"At present, brands that have contracted with battery manufacturers to determine the price increase 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 waiting for the negotiation. The increase in battery costs in the second quarter was very outrageous. War, politics, and the epidemic have made it possible to appreciate the value of buying a car, and the price of used cars in the United States has increased by 30% overall. ”
Ideal Auto CEO Li wanted to make such an exclamation on March 19, and clear-eyed people knew at a glance that this was a foreshadowing for the price increase of the vehicle.
Sure enough, on March 23, Ideal ONE announced that it would increase its price by 11,800 yuan from April 1, from the original 338,000 yuan to 349,800 yuan.
This is not outrageous, and what is even more "excessive" is Tesla - in just one week, the price increase is 3 times, which can be called the "price increase champion".
On March 17, the base price of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version was raised by 15,060 yuan to 316,900 yuan.
Just on March 15, the Model Y long-endurance version continued to rise from 357,900 yuan to 375,900 yuan, while the Model Y high-performance version continued to rise from 397,900 yuan to 417,900 yuan.
On March 10, Tesla announced that the Model Y long-endurance version rose from 347,900 yuan to 357,900 yuan, and the ModelY high-performance version rose from 387,900 yuan to 397,900 yuan.
Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, which is known for its cheapness, also could not resist, announcing that it would increase its price by 0.4-0.8 million yuan from March 24.
The general price increase is 0.3-30,000 yuan
Before that, Tesla's car price did not know how many times it had risen, and it had become a wealth management product, and the cheapest Model 3 price had entered the level of 280,000 yuan from the original 250,000 yuan level, from the price to a luxury brand.
In March, some models rose in the price list, data source: car companies public information
Ideal and Tesla are not special cases, since entering 2022, price increases have become a common choice for new energy vehicle (mainly pure electricity and plug-in) manufacturers, even if the price increase has not yet been announced, it is also hoped to start implementing in the second quarter.
According to incomplete statistics, about 20 car companies, including Tesla, BYD, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Xiaopeng, Euler, Nagu, Geometry, Ideal, Zero Run, GAC Aian, and SAIC Roewe, announced the price increase information of new energy vehicles, and the price increase range was generally between 0.3 and 30,000 yuan.
Among them, BYD, Geometry, and Nega cars are relatively thick, and the price increase is only 0.3 million yuan. The most raised is Tesla Model Y and zero-run C11, both 30,000 yuan; from the perspective of increase, the most is also zero-run C11, up to 15%.
Reasons: Soaring raw material prices, chip shortages
We analyze it a little, this round of price increases are all electric vehicles, and traditional fuel vehicles have hardly increased prices.
Previously, the law of fuel vehicles was that "cars are getting better and better, and car prices are getting cheaper", in this sense, electric vehicles have completely subverted fuel vehicles.
Knowledgeable people know that the price increase of electric vehicles is mainly due to the rise in battery prices; and the battery price tour because of the soaring price of raw materials, 2022 coincides with the decline of new energy vehicle subsidies.
On March 21, CATL said that due to the sharp rise in the price of upstream raw materials, the company will dynamically adjust the price of some battery products.
The collective price adjustment of new energy vehicles is mainly due to the sharp increase in the price of core raw materials such as lithium and nickel. Taking the lithium required for power batteries as an example, the lithium price has increased tenfold in more than a year from 50,000 yuan / ton at the beginning of 2021 to the current 500,000 yuan / ton. On March 18, the domestic price of lithium carbonate was reported at 504,000 yuan / ton, up 73.8% from the beginning of the year and up 479.3% year-on-year.
Guorong Securities pointed out that nickel prices have also continued to reach new highs. Lithium and nickel prices continue to hit record highs, bringing greater uncertainty to the market.
The reasons for this round of material rise are probably three points: the market demand for new energy vehicles is strong, which brings a certain degree of increase in the price of important raw materials upstream, which is a normal market adjustment behavior. Second, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and other factors have triggered price fluctuations in some important raw materials, which is also understandable. Third, since the outbreak of the epidemic, the economic recovery of various places has been different, and the supply of raw materials in some areas may be affected to a certain extent.
