A few days ago, the U.S. Automotive News Research and Data Center announced car sales in the first quarter of this year. Tesla beat the BBA and Lexus with 110,000 units to win the us luxury brand sales championship again. The total sales volume of 110,000 yuan also increased by 41.8% year-on-year, accounting for 21.8% of the total sales volume of the US luxury car market.
In addition to the local red, Tesla's performance in China can also be remarkable. According to the data just released by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Tesla's wholesale volume reached 65,814 units in March, an increase of 85% year-on-year, and the overall performance of 182,174 vehicles in the first quarter of this year is also a top-notch in the field of new energy vehicles.
It can be seen that Tesla has achieved great success in both the major markets in China and the United States. Especially in the United States, it is even more valuable to be able to beat a number of luxury brands with a long history.
What kind of magic does Tesla have? Let the kung fu car take everyone to see it together.
(1) Luxury in the United States, not luxurious in China?
Whether Tesla is a luxury brand or not seems to be a very controversial matter. Especially before the price increase, the price of Tesla Model 3 once dropped to less than 250,000, which has greatly coincided with many ordinary brand mid-level cars, and seems to be more solid in the name of non-luxury.
But Tesla has a special point, that is, in the parking lots of those high-end communities and high-end shopping malls, it is almost the only "ordinary brand" with a large appearance rate, and the rest are basically BBA and some ultra-luxury brands. And even the entry-level Model 3, parked with a number of performance cars and high-end cars, seems to have an aura that is not lost. This shows that at least in the eyes of many rich people, Tesla is indeed regarded as a luxury brand.
There is also a very interesting phenomenon, that is, the new energy vehicles produced by the BBA and super luxury brands are basically not enough for Tesla to fight. Whether it is BMW's i series or a luxury coupe such as the Porsche Taycan, in the competition with Tesla's same level of models, it is basically only a loss.
So although the domestic price is not "luxurious" enough, Tesla's brand influence is still good, at least most people regard it as a high-end brand.
In the US market, Tesla's luxury brand identity seems to be more "justified". The Model 3 rear-wheel-drive version costs $46,990, the long-endurance version costs $55,990, and the high-performance version costs $62,990. In contrast, the starting price of the AMERICAN BMW 3 Series is $41,450, and the U.S. BMW 2.0T is no low-power version, which is equivalent to the starting 330 version, and the domestic starting price is nearly 400,000. In fact, tesla Model 3 in the United States mainland starting price is slightly higher than 3, 4, C, Model Y directly with bmw X5 price coincident, if you add that most people in the United States are selected to install FSD, the actual transaction price gap will be even greater.
Therefore, to say that Tesla is not a luxury brand in China, there is still a certain reason, after all, the price is indeed much lower than that of the BBA model. As for who is "cutting leeks", everyone has a different opinion.
(2) Innovative gameplay, Tesla hit the BBA lifegate
Tesla is not unusual in China, many people like to be classified as the Chinese people "sublime and charming", see the foreign brand feel superior. So how did it beat the BBA in the U.S.? You should know that the United States does not have an exhaust tax, the market competition is also very fierce, the same price, there are too many models to play. Tesla's price point can choose both BBA's various luxury models, as well as various performance cars or hardcore SUVs and pickups.
In fact, the reason is very simple, that is, relying on a series of innovative ways to play.
The first is design, Tesla is the first car company to promote pure electric platforms. It emphasizes that electric vehicles should be built on a dedicated pure electric platform, which can maximize its advantages.
In terms of shape design, Tesla's crazy pursuit of motion and low wind resistance not only makes its model highly recognizable, which makes it easier to achieve faster speeds. It arranges the battery on the chassis, and strictly speaking, it is actually the battery and the device that protects the battery together constitutes tesla's chassis, which further reduces the vehicle's center of gravity and has a greater advantage in handling. Without a bulky internal combustion engine, Tesla compressed the dashboard as much as possible, making a "front trunk" and leaving more room for the rear.
Then there is the configuration, even the entry-level Model 3, its maximum motor power is 275 horses, the maximum torque reaches 404Nm, and it only takes 6.1 seconds to complete the 0-100km/h acceleration, which can already kill many performance cars. The mechanical configuration such as double wishbone independent suspension and multi-link independent suspension is also enough to further enhance its control texture.
In terms of intelligence, Tesla is also far ahead of other car companies, and its car machine system has strong computing power. In particular, the latest AMD chips of the new Model 3 and Model Y are one dimension stronger than the latest Qualcomm 8155 car chip of the new forces. It's even compatible with most of the PS5's games, and its playability is superb. Its speech recognition function is also very good, with considerable self-learning ability, and it is really intimate to use.
In terms of intelligent driving, Tesla is also one of the most complete car companies. It mainly promotes a pure visual solution, that is, it hopes that the car will look and think like a person, and this set of technologies has been progressing.
As for Tesla's rough workmanship and monotonous interior, many Chinese people said that they could not accept it, but Americans who are used to pickup trucks do not seem to have much opinion. After all, they pay more attention to safety, Tesla is still doing a good job in this regard, and its integrated body has performed very well in various crash tests. Then there is the price transparency, whether it rises or falls, online and offline prices, which many people are also very useful.
It is a variety of innovative ways to play that make Tesla stand out in a short period of time, surpassing the BBA in the United States and is also working hard at home.
(3) Stir up the Chinese market and lead the industry upwards?
In the Chinese market, Tesla is more like a silver carp. It is not the highest-selling new energy car company, BYD is, it is not the most expensive car company, Weilai, Gaohe these are more expensive than it sells.
But since tesla came along, China's auto market has quietly changed.
More and more users have begun to switch to electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, such as the ideal ONE, Weilai ES6, Extreme Kr 001, the main market is 300,000 + market, in the past are the world of BBA, and now they are taking food from the field of BBA. In the past, 300,000+ users who only considered BBA will now consider not only Tesla, but also domestic cars.
Of course, this will be a long process. After all, the status of BBA is not formed overnight, they are also in the long years, the high-end image deeply rooted in people's hearts. But in the long run, more and more people are trying 200,000+ and 300,000+ domestic cars, and they will soon find that domestic cars are not so bad. Taking BYD Han as an example, the new model has just been launched and has received 50,000+ orders. In time, we will definitely be able to pull down the prices of these foreign brands.
Tesla's role in it is also particularly subtle, and at the market level, it is a challenger that shatters the dignity of the BBA. At the technical level, it is a leader, not only published a large number of patented technologies, its understanding of new energy vehicles, but also more and more in the change of this industry.
Next, we will see new energy vehicles with higher energy density and lower price batteries, will use a one-piece die-cast body, or the battery and chassis will be cast into one. Cars will interact more and more with people, becoming a real second living room.
(4) Kung Fu shooting
Tesla has achieved great success in both the Chinese and American markets, and has defeated the BBA's rule for many years in the United States, which has a very great incentive effect for the new generation of enterprises.
In China, it is also gaining momentum, leading Chinese brands to challenge the traditional automotive landscape. When tesla changed the world a few years ago, most people were skeptical, but now it seems to be getting closer.