Why do the new forces dare to fight against the BBA when they are not deeply involved in the world?

Auto Information Network, April 21.Due to the control of the epidemic, the auto industry in Shanghai and surrounding areas is currently in a "shutdown" state, and many auto companies such as SAIC and Tesla have been forced to reduce production or suspend production.In such a difficult situation, SAIC still arranged the Zhiji L7, which has been brewing for a long time.

On April 17, Zhiji Auto's first model, Zhiji L7, was launched, with two models, Pro and Dynamic, priced at 408,800 yuan and 368,800 yuan respectively after subsidies.As a new brand, it has a starting price of 368,800 yuan. Zhiji L7 and Weilai ET7 are similar in play style. They just want to use "super value" performance and luxury to shake those who are immersed in the tradition built by BBA. consumers in the value system.

It seems that this is already an unwritten rule of the electric age.Aiming at the price of traditional luxury brands, and then achieving transcendence in all other dimensions, has become a way for new brands, especially those in China, to talk about luxury.But it does work this way.

New forces seize the share of traditional luxury cars?

According to the high-end luxury car sales list released by the China Passenger Car Association in March, most of the models occupying the luxury car sales list are from BBA. Although the three major brands of BBA occupy half of the domestic luxury car market, this leading trend is obviously in decline.

According to the latest data, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in March was 28.2%, an increase of 17.6 percentage points from the penetration rate of 10.6% in March 2021.In March, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles among self-owned brands was 46%; the penetration rate of new energy vehicles among luxury cars was 32%.

The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury cars is 32%, which is enough to show how good Tesla and other new power brands are in the market.

According to statistics from the China Passenger Transport Association, 230,000 luxury cars were sold in March, down 14% year-on-year and up 43% month-on-month.Except for Tesla's high growth, all of the 11 major domestic luxury brands experienced negative year-on-year growth. Tesla also surpassed Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi to become the monthly luxury car sales champion.

Although Lexus ranked first in the second camp with 16,900 units, down 31.9% year-on-year; Hongqi followed with 16,000 units, with a year-on-year decline of 5.2%; Volvo overtook Cadillac, with sales down 18% to 12,882 units; Cadillac sold 12,206 units vehicles, down 40.7% year-on-year, the highest decline in the list.

In March, Tesla China retailed 65,754 units, a year-on-year increase of 85.3%, of which Model Y reached 39,730 units, a year-on-year increase of 291.4%, making it the best-selling luxury car in March, with sales even more than three times that of the Mercedes-Benz GLC that month.

Tesla also saw a doubling of sales in March compared with the previous two months, and its share rose sharply, from 0.9% in January to 4.2% in March.The sales of luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi are basically declining from January to March.

And in March this year, Tesla raised prices three times, each of which exceeded 10,000 yuan, but Tesla’s sales in March did not drop but rose, which is enough to show consumers’ recognition of high-end new energy brands like Tesla.In contrast, the sales of pure electric products of Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW are only a few hundred units.

There is no doubt that after several years of market cultivation and large-scale investment in new energy, a new awareness of car use has been established at the user level in terms of intelligence and convenience. Of course, this is also true for traditional luxury brands such as BBA today. Unexpected novel experience.New energy brands such as Tesla and Wei Xiaoli are using new technologies and new services to teach these traditional luxury brands.

BBA's electrified power storage shows a new "big move"

With such a high penetration rate of luxury electric vehicles, Tesla and Wei Xiaoli are indeed the leaders in the field of new energy today, but the success of new forces such as Wei Xiaoli can also be replicated.

Taking Xiaopeng Motors as an example, after launching the P7, which is well balanced in all aspects, and entering the traditional B-segment car market such as the Passat, which has few pure electric players, it not only won word of mouth, but also opened up the market for it; ideal The car is relying on an ideal ONE with a well-balanced product strength, and it is very popular in the medium and large SUV market where the competition is not so fierce.

