"At the beginning of the year, I heard that new energy vehicle insurance has a price a day, but I didn't expect that buying a car now is also a price a day." On March 14, in a large second-hand car sales market in Chengdu, customer Mr. Jiang took a fancy to a Tesla with a price tag of 216,800 yuan. The next day, Mr. Jiang came to the store again and found that the price of the car had become 219,900 yuan.
He angrily complained to the salesperson who received him again, "You Tesla store cheaters and sits on the ground." The sales staff was aggrieved and told Mr. Jiang that the Beijing headquarters was a unified price adjustment, not for individuals. After thinking about it for a night, Mr. Jiang still wanted to buy this Tesla, and on March 16, he entered the store again to see the car, and what surprised him was that the price of this car had become 221,800 yuan.
In just three days, the price of the same second-hand Tesla rose by 5,000 yuan. Eventually, Mr. Jiang was furious and turned to buying cars of other brands.
With the collective price increase of new energy vehicles and new cars, the price of second-hand cars in the market has also risen, and Tesla has even formulated relevant agreements to combat scalpers a few days ago, prohibiting owners who have obtained orders from reselling vehicles within one year.
New energy used cars are gradually entering a better situation
"When the oil price breaks 9 (yuan), 'No. 95 gasoline is full' has become a new way to show off wealth, I still look at used cars." At the Hefei hypermarket of Uxin used cars, customer Mr. Liu joked with the sales while driving Tesla's "front trunk".
It is reported that Uxin used cars in Xi'an and Hefei two super stores, the main business of new energy vehicle brands are Tesla, Weilai, Ideal, Xiaopeng, BYD, etc., with 2019, 2020, 2021 boutique cars as the mainstay.
The sales staff of Uxin used car Hefei hypermarket told reporters that in March, about 30% more customers came to see new energy vehicles, and the new energy showroom was more lively than the BBA showroom. From the current data monitoring, some new energy second-hand cars have indeed seen a certain degree of price increase, of which Tesla has risen significantly, and the highest price increase is about 4,000 yuan.
Gou Yinlong, sales director of new energy vehicles of Uxin used cars, said in an interview with this reporter that Uxin's recent observations found that consumers' acceptance of new energy used cars has increased significantly. The reason is that, on the one hand, many factors such as the epidemic and lack of core have led to an extension of the delivery cycle of some hot-selling models, such as Tesla to wait for four or five months to pick up a car, BYD to wait for more than two months, and the biggest advantage of second-hand cars is that they are all existing cars, and those customers who are eager to use cars are more willing to buy second-hand cars.
On the other hand, Tesla's first owner and the second owner have roughly the same rights, although even if the price of the second-hand car is slightly higher, the retention rate is higher, so Tesla used cars are quite popular. In addition, the price of quasi-new cars of generally autonomous new energy vehicles is 10% to 20% cheaper than that of new cars, and the difference of tens of thousands of yuan is equivalent to the fuel money of the average office worker for four or five years, and even the "electricity bill" for seven or eight years.
This is still very attractive to the average consumer. In fact, if the average household vehicle is running normally, the battery decay is not so sensational.
With more regularized and branded dealers joining the new energy used car war, the development of the market has been accelerated, such as Uxin used cars for all new energy used cars to provide 7 days no reason to return the car, fire, blisters, meter car lifetime refund and other service guarantees, so that consumers can buy new energy used cars with more peace of mind.
According to the "2021 Consumer Demand Insight Report on the Used Car Market" released by the Autohome Research Institute, the market share of new energy used cars increased from 1.6% in 2019 to 4% in 2021, and the share increased by 2.5 times.
Since 2019, the number of intended users of new energy used cars has grown rapidly, with an increase of 111.3% over the previous year in 2021. In the past year, with the improvement of product technology, market demand has transitioned from policy-driven to market-driven, and the gap between the retention rate of new-generation new-energy used cars and fuel vehicles has been narrowing, and the one-year retention rate of Hongguang MINIEV, Ideal ONE, and Xiaopeng P7 is more than 75%.
Manufacturers are forced to introduce anti-"scalper" clauses
Car 300 data shows that at the beginning of 2022, subject to the rise in the price of raw materials such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt, coupled with the decline in official subsidies by 30%, 50 new energy models of more than 20 new energy vehicle companies have announced price increases.
Tesla and BYD, two new energy head companies, have raised prices for two consecutive times, setting off a wave of price increases in the industry.
The relevant person in charge of Che 300 told reporters that after market visits and investigations, for some consumers who just need it, the price increase of new energy vehicles is within the acceptable range and will not affect their purchase behavior; but most consumers hold a wait-and-see attitude towards the phenomenon of successive price increases and suspend the car purchase plan.
