BMW's new energy development has already gained some advantages last year.
In 2021, which has ended, BMW's annual sales are ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Audi, and it has won the annual sales championship with a sales volume of 846,200 vehicles for the whole year. BMW is also the only luxury brand to announce full-year sales of new energy models, with annual sales of more than 48,000 units.
In the next 2022, we will usher in the year when the three luxury brands of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi collectively "embrace" new energy.
Mercedes-Benz in 2022, a warm-up before the complete transformation
After Tesla turned the tide and won 930,000 new energy model sales throughout the year, Mercedes-Benz left a deep impression on the industry in the field of new energy last year, not from sales, but by 2022, it will have pure electric models in the field of cars and SUVs, Mercedes-Benz EQA, EQB, EQS.
Last year was the year of Mercedes-Benz's EQ. This is undeniable, Mercedes-Benz came up with the flagship product EQS in the new energy era.
Next, we should expect Mercedes-Benz in 2022 to be successful in its transformation; we will see more Mercedes-Benz pure electric products in 2022, and 8 new energy (pure electric + plug-in) products are included in 21 new cars. Obviously, in 2022, Mercedes-Benz has become "generous" in the new energy market.
Starting from 2022, it will be a big year for Mercedes-Benz new energy products. In 2022, in addition to the products mentioned above, we are likely to see EQS/EQE SUV models. At this stage, the EVA pure electric platform we are exposed to is only a transitional platform for Mercedes-Benz to transform from fuel to pure electricity era, and will develop into MB.EA and AMG in 2025. EA、VAN. EA has three sub-platforms.
The products known to mercedes-benz will be listed this year include the EQE pure electric sedan localized by the EVA platform, the hybrid model of Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and the Mercedes-Benz AMG EQS 53 model. Also starting this year, Mercedes-Benz will complete the process of pure electrification in the next 9 years, all of which is supported by a total investment of more than 40 billion euros behind it.
Mercedes-Benz does not have to worry about the purchasing power of the market, the average transaction price of more than 350,000 Weilai delivered 90,000+ throughout the year, and the average price of more than 500,000 Gaohe 0.4 million vehicles throughout the year. High-priced pure electric products can also have market recognition without brand endorsement, leaving Mercedes-Benz with a lot of market space and huge space for converting old owners.
In the field of traditional fuel vehicles, the standard for measuring a good car is usually workmanship and materials. The judging criteria of the electrification era are defined by intelligence, and the decision-making points of consumers are very different from those of traditional fuel vehicles. For example, Tesla products have been criticized for their workmanship and quality, but they have powerful technological features. Starting in 2022, the primary operating system of Mercedes-Benz MB.OS will be loaded; Germany will also introduce L3-level intelligent driver assistance functions, and Mercedes-Benz will become the first car company in the world to accept the L3 level certification of the competent authorities.
For the Mercedes-Benz of a century-old car company, the transformation of the new energy field, technology is not a problem, the EQXX concept car at the beginning of the year directly declared the product strength and ability in the field of new energy. The real question is how to make this century-old enterprise copy the brand height in the field of fuel in the field of new energy, tell a good brand story, and do a good job of brand premium.
BMW in 2022 continues to strengthen the pure electricity market
BMW's ability to win the annual sales championship last year is inseparable from the growth of new energy vehicle sales. In the Chinese market, BMW's new energy models will sell more than 48,000 units in 2021, an increase of 69.6% year-on-year. Among them, the pure electric BMW iX3 sold more than 21,000 units in the first full sales year.
In 2021, the layout of the BMW i brand includes the flagship BMW iX of medium and large SUV and the BMW iX3 of the medium-sized SUV, and has not yet carried out a pure electric layout for the sedan. In 2022, BMW will present 7 new energy models in the Chinese market, including the newly launched BMW iX, the unlisted BMW i4, the redesigned BMW iX3, BMW i3, and a pure electric flagship BMW i7 and 2 PHEV models.
The BMW iX3 is the first stage of BMW's electrification transformation, and with the launch of bmw iX and BMW i4, BMW's electrification transformation has also entered the second stage. All of this began with BMW's acquisition of Brilliance's production line, and by 2020, BMW Brilliance's Tiexi plant and Dadong plant in Shenyang have an annual production capacity of 760,000 units. By the time the expansion of the new projects in Dadong and Tiexi is completed in 2022, its total production capacity will reach 1.4 million vehicles per year, almost half of BMW's global production capacity. After BMW completed the Brilliance production line, it also means that BMW completed its strategic layout in China one step at a time. For example, the price of the BMW iX3 overlaps with the price of the BMW X3, and the market can choose fuel and pure electricity at the same price point, and there is no price difference like the price difference between Mercedes-Benz EQA and Mercedes-Benz GLA.