Of course, there is another reason for this wave of price increases that cannot be ignored - the shortage of chips, electric vehicles need much more chips than fuel vehicles.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: crack down on malicious price increases,
Three major measures to stabilize prices
In the face of this round of price increases, it not only makes consumers unhappy, but may affect the trend of the entire industry. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Association predicted that the terminal sales of new energy passenger vehicles in 2022 would be about 5.5 million units, and now the industry generally predicts this figure to be 4.5 million units.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said that this round of coaxing and raising the price of raw materials for power batteries is extremely harmful, which is extremely destructive to the new energy automobile industry that has been cultivated after more than ten years of efforts and is in the process of subsidy decline and gear shifting, affecting the stable and healthy development of new energy vehicles, a national strategic emerging industry, and affecting the "double cycle" pattern currently being built, which runs counter to the national development strategy.
The wave of price increases has also attracted the attention of the competent authorities.
Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the "China Electric Vehicle 100" forum held recently that the current sharp increase in the price of power battery raw materials needs to be paid great attention to and carefully studied and solved. We will moderately accelerate the progress of domestic resource development, resolutely crack down on unfair competition such as hoarding and speculation, guide upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to strengthen cooperation and win-win development, and promote the return of key raw material prices to rationality.
Xin Guobin also admitted that there is indeed not much solution to the problem of lithium mine price increases, either to increase production capacity quickly, or to crack down on hoarding and speculation, but after all, lithium ore is a scarce resource, not more than coal to increase production, it takes time and reserves, so let the price fall somewhat, balance the contradiction between upstream and downstream, it is necessary to severely crack down on middlemen, make the upstream and downstream channels smooth, reduce some intermediate links, and the effect may be faster.
Prior to this, since the second half of 2021, the China Automobile Association has included the price increase of raw materials in the monitoring field of vision, and has recently stepped up its action to submit response suggestions to the relevant competent authorities. In view of this kind of unfair competition, the competent state departments have clearly stated that they will resolutely crack down on them.
In order to stop this round of price increase frenzy, the China Automobile Association gave three suggestions to the relevant departments:
The first is to promote the return of upstream raw material prices to rationality as soon as possible. Strengthen the macro-control of the bulk raw material market, focus on meeting the production needs of power batteries, moderately accelerate the development progress of domestic lithium, nickel and other resources, help domestic enterprises steadily open up foreign raw material supply channels; focus on cracking down on unfair competition such as joint hoarding and price gouging, ensure the stable operation of supply and prices, and investigate illegal acts.
The second is to strengthen the upstream and downstream supply and demand docking of the new energy vehicle industry chain. Guide upstream and downstream enterprises to carry out industry self-discipline work, advocate the formation of a long-term and stable strategic cooperation relationship between industries and industries, and between enterprises and enterprises, so as to avoid the short-term fluctuation of raw materials from fluctuating too much to affect the business plan, so as to vigorously support the healthy development of the mainland new energy automobile industry and better support the stable growth of the industrial economy.
The third is to ensure the supply of raw materials for medium- and long-term power batteries. It is recommended to accelerate the output of upstream projects under construction, increase technological innovation, coordinate the construction of a national reserve system, realize the domestic large-scale recycling guarantee capacity, and improve the anti-risk ability in the face of international market competition; it is recommended to accelerate the construction of a recycling system, promote the legislative work of power battery recycling, and strengthen the traceability management of power batteries, standardize battery recycling channels, accelerate the construction of standard systems for echelon utilization and recycling, continue to tackle battery dismantling and recycling production technology, and improve material utilization. Feed the production end with the recycling end and reduce the pressure on the supply of key materials.
Text | DA Bin
(This article is the author's personal opinion only and does not represent the position of DearAuto.) )
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Mr. Li Guoyong of Guangdong Green Law Firm