Header image source | Visual China
Do other car companies follow or not?
After jumping to a domestic new energy brother in 2021 with sales of nearly 600,000 vehicles, BYD pressed the acceleration button again.
Recently, with the release of the March sales report, BYD has unlocked new achievements in the new energy vehicle market. Official data show that BYD's new energy model sales exceeded 100,000 units for the first time, reaching 104,300 units, an increase of 160.9% year-on-year.
At the same time, the official also officially announced the complete suspension of the production of fuel vehicles. At a time when mainstream car companies generally set the fire ban timetable for 2025-2040, BYD has also become the first traditional car company to complete this goal.
Although once the news was released, it triggered an industry "earthquake" and a hot discussion among consumers, but in recent years, with the hot sales of DM-i models, BYD, which emphasizes pure electric and plug-in hybrid two-legged walking, its traditional positioning has been continuously weakened, and the fuel vehicle is replaced by plug-in hybrid models, and the suspension of the latter is also expected.
Judging from the proportion of BYD's models, the sales of fuel vehicles are constantly declining. According to the financial report, from 2019 to 2021, BYD's fuel vehicle sales were 217,000 units, 214,000 units and 136,000 units, respectively. In February this year, BYD's full-line sales reached 90,268 units, of which only 2,795 were fuel vehicles.
Under the general trend of banning combustion, BYD has finished the first line, and other car companies have followed or not followed?
Marginalized fuel vehicles
The news of the suspension of fuel vehicles fermented all night, and in the early morning of April 4, BYD salesman Yu Fei was bombarded with information that had never been seen before. Since 4:30 a.m., Yu Fei has received the first message from the customer, "There are about ten WeChat message pop-up windows, and there are 4 missed calls." The news came in a hurry, and I didn't know who to return first. ”
Although BYD has made it clear that it will continue to provide perfect service and after-sales guarantee for existing fuel vehicle customers, as well as the supply of spare parts throughout the life cycle, the news was suddenly released, and car owners still need to find sales at the first time and get a clear answer.
Yu Fei told Future Auto Daily that he also received the notice near the end of work on the evening of April 3, but as a salesman in the front line, the news of the suspension of production came suddenly, but it was also expected. In his impression, as early as 2021, few customers came to the store to inquire or buy fuel vehicle models, and since September, the store has no longer sold fuel vehicles.
Photo by Future Auto Daily
In contrast to this point in time, at the beginning of 2021, BYD launched DM-i super hybrid technology, and the three models created based on the platform, Qin PLUS DM-i, Song PLUS DM-i, and Tang DM-i, were launched simultaneously.
According to the official statement, the advantage of DM-i hybrid technology is low fuel consumption, high cost performance, and can compete with German and Japanese models of the same level in the field of fuel vehicles. However, for salespeople, under such product planning, "fighting" is inevitable.
In Yu Fei's experience, when selling DM-i hybrid models to customers, if you want to highlight its advantages, you must compare with the same level of fuel vehicles, "In terms of words, it is inevitable that BYD's fuel models will be injured by mistake." In his opinion, every recommendation will also dissuade a potential fuel vehicle customer.
A salesperson at the BYD Dynasty Network Xintai 4S store also felt the same way. Even if the two types of sales commissions are the same, they will also advise customers to give priority to DM-i hybrid models when they want to buy BYD fuel vehicles. "On the one hand, it is because the DM-i hybrid model does have advantages over fuel vehicles, on the other hand, clarifying the pros and cons will also win the favor of customers."
From the perspective of actual market performance, once the DM-i hybrid model was launched, BYD's sales increased by leaps and bounds. In 2021, bydir's cumulative sales of DM models reached 272935 units, an increase of 467.6% year-on-year. Starting from 2021, 4S stores in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and other places have also begun to clean up the inventory of fuel vehicles and no longer buy goods from manufacturers.
Yu Fei told Future Auto Daily that some 4S stores in second- and third-tier cities will also have fuel vehicle inventory, "In the future, these inventories may be packaged and sold to the auto trade cities in the fourth and fifth tier cities at low prices, and digested by the auto trade cities." ”
Wang Chuanfu wields a knife to solve "heart disease"
If at the sales terminal, people can still see the decline of BYD's fuel vehicles and the process of being replaced, then inside, from the beginning, fuel vehicles are not the optimal solution for BYD's development.
In the eyes of WANG Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, the construction of fuel vehicles is to realize his "dream of electric vehicles". "The world of the future is hybrid and electric vehicles, not gasoline cars." As early as the off-line ceremony of BYD F6 in 2007, Wang Chuanfu said so.
However, on the road to new energy, the early stage was not smooth. From 2018 to 2020, BYD's new energy sales accounted for around 40% of total sales, and it has never exceeded that of fuel vehicles.
