Since the first delivery of the Xiaopeng G3 to Norwegian customers in September 2020, Xiaopeng's European territory has been expanded in two more cities.
On February 10, Xiaopeng issued a statement saying that it would work with local European partners Emil Frey Nederland and Bilia to establish sales and service partnerships in the Netherlands and Sweden to start selling Chinese-made cars locally, while Xiaopeng brand retail experience stores will also open in Sweden and the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2022.
While Xiaopeng has further improved the layout of the European market after 14 months, many domestic enterprises such as Aichi, Weima, Weilai, BYD, and Hongqi have entered the European market. Although the domestic new energy vehicles have different ways to go to sea, the starting point invariably chooses Northern Europe.
Heading out for Northern Europe
It is understood that Bilia, which cooperated with Xiaopeng this time, is one of the largest car dealers in Europe, with a total of about 160 factories in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium, and the car brands sold include Volvo, BMW, Toyota, Mercedes, Renault, Lexus, MINI, Porsche, Nissan, Smart and so on.
At the same time, Bilia's business scope also covers e-commerce, auto parts, store sales, after-sales service and repair, insurance, car washes, gas stations and car salvage.
On February 10, Bilia officially announced that it had signed an agreement with Xiaopeng Motors on the sale of new cars and services in Sweden, under which the sales and service business would start in Stockholm and then expand to Gothenburg and Malmö, and in the next few years, Bilia also intends to sell Xiaopeng Motors elsewhere in Sweden.
At the same time, Bilia also said that when the Xiaopeng began to sell in Sweden this year, it will launch one model, and more models will be launched in the future. The cooperation between the two sides will also be carried out in the form of an agency agreement, in the agency retail model, Xiaopeng retains pricing and quality control, while using the partner's service and distribution network, which will also clear most of the obstacles for Xiaopeng's business in Sweden.
However, in addition to Xiaopeng, there are also BYD and Hongqi who choose the agent retail model in overseas markets. In May 2020, BYD reached a cooperation with the dealer group RSA, which became BYD's first exclusive passenger car dealer in Europe, responsible for the local sales agent of BYD Tang EV models in Norway. In December 2020, Hongqi signed a contract with Motor Gruppen, a local electric vehicle import dealer in Norway, and Hongqi's flagship pure electric SUV, the Faw-Hongqi E-HS9, was officially launched in Norway.
However, the agency model is not the only way to go to sea, such as WM and AIWAYS have chosen to cooperate with travel operators to deliver batch of their models to Europe and enter the European market through leasing operations.
In addition, in May 2021, WEILAI, which was "single-handed", announced the establishment of a direct sales and service network in Norway, and moved the complete operating system of vehicles, power exchanges, services, digitalization and lifestyle to Norway.
Although the approach is different, it is clear that domestic car companies have realized that Europe, which is becoming more and more stringent about automobile environmental protection, will be another vast world for Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturers.
Focus on the market with "high awareness and penetration of electric vehicles"
Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, explained the choice of Norway when releasing the Norwegian strategy, "Choosing Norway as the first market outside of China is not only because Norway is the most friendly country for electric vehicles, but also because Norway loves environmental protection, pursues a culture of innovation and has a lot in common with nio's vision." "
Unlike Li Bin's euphemism, He Xiaopeng, chief CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, said bluntly that Xiaopeng's global journey began in Europe, focusing on the market of "electric vehicle awareness and high penetration", as well as regions with government support policies with advanced charging infrastructure.
In contrast, in the European market, the local awareness of electric vehicles is undoubtedly at the forefront of the world. In 2020, Europe launched the world's strictest carbon emissions regulations, and in July 2021, the EU officially introduced the Fit for 55 act, which aims to increase the EU's economic output while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, planning to reduce the average emissions of new cars by 55% from 2030 (based on 1990 levels), and all registered new cars must reach zero emissions from 2035.
Driven by the policy, Europe began to vigorously promote the production and sales of new energy vehicles and power batteries, and even in 2020, its new energy vehicle sales once surpassed China, becoming the world's largest electric vehicle market.
Among them, the sales volume of the European market is mainly concentrated in Germany, France, Britain, Norway, Italy, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands. According to extranet data, the sales of new energy vehicles in eight European countries in 2021 will be about 1.95 million, an increase of about 65% year-on-year.
Thanks to the stimulus policies introduced by various countries, most countries in Europe have jumped to 20% market penetration. According to the data, in December 2021, the proportion of electric vehicles in Europe reached a record 29.3%, of which the Nordic countries of Norway and Sweden even achieved market penetration of 90% and 61% respectively with sales of 19,151 and 16,224 new energy vehicles.
At this time, it is not difficult to understand why the mainland's new energy sea army has set Northern Europe as the first chess. Now, Xiaopeng has once again expanded its power to the west of Europe, and the Netherlands may also be the beginning of this overseas scramble.