"Weilai does not increase prices, at least not yet."
Weilai President Qin Lihong responded to the rising price of new energy vehicles on March 21. Unfortunately, the punch in the face came too quickly. "He said what he believed at every stage of his life," Mr. Luo's law never goes out of style.
New energy finally lost its position?
On April 10, WEIO released the "Product Price Adjustment Instructions", indicating that due to the impact of rising global raw material prices, the prices of its products will be adjusted appropriately from May 10. The fruit gives you a simple summary, that is, the starting price of ES8, ES6, EC6 versions of the model has risen by 10,000 yuan, the starting price of ET7 and ET5 has not changed, and the battery pack rental service has also been adjusted accordingly. Fortunately, WEILAI also gave the intended users a certain buffer period. Because users who paid ES8, ES6, EC6, ET7 deposits or ET5 reservation deposits on or before May 9, car purchase and battery rental prices are not affected by this adjustment. Compared with BYD next door, the price increase was announced at 23:50 that night, and the next day at 00:00 began to execute, only giving users ten minutes to consider, missing the operation of 6,000 yuan, Guozi felt that Weilai's wave of price increases was already decent enough. Of course, Weilai should also have considered user reputation, because BYD was scolded by users because of this tumultuous operation, and even lost a lot of potential customers.
Why is ITU said that WEILAI is the last position of new energy vehicles to lose? Because it is already the last of the well-known new energy vehicle brands at home and abroad to announce a price increase. To say something even more outrageous, even the "little electric chicken" that Guozi just bought last month, that is, the electric bicycle, has risen by 500 yuan after stepping into April. The original price is less than 4,000 yuan, this increase, you taste. Guozi had only recently read a report in which he elaborated on "why Weilai does not dare to raise prices." Among them, there are not only the reasons why the three old models of ES8, ES6 and EC6 hit the world, there are no new products and explosive models, but also the reasons why Weilai has suffered serious losses and high profit problems for consecutive years. Under such a predicament, Weilai still dares to brave the joke of "punching the face" and announces the price increase against the trend, which can only be said that Weilai really can't stand it. Weilai's price increase is only a microcosm of the rising price of new energy vehicles. How crazy is the price increase of new energy?
To answer that question, we have to turn the clock back to the end of the year. The first shot to raise the price of new energy vehicles is Tesla, which is well known to everyone. Model 3 price increase of 10,000 yuan, Model Y price increase of 21,000 yuan, at that time seemed to be a big increase. At the same time, several domestic new energy vehicle companies such as Xiaopeng, Nezha and BYD have also announced price increases. But at that time, car companies were still relatively moderate, and the overall price increase was below 7,000 yuan. Considering the reduction of subsidies for new energy vehicles, this price increase is still within the acceptable range. Entering March this year, the price increase of new energy vehicles has changed from "small steps and fast running" to "rapid iteration". In this wave of price increases, as many as a dozen car companies are involved, and nearly thirty models are involved. And compared with the last time, the range of models involved in price increases this time is wider: not only are there most of the mid-range models on the market that cost 200,000-300,000 yuan, but also the Wuling Mini EV, which only sells for about 50,000 yuan, and the Model Y, a high-end model priced at 300,000-400,000. In a word, no one is spared. Some media summarized a table of price increases for new energy vehicles, from which we can find that some models not only increased prices, but also rose more than once.
