This year, the second wave of new energy vehicle price increases has intensified.
According to the statistics of the Red Star Capital Bureau, from March 15 to March 20, 9 new energy vehicle companies have heard "rising voices", with an increase ranging from 3,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan. Overall, the tight supply of batteries, chips and components is still the main reason for price increases.
On the evening of March 19, Ideal Cars (02015. HK/LI.US) CEO Li Xiang said through social media that at present, brands that have contracted with battery manufacturers to determine the price increase in the second quarter have basically announced price increases immediately. Most of the brands that have not yet increased their prices have not yet been negotiated, and they will generally increase prices immediately after they are negotiated. "The increase in battery costs in the second quarter was very outrageous."
Another industry insider told Red Star Capital Bureau that the rising cost of batteries is the main reason for the price increase of new energy vehicles, "in a short period of time, the price of lithium materials remains high, and high oil prices are also conducive to the sales of new energy vehicles. ”
Infographic Figures Figureworm Creative
Nine new energy vehicle companies rose in price in a week
The "raid" official announcement only left one day to react
Red Star Capital noted that in the week from March 15 to March 20, Tesla (TSLA.US), BYD (002594. SZ), Chery New Energy, Xiaopeng Automobile (09868.HK/XPEV.US), Nezha Automobile, Zero-run Automobile, Geely (00175. HK) owns Geometric Cars, WM Motors, Great Wall (601633. SH) Euler and other 9 new energy vehicle companies announced price increases.
Among them, Tesla has raised prices three times in a week, with a single increase of up to 20,000 yuan; the upper limit of Xiaopeng Automobile's price adjustment is also as high as 20,000 yuan; and WM Motors is as high as 26,000 yuan. And the zero-run car that has always been known as "price butcher" and "extreme cost performance" can not be carried, and the C11 series of models has increased by up to 30,000 yuan, becoming the new energy vehicle company with the highest single increase.
In addition, the 2022 Hongguang MINIEV listed on March 11 is 2,000 yuan higher than the old model. Tesla's rival, U.S. electric car maker Lucid, also said on Thursday it was considering raising prices for future models due to intense inflationary pressures. The speech of the ideal CEO Li Xiang seems to also imply that the ideal car will increase in price.
In early March, CCTV financial reports showed that since entering March, nearly 20 new energy vehicle companies have announced price increases, involving nearly 40 models.
It is worth mentioning that the time interval between official announcement and implementation of this batch of new energy vehicle companies that have increased their prices is mostly within 1 day, and even the official announcement is that the price increases.
Nezha Automobile, Zero-run Car, Geometry Automobile, and Chery New Energy were only 1 day ahead. The most extreme BYD, on March 15 (Monday) at 23:50 through the official Weibo account to release the price increase information, 10 minutes later began to implement the new price. This caught consumers off guard, and many people who had planned to see the car on the weekend simply canceled their plans. Consumers who paid a deposit before the price increase were glad that "what they buy is what they earn.".
Even dealers did not get the price increase information in advance, a car dealer Mr. Li told the Red Star Capital Bureau: "The round of 3,000 yuan rose a few years ago, our dealers know in advance, and have been reminding consumers to increase prices, giving enough time to consider." But we didn't know about the price increase this time, and we got up the next day to see it. ”
Mr. Li said he also told consumers who came to test drive the other day that they had not notified the price increase. "Fortunately, the offline can officially implement the price increase one day later, and I quickly notify several people who intend to buy a car to make a decision on the 16th."
Raw material costs have risen dramatically
The cost of bicycle batteries rose by nearly 10,000
It can be seen from the official statements of various car companies that the cost of raw materials has risen sharply, the supply of batteries, chips and parts is tight, and inflationary pressure is the main reason for price increases in recent times.
Some dealers told Red Star Capital Bureau that the "raid" price increase is also to alleviate cost pressure as soon as possible.
The bulk of the cost pressure is the raw materials for power batteries: the prices of nickel, cobalt, and lithium materials are all growing significantly.
Wind data shows that the average price of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate rose from 51,500 yuan / ton at the beginning of 2021 to 277,500 yuan / ton at the end of last year, an increase of more than 400% in one year. Entering 2022, lithium prices have accelerated. The average price of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate has exceeded 500,000 yuan / ton. According to business data, as of March 17, the comprehensive quotation of the battery-grade lithium carbonate market was around 480,000-522,000 yuan / ton.
According to data from Shanghai Nonferrous Network, lithium hexafluorophosphate currently reaches 543,500 yuan / ton, up 5 times from the beginning of 2021; battery-grade cobalt reaches 568,500 yuan / ton, up nearly 3 times from the beginning of 2021.
Fu Neng Technology (688567. SH) recently responded to the "Daily Economic News" pointed out that "the spot price of 500,000 / ton is higher than the long-term price in the industry, but it also reflects the tight supply of the market state." Due to the long upstream expansion cycle and the strong downstream demand, the price of lithium carbonate will remain high in the short term. ”
Models using high-nickel ternary batteries are also under the cost pressure of high-priced nickel. According to CCTV Finance, the price change of nickel sulfate has caused the price of ternary materials to rise by 160,000-250,000 yuan per ton, the corresponding price of ternary lithium batteries per kWh has increased by 31-47 yuan, and the cost of 70 kWh batteries has risen by 2000-3300 yuan.
Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Said that the price of nickel sulfate or rise to 80,000 yuan / ton, the cost of bicycle batteries or rise by about 7,000 yuan.
At present, the price of nickel is falling but still at a high level. On March 18, the spot nickel price in Shanghai was 222,600 yuan / ton, and the official settlement price of LME Lun nickel was 42,150 yuan / ton.
Aluminum, an important raw material for automobile bodies, is also at a high level. On March 18, electrolytic aluminum has risen for 3 consecutive days. Anxin Securities Research Report pointed out that affected by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the cost of Lun aluminum remained high, and the external strength was weak and the internal weakness. According to SMM, the production of automotive outer panels is the most difficult, and there are only 5 domestic enterprises that can be mass-produced, and they are generally working at full capacity.
In addition, neon and palladium, an important raw material of the chip, are affected by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, which may drive the global chip price increase. Two of Ukraine's major neon suppliers, which supply 45 to 54 percent of the world's semiconductor manufacturing, have stopped production. Spot palladium rose 2 percent at $2,566.42 an ounce on March 18.
Popular models are in short supply
Successive price increases by car companies have spawned scalpers
The short supply of products is also the basis for the price increase of new energy vehicle companies, and many popular models need to wait for months to pick up the car, which directly affects the consumer experience and provides the soil for scalpers to make profits.
Due to hot orders and limited production capacity, Tesla's delivery time has been as long as 4-5 months. Tesla's official website shows that the current delivery time of tesla Model 3 is 16-20 weeks, and the various versions of Model Y are 10-20 weeks.
Coupled with Tesla's successive price increases, car owners who can't wait or want to save money choose to accept the order for transfer, and the transfer of a single seller can make a profit of tens of thousands of yuan.
In order to crack down on scalpers, Tesla began to require owners of one or more cumulative orders to purchase multiple Tesla vehicles to sign a "non-resale commitment letter", promising not to resell to third parties within one year, and violators pay liquidated damages according to 20% of the vehicle's fare.
The relevant person in charge of Tesla told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the "Commitment Letter of No Resale" is a preventive measure introduced in response to the recent phenomenon of individuals buying multiple Teslas at one time on the official website. Our purpose is to maintain the fair and transparent car purchase experience of the majority of consumers, and truly protect the rights and interests of consumers, so it will not have any impact on the normal car purchase and overall experience of ordinary consumers.
Euler stopped selling low-priced "cars" and the rights and interests of Xiaopeng car owners shrank
Car companies fancy cost reduction
In addition to price increases, new energy vehicle companies have also introduced a series of measures to reduce costs and increase supply.
Previously, The Great Wall Euler announced that due to the rising cost of raw materials for core components such as batteries, Euler black cat white cat stopped taking orders. Euler CEO Dong Yudong pointed out in the open letter, "Taking Euler Black Cat as an example, after the sharp rise in raw materials in 2022, the loss of Black Cat alone exceeded 10,000 yuan. ”
Recently, it has been reported that Xiaopeng Automobile will cancel the 1,000-degree free charging rights at the end of March.
Xiaopeng Automobile once provided a lifetime free charging quota to the first owner of a new car, with 3,000kWh per year. In July 2021, the quota was adjusted to 1000kWh. According to the charging standard of Xiaopeng self-operated charging pile 0.9-1.92 yuan / kWh, the free charging rights can save 900-1920 yuan for car owners.
On March 20, red star capital bureau asked Xiaopeng Automobile for the above information, and the other party said, "I have not received this information, and the official information shall prevail." The official customer service of Xiaopeng Automobile also said that it has not received relevant notices at present. However, some sales staff urged reporters to order the car as soon as possible, saying that customers who ordered the car after March no longer enjoy free charging rights.
At the end of 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile also reduced the car purchase rights package and car purchase installment rights, most models no longer enjoy 0 interest or low interest plan, and some options that could have been optional are additionally charged.
What are the subsequent prices?
Industry insiders expect more car companies to raise prices
On March 20, a senior industry insider analyzed the Red Star Capital Bureau that the recent negotiations between car companies and power battery suppliers have gradually landed, and it is expected that more car companies will announce price increases, which may lead to further differentiation of car companies.
"The best-selling brand has sufficient orders, and the battery manufacturers negotiate, and the price increase can hedge the impact of the battery price increase; the weak brand may cause customer loss due to the price increase, or do not accept the high-priced battery and cannot hand over the car, or bite the teeth to take the high-priced battery Sales decline."
He particularly pointed out that bydir and Fudi batteries, Great Wall Motors and Honeycomb Energy, although the price will also increase due to costs and the general environment, but the pressure will be relatively small.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has also taken note of the increase in the price of batteries upstream.
On the evening of March 18, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology disclosed information showing that many ministries and commissions organized a symposium on the operation of the lithium industry and a symposium on the price increase of upstream materials for power batteries on March 16-17.
The meeting requested that upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain should strengthen the docking of supply and demand, work together to form a long-term and stable strategic cooperation relationship, jointly guide the rational return of lithium salt prices, increase efforts to ensure market supply, and better support the healthy development of strategic emerging industries such as new energy vehicles in the mainland.
For the chip shortage, Tianfeng Securities Research Report pointed out that the current international situation is still unstable, market sentiment has heated up, and there has been an abnormal phenomenon of hoarding and speculation. Automotive chips continue to be in short supply, or will continue throughout the year. However, the current localization rate of chips is less than 1%.
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
Edited by Tao Yueyang
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