The price of new energy vehicles is coming.
Text | Song Doudou, Peng Suping
On March 17, Tesla's official website in China showed that the starting price of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version was raised to 316,900 yuan, up 15,060 yuan from the previous one. So far, in a week or so, the price of Tesla's mainstream models has risen.
Previously, on March 15, Tesla China had just completed a wave of price increases, and the starting price of the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version and the high-performance version rose by 14,200 yuan and 18,000 yuan respectively, while the long-endurance version and high-performance version of the Model Y started by 18,000 yuan and 20,000 yuan respectively.
Shortly before that, on March 10, Tesla has risen a round of prices, the same model, including the Model 3 high-performance version, Model Y long-endurance version and high-performance version, the starting price of all rose by 10,000 yuan.
Tesla has not publicly disclosed the reasons for these several price increases, but combined with Tesla's pricing logic and the previous statements of company executives, it is largely related to the challenges encountered in the supply chain. Recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk once again publicly stated that Tesla and Space X (another company invested and managed by Musk) are facing huge inflationary pressures in the field of raw materials and logistics.
OEMs raised prices again during the year
In fact, the price increase of new energy vehicles has been common, Model 3 and Model Y after-drive version, as early as the end of 2021, the price increased a round, and in addition to Tesla, since the end of last year, BYD, Nezha, zero run and other new energy vehicle brands have also announced price increases, recently, BYD, Xiaopeng and so on have also once again reported price increases, new energy vehicles in the short term into the "general rise" stage.
On March 17, a screenshot of the price increase of the entire Series of Xiaopeng Automobile was circulated on the Internet, and the screenshot showed that "the price of the No. 21 model increased by 20,000, the P7 increased by 20,000, and the P5 and G3i rose by 10,000." Today, everyone will stop and make full efforts to invite customers, only in the form of telephone notifications, not allowed to notify customers in text form, or send a circle of friends. ”
According to the official website of Xiaopeng Automobile, the current price range of Xiaopeng P7 is 224,200-285,800 yuan, if the price increases by 20,000 yuan, the entry price will increase to 244,200 yuan; the price of Xiaopeng P5 is 162,700-22.93 million yuan, and the price increase of 10,000 will be raised to 172,77-23.93 million yuan; the price of Xiaopeng G3i is 154,600-19.32 million yuan, which becomes 164,66-203,200 yuan after the rise.
The think tank Jun asked Xiaopeng Automobile for verification on this matter, and its relevant person in charge said that "there is no relevant information at present." However, a Xiaopeng automobile sales staff in Guangzhou told the think tank Jun that "there is indeed a thing, these four days can still enjoy the previous price, but also provide 1000 degrees / year free charging rights, next Monday Xiaopeng all series of prices increased, at the end of March life free charging rights will also be cancelled." ”
Coincidentally, on the evening of March 15, BYD officially announced a price increase. In its "Explanation on Model Price Adjustment", IT said that affected by the continuous sharp rise in raw material prices, BYD Automobile will adjust the official guidance price of new energy models related to Dynasty Network and Ocean Network, ranging from 3,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan. The price adjustment will take effect from 00:00 on March 16, and customers who have signed a deposit before that time will not be affected by this price adjustment.
According to data from an automotive industry platform, BYD's current round of price increases involves a total of 39 configurations of 10 models. Among them, the models with an increase of 3,000 yuan are mainly DM-i models, and the main models with an increase of 6,000 yuan are pure electric vehicle models, and the latest models such as Dolphin and Yuan PLUS are also within the range of price increases.
This is bydir's second official price adjustment this year. In January this year, due to the sharp rise in raw material prices and the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicle purchases, BYD has made a round of price increases to the official guidance price of its new energy models, ranging from 1,000 yuan to 7,000 yuan.
In addition to BYD, GAC Aean and Chery New Energy have also recently raised prices. On March 4, GAC Aeon adjusted the official guidance price of its AIONY, AIONSPlus, AIONVPlus and other related models, ranging from 4,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan, which is also the second price increase in the year.
On March 16, Chery New Energy issued an announcement that due to the continuous sharp rise in raw material prices, Chery New Energy Vehicle will adjust the official guidance price of new energy models related to small ants, ranging from 3,000-6,000 yuan, which will take effect from 00:00 on March 17.
According to the price adjustment details shown by the sales staff of Shenzhen Chery New Energy to the think tank Jun, in addition to the price of the 120km pudding model of Chery QQ ice cream, the price of the other two models has increased by 3100 yuan, and the adjusted guidance price is 299-47,000 yuan; the price of Chery Small Ant is raised by 3000-4100 yuan, and the adjusted price is 699-890 yuan.
