Although he had a premonition that returning home during the Spring Festival to drive an electric car might encounter various troubles, Li Mu still resolutely drove his AION S Plus on the way home. In order to avoid congestion, at 5:30 a.m. on January 28, Li Mu drove off before dawn.
To his surprise, when he reached the end of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, he was still in a massive congestion. "The epidemic prevention and control in Hebei is relatively strict, and every car that gets off the highway has to be checked, so everyone is blocked at the exit of the highway." At this time, Li Mu's car had an endurance of 150 kilometers, in order to avoid breaking down in front of his home, Li Mu turned off all the electronic equipment in the car, which made him arrive home without any danger.
Last year's National Day holiday, the dilemma of "queuing for one hour, charging for four hours" is still vividly remembered, and returning home on holidays has become a nightmare for most pure electric vehicle owners. But when the owners drove the "electric daddy" back to their hometown, it was a different scenery.
When these strange, novel electric vehicles appeared in the streets and alleys of third- and fourth-tier cities, the "family" immediately surrounded them, commenting on "this year's Spring Festival to drive my Tesla Model 3 back to my hometown, many friends around me have been Tesla's intelligent grass", Tesla owner Fang Yuan told the future auto daily, in the face of intelligence, the concern about the endurance problem was partially offset.
As the owner shuttles between first-tier cities and third- and fourth-tier cities, electric vehicles gradually tear a crack in the sinking market.
When the eagle wing door opened, the old family exclaimed
Huang Xiaodong still remembers the small sensation caused by the first Model X in 2017 when he returned to Yancheng from Shanghai for the Spring Festival.
"When that wing (the car door) opened, it really caused a lot of onlookers!" Huang Xiaodong recalled that at that time, at least 20 or 30 neighbors were attracted to see the car, and young people excitedly called their parents to open their eyes, Huang Xiaodong bluntly said "quite satisfied with vanity", "My Model X may be the first Tesla in Yancheng".
During the Spring Festival, walking relatives, in the face of other people's inquiries, Huang Xiaodong couldn't help but get up and talk to the boys about accelerating fast, an unprecedented driving experience. Doesn't a boy drive just like this? In the face of female relatives and friends, Huang Xiaodong listed Tesla's intelligent functions such as assisted driving and voice control, "and girls have to talk about how convenient it is to open."
Source: Visual China
Under the persuasion of Huang Xiaodong's three-inch tongue, the old father who once despised electric vehicles and regarded them as "industrial garbage" also planned to buy a Model Y, "At the beginning (father) also said that electric vehicle technology is not good, but after driving a few times in person, he slowly changed his attitude."
Compared with Huang Xiaodong's self-confidence, Fang Yuan was still quite nervous before returning home, and even prepared to be collectively complained about by his old family. "I thought I would be ridiculed by my fellow villagers for 'wrongful breeding', but I didn't expect that everyone was more envious." Fang Yuan's hometown is located in a county town in Shanxi, and in his impression, there are many people in this small county town who have cars, but few buy new energy vehicles. When Fang Yuan drove home his newly purchased Tesla Model 3, he and his car instantly became the focus of heated discussion.
Source: Courtesy of respondents
On the first day that Fang Yuan opened the Model 3 back to the county seat, pedestrians on the road would look at it a few times. Back in the neighborhood, the doorman also came to talk. This Tesla Model 3 earned enough return rate for Fangyuan.
"The salary level in small counties is relatively low, and everyone is particularly sensitive to the cost of using vehicles." Fang Yuan believes that the high oil price and low cost of use are a major reason for everyone's interest in pure electric vehicles. Fang Yuan calculated an account. At present, the oil price of Shanxi No. 95 gasoline is about 7.7 yuan per liter, and according to the calculation of 6 liters of oil per 100 kilometers, the use cost of fuel vehicles per kilometer is about 0.5 yuan. The 100-kilometer power consumption of electric vehicles is about 18 kWh, which translates to a cost of less than 0.1 yuan per kilometer.
