On April 10, the domestic high-end new energy brand WEILAI announced that it will adjust the price of its products from May 10, 2022, involving the price of the whole vehicle, the rental price of BaaS batteries, etc.
Weilai said that the price adjustment is affected by the rise in global raw material prices, and users who pay a deposit before May 9 are not affected by this price adjustment.
In terms of model price, the starting price of ES8, ES6 and EC6 versions of the model was raised by 10,000 yuan.
Among them, the ES8 standard endurance model starts at 478,000 yuan, the long-endurance model starts at 536,000 yuan, and the BaaS battery rental scheme starts at 408,000 yuan;
The starting price of ES6 standard endurance models is 368,000 yuan, the long-endurance model is starting at 426,000 yuan, and the BaaS battery rental scheme is starting at 298,000 yuan;
Ec6 standard endurance models start at 378,000 yuan, long-endurance models start at 436,000 yuan, and BaaS battery rental scheme starts at 308,000 yuan;
The two cars just delivered and released, the ET7 and ET5, are priced unchanged, with prices ranging from 448,000 to 526,000 yuan and 328,000 to 386,000 yuan, respectively.
In terms of the BaaS battery rental plan, the monthly service fee for the battery pack of long-lasting models has been adjusted from 1480 yuan to 1680 yuan; the monthly service fee of the standard battery pack, as well as the monthly and annual upgrade to the long-life battery pack, remain unchanged; and the users who have purchased a car are not affected by the policy.
Weilai CEO Li Bin also said in the community that the price increase is really helpless to hope that everyone understands, "this year's battery raw materials have risen sharply, and there is no downward trend in the near future, originally wanted to carry a burden, the epidemic is more unbearable."
Unlike most other new energy vehicle companies that have experienced 1-2 rounds of price adjustment this year, the price increase of Weilai has almost become the last new energy vehicle company to implement, and has preset a buffer period for users. The price increase of Weilai's new car is between 1-3% of the price of the car, and it is also significantly lower than that of other car companies.
It is worth mentioning that not long ago, Weilai just announced that it would suspend the production of the whole vehicle due to the shortage of supply chain due to the epidemic. Li Bin said that the current epidemic in Shanghai and other places has led to the "cut off" of partners, and many car companies have suspended production, and Weilai is also as anxious as everyone.
Since the beginning of this year, the price of raw materials upstream of lithium batteries such as nickel, lithium and cobalt has risen sharply, resulting in a large number of domestic new energy vehicle companies choosing to increase the price of new cars, with an increase of thousands to tens of thousands of yuan. Some car companies have increased battery costs by 30%-50%, and even price increases cannot fully compensate for the decline in profits brought about by rising costs.
Previously, Li Bin said at the 2022 Q1 financial report meeting that the new ES8, ES6 and EC6 models of Niolai will be equipped with 8155 chips and a new 5G communication module at the product level, and the price may be readjusted.
For the current increase in raw materials for new energy vehicles and the price increase of car companies, Li Bin said that the stability of prices can protect the interests of the market and users. He believes that there is more "speculation" in the current rise in raw materials, and calls on upstream lithium mines, lithium salts and other manufacturers not to artificially create price increases, but to start from the perspective of long-term interests.
According to the data, In the first quarter of this year, WEILAI delivered a total of 25,800 new cars, an increase of 28.5% year-on-year, completing the delivery target of 25,000-26,000 vehicles in the first quarter.