According to CCTV financial data, since entering March, nearly 20 new energy vehicle companies have announced price increases, involving nearly 40 models.
Centralized price increases are largely related to the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles. According to the "Notice on Improving the Financial Subsidy Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles" jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and other four ministries and commissions in April last year, the decline in the purchase subsidy for new energy vehicles will reach 30% in 2022.
Capacity issues have become a new anxiety
However, compared with the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles, the more important factors in price adjustment are supply chain problems such as chip shortages and rising raw material prices, and many car companies also attribute the price adjustment to the impact of "a sharp rise in raw material prices".
In fact, since last year, the rise in raw material prices has stirred the sensitive nerves of the upstream and downstream industrial chains of automobiles. According to business agency data, the comprehensive quotation of the battery-grade lithium carbonate market on March 17 was around 480,000-522,000 yuan / ton, while in early 2021, the price of lithium carbonate was only 50,000 yuan / ton.
In addition, the key metal resources of power batteries, nickel and cobalt, have also increased in price significantly, from the beginning of January 2020 to the middle of January 2022, the increase in battery-grade cobalt reached 119%. According to the nickel price monitoring of the trading company, on March 17, the nickel spot quotation was 223500 yuan / ton, down 1.78% from the previous trading day. Overall, nickel prices are still in a high position, the market volatility is also large, the trend has not returned to normal, it is expected to remain wide-ranging.
Earlier, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a note that the price of nickel metal rose by 67.2% on the same day, followed by an average $1,000 increase in the cost of an electric vehicle in the United States.
Tianfeng Securities Research Report calculated that when the nickel price is 50,000 US dollars / ton, the bicycle cost of Model 3 (76.8 kWh electricity) will rise by 10,500 yuan, Xiaopeng P7 (80.87 kWh electricity) will rise by 11,000 yuan, and Weilai EC6 (70 kWh electricity) will rise by 0.95 million yuan, and the cost of bicycles in these three models will rise by about 10,000 yuan. If the nickel price reaches 100,000 US dollars / ton, the cost of Model 3 bicycles will rise by nearly 28,000 yuan, Xiaopeng P7 will rise by nearly 30,000 yuan, and Weilai EC6 will rise by more than 25,000 yuan.
The chip is also not optimistic. At the beginning of this year, Xu Daquan, executive vice president of Bosch (China) Investment Co., Ltd., pointed out in an exclusive interview with the think tank Jun that the supply of chips in 2022 is still very tight, and it will certainly not be able to meet all the needs of the main engine factory, and this year's automobile production will also be largely subject to the supply of chips.
As a major supplier of automotive systems such as ESP (Body Electronic Stability System), due to the shortage of chips, Bosch frequently made headlines last year, and Xu Daquan himself has repeatedly said that the "lack of core" in the automotive industry will continue for a period of time. He also admitted that there is now a certain amount of inflation in the world, the price of raw materials has increased greatly, and the price of chips has also increased significantly, so the automotive industry as a whole is in a state of "sharp increase in costs", and the supply chain side has been jointly discussing countermeasures.
It is worth noting that in addition to the impact of factors such as lack of cores and rising raw material prices, the huge demand for new energy vehicles has made the problem of production capacity an anxiety in front of car companies. An Ann sales staff told reporters, "Due to more orders and tight supply chains, the delivery time of the Aean V plus 500km endurance version takes two to three months, and the 600 and 700km endurance versions need 5-6 months longer delivery time."
The aforementioned Xiaopeng sales staff also said that due to the large order volume, the delivery time of the 480km endurance version of the Xiaopeng P7 takes 7-8 weeks, and the 670km endurance version takes about 9 weeks.
On March 16, Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, CEO of consumer business, and CEO of Smart Vehicle Solutions BU, also said at the press conference, "At present, the supply of the industry is tight, we may not be able to have so many materials, we may not be able to produce so many units, and we are also trying to increase the production capacity of the M5." ”
In the face of the successive price increases of new energy vehicle companies, many intended purchasers "hold the currency and wait and see", what kind of impact will it have on the terminal consumer market? Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the All-China Federation of Passenger Vehicles, said: "Price increases will hurt consumers' enthusiasm for purchase in the short term, but the diversified market demand for new energy vehicles in China will offset this unfavorable phenomenon." In addition, the recent car companies mainly for new orders to increase prices, the next two or three months to deliver users locked in the original price, overall the risk of enterprise price increases is small. ”
Some auto industry insiders said that the price increase of new energy vehicles will inhibit demand to a certain extent, but due to the rapid growth of market demand, it can partially offset the negative effects of price increases.