On this basis, some new car-making forces have also launched many benefits to reduce the cost of electric vehicles for users. Song Zhen, owner of the NIO ES8, told Future Auto Daily that the owners of NIO can enjoy 12 free off-site power-ups per year (200 kilometers away from their usual residence is a different place). "I charged my car twice in the New Year, and instead of spending money, I earned 108 points."
More small-town youth are surrounded by the intelligent factors of pure electric vehicles. The day after Fang Yuan returned to his hometown, a neighbor came to Fang Yuan with the car keys of the Audi A6 to change the car, wanting to experience where this Tesla was good. Looking at the appearance alone, "neighbors think that the Model 3 will cost at least 600,000 yuan." After a few laps of test drives, Tesla showed a strong ability to plant grass. Fang Yuan's neighbor immediately decided to change the car in the next year.
Neighbors sighed that compared with their own Audi A6, the Model 3 is more like a cross-era product. These electric vehicle owners whose families are in townships and work in first-tier cities have inadvertently become science ambassadors for electric vehicles.
Chen Chi, the ideal ONE owner whose hometown is in a third-tier city in Hebei, told Future Auto Daily that within a month of starting the ideal ONE, the attitude of friends around him to new energy vehicles has changed 180 degrees. "I remember when I first brought the car back, my friends around me thought I had paid the 'IQ tax' and spent 300,000 yuan to buy an unknown new energy vehicle."
In Chen Chi's hometown, luxury brands are the symbol of the brand face. However, the "law of true incense" soon appeared. After picking up the car, Chen Chi was tireless in this ideal ONE to his friend Amway. From NOA navigation assistance to central control triple screen to ideal after-sales service, everything is known and said. Chen Chi ridiculed himself as more competent than the sales of the ideal car, in order to make his sales more convincing, Chen Chi even said among friends, who want to try this ideal ONE can drive away at any time.
In the end, two friends were assimilated by Chen Chi and successively became the owners of the ideal ONE. Small local news is relatively closed, there are not many people willing to try early, under the infection of Fang Yuan, Huang Xiaodong, Chen Chi and other "early adopters", pure electric vehicles have gradually penetrated into third- and fourth-tier cities.
The chain of disdain for electric vehicles in the eyes of old family members
More and more homecoming wanderers are driving all kinds of electric vehicles home, and a chain of electric vehicle contempt is subtly forming.
In the field of fuel vehicles, ultra-luxury brands, luxury brands, joint venture brands and independent brands have become a mature chain of contempt from top to bottom. But in the field of new energy vehicles, this set of rules does not work. Under the wave of electrification, car brands have been reshuffled and reshaped. When the market pattern is undecided, car owners of different brands have a chain of contempt that belongs exclusively to themselves.
In some small towns, everyone likes to simply and rudely use the price as the yardstick of the contempt chain, with the ideal ONE price of more than 300,000 yuan, Chen Chi naturally stands at the upper level of the local new energy car club contempt chain. In Chen Chi's view, being able to own a new energy vehicle of more than 200,000 yuan can already become a symbol of the local "rich".
"Small cities have weak purchasing power, and daring to spend 300,000 yuan to buy a BBA fuel vehicle can already be regarded as a wealthy family, while there are very few families that buy new energy vehicles at the same price." According to Chen Chi, most of the local new energy vehicles are scooters of about 100,000 yuan.
Beyond the price scale, attributes and camps become another way to divide the chain of contempt. Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng belong to the same camp of new car-making forces, with the same brand attributes and small consumer groups, which makes Wei Xiaoli car owners form a group trend in third- and fourth-tier cities, and the group occupies the upstream of the chain of contempt.
"There is a car friends association in our county, there are more than ten people, and everyone often communicates in the group." In this chain of contempt, Tesla is a special existence. On the one hand, Tesla has attracted a lot of envious eyes for Fang yuan, on the other hand, after experiencing negative events such as brake failure and frequent price adjustments, Fang Yuan also faces many doubts. "What if you really can't stop the car?" "Why don't you wait for the price to drop before you buy it?"
At first, Fang Yuan would go out of his way to explain to his friends, but Fang Yuan was also numb after explaining more, and fortunately he laughed it off. If it were not for the frequent crisis of public opinion, "I would like to recommend Tesla to my old family."
