The price increase ranges from 200-1000 yuan, can the Maverick electric car still sell well

Following the wave of electric vehicle price increases, two-wheeled electric vehicles have also begun to rise in price. On March 21, Maverick Electric issued a price increase notice, and the price increase ranged from 200-1000 yuan. At the same time, a number of Maverick electric vehicle retail stores in Beijing have also said that they will raise the price of in-store products after April 1, ranging from 200-1000 yuan.

The price increase is a helpless move by The Maverick Electric Vehicle forced by the price of lithium battery raw materials to rise, but the industry seems to be less optimistic about this matter. Industry insiders said that for the positioning of high-end calves, the price is a short board, and now the price has been greatly increased, and the retail sales volume is inevitably affected.

Price increases began in April

On March 21, Xiaoniu Electric issued a price increase announcement in Jingdong and Taobao flagship stores respectively, saying that due to the sharp increase in the price of raw materials (prices) such as upstream lithium batteries, Xiaoniu Electric will raise the retail guidance price of all lithium battery products on April 1, 2022, with an increase of 200-1000 yuan.

On the specific situation of the price increase and future development planning, the Beijing Business Daily reporter interviewed Xiaoniu Electric, and did not receive a reply as of press time.

However, the relevant personnel of many Maverick electric vehicle retail stores in Beijing said that they would increase the price of in-store products in early April. The relevant personnel of the Xiaoniu electric vehicle store located in Fangyuan West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing told the Beijing Business Daily reporter: "Recently, I received a notice from the company that due to the price of raw materials, all prices will be increased on April 1. The price increase range is around 200-1000 yuan. ”

The relevant personnel of the Xiaoniu Electric Vehicle Experience Store in Daxing District of Beijing told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that starting from April 1, the price of the Xiaoniu electric vehicle will increase in an all-round way, mainly due to the impact of the rising price of battery raw materials. Similarly, the relevant personnel of the Xiaoniu electric vehicle store on Tiancun Road in Haidian District, Beijing, said that the price of the products in the store will be raised in early April.

It is understood that the domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate price has been rising in the past two years. The data shows that the average price of lithium carbonate rose from 51,500 yuan / ton at the beginning of 2021 to 277,500 yuan / ton at the end of 2021, an increase of more than 400% in one year. Entering 2022, lithium prices have accelerated their rise, and have now exceeded 500,000 yuan / ton.

Xu Xiongjun, a strategic positioning expert and founder of Shanghai Jiude Positioning Consulting Company, said that the price increase of The Maverick electric vehicle will affect its sales to a certain extent. "The increase of 200-1000 yuan is indeed not small, and consumers may not be able to accept it." However, affected by the rise in raw material prices, there is also a possibility of price increases in various brands, and if the price increase of each brand is the same, the impact on the sales of electric vehicles will be smaller. However, if the increase is not at the same level, it will have a greater impact on the sales of some brands. ”

It is understood that since 2021, a number of two-wheeled electric vehicle brands have adjusted prices. At the beginning of November 2021, Emma and Yadi successively issued price increase notices saying that the wholesale and terminal prices of electric vehicles were raised by 50-100 yuan. During February 2022, Emma once again announced a price adjustment for its electric vehicle products.

Sales were affected

Positioning at the high end coupled with sharp price increases, the sales of Maverick electric vehicles may be affected.

According to public information, Maverick Electric positions the high-end electric vehicle market, and the average price of Maverick electric products has been maintained at more than 4,000 yuan during 2017-2020. Based on this positioning, Maverick Electric has a certain gap with other brands in sales.

According to data, yadi electric vehicle sales exceeded the target of 10 million in 2020; 13.8 million units in 2021; Emma achieved 9 million sales in 2021; and Tailing electric vehicle sales also reached 8 million. In contrast, Maverick Electric, sales in 2021 are only 1.0379 million units.

Xu Xiongjun said that from the perspective of sales alone, Maverick Electric does have a large gap with the sales of brands such as Yadi and Emma, and the positioning of the high-end market makes it difficult for Maverick electric vehicles to have certain difficulties in the sinking market, especially in fourth- and fifth-tier cities, consumption power is insufficient, the more high-end cars, the more difficult to sell, which makes it difficult for Maverick electric vehicles to achieve rapid growth in sales.

Beijing Business Daily reporter learned from the official website of Xiaoniu Electric that at present, Maverick electric vehicle stores are mainly distributed in first-, second- and third-tier cities.

Maverick Electric seems to be aware of this problem as well. In the past two years, Maverick Electric has also tried to lower the price threshold and launch low-cost models.

In 2019, Maverick Electric launched the relatively affordable GOVA series of products, and the sales volume of the series of products has also achieved rapid growth since its launch. According to the data, in 2019 and 2020, the sales volume of GOVA series products was 22,000 units and 169,000 units, respectively. Among them, sales in 2020 are about 6.68 times that of sales in 2019. At the same time, the proportion of GOVA series products in the company's total sales has also increased significantly, from 5.2% in 2019 to 28%.

In the view of industry insiders, in the past two years affected by the epidemic, the small counties in the sinking market are easier to develop than the first- and second-tier cities, and the electric vehicle market is also constantly promoting the implementation of the sinking market strategy.

It is understood that after breaking through the million sales mark in 2021, Maverick Electric has set a target of breaking through 6 million sales.

Brand image and product quality need to be improved

During 315 in 2022, Maverick Electric was named by CCTV. According to CCTV, Maverick electric vehicles can provide decoding devices, so that the product can be accelerated in violation of the law. After the electric bicycle is "decoded", the meter only shows 25 km / h, but in fact, it can "regulate" to about 35-40 km / h.

In this regard, the official response of Maverick Electric said that Maverick Electric strictly implements the new national standard for electric bicycles, strictly prohibits any violations, and in order to ensure the safety of user travel, Maverick Electric has launched a special verification action for dealer outlets across the country for the first time.

In addition, the information of Tianyancha shows that Jiangsu Xiaoniu Electric Technology Co., Ltd. was administratively punished by the Changzhou Wujin District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for the illegal production and operation of electric bicycles that do not meet the national standards for protecting human health and personal and property safety.

According to the penalty announcement, the electric bicycle of the Maverick electric specification model TDT10Z and TDR06Z-1 does not meet the standards of the "Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Specification" such as lighting projects, short circuit protection, and battery tamper-proof. In this regard, the Changzhou Wujin District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau fined Xiaoniu Electric 290,200 yuan and confiscated 9,800 yuan of illegal gains, a total of 300,000 yuan.

Beijing Business Daily reporter search found that there are more than 1500 complaints about Maverick Electric on the black cat complaint, and the reasons for the complaint are not lacking in "the central control 67 fault code cannot be located", "the g040 battery life is seriously inconsistent with the publicity", "the battery is broken for two months", etc.

Xu Xiongjun said that the Maverick electric vehicle is difficult to sink in the high-end price, and it is difficult to take advantage of the market share competition with Yadi and Emma. This time it was named by CCTV again, and the decline in word of mouth, coupled with price increases, will have a large impact on its sales to a large extent.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Zhang Junhua