WEILAI has an official policy of buying back used cars, to the effect that the official will give a very competitive purchase price, which can be equivalent to the highest price on the whole network under normal circumstances. Although this policy looks very good, it is still generally not optimistic about this policy on the Internet, why is it?
Tesla also had this policy
Everyone knows that the retention rate of new energy vehicles is extremely low. In order to maintain the retention rate of new energy vehicles used cars, new energy vehicle companies have made many attempts, and the official repurchase of used cars is one of them.
According to the news found on the Internet, in 2015, Tesla announced the launch of the "value preservation commitment" service in China, mainly including: after the owner's loan to buy a car for 3 years, if the owner has a vehicle repurchase demand, Tesla will repurchase the owner's Model S at about 50% of the purchase price after the condition review.
But the results were not ideal. Tesla was the first new energy vehicle company to have a "value-preserving repurchase" attempt, but only 15 months after its launch, it announced its termination. According to online sources, during that time, Tesla owners said that they were ready to participate in this buyback activity, but when they went to the Tesla 4S store, they refused to buy back on the grounds that the car did not meet the conditions. There are also Tesla owners who complain, "Tesla has lowered the price for various reasons, far from being 50% off."
Weilai once planned to "pocket the bottom"
According to online sources, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of Weilai Automobile, once promised at a communication meeting in 2019 that we will ensure that the price of second-hand cars is not lower than the price of fuel luxury cars. If we don't get it, we'll pay for it.
But the result is also obvious, now Weilai does not mention the bottom of the matter for users, but only promises: the official will give a very competitive purchase price, which can be equated with the highest price on the whole network under normal circumstances. Apparently, NIO's official strategy of buying back used cars has also failed.
Buyback hedging is just a marketing strategy
As far as the current situation is concerned, the "official value preservation and repurchase" strategy promised by new energy vehicle brands is completely unable to solve the problem of low retention rate of new energy vehicles. It is not so much to solve the problem of retention rate, but rather to be a marketing strategy to facilitate sales to dispel customers' concerns about the retention rate of new energy vehicles.
However, when customers actually need "official value preservation repurchases", they often face various stringent repurchase standards and problems. In addition, more car companies are trying to "trap" consumers through high retention rates, and the repurchased cars can be used to exchange for their own brand cars. Therefore, netizens will feel that car companies pushing for value preservation and repurchase cannot really improve the value retention rate of second-hand cars.
NIO cannot afford to maintain the value of used cars alone
According to network news, even if Weilai decided to make a second-hand pocket for Weilai in 2019, the retention rate of Weilai at that time was still quite a gap from the fuel vehicle. At that time, many Weilai car owners revealed that the official had strict requirements for buying back vehicles, and many vehicles were not officially accepted.
Obviously, the "promise" given by Weilai is beyond its ability to bear. According to network data, the average retention rate of new energy vehicles at that time was only half of the average retention rate of fuel vehicles, and Weilai did not have the ability to bear it even if it had the heart.
At that time, some netizens said that if Weilai really bought back according to the promise, then there would be professional second-hand car dealers on the market to acquire Weilai's second-hand cars and then buy back a large number of them to Weilai for profit. Once this situation occurs, it will not only be a huge test of Weilai's capital chain, but also destroy the market that Weilai has not been able to fight hard.
summary
It can be seen that the retention rate of second-hand cars cannot be maintained by car companies themselves. The problem of the retention rate of new energy vehicles still depends on technological breakthroughs to solve. For now, Weilai's "official buyback" strategy can only be a marketing tool, which is why this policy is not discussed online.