“Mercedes Benz has raised the price for a round, and the rising range of different models is different. The price rise of high-end imported models such as Maybach is relatively large, and the price rise of other models is not large, about Dingli Corp.Ltd(300050) 00, but the models in the store also have discounts, with an average of about 20000. The collection cycle of imported cars is 1-3 months, and at present, it is mainly affected by logistics.”
On the afternoon of April 16, when the 21st Century Business Herald reporter arrived at the Mercedes Benz 4S store near the East Fifth Ring Road in Beijing, the salesperson was following up with the consumers in the store to explain the current market situation. It coincided with the weekend. The consumers watching the car and driving the test drive went in and out, and the salesperson was very busy.
The BMW 4S store, not far from Mercedes Benz, is also lively. A dark blue pure electric I4 is placed in a very conspicuous position, attracting wave after wave of consumers.
Similarly, the reporter visited Audi, Tesla, Lincoln, Weilai and other brand sales terminals on the same day, and there are still many consumers. In particular, Tesla, Weilai and other brands opened in the business district have attracted waves of consumers to enter the store.
However, although there are not many consumers entering the store to see the car, the sales volume of China’s luxury car market has declined in the past quarter.
According to the data of the passenger Federation, 290000 luxury cars were retailed in January, a year-on-year decrease of 5%; In February, 160000 luxury cars were retailed, a year-on-year decrease of 3%, and 230000 luxury cars were retailed in March, a year-on-year decrease of 14%. Throughout the first quarter, the cumulative sales volume of luxury car market was about 680000, which decreased slightly compared with the same period last year.
“Since mid March, the epidemic situation in Shanghai, Changchun and other places has continued, putting pressure on the production of some car enterprises, and even directly causing a certain shutdown.” Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the passenger Federation, revealed that the short-term shutdown has brought serious losses to some car enterprises, including luxury brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz, which have also been impacted to varying degrees, and the output is seriously lower than expected.
Affected by the epidemic and other factors, Cui Dongshu believes that the production and sales of passenger cars are facing uncertainty in April, and the automobile marketing market environment will become more complex.
At the same time, the once stable luxury car market pattern is experiencing unprecedented turbulence.
lack of core and power, sudden change of first-line luxury camp
In the first quarter of lack of core and power, while sales fell year-on-year, BMW, Mercedes Benz and Audi, which once firmly occupied the first camp of luxury cars and had a market share of 60% in 2021, have ushered in a real Challenger – Tesla – not only the challenge of electrification, but also the transcendence of sales and market recognition.
Recently, with the official announcement of the sales volume of various brands in the first quarter, the first-line luxury brands have also changed from BBA to BBT.
Data show that in the first quarter, BMW’s sales volume in China reached 208500 (including BMW and mini cars), down 9.2% year-on-year; Mercedes Benz delivered 192000 vehicles in the Chinese market in the first quarter, down 13.7% year-on-year; Tesla followed suit, delivering 182000 vehicles in the Chinese market in the first quarter, a record high.
Audi was squeezed out of the top three for the first time, with sales of only 161600 vehicles in the first quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 22%. At the same time, the sales gap between Mercedes Benz and BMW is also increasing.
However, BMW, Mercedes Benz and Audi also said that due to the shortage of semiconductor supply and epidemic restriction measures, sales fell year-on-year in the first quarter.
Faced with the current situation of lack of core and electricity, Mercedes Benz and BMW also announced price increases successively after the price rise of electric vehicles.
“In the near future, not only electric vehicles, but also the resource ratio of fuel vehicles is insufficient. At present, the 3 series are also out of stock, and we have to wait until the end of April.” BMW 4S store salesperson told reporters.
“Imported cars don’t have to worry about chips. Now chips give priority to high-end models, but some chips of domestic cars will be installed later, such as chips related to navigation and emergency rescue systems. Some vehicles delivered around the Spring Festival this year still don’t have chips.” The salesperson of Mercedes Benz 4S store told reporters that there is no way. Global car enterprises are facing such problems. The supply is tight, and it is uncertain whether the price will rise next.
Previously, affected by the epidemic, FAW Group, including FAW Volkswagen, stopped production at five main engine plants in Changchun from March 13. Among them, FAW Volkswagen Changchun factory has put into operation FAW Volkswagen models and Audi models respectively, involving Audi brands A4, A6, Q5, Q3 and other models.
“The shutdown of Audi factory last month caused a shortage of supply.” On April 16, a salesperson at an Audi 4S store in Beijing told reporters that the factory had just begun to resume production, but the delivery of models was still delayed, and some models needed to wait for one month.