These new power brands have tacitly avoided the most competitive price range of 100,000-200,000 yuan. After all, there are too many excellent players in this price range, so many new power brands also choose to avoid their edge and use their own The advantage widens the gap with other models and other brands, and realizes the dislocation competition on the advantage.

In the era of electrification, consumers are more willing to pay for "super value" products.And those traditional luxury brand new energy models have gaps in design, configuration, service level and new power models. Taking the electric products of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi as examples, their battery life and configuration are similar to those of NIO at the same level. There is a big gap between the models, and the luxury experience is also a lot worse.

For example, in terms of price, BBA does not seem to be able to let go. The pricing of its new energy products, without exception, is generally higher than that of other brands of new energy vehicles of the same level.

Among them, the manufacturer's guide price of Mercedes-Benz EQC is 499,800-579,800 yuan, and the guide price of Audi e-tron is 546,800-648,800 yuan. In contrast, the current ideal ONE guide price is only 349,800 yuan, and Weilai's flagship product ES6 guide price The price is 358,000-526,000 yuan, and the extra money cannot be reflected in the perceived product power, which directly shuts out some consumers with limited budgets.

In addition to the price that cannot be put down, BBA also has many disadvantages in terms of selling cars compared with new car-building forces.

The difference between BBA and the new forces is that it has 4S store dealer channels all over the country, and it is its only "profit cow", ready-made sales channels, and its own new pure electric vehicle sales channels are also the first choice for 4S store dealers.

However, the pure electric models sold on the same stage as the fuel vehicles are indeed pitiful in terms of profits. The sales staff are not willing to actively promote the sales of pure electric models, and more are the KPIs given by the manufacturers, and the direct-sale stores of the new forces. Compared with all kinds of fancy marketing, the position of pure electric models in the BBA organizational structure is indeed a bit weak, which is a key factor for its sales have not been up.

This also explains the key reason why the monthly sales of BBA's new energy models are only a few hundred units, while the monthly sales of new power brands can exceed 10,000.

However, these luxury brands that have dominated the market for so many years will not "stand still". Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW have recently launched their new flagship models as if they had negotiated.

Mercedes-Benz brings a full-size pure electric SUV, the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV. Although it is still the design of the Mercedes-Benz EQ family, its large enough size and various configurations demonstrate the determination of the car inventor to continue to lead the electric market. .There are not many competitors in this field, and the new car will compete with medium and large SUVs such as Tesla Model X and BMW iX.

Audi also released the urbansphere pure electric concept car on the same day. This is a product that competes with the EQS SUV in its size class. The most interesting point of the new car is that it is designed according to the needs of Chinese customers. The cooperation with the German Design Center shows that Audi attaches great importance to the Chinese market.

While BMW released a new generation of 7 Series, it also brought a flagship electric sedan, the i7. As BMW's "brand" model, the new generation of 7 Series is the only luxury vehicle in its class that provides 3 types of power. large car.

In the previous product design, the 3 Series was the first model to use family design elements. This time BMW broke this rule and used the latest exterior design on the new 7 Series, and the BMW i7 is also equipped with Huawei App Store. , this is the first time in a luxury car brand, enough to see BMW's desire for this electric market.

It can be seen that in the face of the continuous increase in the penetration rate of new energy and the strong rise of new car-making forces, Tesla even opened the factory to the German hometown of BBA. Traditional luxury brands such as BBA are really on pins and needles, so they have "unanimously agreed". Here comes its new flagship model.Although these flagship models are more symbolic, they also announced to the world BBA's determination to fully develop the electrification market.

BBA also understands that the times have really changed. In the era of user-defined cars, consumers don’t care about the brand heritage, they just want to buy better electric products with less budget, which also gives new power brands to come up Dare to face the confidence of luxury brands such as BBA.

China has now become the world's largest new energy market. Whether it is a new force or a luxury brand like BBA, it has returned to the same starting line at once. The best solution for new energy to break the situation is to focus on the Chinese market. Of course, this is for us consumers. It's a good thing to say.