Written by Wu Jing
Edit/ Wong Tai Lu
Design / Zhao Haoran
"The whole process is like this, the two of us sign a sale and purchase agreement - you pay the balance - you pick up the car - after the license is licensed, the two of us go to the transfer together." On a second-hand idle item trading platform, a seller who wants to transfer Tesla orders told the car business review reporter.
The seller is selling an order for a 2022 Model Y for 10,000 yuan, and the information he hangs on the second-hand idle item trading platform shows that the order was placed in December 2021, when the original price was 281,000 yuan, and now, the official website of the 2022 Model Y is priced at 316,900 yuan.
This also means that a potential Car Buyer of Tesla, if he does not currently book a car through official channels, but through the purchase of such transfer orders, in addition to the 10,000 yuan spent on the purchase order, he can theoretically save more than 25,000 yuan.
Affected by the sharp rise in the price of upstream raw materials and the decline of new energy subsidy policies, domestic new energy vehicles have set off a "wave of price increases", and recently, more than 40 electric vehicles from more than 20 new energy vehicle companies have increased prices. Taking Tesla as an example, Tesla has intensively raised prices three times in just one week. For car owners who made decisions before the price increase, the orders in their hands have become "financial tools", and scalpers with a keen sense of smell are even more eager.
If you type the keywords "Tesla order transfer" on the search bar, the number of related goods displayed is almost unexpected. The reporter found that according to different models, the order transfer price of each model ranges from 1,000 yuan or even to 20,000 yuan, and the cities covered by the order transferors are all over the country.
As of now, in addition to Tesla, in the second-hand idle goods trading platform, the order transfer information of brands such as Xiaopeng, Ideal, Zero Run, BYD, and even Wuling Hongguang MINIEV can be searched. Among them, the order transfer information about Tesla is the largest.
Disrupted markets
"Tesla used marketing to 'fool' scalpers, who in turn returned orders and 'cheated' them... So, now Tesla is clearing inventory. ”
This is a very hot passage in 2015. It ridiculed Tesla, which had just entered the Chinese market, and was fooled into the pit by scalpers.
At that time, Tesla had just entered the Chinese market, and the active participation of speculators and "scalpers" caused the illusion that the market demand was "extremely high". Later, when market conditions changed, speculators cancelled orders one after another, resulting in an increase in inventory. In this regard, Musk even half-jokingly said in an interview with Chinese media that at present, Tesla is in the recovery period of "speculative sequelae", "China is the only market where Tesla has excess inventory in the world, and we are still digesting inventory." ”
After 8 years, Tesla has once again been targeted by scalpers. Due to the hot orders and limited production capacity, Tesla's delivery time has exceeded 5 months. At present, Tesla China's official website shows that the delivery time of Tesla Model 3 is expected to be 20-24 weeks.
With shorter delivery times and cheaper transaction prices, these sellers of Tesla orders are popular across platforms. "Hand-in-hand car transfer, don't wait so long, and save 30,000, isn't it fragrant?" Similar resale propaganda messages flooded the platform.
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, believes that the phenomenon of scalper scalping orders has a negative impact on the production and operation status of enterprises and the protection of consumer rights and interests. "The scalping of this kind of order is not the real demand, but some speculative demand, if this blind, false order is more, it will inhibit the purchase of ordinary consumers, and if the market changes, these orders suddenly do not buy, which will have a huge impact on the production and operation status of the enterprise and market research and judgment."
Controversial Tesla
Automakers have banned the transfer of these orders.
On March 23, the relevant person in charge of Xiaopeng Automobile said that the product orders of Xiaopeng Automobile are all associated with the real name of the ID card, and the identity information needs to be verified before the contract can enter the delivery link, if the customer cancels the reservation for personal reasons, the vehicle order will be re-integrated into the unified management, and there is no possibility of private second-hand order resale.
In order to protect the rights and interests of consumers, Xiaopeng Automobile also specially stated that Xiaopeng Automobile's car purchase channels are unified nationwide and cannot be operated through private online transaction resale. Xiaopeng will also reserve the right to pursue the legal responsibility of relevant parties. If the consumer has any dispute or damage to his or her rights as a result of private transactions, Xiaopeng will not be liable.
Obviously, Xiaopeng's approach still cannot stop offline transactions between car owners. In fact, whether it is resale between individuals or through "scalpers", cars that consumers get at lower prices and in a shorter period of time have been classified as used car transactions.
In addition to eliminating the possibility of online transfer orders, Tesla also hopes to strictly defend the possibility of trading, so compared to Xiaopeng, Tesla has also introduced a more severe and controversial measure, but in fact, the effect of this measure is quite limited.
On March 16, a Weibo big V exposed a Tesla "non-resale commitment letter", which requires owners who have placed one or more cumulative orders to buy multiple Tesla vehicles to promise not to resell to third parties within one year, and violators pay liquidated damages of 20% of the vehicle's fare.
