Compared with the first round of price increases at the beginning of this year, the second round of new energy vehicle price increases in recent days is more menacing.
According to the statistics of the surging news, in less than a week from March 15 to March 20, nine new energy vehicle companies, including Xiaopeng, Nezha, Zero Run, Weima, Great Wall Euler, Chery New Energy, Geely Geometry, BYD, and Tesla, issued price increase announcements. According to CCTV News, since entering March, nearly 20 new energy vehicle companies have announced price increases, involving nearly 40 models.
Whether it is from the perspective of the intensity of the price increase notice or from the price increase, the current round of price increase tide is more violent than the first round of price increase tide. In the first round of price increases, the increase in car prices generally corresponds to the magnitude of the national subsidy, mostly concentrated between 2000-5000 yuan, and in this round of price increases, 6 of the 13 car companies that have announced price increases have increased by more than 10,000 yuan, and the highest price increase of the C11 performance version of the zero-run car model has increased by 30,000 yuan, an increase of up to 15%.
From the overall point of view of 2022, under the influence of factors such as the decline of the national subsidy and the price increase of raw materials, since entering 2022, at least 17 car companies have raised prices, of which there are not a few who have raised prices twice in the short term.
The first round of price increases: the main cause is the country's replenishment of the slope
The first round of new energy vehicle price increases in 2022 mainly appeared in January, and car companies generally raised prices by promoting "preferential deadlines" or directly updating prices on the official website. At the same time, due to the fact that the price increase is mainly caused by the policy factors of the country's subsidence, the industry and consumers have long expected this round of price increases.
On April 23, 2020, the Ministry of Finance and other four ministries and commissions issued the "Notice on Adjusting and Improving the Subsidy Policy for New Energy Vehicles", indicating that in principle, the subsidy standards for 2020-2022 will be reduced by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively on the basis of the previous year, and the new energy passenger vehicles with a price of less than 300,000 yuan before the subsidy are targeted (the power exchange mode does not implement the 300,000 yuan price limit requirement).
On December 31, 2021, the four ministries and commissions issued the Notice on the Financial Subsidy Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles in 2022, which clarified the policy of "2022 new energy vehicle subsidy standards will be reduced by 30% on the basis of 2021".
According to Ping An Securities' calculations, the subsidies for new energy vehicles that meet the subsidy standards will be reduced by 2040 yuan to 5400 yuan based on different mileage and different power types.
Some of the price increases of new energy vehicles, mapping: The Paper's reporter Wu Yuli
The first to set off a wave of price increases was Tesla, which has always priced at cost.
On November 24, 2021, according to Tesla China's website, the domestic Tesla Model 3 rear-wheel drive version and the Tesla Model Y rear-wheel drive version both increased by 4752 yuan, and the model configuration did not change. Tesla sales staff said that because the vehicle delivery cycle is about 4-6 weeks, the vehicle needs to enjoy subsidies according to the new standards; on December 31, Tesla China increased prices again, the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version increased by 10,000 yuan, and the domestic Model Y rear-wheel drive version increased by 21,000 yuan.
On December 31, 2021, Geely and Volvo jointly created the Polestar Polestar 2, announcing a price increase of 5,000 yuan from January 1, 2022.
On December 31, 2021, WEIO released the 2022 car purchase subsidy plan and said, "Users who pay a deposit to purchase ES8, ES6 and EC6 before December 31, 2021 (inclusive), and who pre-market on March 31, 2022, can still enjoy subsidies in accordance with the 2021 national subsidy standards, and the difference will be borne by NIO." ”
On January 1, 2022, Nezha Automobile raised the price of its models, and the prices of Nezha V, Nezha U Pro and other models increased by about 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan.
In addition, many car companies have chosen to set a certain transition period "out of their own pockets", and have postponed it for 10 days to two months on the basis of January 1.
On January 1, FAW-Volkswagen announced that on February 28, it will increase the price of its ID.4 CROZZ and ID.6 CROZZ models by 5,400 yuan.
On January 11, according to the official website of Xiaopeng Automobile, the price of all Models of Xiaopeng ranged from 4300-5900 yuan.
On January 21, BYD issued an announcement that it would adjust the official guidance price of new energy models related to Dynasty and Ocean Network from February 1, ranging from 1,000 to 7,000 yuan.
On February 1, SAIC Feifan's official website showed that its ER6 and MARVEL R models increased by 1,000 yuan and 2,000 yuan respectively.
On February 7, according to the official website of Wuling Automobile, the entire Wuling NanoEV series rose by 3,000 yuan.
Some models that have not announced price increases have also raised prices in disguise through other means, such as the "small modification" of the main model by Zero-Run Automobile on December 28, 2021, which directly adjusted the price of the 2021 T03 from 59,800 yuan to 68,900 yuan for the 2022 model.
Second round of price increases: up to 15% increase
After entering March, a new round of price increases gradually appeared.
On March 1, Euler Automobile announced a price increase of 12,000 yuan on its official user app.
Also on March 1, SAIC Roewe's official website showed that RX5, Ei5 i6MAX and other models increased their prices by 2,000 yuan.
On March 4, GAC Aegean announced that it would raise prices for its AION Y, AION S Plus, AION V Plus and other models by 4,000-10,000 yuan.
On March 10, Tesla raised the price of the Model 3 high-performance version and the Model Y long-endurance and high-performance version by 10,000 yuan; on March 15, Tesla raised the price of the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version, high-performance version and Model Y long-endurance and high-performance version by 14,000-20,000 yuan; on March 17, Tesla raised the price of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version by 15,000 yuan. In the "three consecutive rises", the model Y high-performance version with the highest increase in price has the most, accumulating up to 30,000 yuan.
