On March 23, according to the official announcement of Ideal Automobile, affected by the continuous sharp rise in upstream raw materials, from April 1, 2022, Ideal Automobile will adjust the price of Ideal ONE, and the national unified retail price will be raised from the current 338,000 yuan to 349,800 yuan. This is also another new car-making force that adjusts the price after the price increase of brands such as Xiaopeng, Weima and Nezha.
Yangzi Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Xu Jing
Source: Visual China
New energy vehicles set off a "rising tide"
The ideal car price increase is not effective immediately, the price increase will be effective from April 1, 2022, and customers who pay the deposit before then will not be affected. This means that it is still about a week before the price increase.
Recently, a number of Electric Vehicle Companies in China have raised prices, citing rising raw material prices. Domestic electric vehicle giant BYD officially released the "Explanation on Model Price Adjustment" at 23:50 on March 15, saying that the price was raised from 00:00 on March 16, and netizens joked: "Only leave 10 minutes for customers to consider time to place an order." "The reason for the price adjustment is that due to 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."
Great Wall Motor's brand Euler released a model price adjustment instruction on the evening of March 19, saying that the price of the 2022 Euler Good Cat (including GT version) will be adjusted, and the comprehensive guidance price after subsidies will be raised by 6,000-7,000 yuan, which will take effect from 00:00 on March 23.
Xiaopeng Automobile announced on March 18 that it will adjust the price of the models on sale, and the increase in the price before the subsidy will range from 10,100 to 20,000 yuan, and the price adjustment will take effect from 00:00 on March 21. Nezha Automobile issued a model price adjustment instruction on the 17th, which will increase the price of the model on sale by 3,000-5,000 yuan, and the price adjustment will take effect from 00:00 on March 18. WM Motor announced on the evening of March 19 that it will raise the price of models on sale by 7,000-26,000 yuan after comprehensive subsidies, effective from 00:00 on March 28.
In fact, Tesla China is the forerunner of this round of new energy vehicle "price increases", with three price increases in 7 days. On March 17, the model Y rear-wheel drive version was priced up by 15,060 yuan to 316,900 yuan. On March 15, the model 3 and Model Y long-endurance, high-performance versions of the price increase, ranging from 14,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan. On March 10, the price of the Model 3 high-performance version rose by 10,000 yuan to 349,900 yuan; the price of the Model Y long-lasting and high-performance versions rose by 10,000 yuan to 357,900 yuan and 397,900 yuan, respectively.
Source: Screenshot of Weibo
Raw material surge new energy vehicle companies "can't hold back"
Why do new energy vehicles collectively increase prices? The key reason is that upstream raw materials continue to rise, supply chains are tight, and cost pressures are greater.
Since 2022, the prices of lithium, cobalt, nickel and other materials upstream of the new energy vehicle supply chain have been in a "crazy" state. Recently, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate exceeded 500,000 yuan / ton, an increase of 900% over the beginning of 2021, and the same price of nickel has soared. This also makes it difficult for many new energy vehicle companies to bear the cost pressure, only to increase prices. In addition, the decline of subsidies for new energy vehicles is another major problem faced by car companies under the pressure of raw material costs.
Tight supply and demand is an important factor driving up lithium salt prices. In recent years, the market demand for new energy vehicles has been expanding, and the supply of lithium salt mining has been limited. According to the China Automobile Association, from January to February, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 820,000 units and 765,000 units, an increase of 1.6 times and 1.5 times year-on-year. In February, production, sales of new energy vehicles reached 368,000 units, up 2.0 times and 1.8 times, respectively, year-on-year.
On March 18, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clearly proposed that the power battery of new energy vehicles is facing the pressure of lithium, cobalt and nickel and other ore resource guarantees and price increases, and it is necessary to improve the ability to guarantee key resources such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. 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 cooperative 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.
The recent high volatility of international oil prices has led to a "six consecutive rises" in domestic refined oil prices at 24:00 on March 17. Consumers have sighed, "refueling can not be added", new energy vehicles seem to be more fragrant? Shen Hui, the founder of WM Motor, once said that the domestic oil price has risen sharply, according to the calculation of 100,000 kilometers in 5 years, the electricity consumption of smart pure electric vehicles can save about 80,000 yuan compared with the fuel cost of oil vehicles. With the rise in both oil prices and the price of new energy vehicles, whether to choose oil trucks or electric vehicles has left potential car owners in a dilemma.
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