Text/Paula
Price increases have become the key word in this year's automotive industry.
Oil prices rose, prospective owners will focus on new energy vehicles, and then due to various reasons, new energy vehicles have increased prices in January and March this year, causing prospective owners to start hesitating again. Now with the oil price or will be lowered, some car owners have their eyes locked on the traditional fuel vehicles, but there is "bad news" coming, fuel vehicles have also begun to increase prices, price pressure spread from new energy vehicles to traditional fuel vehicles.
So the question is, do you still buy a car this year?
Mercedes-Benz took the lead in raising prices, followed by BMW
On April 3, Mercedes-Benz took the lead in announcing the price increase of its fuel models across the board, and the models that rose in price were mainly imported models, including Mercedes-Benz imported C-class, E-class, S-class, Maybach, etc., and also included some domestic models, with price increases ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands, of which the hot domestic E-class and domestic GLC increased by about 6,000. The highest price increase was in Maybach, with a price increase of up to 121,000 yuan.
After Mercedes-Benz announced the price increase, BMW followed closely behind, and the day before yesterday, BMW China adjusted the price and configuration of its BMW 3 Series, X3, X4, 4 Series and Z4 models, with prices rising by 1600-11000 yuan.
On the same day, the independent brand also officially announced that Weipai also adjusted the price of some vehicles, and the price of the Mocha fuel version 2.0T was also raised by 5,000 yuan.
According to the above data, the price increase is all luxury brands, it seems that most of the ordinary consumers have little to do with each other, then there is this idea is wrong, this price increase means that the fuel vehicle industry is nurturing the price increase tide is about to spread to all fuel vehicles.
Raw materials are soaring, and car companies are passing on cost pressure
Regarding the reason for the price increase, Mercedes-Benz said that it was because of the sharp rise in raw material prices and the shortage of global supply chains; BMW director Peter said that due to the increase in the cost of raw materials such as rhodium, palladium, steel, etc., BMW's overall manufacturing costs have increased significantly; Weipai's official Weibo announced that due to the sharp rise in the prices of raw materials, chips and core components, some of its models will be priced.
From the response of car companies, it is not difficult to find that the reason for the price increase is the rise in raw material prices, the current new energy momentum is fierce, fuel car companies understand that the price increase will lose some consumers, then in such a situation of price increase, the author believes that the reason is that the price increase of raw materials has exceeded the degree that car companies can bear, and have to transfer the cost pressure to consumers.
Unlike the soaring prices of important raw materials for power batteries such as lithium and nickel, raw materials for new energy vehicles, the price increase of raw materials for fuel vehicles is mainly concentrated in metals such as rhodium, palladium and steel.
Steel is the most basic material in the automotive industry, mainly used in body manufacturing, according to statistics, high-end cars often add about 70% of high-strength steel, low-end models are only 50%, or even to 40%. Therefore, with the rise in steel prices, the most affected is definitely the luxury car, but the amount of steel used in the low-end models we usually use is not small. At present, the price of iron ore, the raw material of steel, is also rising, and if it continues to increase the price of low-end models, it will not be far away.
Rhodium is the catalyst for the treatment of vehicle exhaust in fuel vehicles, while catalysts in passenger cars contain 1.5 to 2.5 grams of platinum group metals, of which about one-third are rhodium. The price of rhodium rose 30-fold in five years and was once known as the dark horse of the metal market. There is still a large supply gap in rhodium on the market, and the rise in rhodium prices is likely to continue.
When the BBA cannot withstand the pressure of rising raw materials, other fuel vehicle companies with lower profits (including independent brands) can only face greater pressure, so the author believes that a new wave of fuel vehicle price increases is coming.
Can you secretly expect a price cut?
At present, it seems that the price reduction in the dream is more realistic.
The problem of rising raw materials has been mentioned earlier, and there is no downward trend.
Supply chain shortage problem is still intensifying, semiconductor manufacturing raw material neon gas due to Ukraine outage, its price has doubled, the current situation in Russia and Ukraine is still unclear, neon gas supply will continue to maintain a tense state; Japanese chip suppliers due to the Fukushima earthquake temporarily suspended production, chip supply shortage ushered in a heavy blow; ST semiconductor from April 1 to all chips including automotive chips all the price increase, more fatal is that other large manufacturers or will follow up, and eventually can only lead to car companies costs to rise.
In the case of rising raw material prices and intensified chip shortages, the future of fuel vehicles not only has little hope, but also does not rule out the possibility of price increases.
The price increase of fuel vehicles has already fired the first shot, and future price increases may become the norm. In summary, if you currently have the intention of buying a car, listen to the author's advice and act as soon as possible. Listen to people's advice, eat enough, and don't regret it when the price rises.