Recently, due to the repeated suspension of production in the Shanghai factory, the delivery cycle of Tesla’s models in China has also been lengthened. Among them, the delivery cycle of model 3 is 16-20 weeks, and the delivery cycle of model y is also 10-20 weeks.
From the current situation, the luxury car market situation in the second quarter is still severe.
Cui Dongshu said that the production and sales in the second quarter were facing uncertainty. Shanghai and Jilin province accounted for about 11% of the national production respectively, and the production of some enterprises in Shanghai operated at full capacity. Therefore, the production and sales of passenger cars in the core areas from April to May will be greatly affected. At the same time, the whole vehicle logistics is limited by the 48 hour transportation in various places, and the transportation capacity loss is also large.
new luxury brands rise and old luxury brands accelerate the transformation
While the first-line luxury camp is changing, the seating of the second-line luxury camp is also changing. New luxury brands such as Weilai and ideal are rising, and continue to erode the market share of traditional luxury brands.
In addition to Lexus, Jaguar Land Rover and Porsche, which have not released sales data, Cadillac sold 47000 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, down 17.5% from the same period in 2021; Volvo sold 35698 vehicles in China in the first quarter, down 21.1% year-on-year; Ideal cars followed closely. In the first quarter, the ideal cumulative delivery was 31700, a year-on-year increase of 152.1%, and the cumulative delivery of new cars in Weilai in the first quarter also reached 25700, a year-on-year increase of 28.5%.
In fact, since its inception, Weilai has targeted the head camp of traditional fuel vehicle luxury brands. Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of Weilai, once expressed the hope to realize “one in three in the world” in the luxury car segment where Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi are located.
At the 2021 Weilai day held at the end of last year, Weilai released a new model et5 and aimed at Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 series.
On February 15 this year, Qin Lihong, President of Weilai, revealed that the new ES7 will be released in mid April this year and is expected to be delivered within the year. This is a medium and large five seater SUV, which will compete with BMW x5l.
“These two cars will be the ‘two most anticipated five seater SUVs’ in 2022. We hope to work together with BMW x5l to make efforts in the traditional fuel and emerging electric markets respectively to meet the different needs of users.” Qin Lihong said.
In the ideal experience store located in Beijing Blue Harbor, the sales ranking of large SUV is placed in the most prominent position in the store, while the ideal one ranks first over the same level models of Mercedes Benz and BMW.
However, with the rise of rookies, old luxury car enterprises have also accelerated the speed of electric transformation.
Recently, BMW Group announced at its earnings conference that the electrification process will be accelerated again: in 2022, the mass production and trial production of pure electric vehicles will reach 15 models; The “new generation” model based on the new framework will start trial production in 2024 and appear in 2025; By the end of 2025, BMW Group plans to deliver 2 million pure electric vehicles worldwide.
“Electrification is one of the top priorities of BMW Group. In 2022, the group plans to double the global sales of pure electric vehicles compared with 2021. Our performance in the Chinese market in the first quarter has laid a good foundation for achieving this goal and will further accelerate the pace of electric vehicles in the next few months.” Gao Le, President and CEO of BMW Group Greater China, said, “this year we will supply five pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market.”
It is understood that in the Chinese auto market, BMW will launch five pure electric products in 2022, including innovative BMW IX, innovative BMW I4, BMW ix3, new BMW I3 and innovative BMW i7. By the end of 2023, BMW Group will provide about 13 pure electric products in the Chinese market.
It is worth noting that in the first quarter of this year, the sales volume of BMW and mini models reached 35289, with a year-on-year increase of 149.2%. It is difficult to find a car of pure electric products.
“At present, there are no I4 cars in stock. If you make a reservation, it will take 4-6 months. This car has been selling very well. It belongs to those who need to add money and need to add about 30000 decorations to make a reservation. The newly launched I3 also needs to wait, almost until June.” The staff of the aforementioned BMW 4S store told reporters.
For Mercedes Benz, electric products already include EQA, EQB, EQC, EQs, EQE and EQV With the launch of EQS SUV, EQE SUV and EQT, the number of pure electric vehicles will increase to 9; By 2025, Mercedes Benz plans to increase the sales proportion of plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles to 50%; By 2030, Mercedes Benz will make full preparations for all-round pure electric in the market where conditions permit.
Audi and Volkswagen Group announced that they would invest up to 15 billion euros in China by 2024 in the field of electrification, including infrastructure, electric vehicle research and development, intelligent transportation technology and so on.
At present, the competition in the era of new energy vehicles is becoming increasingly fierce, and rookies are rising. It is worth paying attention to whether traditional luxury brands can continue to lead the industry trend under the new competition pattern.