In the eyes of relevant legal personnel, this commitment letter has almost no legal effect. Because the ownership of the car is transferred from the time of delivery, the car company has no right to restrict others from trading. An industry insider close to Tesla told Auto Business Review, "At the moment, as far as I know, no owner has signed the commitment letter. ”
"I saw the news that Tesla let the owner of the car who paid a multiple deposit sign a contract not to resell, but as of now (Tesla) has not notified me to sign, and if there is no signature, it should not affect the transfer." Another seller on the second-hand idle goods trading platform said in a communication with the car business review reporter that the seller had two Tesla orders on hand.
Why is Tesla's "order transfer" phenomenon so rampant? An industry insider summed up three reasons for the automotive business review:
First of all, tesla ordering process is simple, consumers only need to pay 1,000 yuan in cash when booking on the official website or offline physical store, and Tesla has price protection for customers who have booked cars, and adopts the principle of "low is not high", and speculators face less risk;
Secondly, compared with other car companies, Tesla's price adjustment fluctuations are the most frequent, giving speculators more ample room for interests;
Finally, there is basically no difference in the rights and interests of Tesla's first and second owners. "Tesla does not have the 'first owner's rights', the warranty of the new car is transferred with the ownership of the vehicle, we are 'with the car and not with the person', the rights and interests of the two owners before and after the difference is not much." In the face of reporters' questions, a Tesla experience center staff member said.
Lost interests
Not only disrupting the normal market order, this phenomenon of "order transfer" flooding the market also makes it impossible for consumers to protect their interests.
In November 2021, in order to rectify the speculation of scalpers, Great Wall Tank specially issued the "Announcement on Abnormal Orders for Tank 500", which announced that for new orders, orders that do not match the actual recipient and cannot prove the relationship between the immediate family members or the limited license city photo lease relationship are considered invalid orders. In addition, the official also said that if the purchase or transfer order is made through unofficial channels, it is impossible to enjoy the first owner's 5-year 150,000-kilometer vehicle warranty, engine transmission lifetime free warranty and other policies.
In addition to Tesla, many brands have the rights and interests of the first owner, and if the property rights of the vehicle and the nature of the use of the vehicle are transferred, transferred or changed in the later stage, the service rights and interests will be invalid. It also means that for car owners, the temptation to get a low-priced used car from scalpers is not so great.
Auto Business Review learned that the first owner of Xiaopeng Automobile can enjoy free charge of 1,000 kWh of electricity and battery life warranty service every year, and the service is only for the first owner. Therefore, on the second-hand idle goods trading platform, a Xiaopeng order with a transfer price of 5500 yuan cannot be transferred because the rights and interests of the first car owner cannot be transferred, and the seller said that he can reduce the price to transfer. "If you don't have high requirements for these [the rights of the first owner], I can directly transfer it to you and only charge 2,000."
"If it's just to save a few thousand dollars, I don't recommend you go to scalpers to buy, first, the second-hand car you bought is actually not very cost-effective, and second, you don't get any protection at all." A salesman at the Xiaopeng Automobile Experience Center said, "If you really want to buy Xiaopeng's used car from Scalper, I think you might as well choose Xiaopeng's official second-hand car, at least you can get some second-hand owners' rights." ”
Similarly, a staff member of the Ideal Car Experience Center also said, "The original warranty of the ideal car is 5 years or 100,000 kilometers of the whole vehicle, 8 years or 120,000 kilometers of the three electric appliances, and the original car warranty does not follow the car." However, this month's 10-year unlimited mileage warranty for three electric and engines is specifically for the first owner. ”
Consumers buy it
Judging from the wave of order resale triggered by the price increase of new energy vehicles, consumers almost voted with their feet, indicating their attitude towards price increases.
In response to this round of electric vehicle price increases, Ji Xuehong, director of the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of The North China University of Technology, believes that the factor behind the uneven increase in electric vehicles is not only the rise in battery raw materials, but also may be related to industrial chain control, chip shortage, technical routes, brand premiums and market expectations.
The price increase of car companies is one thing, but whether consumers can buy it or not is another problem.
Previously, Sun Yong, an auto critic and auto marketing expert, made relevant comments on the trend of China's auto market this year, and he clearly pointed out that China's auto market is encountering three major "bearish" factors: one is the new crown epidemic; the other is the stock market plunge; the third is the rise in car prices.
The CEO of a mainstream automobile sales company agreed with this, "The analysis of these three reasons is very accurate, the terminal sales in March fell sharply, very dismal, I asked a few brother manufacturers, it is expected to increase by only 10% month-on-month with February, and will decline by 30% year-on-year." We counted 61 cities, and 101 dealers closed their doors during the peak of the epidemic. ”
Some people also believe that the price increase of new energy vehicles this year is not obvious at present, and the current suppression of market demand is not obvious.
According to the data of the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, in February this year, the wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 317,000 units, an increase of 189.1% year-on-year, down 24% month-on-month, and the month-on-month decline was smaller than in previous years. Retail sales of new energy passenger cars reached 272,000 units in February, up 180.5% year-on-year and down 22.6% month-on-month, which was smaller than the trend in February of previous years.
After years of cultivation, the new energy vehicle market has a certain resilience. Cui Dongshu believes that as long as the main engine factory dares to increase the price, it will not have much impact on the market. But the impact of this ferocious wave of price increases may take time to further test.
This article was originally produced by Automotive Business Review
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