Under the tide of rising prices of electric vehicles, "high-end" vs. "non-high-end" | the evolution of car manufacturing

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"They take very different paths, but they are not very similar."

Written by | Tabor Network Liu Shuangshuang

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On March 10, NIO was listed for the second time on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the form of a person introduced, after reports that Huaren Express would also be listed in Hong Kong in 2022, but it has not been listed until now.

Among the domestic new energy electric vehicle brands, Gaohe's HiPhiX and NIO's ES8 have jumped into the ranks of high-end electric vehicles with a price of more than 500,000. However, in the crowd of electric vehicle tracks, the "luxury electric vehicle" of 2022 is invariably in trouble.....

The "high-end" market is sluggish

In the first two months of 2022, among the new car-making forces of China's new energy, Weilai, which was originally in the position of "big brother", has been far behind by Ideal Automobile and Xiaopeng Automobile.

According to statistics, the ideal car delivered 8414 vehicles, an increase of 265.83% year-on-year; Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 6225 vehicles, an increase of 180.03%; and Weilai delivered a total of 6131 new cars, an increase of 9.91% year-on-year.

Even surpassed by Nezha Automobile, Nezha Automobile completed a single monthly sales of more than 10,000 vehicles in January, while completing the delivery of 7117 vehicles in February.

Now Weilai can only rank fourth.

The HiPhi X of Gaohe has been evaluated as a "rich man's toy" by the outside world, although it has jumped to the "ceiling" of domestic electric vehicles due to high pricing, but its low cost performance may be one of the reasons for the low sales volume. According to the official news of Gaohe Automobile, the sales volume of Gaohe HiPhiX in February 2022 was 355 units. Nio's ES8 sales in February were 1,084 units.

From the data point of view, Weilai's electric vehicle sales are relatively good, but according to the prospectus, Weilai has been in a state of operating loss since its inception, and has not yet made a profit.

The two types of electric vehicles that focus on luxury are different in their "luxury".

WEILAI is known for its ultra-high user experience and has also gained high user loyalty. WEILAI attaches great importance to the circle of the audience of the car, and the audience that has been targeting is the domestic upstart class. Before the release of the ET5, all models of NIO were quoted at more than 400,000. However, since July 2021, its sales have begun to fall from "Wei Xiaoli", until now, it has not picked up the former glory.

The pricing of Gaohe HiPhi X is stuck in the middle of the Weilai ES8 and Model X. However, in terms of performance, the zero hundred advertised by Gaohe HiPhi X takes 3.9 seconds, which is slightly backward in terms of the configuration of the same level of electric vehicles. Compared with the Tesla Model 3, which costs 300,000 yuan, zero hundred takes only 3.3 seconds, and the model S zero hundred with little price difference takes only 2.5 seconds.

In the official video promoted by Gaohe HiPhi X, in addition to the frequent display of NT wing doors and intelligent light interactions, Gaohe HiPhiX seems to be unable to find other more unexpected highlights.

In addition to these problems, the question that high-end electric vehicles seem to have to face is, is there really so many people who consume high-end electric vehicles?

In contrast, the sinking of "non- " high-end electric vehicles has become a breakthrough in the current electric vehicle market.

The sinking market is vast

When it comes to the new forces of car building, in addition to "Li Xiaowei", Nezha Automobile has become a rising star.

In January 2022, Nezha Automobile ushered in 100,000 mass-produced models off the production line, which is the fourth new car-making force to achieve this achievement after "Wei Xiaoli". Among them, the sales force Nezha V guidance price is 62,900-120,800 yuan, and the cumulative delivery has exceeded 50,000 vehicles, ranking first in the 70,000-level pure electric vehicle.

On March 2, some new car manufacturers have announced the delivery data of new energy vehicles in February. According to the sales ranking, Nezha Automobile ranked second for the first time with 7117 units, an increase of 255% year-on-year. Compared with the third ranking in January, Nezha Automobile once again refreshed its ranking in the list of new forces.

Zero-run and Nezha Automobile as the main player in the low-end market, its model pricing is basically in the range of 7-20 million yuan, the models on sale include C11, T30 and S01, of which less than 70,000 yuan of the main attack on the pure tram market Zero-run T03 has become the mainstay of the sales contribution list.

According to iiMedia Research, in 2021, the proportion of people in China's sinking market who have plans to buy a car but have not yet purchased it will be 54.7%, while the same population will account for 48.7% in first- and second-tier cities. The sinking market will be a new market that car companies cannot ignore.

The large number of car demand in the sinking market has made the car companies that were originally positioned as high-end unable to hold their breath, and the first to shoot is Weilai Automobile. Its brand founder Li Bin said in March last year that it would release a sub-brand with lower positioning, "Gemini", with a new car price of about 150,000. At the same time, concessions were also made in high-end cars, and in December of the same year, it launched a battery rental service for its model ET5, directly reducing the price of new cars from 330,000 yuan to 258,000 yuan.

Xiaopeng Automobile, also on the basis of the popular model of Xiaopeng P5, added a version of lithium iron phosphate battery, compared with the ternary lithium battery version, the price of Xiaopeng P5 directly dropped to 157,900 yuan, becoming Xiaopeng's first mid-range car.

The tide of price increases has arrived

On March 15, Tesla once again announced several major model price increases, ranging from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan.

With the sharp rise in raw material prices, the value of new energy vehicles is rising steadily. In addition to Tesla, new energy vehicle brands such as Xiaopeng Automobile, Nezha Automobile, BYD, and Tesla have also completed price increases in the near future.

Behind the increase in the price of models is the rising price of raw materials that overwhelms car companies. From upstream nickel, cobalt, lithium and other resources, to the prices of key raw materials such as lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium hexafluorophosphate, the price is increasing significantly.

According to data from Shanghai Steel Federation, on March 17, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate reached 494,500 yuan / ton, compared with the beginning of 2021 (48,000 yuan / ton), the price more than ten times. In addition, shanghai nonferrous network data show that lithium hexafluorophosphate currently reached 543,500 yuan / ton, compared with the beginning of 2021 up 5 times; battery-grade cobalt price of 568,500 yuan / ton, compared with the beginning of 2021 increased by nearly 3 times.

In contrast, traditional oil vehicles are less affected by the price increase. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association, believes that the price increase tide will not spread to the fuel vehicle market. "The demand for fuel vehicles is still relatively insufficient, so it is unlikely to increase prices, because after so many years of development, the total sales of fuel vehicles are basically stable or declining." In contrast, the demand for new energy is very strong. ”

This means that the price advantage of new energy vehicles competing with oil trucks will become smaller and smaller.

In addition, the subsidies for new energy vehicles have also begun to decline with the arrival of 2022, can the main "luxury" new energy vehicles still stand in the market for a long time?

It is understood that from the perspective of the currently open new car planning, the ideal L9, Weilai ES7 and Xiaopeng G9 will all enter the 400,000-level SUV market this year, and the three new cars will be unveiled on the same stage at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, the ideal L9 and Weilai ES7 are the world's premiere, and the Xiaopeng G9 is likely to open the interior for the first time.

Judging from the information revealed, the three models will continue to continue the concept of "second bedroom" and continue to take the luxury route.

Weilai, which continues to lose money, also faces the pressure of betting with the Hefei government, the pressure of service under high sales and so on.

The most critical reason why trams have advantages over oil vehicles is the cost performance, and in the case of rising prices of new energy vehicles and subsidies declining, whether the prospects of new energy vehicles that continue to fight for the "luxury car" pattern are bright, for the time being, it is necessary to play a big question mark.

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