Written by / Cow Heel Shang
Edited / Tu Yanping
Design / Shi Yuchao
"Black and white cats stopped taking orders, not production, we did encounter difficulties!" Euler brand CEO Dong Yudong said in an announcement sent to users on February 23, 2022.
Following the outbreak of the good cat "chip door" storm in December 2021, Dong Yudong once again encountered "difficulties": "Although the Euler brand has the advantages of the industrial chain behind it, this fashionable and people-friendly car still brings huge losses to the company!"
For example, the person in charge of this brand that specializes in female customers said that taking black cat as an example, after the sharp rise in raw material prices in 2022, the loss of black cats alone exceeded 10,000 yuan.
The problems encountered by the Euler brand, as Dong Yudong said, "are the risks faced by the industry." ”
Euler is actively looking for ways to improve and developing improvement strategies.
"They count on the brand to be profitable." A brand consultant who recently tracked and studied the Euler brand told Auto Business Review that the brand may not be profitable in the short term for two or three years or three or four years, and it is necessary to consider strategic losses if it is not profitable, but at present, in addition to Tesla, other new energy vehicle companies are losing money - at least they have not made money.
Euler is like this, and other car companies are also sympathetic to the disease.
"Although we exceeded our sales target last year, we lost hundreds of millions of yuan due to core grabbing and raw material price increases." The relevant person in charge of another self-owned brand car company revealed this "family bottom" to the auto business review when he appeared helpless, "No grab, no loss, where is our opportunity?!" ”
Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said at the third pickup truck industry summit forum held on January 22, 2022, that the supply of key components such as chips continues to be tight, which has continued to affect the automotive industry.
According to an industry statistical report that has not yet been disclosed, due to the shortage of chips, chip prices are high: the normal shipping price of the original chip factory has increased by an average of 17%, some high-end chips have exceeded 20 times, 30 times, and individual products have exceeded 200 times.
Chen Shihua said that in the short term, the chip supply situation is still tense, and the long-term lack of cores has led to the original automotive chip supply chain system being broken, and only when the new production capacity is fully released can the new supply balance and rules be established.
Not only chips, but also the high price of raw materials has made car companies worse.
From the comprehensive point of view of the situation reflected by enterprises to the industry, the raw material cost of some enterprises accounts for a large proportion of the cost of the whole vehicle, and the high level of raw material prices has made the production and operation pressure of enterprises continue to increase.
At the same time, the rise in raw material prices has been transmitted to downstream parts suppliers, and the price of parts has increased, further pushing up the cost of vehicle enterprises and further increasing the operating pressure of vehicle enterprises.
"When the cost is too high to bear, either it will not be supplied, or it will stop, or it will be digested by downstream customers, and finally it will be digested by consumers." If it is not passed on, it will certainly not last. Xu Guotao, President of Granges Asia Pacific, the world's leading supplier of brazed heat exchangers aluminum, said in an exclusive interview with Automotive Business Review on November 11, 2021.
The multinational parts and components company from the "hidden champion" analyzed that the current situation is that the world is rising in prices, especially like Europe, the cost of energy has risen very strongly, and then the entire double carbon, double control of the premise, energy costs will definitely go up, which will also promote the cost of all raw materials. "This is a cost factor, a part that the company cannot control, and will eventually be reflected to the consumer side."
The China Automobile Association revealed that due to the rise in raw materials, the cost of a well-known car company has increased by nearly 3 billion yuan, and the cost of bicycles has generally increased by 2500 yuan.
From the current point of view, by steel, aluminum, copper, precious metals, rubber and lithium batteries and other raw materials rose, although under the control of the state, the price of some raw materials has been adjusted, but it is much higher than the price at the beginning of the year.
The following is the 2021 battery material price increase summarized by the Gaz Automotive Research Institute.
"The dual control of the impact of the epidemic and energy consumption, and the superimposed lithium, cobalt and nickel mineral resources are mostly concentrated in overseas regional distribution characteristics, resulting in a sharp increase in battery raw materials." Wang Xianbin, director of the Gaz Automotive Research Institute, said at the 2021 new energy passenger car terminal sales data conference held on February 18, 2022.
In fact, the black and white cat products of Great Wall Euler have sold 173,000 vehicles in the past two years, and have won the single product sales crown in the A00 market of more than 50,000 yuan for many times, becoming a star product in the electric car market.
In the environment of lack of core and lack of electricity, it is a helpless move for Euler, who has a large number of orders that cannot be delivered, to stop taking orders.
According to the official claim, this means that Euler will have to abandon the black and white cats waiting for the cumulative delivery of orders to users to exceed 20,000 copies - according to the current production volume, such as continuing to receive orders - the delivery of new orders will not wait until the second half of 2022.
According to the China Automobile Association, in 2021, the A00-class passenger car market will sell 1.253 million units, of which 889,000 new energy vehicles will be sold, with a penetration rate of 71% - second only to 92% of D-class cars, while D-class vehicles will only sell 5,000 new energy vehicles.
Statistics from the Gaz Automotive Research Institute show that in 2021, the sales of new energy passenger cars will be 3.33 million units, an increase of 2.06 million units year-on-year, of which the incremental contribution of A00 new energy vehicles will reach 561,000 units, second only to the increase of 576,000 units of A-class vehicles, higher than the increase of 533,000 units of B-class cars, while the penetration rate of A and B new energy passenger cars is only 8.9% and 15.3%.
The A00-level market, which has been abandoned by traditional fuel vehicles for many years, has welcomed more and more players and intruders in the past 20 months.
Among them, in January 2022, Chery QQ ice cream sales of 9984 units, Changan BenBEN EV sales of 9852 vehicles, Chery eQ sales of 9412 vehicles, Roewe Kelaiwei sales of 5746 vehicles, Sihao E10X sales of 4509 vehicles - an increase of 8098% year-on-year, Easy Jet BBG sales of 4267 vehicles - an increase of 224%, Easygate EX1 sales of 3680 vehicles - an increase of 358%.
And some brands that have turned from low-speed electric vehicles to positive or do not know where the sacred are also appeared in the passenger car sales list: Lingbao BOX sold 3019 units - an increase of 508% year-on-year, Punk Duoduo sold 2173 vehicles, Reading Mango sold 2071 vehicles, Punk Meimei sold 1594 vehicles, and Baizhi Bear sold 1560 vehicles.
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A large wave of small minis, small ants, small duoduo, small fruits, small dingding, small Dongdong, small friends, small beauty, small bears, and even the scenery MINI EV candy version and shishang version that will be listed in March will be affected and impacted by this?
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After the Euler black cat white cat had to stop taking orders due to lack of core, less electricity, and raw materials, the number one player in the A00-level new energy vehicle market, Hongguang MINIEV, followed by Chery QQ Ice Cream, Chery eQ1, Sihao E10X, Collavig, Ben E-Star, as well as zero-run T03, EasyJet, Nezha V, etc., a large wave of small mini, small ant, small duoduo, small fruit fruit, small Ding Ding, xiao Dongdong, xiao pengpeng, Xiaomeimei, little bear bear, and even the scenery MINI EV candy version that will be listed in March. Will the real version be affected and impacted by this?
This will test the cost, quality control and procurement system control and balancing ability of these car companies.
It can be expected that those who themselves started from micro-cars, were born from micro-genes, micro-innovations, and micro-spirits, or will break through in this round of white-edged competition.