A person close to BYD told Future Auto Daily that during that time, Wang Chuanfu was angry about this and expressed his anxiety internally more than once. The core point of concern is that if new energy vehicles cannot dominate the BYD system, "then when other traditional car companies complete the transformation, BYD's first-mover advantage will no longer exist." ”
Future Auto Daily Chart
In order to achieve anti-overtake fuel vehicles as soon as possible, BYD has placed its hopes on the DM-i hybrid model. Li Yunfei, deputy general manager of BYD Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., told Future Auto Daily, "DM-i hybrid models are regarded by BYD as the vanguard of alternative fuel vehicles. ”
It turns out that the arrival of the DM-i hybrid model did solve Wang Chuanfu's first heart disease. In the terminal market, DM-i hybrid models rely on low fuel consumption and other advantages to attack the city, while taking over the inherent market share of BYD fuel vehicles, they continue to expand their territory. BYD officials said that the current DM-i hybrid model orders have exceeded 400,000.
In March 2021, with the dual power of DM-i hybrid models and EV models, BYD ushered in a turning point of more than 50% of new energy vehicles. Since then, the proportion of new energy vehicles has risen all the way, and the sales of fuel vehicles have been squeezed internally. In the whole year of 2021, new energy vehicles accounted for more than 80%; in the first quarter of 2022, new energy vehicles accounted for 98%.
Found a qualified "fuel vehicle successor", which is undoubtedly the basis for BYD to stop production and "cut off oil". In a previous investor conference call, BYD said that the sales target for new energy vehicles in 2022 will reach a maximum of 1.2 million, of which 600,000 are pure electric models and 500,000-600,000 plug-in hybrid models are expected to be each half.
And swinging the knife in time is more like the right trade-off for better light loading at the moment.
"BYD has a relatively large plate this year, and it's time to streamline it." In the view of the above-mentioned insiders, ATD already has two sub-brands of Dynasty and Ocean, and will launch a Denza brand and a high-end brand this year. "When new energy vehicles became the main force of sales, cheap labels became Wang Chuanfu's biggest heart disease."
The word cheap is extremely sensitive within BYD. Because in Wang Chuanfu's view, the cheapness of products will also make BYD's investment in the field of technology worthless. His obsession with technology bordered on paranoia, and he couldn't stand his technology being despised. ”
Official information shows that BYD's high-end brands are expected to have a price range of 500,000-1 million yuan, while Denza will focus on the price range of 300,000-500,000 yuan. Together, the two shouldered byBYD's hope of soaring.
This time the fuel vehicle will be discontinued, BYD will undoubtedly invest more financial resources and energy to cultivate high-end brands. At the same time, the market guidance price of BYD fuel vehicles is around 120,000, which is a relatively cheap category in BYD's product matrix, and the suspension of production also raises its price threshold.
In the context of carbon neutrality, the suspension of fuel vehicles is undoubtedly the trend of the times, and from the perspective of the development of the new energy market, it is indeed a blue ocean.
According to the data of the Association, at the beginning of 2021, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will be 6%, and by the end of 2022, this figure will reach 28%. Wang Chuanfu predicted at the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum that according to the development rate in 2021, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is expected to reach 35% in 2022.
For BYD, shifting all its focus to the field of new energy does have a greater advantage to seize future market increments. However, in contrast to its development, unlike other traditional car companies, BYD has been positioned in the field of new energy in the early stage of development, and in recent years, whether it is a blade battery or a product DM-i, its core research and development investment is also concentrated here.
"Discontinuing fuel vehicles is a result-oriented path for BYD." The above-mentioned person told Future Auto Daily that for nearly 10 years, BYD has been seeking "de-fueling" in terms of technology.
"From 2008 to 2015, BYD's plug-in hybrid models used the engines of fuel vehicles. To a certain extent, the research and development direction of BYD engines has always been oriented to the technical needs of plug-in hybrid models. ”
The industry insider called BYD's model of using fuel vehicles to support the family while using the technical reserves of fuel vehicles to make wedding clothes for hybrid technology. This also means that whether it is product layout or cost, the completion of the current so-called complete transformation, for BYD, is more like an operation to push the boat along the water.
At present, many car companies at home and abroad have clearly announced the timetable for stopping production of fuel vehicles. According to incomplete statistics from Future Auto Daily, many car companies, including BAIC, Changan, Audi, BMW and other car companies, generally freeze the time of stopping production of fuel vehicles between 2025 and 2040.
Source: Visual China
For traditional car companies that have built a huge supply chain and production system for fuel vehicles, it will take time to achieve this goal. "Traditional car companies rely on technical reserves to support the brand image, and hasty transformation will directly damage their brand image." Chen Guangzu, an expert in the automotive industry, told Future Automotive Daily.
More importantly, the current fuel vehicle market is still the place where traditional car companies can settle down. In 2021, whether it is the luxury brand BBA or the independent giants Great Wall, Changan and Geely, the proportion of new energy vehicle sales in total sales is only about 10%-13%.
"The comprehensive replacement of fuel models needs to be considered from the strategic needs of enterprises." Some industry insiders have analyzed that traditional car companies have vigorously increased the hybrid market in the past two years, and compared with BYD, it is only standing at the starting point of discontinued fuel vehicles at this stage. "When fuel vehicles account for more than 50% of the interior, it is not too late to consider when to stop production of fuel vehicles."
The author | Su Peng
Edit the | Wang Yan