In 2021, Euler vehicle sales reached 135,000 units, up 140% year-on-year. For the high-end new energy brand under Great Wall Motors, such sales performance allows us to see the confidence and determination of Great Wall Motors to do a good job in expanding the new energy vehicle business.
It is worth mentioning that of the annual sales of 138,000 vehicles, black cats and white cats, which are the early models of the brand, contribute more than 60% of sales. According to statistics, the cumulative sales of black cats and white cats exceeded 88,000 vehicles in the whole year, accounting for 65% of the brand's total sales. However, on February 15, Euler Automobile gave aidou a big "accident".
Stop taking orders, why love beans?
On the afternoon of February 15, a number of media received the news that Euler Black Cat and Euler White Cat will stop receiving orders for new cars. In other words, the two main models, which will contribute more than 60% of sales in 2021, will also be discontinued. In response to this matter, the explanation given by the brand side is because of the shortage of chips, the supply of spare parts, and the decline of new energy subsidies.
Although Euler Automobile was born in August 2018, since 2020, Great Wall Motors has tried to strengthen the brand's high-end label. However, the starting price of Euler Black Cat is 69,800 and the starting price of Euler White Cat is 71,800, which is not only not conducive to Euler Automobile to strengthen the high-end label for Great Wall Motors, but also in the long run, it is not conducive to Euler Automobile's impact on the high-end market and enhance its brand premium capabilities.
As an independent new energy vehicle brand established less than 5 years ago, the process of building a high-end brand by Euler Automobile is obviously not so easy. However, this suspension of production is bound to damage the interests of many car owners. Even consumers who placed orders before announcing the cessation of orders will be deeply anxious about the level of retention rate of their cars in the second-hand car circulation market because of this suspension of production. A sentence of "stop taking orders", so why can the love beans be embarrassed?
Will consumers still pay for the innovation?
Combined with the trend of the overall environment, it is not difficult for us to find that Euler Automobile's move is to launch some high-end models for the next launch. For example, in March this year, the Euler Ballet Cat will be officially launched, and in the second quarter of the following year, the Euler Lightning Cat will also usher in its launch conference.
Looking at the current domestic car market environment, there is still a shortage of chips, rising raw material prices, subsidies and other factors, which greatly affects the production and sales level of car companies themselves. For Euler Motors, compared with black cats and white cats, ballet cats and lightning cats do have more strength to play the role of "fortune cats". However, for Euler Motors, which suffered a large-scale complaint at the end of 2021, this move may not be recognized by consumers.
In December 2021, CCTV financial channel exposed the negative news that Euler good cat "stole the chip", and in July 2021, an earlier time, there were also Euler iQ owners who found that their car was "secretly upgraded", not only the charging time of the power battery became slower, but the mileage was shortened by 100 kilometers. Consumers are unaware of the premise, the sense of experience is greatly affected, Euler Automobile such a practice, but also let many car owners can not see where the sincerity of the brand side is.
For Euler Motors, the process of building a high-end brand is obviously not so easy. In addition to relying on excellent product strength and reliable quality model products to make consumers form a more comprehensive and three-dimensional understanding of the brand, the work of new car delivery, after-sales service and other links is also the top priority. Otherwise, if you keep innovating, will consumers still pay?
In contrast, as a pioneer in the new energy automobile industry, Tesla seems to be a bit "lonely", but it is worth affirming that in the new car delivery, after-sales service and other links, some of Tesla's practices are indeed worthy of independent new energy brands like Euler Automobile.
For example, in 2020, although tesla model 3 has also made a substantial price reduction more than once, it can eventually be compensated by giving away the use quota of superchargers or the free use period of intelligent driving assistance systems, so that users can also deepen the recognition of Tesla's brand value from products to services.
In fact, whether it is a temporary or continuous suspension of production of black cats and white cats, it is also a great challenge to the new energy business of Great Wall Motors. In June last year, Great Wall Motors officially released its 2025 strategic plan. According to the plan, Great Wall Motor's global sales will reach 4 million vehicles in 2025, of which 80% will be new energy vehicles. In other words, by 2025, Great Wall Motor's sales of new energy vehicles will reach 3.2 million. However, in 2021, Great Wall Motor's new energy vehicle sales will only reach the level of 137,000 units. Today, Great Wall Motors has less than 4 years left, and it is not easy to use 4 years to increase sales from 137,000 to 3.2 million units.
When the black and white cat of Euler Automobile on this side of the production of production hit the high-end market, Weilai and Xiaopeng over there have long been ready to increase their market share. From the WEILAI ET5, which starts at 258,000 yuan, to the Xiaopeng P5, which has a starting price of less than 200,000, Weilai and Xiaopeng are working hard to reduce the price threshold of their own models. Through the stories of Weilai and Xiaopeng, it is not difficult to find that if new energy vehicle companies want to truly increase their market share, one of the most worthwhile things to do is to create entry-level new energy vehicles that more consumers can "afford".
Before Weilai and Xiaopeng, Tesla relied on the S3XY camp composed of Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y to strengthen its market position in the new energy vehicle market at different prices. As early as 2017, Musk also pointed out that Tesla's development route is to first launch flagship high-end models to strengthen user awareness, and finally gradually launch more cost-effective entry-level models to enhance market share. And now this kind of practice has also caused Weilai and Xiaopeng to imitate.
In short, for the black and white cat to stop taking orders, Euler Automobile should think more carefully at this time, otherwise in the domestic car market in 2022, this high-end brand will face unprecedented severe challenges.