In the era of electrification, everyone wants to come in and get a piece of the pie!
Not long ago, it was reported that Volkswagen has set a new goal for the development of electric vehicles, planning to expand the annual production of electric vehicles in China to 900,000 units in 2023. It is not difficult to understand this practice of the public, from BBA to Tesla and Wei Xiaoli, all of which have aimed at electrification. So, in the era of layout electrification, can Volkswagen still be invincible in the domestic market like a fuel vehicle?
It is not so much an active transformation as it is a situation
In the impression, Volkswagen has always been based on oil vehicles, but from the sales volume in recent years, Volkswagen's performance in the fuel vehicle market does not seem to be satisfactory, especially in the domestic market. Previously, Volkswagen China's CEO said that due to the impact of the global "chip shortage", Volkswagen's sales in China in 2021 will be about 3.3 million units, down about 14% year-on-year.
Among them, the situation of SAIC Volkswagen is particularly worrying! According to the data, SAIC Motor's cumulative sales volume in 2021 was 5.4635 million vehicles, down 2.45% year-on-year. However, SAIC Volkswagen, as the group's "profit cow", did not play to the advantages of the brand, and its cumulative sales in 2021 were 1.242 million units, down 17.50% year-on-year. It is worth saying that this is also the brand that SAIC has fallen the most in 2021.
In fact, if you look back at SAIC Volkswagen's annual sales, you can see that the brand's peak was in 2018. This year, SAIC Volkswagen's sales increased slightly by 0.10% year-on-year to 2.065 million units.
However, after this, with the collision of Passat and Tiguan L's China Insurance Research Institute, the epidemic, the lack of core and other factors, SAIC Volkswagen's sales in China have also declined continuously. In 2019, SAIC Volkswagen's sales began to decline, down 3.07% year-on-year, and in 2020, there was a cliff-like decline, and the decline expanded to 24.79%.
On the other hand, taking advantage of the new energy vehicle Dongfeng, Volkswagen's new energy models have shown a different scene. According to the data of the Association, the Volkswagen ID. family products sold more than 70,000 units, of which the ID.4 X and ID.4 CROZZ sold a total of 47,145 units in 2021. Previously, Volkswagen China CEO also said that the company hopes to double the sales of electric vehicles in 2022, and the lack of cores has become the main reason for limiting production.
Gambling on electric, Volkswagen has a long way to go
As a European car company, with a long history, Volkswagen has always been at the forefront of the industry, and its presence in the market is not even lost to luxury brands such as BBA! In order to better lay out the pure electric market, Volkswagen has also developed a new MEB platform. Therefore, we can see that Volkswagen has put a lot of advantageous resources into the field of electrification, and as for the fuel vehicle market, it has opened a "strategic defense" situation.
Before electrification, the Volkswagen Group had been declaring that diesel was the cleanest source of energy and was promoting TDI (Turbocharged Direct Injection Diesel Engines) worldwide. What is surprising is that with the exposure of the "emission gate" incident in 2015, Volkswagen was discredited, not only facing huge fines, but also its main diesel car.
Although the layout is very early and comprehensive, from the perspective of Volkswagen's product matrix, its electrification layout does not seem to be as hot as the Passat, Langyi and other models. In the final analysis, there is still a big gap between product positioning and technical strength and consumer expectations.
At the end of 2018, SAIC Volkswagen has successively launched a new energy hybrid version of passat, Tiguan L and other models, in addition to the price is tens of thousands of yuan higher than that of fuel vehicles, the rest of the configuration and reputation are basically consistent with fuel vehicles, so in the field of electrification, Volkswagen's sense of existence is not so strong! Not only that, but for the three-electric system with high consumer attention, the energy density of its battery is far behind that of mainstream new energy models, so at the endurance level, Volkswagen new energy is not dominant.
According to the statistics of the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in November last year, the monthly sales of SAIC Volkswagen Passat 1.4T PHEV have fallen to 856 units, down 40.1% year-on-year; at the same time, SAIC Volkswagen Tiguan 1.4T PHEV, Langyi New Energy and other models with Volkswagen logos have also shown a "dumb" state in the market. In addition, although the Volkswagen ID. family has a good performance, its terminal sales still did not meet the Group's expectations.
The brand premium aura is no longer there, and the independent brand has won back a round
Hybrid model sales folded, pure electric models have countless rivals, compared with competitors, Volkswagen's product premium has ceased to exist. Over time, "the public is very advanced" is more often just a joke! If you want to ask which new energy vehicles in the current market sell the best, independent brand models must be ranked!
Taking BYD as an example, relying on the Dynasty family series and new energy technologies such as DM-i hybrid systems/blade batteries, BYD has become an ace of its own brand in the new energy market.
According to the data previously monitored by Wilson, in 2020, the average selling price of BYD models was only 131,400 yuan, and by 2021, with the listing of more high-end models, the average selling price of models sold by BYD in January to July has reached 151,800 yuan, not only surpassing Volkswagen (147,800 yuan), but also the gap with Volkswagen is widening. Seeing such a situation, some netizens joked: "Before there was no money to buy BYD, now there is no money to buy BYD."
Of course, in addition to BYD, companies such as Weilai, Ideal, and Xiaopeng also have very good heat.
Taking Weilai Automobile as an example, whether it is the leading technology of Sandian, or the power exchange strategy launched by the brand, or the industry-leading direct operation model, it is much more radical than Volkswagen today. Therefore, in the past 2021, THE CUMULATIVE DELIVERY OF WEILAI REACHED 91,429 VEHICLES, AND IN THE FUTURE, WITH THE LISTING OF ET5, ET7 AND OTHER MODELS, NIO IS EXPECTED TO HAVE FURTHER INCREASES.
Another example is Ideal Auto, in December last year, Ideal Auto CEO Li Xiang's Weibo became the focus, in this comparison chart titled: 24 Months Challenge Medium and Large SUV Sales Champion, Li Xiang listed the sales comparison between Volkswagen and Ideal ONE. The purpose is clear, in November last year, the amount of insurance for the ideal car has exceeded the total amount of five medium and large SUVs such as Volkswagen Tuon, Turui, Lanjie, and ID.6X.
As for Xiaopeng Automobile, it is more of a "dead end" intelligent assisted driving technology. In the industry's view, Xiaopeng Automobile's self-developed XPilot has the strength to benchmark Tesla FSD, before Xiaopeng Automobile CEO He Xiaopeng even bluntly said that someone in the West should be mentally prepared and be careful not to find the East! From the perspective of annual deliveries, Xiaopeng Automobile will deliver 98,155 new cars in 2021, and 100,000 annual sales will be achieved.
Based on the above analysis, it is not difficult to see that compared with Volkswagen's simple "pure electrification" word, independent brand models have the strength to match or even surpass, both in terms of sales and technology. So in the era of pure electricity, Volkswagen's advantages are not so obvious!
Conclusion:
Electrification is a marathon, and the speed of a moment is not enough to determine the outcome of the finish line!
Active transformation or the situation is forced! Although Volkswagen has a very comprehensive reserve in terms of resources, channels, and technology, in the face of increasingly strong opponents, it is still difficult to play the potential of "explosive models" again! In the era of the new four modernizations, it is not so much that Volkswagen has become weaker, but that its own brands have become stronger.
As for the performance of Volkswagen Group's new energy vehicles? Let the bullets fly a little longer!