On March 11, the 2022 Hongguang MINIEV was officially listed, and the price increased by 2,000 yuan on the basis of the old model.
On the night of March 15, BYD issued an announcement announcing that from the 16th, the official guidance price of relevant new energy models in the "Dynasty" and "Ocean" sales networks will be adjusted, ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 yuan, covering all the new energy passenger cars sold by BYD.
On March 16, Chery New Energy issued an announcement that from the 17th, it will raise the price of its small ant-related models by 3,000-6,000 yuan.
On March 17, Nezha Automobile announced that from the 18th, the price of all models will be raised by 3,000-5,000 yuan.
After that, on March 18, the announcement of price increases by car companies followed. Within a day, Xiaopeng Automobile, Geely's geometry car, zero-run car and other companies issued price increase notices.
Among them, Xiaopeng Automobile said that on March 21, the price of all models will be adjusted, and the increase in the price before subsidies will range from 10,100 to 20,000 yuan.
Geely's Geometry Automobile said in the announcement that it adjusted the official guidance price of its Geometry APro, Geometry C and EX3 on March 19, with an increase in the range of 3,000-7,000 yuan. According to the official website of Geometry Automobile, only the above three models are currently on sale, that is to say, the price increase of Geometric Automobile also covers all models.
Zero-run cars said that the official guidance price was adjusted after the subsidy for the C11 model on March 19. The price information on the official website shows that the price increase of the zero-run C11 is as high as 20,000-30,000 yuan.
On the evening of March 19, WM Motors announced that it would raise the price of all models on March 23, and the price increase after comprehensive subsidies ranged from 7,000 to 26,000 yuan.
Also on the evening of March 19, Euler Automobile announced that it will raise the price of the entire series of 2022 Euler Good Cat (including GT version) by 6,000-7,000 yuan from March 23.
Among the above-mentioned price-increasing models, the zero-run C11 performance version has the highest increase. The model rose 30,000 yuan from the previous 199,800 yuan to 229,800 yuan, an increase of 15%.
Among the mainstream new energy vehicle companies, there are still ideal automobiles, Weilai automobile, Dongfeng Lantu and other car companies that have not officially announced price increases. On March 21, Ideal Auto told the surging news that there are no price increase plans at present.
It is reported that the ideal car adopts a range increase route, equipped with a battery of about 40kWh, compared with the battery of pure electric vehicles such as Xiaopeng about 80kWh, there is a certain cost advantage in the battery.
Weilai Automobile told the surging news on March 21, "Price stability is good for the interests of users and the market, and we have no intention of increasing prices in the short term." At present, the international raw material price, including chip supply and demand, has made the cost of the entire supply chain change greatly compared with before. We will also make flexible decisions based on changes in the objective environment. ”
Dongfeng Lantu released a Weibo on March 21 to clarify the rumors of price increases, and said that "Lantu has not yet raised prices, and is in trouble." ”
Car companies lose money while raising prices
Many consumers complained on social media that they could not afford it, and car companies also had their own grievances. According to the announcements of various car companies, the source of this round of price increases points to "the continuous sharp rise in raw material prices".
On the evening of March 19, Ideal Auto CEO Li Xiang posted on Weibo that the price increase of this round of new energy vehicles is mainly due to "the increase in battery costs is very outrageous", and there will be car companies announcing price increases.
He said in Weibo, "At present, brands that have contracted with battery manufacturers to determine the price increase of batteries in the second quarter have basically announced price increases immediately." If there is no price increase, most of them have not yet been negotiated, and the price will generally increase immediately after the negotiation. The increase in battery costs in the second quarter was very outrageous. War, politics, and the pandemic have made it possible to appreciate the value of buying a car, and the price of used cars in the United States has risen by 30% overall. ”
It is reported that the cost of power batteries accounts for up to 30%-40% of the total cost of electric vehicles, and lithium is an indispensable core material for mainstream power batteries. At present, the market battery-grade lithium carbonate transaction price is close to 500,000 yuan per ton, while half a year ago, the transaction price was about 120,000 yuan per ton.
Previously, Dong Yudong, CEO of the Euler brand under Great Wall Motor, also posted that with the soaring price of raw materials, the Euler brand has brought huge losses to the company. Taking black cat as an example, after the sharp rise in raw material prices in 2022, the loss of black cats has exceeded 10,000 yuan.
That is to say, while constantly raising prices, many new energy vehicle companies are also facing the dilemma of "selling one and losing one".
Recently, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers also said at the press conference that the manufacturing cost of new energy vehicles is very high, and the entire industry is in a general state of loss.
In this regard, Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, told the surging news that new energy vehicle companies first focus on market share, and then achieve economies of scale by obtaining market share. At this stage, new energy vehicles still need to gain competitiveness through high cost performance in order to compete with fuel vehicles, "even if the leading enterprises, the profit is very low." ”
For the recent price increase, he said that the main driving force for this round of price increases, on the one hand, is the continuous rise in raw material costs, new energy vehicle companies are generally relatively young, small base, few models, limited affordability. On the other hand, the contradiction between supply and demand in the market cannot be ignored. He said, "This year is the last year for new energy vehicles to enjoy state subsidies, superimposed on the general delay in the delivery of new energy vehicles, many car owners have concentrated on the purchase time to the first half of this year, and the boom in consumer car purchases is equivalent to being overdrawn in advance." ”
After the last round of price increases, the industry generally believes that the sales of new energy vehicles have not been significantly affected by price increases. Zhang Xiang believes that this round of official price increases are all mainstream models with better sales, at the same time, this year is the last year that new energy vehicles enjoy state subsidies, consumers will still have higher enthusiasm for purchase under favorable policies, and there will be no obvious fluctuations in sales.