equipped with front/rear parking radar, rear exhaust air vents and other configurations, and is also equipped with Volkswagen IQ. The Drive system can achieve L2 level intelligent driving, which is not necessarily available in autonomous SUV models at the same price, which shows Volkswagen's sincerity this time.
The joint venture is in a hurry
There is no doubt that Tuyue Xinrui is a model with high comprehensive cost performance, the price is low enough, but there is no obvious "reduction", and it is likely to occupy a place in the joint venture oil car market in the future.
However, the problem is that under the joint encirclement and suppression of independent new energy vehicles, the market space of joint venture oil vehicles is being continuously compressed.
Entering the market at such an extreme low price, Tuyue Xinrui wants not only to make a difference in the joint venture oil vehicle market, but also to successfully break through in the consumption boom of independent household new energy models, which is of more practical significance: whether it is a price war or a value war, the joint venture brand can accompany it. From this point of view, Volkswagen has not been "left behind" all along.
At present, the ID. series is still one of the few joint venture new energy brands that have truly achieved scale, and the reason for this is that the early layout is on the one hand, and on the other hand, the willingness to reduce prices is also an important reason. 2023 is the beginning of a new round of price wars in the domestic market, and this round of price wars has far-reaching impact, and it is still in full swing today. Volkswagen's ID. series will start a big price reduction for all terminals in 2023, and in 2024, on the premise of completing the increase, the official guide price will be lowered. The price of the SAIC Volkswagen ID.3 Smart Model, which was launched at the end of July, has dropped to less than 120,000 yuan, and the price of the ID.4 X Smart Model has dropped to less than 150,000 yuan.
In the oil car market, the Lavida Xinrui listed in the middle of last year lowered the starting price of the Lavida family to less than 100,000 yuan, and in April this year, SAIC Volkswagen launched the outstanding version of the Lavida Xinrui, with a starting price of 79,990 yuan. In addition, in 2024, models such as the Tiguan L facelift, the Passat facelift, and the new generation Magotan are all focusing on high configuration and low price.
Of course, in the past two years, the joint venture brand of "sudden change in painting style" is far more than Volkswagen. Mazda has been a price staunker among joint venture brands, and many models that have been released in the domestic market have been evaluated as models of "applause or not", one of the important reasons is the high price and the long-term very low discount margin in the end market. But now, Mazda has also begun to focus on high prices. The 2023 Ankesaila, which was rebranded last year, has directly lowered the price by nearly 30,000 yuan under the premise that the shape and configuration are basically unchanged, and the starting price is only 89,900 yuan. Since then, the starting price of the new Mazda CX-5 has been directly reduced to 125,800 yuan, and the starting price of the Mazda CX-5 is only 115,800 yuan under the current official limited-time preferential policy. Toyota and Honda have not been spared, and Highlander, which was previously a "hot item" in the absolute sense of the market, has begun to be officially lowered, and the price threshold has dropped from nearly 300,000 at its peak to 220,000 (including official APP rights).
Mazda CX-5, image source: Changan Mazda
Brands known for their strong prices can't bear it, and those joint venture brands that are originally relying on low prices can only be more "crazy". For example, the starting price of the 2023 Chevrolet Trailblazer, a joint venture medium and large SUV with a length of more than 5 meters and a standard 2.0T engine + 48V mild hybrid system, has been reduced from 259,900 yuan to 194,900 yuan. Buick E5, with a starting price of 208,900 yuan in April last year, became the "price killer" of the domestic medium and large pure electric SUV market at that time, and made persistent efforts in October last year to launch the Buick E5 Pioneer Edition, with a price of only 169,900 yuan.
Why is this happening?
The reason is simple, the market can't play anymore. The data shows that the overall share of joint venture brands has been forced to near the market red line of 40%. According to the sales data compiled by Gasgoo, there are 5 foreign brands on the top 10 sales list of domestic car companies in July, but in addition to Tesla's sales growth, the remaining four of the North and South Volkswagen and North and South Toyota have experienced varying degrees of sales decline. FAW-Volkswagen was the only joint venture to sell more than 100,000 units per month in July, selling 104,000 units in July, down 23.8% year-on-year. As a comparison, BYD, the best-selling company in the domestic market in July, sold more than 340,000 units per month. In July, SAIC Volkswagen's sales fell by 18.2%, FAW Toyota's sales fell by 5.6%, and GAC Toyota's sales fell by 23.4% year-on-year.
Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute believes that in recent years, with the maturity and opening of the domestic automobile market, independent car companies represented by BYD, with flexible strategies and high cost-effective advantages, have provoked price competition, and have to passively respond to the joint venture car companies, not only profit margins are constantly squeezed, but also the pressure to compete for market share is also increasing.
How to break the game? For mainstream joint venture brands, they are all problems that need to be solved urgently, but judging from the current market situation and subsequent trends, there are not many ways to take effect.
Accelerating the transformation of electrification and intelligence has been considered by many people to be the key to the success of traditional car companies, because they have economies of scale, brand heritage, and user base, but more and more facts have proved that the fact that they have become laggards in the field of electrification and intelligence is difficult to reverse once it is formed. In the era of electrification and intelligence, the traditional joint venture brands have been ridiculed as "miscellaneous brands", and it is not easy to turn over.
There are also many brands in the continuous shrinkage of the front, optimize production capacity, optimize the personnel structure, reduce costs and increase efficiency while opening up a new "battlefield" (such as relying on China's production capacity to export to external markets), etc., for some joint venture brands, the above measures have a certain effect, but to return to the peak level, there is still little hope.
There are also mainstream joint venture brands such as Volkswagen, which have chosen to "shop" with competitors, continue to increase their weight in the price war, and sacrifice part of their profits to protect their share. The risk is very high, and the price war is a double-edged sword for the brand and the market, but the effect is also the most obvious, at least, among the mainstream joint venture brands, Volkswagen's market share is still relatively guaranteed.
As long as you can withstand the market war of attrition, you may not be able to win it all in the end.