Recently, the DHT-PHEV version of WEY Mocha was officially launched, and the new car guidance price was 295,000-315,000 yuan. If it were not for the high price of this car of 300,000 yuan, and ceo Li Ruifeng's evaluation of the new forces at the press conference, it attracted a wave of attention. It is very likely that it will not be able to stir up even a small splash like the previous LATTE DHT version.
Since the Great Wall announced that the tank series was separated from the WEY brand, and since the quiet discontinuation of the VV series models, the WEY brand has gradually faded from the attention of consumers. It was not until the launch of the Mocha DHT-PHEV that 51 Jun re-understood the current situation of this brand.
Great Wall Group now has Haval, WEY, Great Wall off-road, Euler, tanks these passenger car brands, in January 2022 sales performance, WEY brand sales of 5098 vehicles, while other brands, whether Euler, Great Wall off-road or tanks, have achieved monthly sales of more than 10,000.
What makes the dismal sales even more harsh is the rich product array and dismal sales under the brand.
Looking at the other brands of the Great Wall Group, the tank brand is now a tank 300 bicycle sales, and Euler is basically supported by a good cat car. One is limited by capacity, and the other is caught in the negative of chips. Under such a premise, the Tank 300 sold 10,363 units in January, and the Good Cat sold 9,020 units in January.
Looking at the WEY brand, there are three models of mocha, latte and macchiato, and the sales volume in January was 5098 units. In the huge sales difference comparison, people can't help but ask again, is the high-end road of the Great Wall coming to an end?
If you break down the sales volume of each model, in January the mocha sold 2542 units, the latte sold 1566 units, and the Macchiato sold 990 units. The introduction of more affordable models has not helped WEY gain more market recognition, which makes people wonder, what is wrong with wey brand products?
In contrast, Lynk & Co, a high-end gemini of its own brand, delivered 18,334 sales in January, while also delivering 1,228 Lynk & Co vehicles to customers in Europe such as Germany and Norway. In the face of bipolar market performance, should the WEY brand think about where its high-end road is wrong?
1
The scourge of new energy
Although the WEY brand today only has three models: mocha, latte and macchiato. But the subdivision versions derived from its brand models are really quite a few. For example, the price ceiling that has just been launched recently is the plug-in hybrid version of Mocha.
Not counting the UNDT-PHEV version of the latte that has not yet been listed, the wey brand three models can provide as many as 5 power versions. However, these cars all have a unified feature, that is, hybrid. From 48V light hybrids to plug-in hybrids. From this point of view, the hybrid may be the original sin that led to the sharp decline in sales of the WEY brand.
The overall price range of the WEY brand is greater than 150,000 yuan, which is already a relatively high price in the independent brand. At present, in addition to bydir, which vigorously promotes hybrid, no other brand of hybrid vehicles can obtain good market performance in the price range of more than 150,000 yuan. Even for joint venture brands, the proportion of hybrid vehicles is only a handful.
Knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, I prefer to go to the tiger mountains. Although the Great Wall Group has been promoting the lemon DHT hybrid system, the preconceived notion always makes people feel that its hybrid system is not performing as well as BYD. And the Tang series, which is similar in price to Mocha, delivered 10,426 units in February. The strong contrast illustrates the non-recognition of WEY by consumers in the new energy market.
It is these reasons that have created the situation that the WEY brand is no one cares about today. I believe that the Great Wall also understands the market's attitude towards new energy vehicles, why should we insist on letting WEY take the road of new energy? A large reason is that the Great Wall Group has a serious deficit in new energy credits. In 2020, there are even more than 360,000 new energy negative points.
That is to say, the more popular the Haval H6, the more difficult it is for the Great Wall Group to score points. Under such a premise, the WEY brand, which is not so good in the market performance, may only be on the road of sacrifice.
2
Freezing three feet is not a cold day
As mentioned earlier, with the removal of tanks and VV series from the WEY brand, WEY has been unable to stop on the downhill road.
Imagine that the original WEY brand came out, it was recognized by consumers by virtue of its differentiated brand positioning and unique product strength. In 2018, sales of 139,486 vehicles were created, when the limelight made a self-owned brand envious. Times have passed, and when the respective main brands are competing for the flow, the advantages of the WEY brand have been smoothed out or even surpassed by other brands.
In addition to the positioning of the brand and product, there are problems in the product itself that restrict the overall sales volume of the WEY brand. Taking the mocha as an example, the car has been complaining continuously since its listing, such as "abnormal shaking of the body", "broken interior panels", "abnormal transmission failure", "engine power disappearing", "car machine Caton" and other problems.
Image source: Screenshot of Car Quality Network
Unlike other brands, other models will have one or two product common problems, and the Mocha car seems to be "faulty" all over the body. As a high-end model, there should be so many product problems. Under the influence of many problems accumulating over time, how to make consumers willing to pay?
The WEY brand is an independent high-end brand named after Wei Jianjun' surname, whether it is up and down the Great Wall, or Chinese consumers, they have high hopes for it. But today, the brand's own development is clearly contrary to the original expectations of many people. Whether the Great Wall and weY brands should self-reflect on this. I believe that no one wants to witness the demise of this brand.