Author | Biran
Edit | Autun
New energy vehicles and cars have been running wildly, but the sales rankings rarely see the figure of luxury brands.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales of new energy vehicles will reach 3.521 million units in 2021, with a market share of 13.4%. Among the sales of 2.734 million pure electric passenger cars, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi sold a total of about 27,000 pure electric vehicles in China, which is about equal to the sales of new power leaders such as Weilai and Xiaopeng in one quarter, and the gap is even more obvious compared with BYD and Tesla.
The temporary disappointment in market performance does not affect its determination to participate in the torrent of electrification, luxury cars are turning electrification into a new core of growth, expecting to deliver high scores in new areas. According to the plan, in 2025, all new models of Mercedes-Benz will be pure electric platforms, when the BMW Group plans to deliver a total of 2 million pure electric vehicles, and the proportion of Audi new energy vehicle sales will increase to 40%.
According to the data of the Association of Passenger Vehicles, in the past Three months, 13 companies had a wholesale volume of new energy passenger vehicles exceeding 10,000. Monthly sales of more than 10,000 has become the norm for many car companies, but for luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, ten thousand "small targets" seem to have become a major challenge.
There are no cars in the storefront, and potential customers are "dissuaded"
The "coldness" of new energy consumption demand in luxury brand 4S stores is in stark contrast to the current hot new energy vehicle market.
On April 2, the day before the Qingming holiday, Tencent Auto came to the Jingbao Xing BMW 4S store on Minzhuang Road in Beijing's Haidian District, and as soon as they entered the store, they were greeted by a THE iX display board and a brand new car. Salesman Wang Di told Tencent Auto that at present, there is no existing car in this new energy vehicle in the store, and the other two new energy models, iX3 and i3.
"If you are interested in the iX3, you can first look at this X3, which is basically the same, and the low-end price is now 349,900." According to Wang Di, in the past two months, the store has sold nearly 40 iX3 models, and consumers who want to buy iX3s can now schedule production in July. Tencent Auto then arrived at the Baocheng Baiwang BMW 4S store and was told that the iX3 low-end landing price was 336,000, and it also needed to wait for scheduling.
Tencent Auto noted that although it is a weekday, there are not many people watching the car in the Jingbao industry, but most of them are around the traditional fuel car, and only one user briefly consulted the iX3 within half an hour, and when he learned that there was no existing car in the store, he turned away.
Not only BMW, but also in mercedes-Benz and Audi stores, a similar situation has emerged.
Located in the West Fourth Ring Road, the Baideli Star Mercedes-Benz 4S store is one of the few 4S stores in Beijing that can sell all mercedes models, but Tencent Automobile has not seen EQC and other new energy vehicles in the store, and some are just an electronic display board marked Mercedes-EQ.
Mercedes-Benz sales Li Jun said that due to the store decoration not long ago, the EQC and other new energy models are still in the process of selling authorization, and it is expected that they will not be eligible for the sale of new energy vehicles until the end of May.
After the Mercedes-Benz showroom went out and walked south for 5 minutes was the Baideli Haidian Audi 4S store, and the front desk service staff told Tencent Automobile, "There is no new energy vehicle on the 1st floor, and I remember that there is one on the 3rd floor." Tencent Auto found only one charging pile standing by the window on the third floor. The front desk service staff expressed surprise that there were no new energy vehicles on the third floor, and after its second confirmation, they learned that there were indeed no vehicles displayed in the store.
"There are no existing cars now, only one was sold last month, and it will take two or three months to come back." Audi sales Zhang Bao clearly told Tencent Automobile that "at present, manufacturers do not produce electric vehicles much, or mainly oil vehicles." When asked whether it was possible to test drive the Audi e-tron, the on-site sales told Tencent Automobile that the test drive had just left the park, and saw other users entering the store to consult the fuel vehicle, so they turned and left.
