Late on the night of March 23, Wuling Motors' official Weibo released the "Explanation on the Price Adjustment of New Energy Models", indicating that due to the impact of comprehensive factors such as the continuous sharp rise in the price of upstream raw materials, SAIC-GM-Wuling will adjust the official guidance price of its Wuling Hongguang MINIEV series models, Wuling NanoEV models and Baojun KiWi EV models, ranging from 4,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan. The price adjustment will take effect from 0:00 on March 24.
Red Star Capital Bureau noted that the three models of the price adjustment are all micro pure electric vehicles.
Wuling Hongguang MINIEV image according to IC photo
When it comes to micro-electric vehicles, it is impossible not to mention the "national god car" Wuling Hongguang MINIEV. It is the first pure electric vehicle as low as 30,000 yuan, with the ultimate cost performance, cute and cute small shape out of the circle, driving the development of the entire micro-electric vehicle market. Changan Automobile (000625. SZ), Great Wall Motor (601633. SH), Chery New Energy, Geely Automobile (00175. HK), SAIC Roewe and others have followed the trend and launched similar models, and have achieved good sales.
According to the data of the Association of Automobile Associations, driven by a number of hot-selling models, A00-class pure electric vehicles once occupied 30% of the market share of new energy vehicles. Among the top 15 new energy vehicle sales in 2021, 8 are A00-class pure electric vehicles.
Wuling even created a GSEV (Global Small Electric Vehicle) platform for small and micro electric vehicles.
As of December 31, 2021, the cumulative sales of Hongguang MINIEV exceeded 550,000 units, and the cumulative sales of all GSEV products under Wuling exceeded 750,000 units. Hongguang MINIEV won the first place in China's new energy sales for 16 consecutive months, with sales of 426452 units in 2021, winning the annual sales crown of new energy.
However, in 2022, micro pure electric vehicles have lost their past scenery and become the "most injured" model in this round of raw material prices, and the lower the unit price, the greater the impact.
According to Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, the price increase of chips, batteries and other components will bring manufacturing costs of more than 100 yuan per kilowatt-hour (power battery capacity) to micro-electric vehicles. Previously, some institutions reported that the profit of Hongguang MINIEV's bicycle was only 89 yuan.
Filling the negative points of the fuel vehicle business and selling surplus new energy positive points to the outside world is the main reason why car companies compete to enter the micro pure electric vehicle, most of which have small profits, take the price for volume route, and seek more new energy points.
In 2020, SAIC-GM-Wuling won 440,000 new energy credits, almost all relying on Hongguang MINIEV. At the price of 3,000 yuan / min at that time, the point income of Hongguang MINIEV was as high as 1.3 billion yuan.
Industry insiders pointed out to Red Star Capital Bureau that "micro-pure electric vehicles are the 'transition' choice under the wave of electrification transformation, and the choice of new car manufacturers in order to survive is also the choice under the pressure of carbon emissions and double integration." ”
However, with the substantial growth of the new energy vehicle market, the trading price of carbon credits has been reduced to 500-800 yuan in early 2022. According to the market size of 5 million new energy vehicles in 2022, Euler internally predicts that the price of carbon credits may drop to 200 yuan in the future.
Under the influence of factors such as rising raw material prices, subsidies declining, carbon credit prices, and tight supply of chips and batteries, micro-pure electric vehicles have appeared to sell more and lose more.
Taking the Great Wall Euler as an example, the production cost of the three-electric system of Euler black and white cats accounts for about 55%-60% of the total vehicle cost. Dong Yudong, CEO of Great Wall Euler, pointed out: "After the sharp rise in raw materials in 2022, the loss of Black Cat alone exceeded 10,000 yuan. "At present, these two explosive mini cars have stopped receiving orders.
According to the incomplete statistics of the Red Star Capital Bureau, the micro-electric vehicles that have increased in price this year include: Euler Good Cat price increased by 12,000 yuan, Zero Run T03 price increased by 9100 yuan, Reading Mango increased by 3,000 yuan, chery small ant price increased by 3,000 yuan.
On the sales side, the A00 class is already cooling down. In January this year, sales of A00-class pure electric vehicles were 112,500 units, an increase of 70.1% year-on-year, lower than the overall level of 132.2% of pure electric vehicles. A00-level sales accounted for 33%, compared to 45% in the same period last year. The sales volume of A0+A-class electric vehicles has accounted for 37.3%.
Industry insiders told Red Star Capital Bureau that in first-tier and super-first-tier cities, the micro-electric vehicle market has begun to shrink. Low-priced models are not a long-term solution, which will damage the brand image and restrict technological development.
According to the prediction of Soochow Securities Research Institute, the core main line of the new energy market in 2022 is 100,000-200,000 yuan of A-class cars, or will usher in explosive growth, with sales of 1.7 million to 1.9 million units.
Red Star Capital Bureau understands that there are currently two views in the industry on the market prospects of A00-class electric vehicles. One believes that the market capacity is limited, the consumption upgrade will soon be replaced by A0, A-class cars, and the "old man music" is formalized management, which is bound to occupy the A00-level market. Another reference is the current Western pursuit of mini cars, that the A00 level does not represent a low-end car, configuration performance, styling workmanship, assisted driving system to improve, can meet the different needs of consumers, there is a stable market space.
There are already more than a dozen micro-electric vehicles on the market, but car companies are still pouring in. Recently, Changan Automobile released the "glutinous corn" Changan LUMIN, and Dongfeng Fengguang listed the scenery MINIEV, which is benchmarked against Wuling Hongguang MINIEV.
In a short period of time, there is still room for growth of micro-electric vehicles, especially in the sinking market. In 2021, non-restricted cities contributed 70% of new energy vehicle sales, of which 58% of users purchased A00-class electric vehicles. In 2021, the 66 models of new energy vehicles going to the countryside are mainly small and micro cars priced at less than 100,000 yuan and with an endurance of less than 300 kilometers.
On February 17, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers issued the "2022 New Energy Vehicle Rural Model Declaration Notice". The industry believes that although the third and fourth-tier and rural markets are small in scale, they have great potential and are one of the incremental markets for new energy vehicles in the future.
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
Edited by Tao Yueyang
(Download Red Star News, there are prizes for the newspaper!) ）
![Two-wheeled electric vehicles are more restrictive, and low-cost travel also looks at these pure electric cars[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)