Subsidies for new energy vehicles have fallen by 30%, and some car companies have raised prices in response to the voices, and some car companies have paid for themselves

Economic Observation Network reporter Wang Shuaiguo "has not yet increased prices, like our car, you set up the car before February 28 in January, you can still enjoy last year's subsidies." On January 7, a salesperson at a Jihu automobile direct-operated store in Beijing said.

On December 31, 2021, the Ministry of Finance and other four ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Notice on the Financial Subsidy Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles in 2022", and the subsidy standard for new energy vehicles (non-operating vehicles) in 2022 will be reduced by 30% compared with 2021, and the new policy will be implemented from January 1, 2022. Obviously, the above-mentioned polar arc direct sales stores took the initiative to extend the subsidy to February 28 according to their own situation.

According to the new subsidy policy in 2022, the subsidy will be reduced by 5,400 yuan for pure electric passenger cars that meet the "300 km ≤ mileage <400 km"; the subsidy will be reduced by 2,040 yuan for pure electric passenger cars that meet the "cruising range ≥400 km" and are priced at no more than 300,000 yuan; and the subsidy for plug-in hybrid (including extended range) passenger cars will be reduced by 2040 yuan.

Recently, the Economic Observer Network reporter visited the supermarket stores of many new energy vehicle companies in Beijing, and learned from a number of front-line sales personnel that various enterprises have taken a variety of different measures to cope with the decline in subsidies.

Among them, Xiaopeng Automobile, BAIC Jihu and SAIC Volkswagen chose to pay out of their own pockets, setting a transition period for this year's subsidy decline; Ford, BYD, Great Wall Euler, Chery New Energy, SAIC-GM-Wuling and other car companies have not increased prices at present; while some models of Weilai Automobile, Tesla, FAW-Volkswagen, GAC Aeg and other car companies have raised prices in response.

"If you pay the deposit before January 10, you can also enjoy the rights and interests of the national subsidy in 2021." A salesman of Xiaopeng Automobile said that once this point in time has passed, many of Xiaopeng's models on sale will rise by about five or six thousand yuan. This is equivalent to Xiaopeng Automobile's own advance money to let consumers who want to buy their own products enjoy the national supplement policy for 9 days in 2021.

The same is true of the BEIC Polar Fox and SAIC Volkswagen. "Order the car now, if there is a suitable color of the existing car, it can be delivered in 15 days, if there is no color you want, the pick-up time is 45 to 60 days, not necessarily in time to enjoy last year's subsidy policy." The sales staff of the above-mentioned BEIQI Jihu directly operated store said.

"Our shop is now subsidizing the cost of state subsidies, and the time is not clear." A salesperson at the SAIC Volkswagen ID series model supermarket said that if the store does not subsidize, the price of the car is now 5400 yuan more expensive than it was a year ago.

Ford electric vehicles and BYD models have not yet increased prices, but unlike BAIC Jihu and SAIC Volkswagen, they only said that "the current price has not changed" and did not give news that the new car will increase in price after that.

At the same time, some car companies have also taken advantage of the trend and directly raised the price of the model. "Last year's subsidy was 16,200 to 18,000, this year's was 11,340 to 12,600, and the car is about five or six thousand yuan more expensive than last year." A Nio auto salesperson said.

What impact will the price increase of some new energy vehicles have on the automobile market? There are views in the industry that price increases may hit consumers' willingness to buy. However, there are also views that among the factors driving the growth of new energy vehicle sales in China, the impact of financial subsidies is no longer important. Especially in terms of mid-to-high-end models, this part of the consumer is not particularly sensitive to price.

According to the previous statistics of the Economic Observer Network, in 2015 and before, the average new energy vehicle that passed the audit could receive 106,400 yuan in subsidies, and by 2021, this number has dropped to more than 10,000. In the same period, the sales of new energy vehicles are growing.

In April 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clearly stated in the relevant policies issued that the subsidy standards for 2020-2022 will be reduced by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively on the basis of the previous year, and 2022 will be the last year for the implementation of the national subsidy. According to the policy, the subsidy policy for the purchase of new energy vehicles will be terminated on December 31, 2022, and vehicles licensed after December 31 will no longer be subsidized. This means that since 2009, the central government's subsidies for the promotion and application of new energy vehicles will be completely completely ended at the end of this year.

It is worth mentioning that in order to promote the rapid development of China's new energy vehicle market, in the past 12 years of financial subsidies, the cumulative subsidies for new energy vehicles in China have reached 147.8 billion yuan, covering more than 1.9159 million new energy vehicles. At the same time, China's annual sales of new energy vehicles have increased from 5,209 units in 2009 to 3.4 million units in 2021 (expected), and the penetration rate has reached 12.73%.