1. Mercedes-Benz EQA compact SUV, priced at 365,800 yuan, with a price difference of nearly 50,000 yuan with the price of the same class of Mercedes-Benz GLA 274,900-318,400;
2. BMW iX3 and BMW X3 are both medium-sized SUVs, the former price of 399,900-439,900 and the price of the latter 392,800-479,800 overlaps.
In 2022, in addition to the BMW iX and BMW i4 imported cars, bmw i3 will also continue to be domesticated, so it is likely to be the same as the pricing strategy of BMW iX3, and the price overlap with fuel vehicles will not let consumers in the market tangle between choosing fuel and pure electricity.
After the traditional fuel market, but also BMW's flagship product big year, we will usher in a new generation of BMW 7 Series, after the new generation of Mercedes-Benz S-Class replacement, the new BMW 7 Series can not challenge its status, is a point of view. Similarly, the million-dollar BMW X7 ushered in a mid-term redesign; the mid-term redesign of the BMW 8 Series was mainly aimed at the iDrive system and two aspects that may be added to the plug-and-mix.
In addition to bmw iX, the biggest attraction of BMW in the pure electric market in 2022 can be placed on the BMW i3, as the BMW 3 series of pure electric models, how to do market pricing I think we can already see the future BMW i3 pricing strategy through the BMW iX3, and the same price as fuel vehicles may be a good choice. It is hoped that the iDrive8 system equipped with both BMW iX and BMW i4 can also appear on the BMW i3 as desired, after all, 5G interconnection and Ethernet technology will be the core needs of future new energy development.
Audi in 2022, FAW has more advantages
Last year' Audi's biggest attraction may be the new joint venture SAIC Audi and the domestic Audi A7L, so the keywords about Audi this year may be Audi Q6, Audi A6 e-tron and PPE platform.
FAW-Volkswagen Audi will launch two electrified products next year, namely the Audi e-tron GT and the domestic version of the Audi A6 e-tron. We focus on the latter, the Audi A6 e-tron is not a fuel version of the Audi A6 model, but a completely new product developed using the PPE platform jointly developed by Audi and Porsche.
Similarly, after SAIC Audi delivered the domestic Audi A7L at the beginning of this year, the Audi Q5 e-tron will also be listed this year. The most important new car should be the domestic Audi Q6, after the BMW X5L next year Audi will also have a domestic medium and large SUV product to form a benchmark, and provide fuel and plug-in hybrid version of the two power.
Extending a conjecture, the new energy project established by Audi last year was settled in Chanchun, mainly producing PPE platform products jointly developed by Audi and Porsche. If the PPE platform products can eventually be successfully produced, is it possible to further extend the production of Porsche products that are also PPE platforms? The next generation of Porsche Macan's pure electric model will also be built on the PPE platform.
Far from it, although the FAW BJEV project has introduced the PPE platform, it means that FAW-Audi also has a production base at the technical level, and can the pricing strategy that is finally transformed into the terminal market continue to maintain a good cost performance ratio like the current domestic FAW-Audi fuel vehicles? Or do you want to emulate SAIC Audi's direct operation model? It is not known. In 2022, saicid automotive Audi and FAW-Audi will not have direct competition based on the product plans that have now been announced, and the main competition will be concentrated in the field of traditional fuel vehicles.
summary
From the perspective of the new product layout of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi in 2022, electrification has become the main tone of the development of the three major German luxury brands, and the release of internal combustion engine technology and models is limited to the upgrading of flagship products.
Starting from 2022, Mercedes-Benz began to usher in the big year of EQ brand products, and the product coverage market was further expanded; BMW may take advantage of the chase in 2022 to further expand the market share and sales of new energy products, pure electric BMW i3 under the electrification platform may be the next sales growth point, and BMW's iDrive8 system will also cover all its BMW i brand models. Under the premise of having two joint ventures, Audi will not form a situation of competition in the field of new energy, and FAW-Audi will first produce and sell products equipped with PPE platforms, while SAIC Audi will get a new domestically produced car that benchmarks bmw X5L in 2022.