In contrast to the display and sales of luxury car brands new energy vehicle stores, new power brands such as Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal will appear "too enthusiastic". Tencent Auto has found through many previous visits and communications that as long as users register on the APP to retain capital or go to the store to see the car, they will receive a sales call within a day, and the other party will not only introduce the vehicle, the city storefront, etc., but also invite consumers to test drive without exception.
Even for traditional brands such as BYD, Great Wall, and Geely, as long as consumers go to the store to see the car, most salespeople will take the initiative to introduce the vehicle and strive to add potential customers to WeChat, and then many people will also receive "harassing calls".
The car is a good car, but "definitely not recommend a friend to buy"
Unlike other brand owners, most luxury brand new energy car owners believe that the LOGO with its own halo is the decisive factor in promoting the purchase.
"I didn't test drive, I read a lap of reviews and decided to buy a BMW iX3, and it didn't take long to mention the car." At the end of last year, after deciding to replace the 100,000-level independent brand pure electric vehicle from 5 years ago, Zhao Chi quickly targeted the luxury brand, "I want to buy a car with about 300,000 spaces, pay more attention to brand and quality, in fact, there are few choices on the market." ”
At almost the same time, Mercedes-Benz EQS owner An Yishuo also smoothly mentioned the new car. He told Tencent Auto that the reason for choosing to buy the car was simple, "Luxury brand, D-class car, EQS is cool." Unlike Zhao Chi, who spent 1.19 million yuan to buy Mercedes-Benz EQS, he gained not only a car, but a "social weapon". According to Ahn Yishuo, the car was busier than him after picking up the car, "because Mercedes-Benz EQS is not common, many people come to rent a car."
Wang Yan, another Owner of Mercedes-Benz EQC, told Tencent Automobile that when he wanted to buy a car at the end of 2020, he actually preferred not the EQC model, but after seeing the real car in the store and experiencing it in person, he felt that it was really good. "Workmanship, interior have a sense of luxury, the cost of the car is also low, there are three years and 70% off the repurchase and other policies, coupled with their own projects, driving Mercedes-Benz also has face." After comprehensive consideration, Wang Yan spent 430,000 yuan to buy his first electric car.
Compared with the above three car owners, Li Wei belongs to the rational faction.
Before buying a car, he looked at the mainstream new energy vehicles on the market. "At the beginning, I was brainwashed by the new forces, but after the experience, I felt that it was not good, and after the real test driving experience, I felt that the overall driving quality of those cars was still underheated." I want a car first and service second. Li Wei said that by chance, Li Wei test-drove the Audi e-tron and was instantly impressed by its control. Coupled with the large preferential policies of the terminal at that time and the financial loan service of zero interest, Li Wei finally won the Audi e-tron selection with a 20% discount on the guidance price and a landing price of less than 500,000 yuan.
With the gradual increase in users, the problems at the product level of luxury brand new energy vehicles have begun to appear.
Wang Yan said that comparing the electricity consumption found his car 28, the Tesla owner in Guangzhou is only 16, BYD will not exceed 20; Zhao Chi said that the vehicle endurance is not as expected, the new car with 80 degrees of electricity can only run 380 kilometers in winter, and his old car only has 43 degrees of electricity and can run to 240-250 kilometers.
The lack of intelligence in the car machine has also become a focus problem. "Voice control and navigation barely enough." Wang Yan scored 7 points for his car navigation; Li Wei believes that "intelligence and technology are really not as good as Tesla and Weilai, fortunately, with Carplay, basic navigation, listening to music, and making phone calls are no problem, and it is also a rescue." ”
Despite all the dissatisfaction, in general, users who buy luxury new energy vehicles basically have a positive attitude towards the product itself. However, unlike Tesla and new power owners, the above-mentioned owners did not successfully "Amway" the brands they bought from those around them.
Li Wei told Tencent Auto that friends felt that the car was very good after learning that he bought the Audi e-tron, but said that he would not buy it, "all felt too expensive"; Zhao Chi said that he had also recommended the iX3 to his friends, but the friend finally chose Tesla, the reason was "high sales, strong sense of technology"; Wang Yan chose to completely "give up", has been driving for a year and a half Mercedes-Benz EQC He thinks that buying electric vehicle intelligence is the primary condition, but "Mercedes-Benz is the least intelligent electric vehicle, I will definitely not recommend friends to buy."
Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Automobile Association, analyzed Tencent Automobile and said that the reality of the market performance of luxury brands is indeed there, and the most fundamental reason why consumers do not pay is that the products do not meet the needs of consumers.
"Without the right product, it is not that excellent products cannot be made"
Some users choose luxury brand new energy vehicles because of luxury, but from the sales data, luxury brands have not been able to rely on brand dividends to attract the expected number of consumers.
"The most direct reason for poor market performance is that there is no suitable product, and it is not that these luxury brands cannot create excellent products." In Xu Haidong's view, whether from the appearance or interior, or the car engine system, luxury brands are more of a continuation of the thinking of traditional fuel vehicles, and it is difficult for consumers to feel the change. Coupled with the relatively high price, it will limit the number of people who buy to a certain extent, and most rich young people pay more attention to innovation.
Wang Xin, who used to work at Mercedes-Benz, told Tencent Automobile that in the matter of car manufacturing, the awe of traditional car companies is much heavier than that of new forces, "and production will be more cautious." Li Ran, who jumped from a new force to a traditional car company, made it clear that in terms of production consistency, most of the new force companies are inferior to traditional car companies.
Yan Lei, who did not leave BMW for a long time, pointed the focus to the intelligence that users are concerned about. According to his understanding, in terms of intelligence, the compliance cost of overseas car companies is relatively high, while the development process of traditional car companies is more rigorous than that of new forces, "if there is a problem with technologies such as automatic driving, it will hurt the brand a lot, so they would rather be more conservative."
"The center of the 'elephants' is still on the fuel truck." Yan Lei believes that for luxury brands, there are more users who buy fuel vehicles, and large car group groups will still consider continuity, profitability and stability when making decisions, "will not turn violently, can only turn slowly, can not do pure electric vehicles without oil car sales."
From the perspective of profitability, abandoning high-profitable, easy-to-sell fuel vehicles and promoting new energy vehicles that do not make money is obviously not in line with the needs of the commercial market. "Many senior managers are professional managers, they can't decide the direction of the company without authorization, if the sales crash or lose the amount of raw fuel vehicles for the electric strategy, they will be replaced in a short period of time." Yan Lei believes that the transformation of luxury brands is far more difficult than that of start-ups.
There are also views that the breakthrough of the new forces in the field of new energy has not touched the deep-rooted foundation of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. "The reaction was not strong." In Wang Xin's view, once the real interests of enterprises are touched, their resistance will be much fiercer than now.
The difficulty of transformation does not mean that the BBA has not seen the future development trend of the car, in the past two years, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi has begun to rush forward in the new energy wave.
In the eyes of industry insiders, 2022 is expected to become a key year for luxury brands to transition from fuel vehicles to full electric. This year, BMW will launch seven new energy products in the Chinese market, including pure electric BMW 3 series, innovative BMW i4, etc., Mercedes-Benz will launch 8 models including Beijing Benz EQE, and Audi will put pure electric new cars such as Q4 e-tron into the market.
With the continuous improvement of the product line, the luxury top three will also usher in a new card slot battle in the future. From the current planning point of view, 2025 or will become the first important time node of fierce competition, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi "group" to launch an impact on the new energy vehicle market, in order to create a large-scale market.
"After these car companies realize the transformation of new energy, I believe they will also find ways to transform, and they can also seek a certain market share in this market." Xu Haidong stressed that today's traditional luxury brands must transform the concept and idea of manufacturing pure electric vehicles, especially for the Chinese market to understand the needs of Chinese consumers more, "If you can change the thinking, design and transform products on this basis, you can still develop." ”
However, the car track is always a long run, and who runs to the end is unknown. As Yan Lei said, "What is collapsing now is the order of the traditional market established by gasoline vehicles, which is falling into a divided pattern, and then a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, and gradually move towards the concentration of shares again." ”