On February 24, Dong Yudong, CEO of the Euler brand under Great Wall Motor, posted through the Euler ORA App: "Euler black cats and white cats stopped taking orders, not stopped production, we are actively seeking solutions." "
Previously, the Euler brand delivered a notice to the terminal on February 14 that the black cat and the white cat would stop taking orders. According to media reports, on February 14, it received a notice from the manufacturer that it would no longer accept orders for black cat and white cat models from February 15, and the duration was unknown. In this regard, the audience has raised questions.
It is reported that the audience is mainly for the product to stop receiving orders, whether it will "stop production" and subsequent maintenance problems. In response to the above situation, Euler brand CEO Dong Yudong officially responded a few days ago that "black and white cats stopped taking orders, not production stoppage, we did encounter difficulties", and promised that "all after-sales services of black and white cats will continue to be maintained, will not be affected by the stop of orders, and we are responsible for users to the end"
Regarding the suspension of orders, Dong Yudong said, "Stopping orders is a helpless move, in the absence of core and less electricity, black and white cats waiting for the delivery of orders to users has exceeded 20,000 units, according to the current production volume, if you continue to receive orders, the delivery of new orders will wait until the second half of 2022." At the same time, it was also introduced that for customers who have already been decided, "the delivery of existing orders is realized quickly" in the follow-up time.
From the Euler brand officially learned that since the end of last year, battery prices have been rising, battery cost increases have become an influencing factor, according to market research institute IHS Markit data show that in the second half of 2021, the price of ion batteries rose by about 10%-20%, a car in the battery increase of more than 3000 yuan. Not only that, the price of battery raw materials such as battery grade cobalt, nickel sulfate, lithium carbonate and other battery cathode materials has increased significantly, and the production cost of the three-electric system of Euler black and white cats has reached about 55%-60% of the vehicle cost.
Dong Yudong said that although the Euler brand has the advantages of the industrial chain, this car still brings huge losses to the company. Taking black cat as an example, after the sharp rise in raw material prices in 2022, the single loss of black cat exceeded 10,000 yuan.
In addition to rising costs, subsidies and chip shortages are also influencing factors.
Euler black and white cat subsidies compared to before reduced by more than 3500 yuan, accounting for almost 5% of the price of the vehicle, black and white cats can be balanced by price increases, how the audience acceptance will become a problem again. In addition, the shortage of chips is also one of the influencing factors.
The official reply said, "Due to the shortage of chips and the supply of spare parts, the national subsidy and many other reasons, the order backlog of black cat and white cat models is more, and the customer purchase cycle is too long, affecting the customer experience." In order to avoid bringing bad feelings to car owners who trust the Euler brand, considering all factors, we stopped receiving new orders for Euler black cat and white cat models. Manufacturers will coordinate internal resources to meet the scheduling plan of existing orders faster, and ensure the speed of pick-up speed and car purchase benefits of customers who have booked cars. ”
In 2021, the sales volume of new energy vehicles will exceed 3.5 million units, and the market share will increase to 13.4%. Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that due to the impact of chip shortage, China's total automobile production decreased by more than 1.5 million vehicles, and the chip shortage affected the production rhythm of manufacturers, and the cost of making cars increased by more than 1,000 yuan, but the price could not be raised at the terminal, which in turn affected corporate profits. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has also officially responded that the shortage of automotive chips will gradually ease by the end of 2022.
However, due to the decline in subsidies for new energy models and the rise in new energy materials, the increase in the cost of new energy models cannot be alleviated in the short term. Since entering 2022, there have been a number of new energy brand models officially announced price increases, including Weilai, Xiaopeng, BYD, Volkswagen and other enterprise models, the price increase of new cars ranges from 1,000 yuan to 7,000 yuan, SAIC Roewe brand in March 1, 2022, the price of a number of new energy models to increase, but did not mention the specific models and price increases. According to relevant sources of the Euler brand, "because of the decline of new energy subsidies and the price increase of raw materials from 2021 to the present, some models of Euler will also increase in price in March 2022, and the specific increase is not certain." ”
For the future, how Euler black cats and white cats will enter the market and whether customization will be adopted, Euler's relevant insiders said that "we are currently studying and seeking countermeasures."
Sales data show that the Great Wall Motor Euler brand will sell 135,000 units in 2021, a year-on-year growth rate of 140%, but only about 10% of Great Wall Motor's total sales. Among them, the cumulative sales of black cat and white cat models exceeded 88,000 vehicles in the whole year, accounting for 65% of the total sales of the Euler brand.
Euler black and white cats stop taking orders, existing orders will be delivered one by one, which for Euler, the market sales will be under more pressure, but fortunately this year Euler will launch 3 new cars to supplement the product lineup. However, in the face of Great Wall Motor's new energy vehicle sales plan, the total sales target for 2025 will reach 4 million vehicles, and the proportion of new energy sales is expected to reach 80%, and in the face of the new energy market sales target of 3.2 million vehicles, the sales pressure on the Euler brand is also self-evident.