In just one week, a number of car companies announced price increases. Tesla's two price increases are only 5 days apart, and some models have risen by up to nearly 30,000 yuan; BYD, WM, Xiaopeng Automobile, etc., are also the second price increase this year, and Xiaopeng has cut the rights and interests of car owners such as 1,000 degrees of free charging. Even Li Xiang has publicly stated: "War, politics, and the epidemic have allowed the purchase of cars to appreciate in value, and the overall price of used cars in the United States has increased by 30%." The pressure of manufacturers is naturally passed on to consumers through the selling price. On the one hand, it is the owner of a traditional gasoline car. Today, when oil prices have exceeded the 9 yuan mark, many gasoline car owners have set their sights on new energy vehicles. Unexpectedly, the collective price increase of new energy vehicles made them honestly drive back to the oil truck. On the other hand, it is the "waiting parties" who have always wanted to buy new energy vehicles. Once upon a time, new energy vehicles were the carnival camp of the party. In July 2021, the Tesla Model Y Standard Endurance Edition, which sold only 276,000 yuan, was launched. Compared to the long-endurance version, it only has 69 kilometers less endurance and 0.6 seconds slower speed, and even the old fox next door said that he wanted to enter one. Three weeks later, the standard continuation of the old fox Tesla Model 3 price announced a 15,000 yuan cut, which confirmed the concept of "waiting for the party to never lose". Who would have thought that, after just over half a year, the party would go from a resounding victory to a complete defeat? Why are prices soaring? This question is well answered. First, the policy impact; second, the price of raw materials. First of all, the policy, in fact, the impact of its price is not so large, mainly reflected in the wave of more moderate price increases at the end of last year. On December 31 last year, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Notice on the Financial Subsidy Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles in 2022, which clearly stated that the subsidy standard for new energy vehicles will be reduced by 30% on the basis of 2021. On the whole, the subsidy decline adopts a step-by-step approach, and it does not affect the high-end models of more than 300,000 yuan that are not in the scope of subsidies, so most car companies are bearing this part of the cost increase. The most fatal is the second reason, the price of raw materials. In the field of power batteries, lithium, nickel and cobalt are the three most critical metals, because lithium iron phosphate and ternary materials (nickel, cobalt, manganese polymer) are more common cathode materials. It accounts for a large proportion of the battery, and the performance of the cathode material directly affects the performance of the lithium-ion battery, so the cost also directly determines the cost of the battery. The data shows that from 2021 to March 30, 2022, the price of lithium carbonate, the key raw material upstream of new energy vehicles, soared from 50,000 yuan / ton to 500,000 yuan / ton, an overall increase of more than 850%; and nickel rose nearly 100%. According to the data of the business agency, the Shanghai market quotation of nickel rose from less than 150,000 yuan / ton to 220,000 yuan / ton on March 20, and the highest one once exceeded 300,000 yuan / ton; the quotation of cobalt also rose from less than 490,000 yuan / ton to 566,000 yuan / ton; the production price of lithium iron phosphate rose from less than 100,000 yuan / ton all the way to more than 150,000 yuan / ton, an increase of nearly 60%. What causes the price of raw materials to rise is naturally that supply exceeds demand. Although China has been the world's largest consumer and manufacturer of lithium batteries since 2014, 70% of the upstream raw materials for lithium salts rely on imports. Most of the proven lithium resources are distributed in the Salt Lake "Golden Triangle" in South America and the lithium mines in Western Australia. However, the infrastructure in South America is relatively backward, and the construction of salt pans is difficult, and it is expected that there will be a significant increase in production until at least 2023. To make matters worse, the lithium concentrate produced in the salt lakes of South America is generally of poor quality and needs to be transported back to the country for conversion, while the domestic conversion capacity is saturated and takes time to climb.
Under the internal and external troubles, the price increase of new energy vehicles is an inevitable trend. The market is chaotic, polish your eyes
When car companies and users are complaining bitterly, only scalpers have blossomed. Taking model 3 as an example, the order price of the standard version before the price increase is 265,900 yuan, and after the scalper receives the order from the owner, the price increase is about 6,000 yuan to sell to the user for 272,000 yuan, and the profit is divided between the owner and the scalper. Although the "scalper" made the difference as a middleman, the user's car purchase price is still about 8,000 yuan cheaper than the price of 279,900 yuan on the official website. Go to the official website to buy and wait for many months, it is more expensive; it is cheaper to find scalpers, and you can pick up the car faster... Such a magical thing can only be seen in this year's new energy vehicle market. In the face of this chaos, car companies can't sit still. A Tesla "non-resale commitment letter" circulated on the Internet, the cumulative order to buy multiple Tesla vehicles of the car mainly promised not to resell to a third party within one year, the offender according to the vehicle fare 20% of the liquidated damages. In addition, Tesla, BYD and zero run and other brand customer service said that once the order is decided, unless it is an immediate family member or spouse, once it is impossible to change the model owner information, in order to limit the phenomenon of order resale. Therefore, if there are fox friends who want to find scalpers to buy new energy vehicles, they must brighten their eyes! Fruit is more recommended that everyone start through formal channels, although expensive, but also more secure.
Resources:
36Kr: The collective price of new energy vehicles has increased, and the negative feedback of the industry is coming?
Hong Kong Stock Research Agency: Lithium nickel and cobalt prices are flying together, when will the price increase tide of new energy vehicles stop?
Garage No. 42: The price of new energy vehicles has increased by 30,000, why have the "waiting party" miscalculated?
Light cone intelligence: new energy with rising prices, it is difficult to shake off the battery curse
Zhixing driving road: new energy vehicle companies have no choice but to increase prices, but scalpers are crazy to collect orders
Hunting Cloud Network: Weilai "does not dare" to increase prices
EDIT: Question mark
Would you still consider new energy?