Downstream of the chain of contempt are those independent brands. Chen Chi is still based on the price of the length, the current price of independent brand new energy models is around 100,000 yuan, in the eyes of the old family, and the price range of the new force of car manufacturing products is not in one dimension. Fang Yuan believes that at this stage, the degree of intelligence of independent brand electric vehicles is weak, and compared with Tesla and other new car-making forces, it is at most a "semi-finished product". However, for those "second generation" incubated by independent brands, Fang Yuan and Chen Chi show great recognition.
Chen Chi once happened to see a Lantu FREE in the county town, couldn't help but talk with the owner of a few words, but also pulled him into the car-making new force owners' association, in addition to the price and intelligent threshold, in Chen Chi's view, this car is only one in the local area, divided by scarcity, the Lantu owner should stand at the top of the chain of contempt. As for the pure electric vehicles launched by those luxury brands, Fang Yuan and Chen Chi unanimously expressed their incomprehension, "Why do you have so much money to buy a car with oil to electricity?" ”
Whoever has to sink the market wins the world?
For new energy vehicles, the sinking market undoubtedly contains a broad incremental space.
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2021, a total of 1.068 million new energy vehicles were sold in the countryside, a year-on-year increase of 169.2%, about 10 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the new energy market, and contributed nearly 30% of sales. "It's an incremental market." Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Automobile Association, believes that the current is a critical period for the promotion of new energy vehicles, and it is extremely important to sink to the third, fourth, and fifth-tier markets.
However, at this stage, the sinking market will obviously not be the home of high-end new energy vehicles. According to the "Research Report on the Development of Electric Vehicles in Small and Medium-sized Cities and Rural Areas" released by the China Electric Vehicle Hundred Association, the car purchase budget of residents in small and medium-sized cities is generally about 80,000 yuan, and the rural areas are about 50,000 yuan. High quality and low price has always been an important chip to conquer the rural market, which is a major reason for The Wuling Hongguang MINIEV big sale.
According to official data, in 2021, the cumulative sales of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV have exceeded 426,000 vehicles. Tesla and the main sales models of the new car-making forces are sold at more than 200,000 yuan, and it is difficult to pry consumers in the sinking market at a higher price. This makes the upstarts of electric vehicles fall in love with the sinking market. So Teslas began to try the people-friendly route.
In fact, Tesla has long been aware of the vast space hidden in the sinking city, and has been working hard to reduce costs and then reduce product prices to attract more consumers. Since 2020, Tesla's car price has dropped again and again, and now the entry price has dropped to the level of 200,000 yuan. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said that tesla products will achieve a price of more than 100,000 yuan in the future.
NIO is preparing to launch a new brand for the lower-priced mass market, and has already started the development of new models in Hefei, positioning itself lower than the existing SUVs and cars, and plans to produce 60,000 vehicles per year. The ambition of sinking is not only reflected in the price level, the new forces have also planned a large number of stores and supporting facilities such as charging piles, ready to attack the sinking market.
Starting from 2020, Tesla stores have successively settled in third- and fourth-tier cities such as Yancheng, Nanning, Huzhou and Taizhou. In February 2021, Tesla also launched 218 superchargers nationwide, including lower-tier cities such as Shanwei. NIO and the ideal sales network and infrastructure are also covering more and more sinking markets.
At present, WEILAI's sales channels have penetrated into third- and fourth-tier cities in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and other places; ideally, it plans to expand the number of stores to 400 in 2022; Xiaopeng joins hands with car dealer Zhongsheng Group to achieve sales channel sinking.
The new forces are fighting with each other, but it is not easy to occupy the third- and fourth-tier cities. "The concept of car buying in the sinking market is different from that of the first- and second-tier markets. And the sales chain of the sinking market is mostly dominated by 4S stores and auto trade cities, and the sales links are complex. If you want to improve the concept of car purchase in the low-tier market and open up the sales link, Tesla may need to work hard for three or five years. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, analyzed the future auto daily.
(In order to protect the privacy of the interviewees, some of the characters in the article are pseudonyms)
The author | Su Peng Cui Qiuyang
Edit the | Li Huanhuan
Drawing | Niki