Recently, BYD issued an announcement to adjust the official guidance price of new energy models related to Dynasty Network and Ocean Network, ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 yuan.
On March 17, Chery New Energy announced that due to the continuous sharp rise in raw material prices, the prices of small ants and QQ ice cream under Chery New Energy were raised by 3,000 to 6,000 yuan.
On March 18, Geometry Auto officially announced a price increase. The official guidance price of Geometry APro, Geometry C, and EX3 is adjusted, and the range of the increase is 3000 to 7000 yuan.
In addition, the C11 zero-running car also recently announced a price increase for the whole series, an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.
The price increase of new energy vehicles has not only pushed up the price of second-hand cars, but also made some people smell business opportunities. Recently, a Tesla "non-resale commitment letter" has been frequently forwarded.
Some netizens revealed that Tesla requires the owner of one or more orders to buy Tesla to sign a "non-resale commitment letter", promising not to resell to a third party within one year, and the violator pays a penalty of 20% of the vehicle's fare.
Since mid-to-late March, the Tesla Model 3 rear-wheel drive version has increased by 14,000 yuan, the dual-motor all-wheel drive high-performance version has increased by 18,000 yuan, the Model Y dual-motor all-wheel drive version has increased by 18,000 yuan, and the dual-motor all-wheel drive high-performance version has risen by 20,000 yuan.
Tesla customers who have successfully placed orders can make a profit of tens of thousands of yuan if they transfer orders.
In order to prevent the "scalper" from placing orders in batches to profit from it, Tesla also formulated a "commitment letter of non-resale". However, some lawyers pointed out that the clause restricts the rights of consumers, is a standard clause, and once there is a dispute between the buyer and the seller, it is likely to be found to be invalid.
After three years, new energy second-hand cars may account for half
The relevant person in charge of car 300 told reporters that the price of new cars will inevitably affect the second-hand car market, last year's average price of new energy used cars increased by 2.1% compared with 2020, and the average price of new energy used cars so far this year has increased by 4.8% compared with the same period last year; affected by the epidemic in 2020, new energy used cars have only traded less than 50,000 units, and the transaction volume in 2021 exceeded 120,000 units, an increase of more than 150% year-on-year.
According to the analysis, in the past two years, new energy second-hand car transactions are mainly distributed in the coastal economically developed provinces of the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, accounting for 51%; the main trading age is 1 to 3 years old, accounting for more than 40%; the second-hand car turnover period is basically 1.5 months, which is 0.5 months longer than the turnover period of fuel vehicles.
The rapid technological development of new car-making forces, as well as the continuous innovation, upgrading and improvement of various after-sales services, the improvement of market ownership, and the official repurchase policy launched by manufacturers have further dispelled many concerns about consumers' non-preservation of new energy vehicles and opaque vehicle conditions, and consumers' acceptance of new energy used cars is getting higher and higher, especially a number of officially certified used car channels have been opened, which is becoming the best way to broaden the new energy used car market.
The person in charge said that with the acceleration of the urbanization process, more and more cities have begun to restrict traditional cars on the road, and the rise in oil prices, fuel costs have become a big expense, which has forced consumers to switch to buy new energy models.
The rise in the price of new energy vehicles also reflects that they are more susceptible to cost constraints, and the price system is still not mature enough; if the price of new energy vehicles continues to rise, I am afraid that consumers will find it difficult to accept that their prices are higher than those of fuel vehicles of the same level, and the demand for both new cars and second-hand car markets will be suppressed.
Zhang Yanwei, chief operating officer of Tiantian Paiche, pointed out that from the car retention rate report released by Autohome last year and the transaction data released by the Daily Pai Car platform, new energy used cars have achieved significant improvements in both retention rate and transaction volume.
In some regions, second-hand car dealers have risen in the second half of last year to buy new energy second-hand cars. In the new energy used car, the retention rate of Tesla's second-hand car has reached the same level as the same level of fuel vehicles, sometimes even exceeding the same level of fuel vehicles, and the market acceptance and recognition of other new car-making forces have also increased significantly.
Zhang Yanwei pointed out that in the next 3 years, the proportion of used fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles in the hands of second-hand car dealers will become increasingly flat. Whether it is the choice of the market or the support of policies, the irreversibility of the development trend of new energy vehicles has become an established fact.
Compared with the difficulty of building piles in first-tier cities, it is not a car purchase resistance in third- and fourth-tier cities, and the reason why there has not yet been a large number of new energy second-hand cars flowing into third- and fourth-tier cities is that buyers are still in the hesitation period and wait-and-see period before the sale, and it is expected that in the next 3 to 5 years, the circulation of new energy vehicles and new energy second-hand cars will change dramatically.
Text: Chen Meng Editor: Jiao Yue Layout: Liu Xiaoye