Reporter 丨Li Shuo
After waiting for three years, the graduating pony finally got a new energy vehicle license this year, but he was very entangled. Looking at the small budget on hand, the cheap micro-electric vehicle "style" is not enough, the favorite "edamame 3" and "P7" and "high climbing", so he will set his sights on new energy used cars.
However, after online search and offline shopping, Xiaoma was disappointed: the nearby quasi-new car is almost the same price as the new car, the long-aged second-hand car is not only difficult to find, the configuration and car condition are not even clear to the merchants, and the attached rights and interests are even more unknown.
"It is said that the water depth of used cars is deeper, and I feel that the water of new energy used cars is deeper." The confusion of the pony is also a problem in the new energy used car industry. Even Wang Shen (pseudonym), a car dealer who has been in the used car business for many years, "can't understand" new energy used cars.
However, it is certain that since the beginning of this year, new energy second-hand cars have really "caught fire". A few days ago, when the Daily Economic News reporter visited the investigation, it was found that not only did new energy vehicles begin to appear in the second-hand car market, but even some car dealers set up stores specializing in new energy second-hand cars, and car dealers who had never been in contact with new energy categories before also began to communicate with their peers about the market situation.
Image source: Photo by reporter Li Shuo
Not only car dealers, car companies are also actively entering the second-hand car business, Weilai, Tesla, Xiaopeng, Aian and other brands have announced the sale of official second-hand cars. However, there is nothing in the "Certified Used Cars" column of Tesla's official website in China, and the second-hand car transaction volume of other car companies is still a mystery today.
This means that while new energy used cars bring new momentum to the used car industry, they also face many challenges. The car companies and car dealers involved in it have smelled the business opportunities in this "oasis", but they do not know how to arrive quickly.
1, there are new energy second-hand cars, the sale speed is comparable to "sharp goods"
"Now the oil price broke through '9', many new cars have increased in price, and it will take many months to pick up the car, and there are more people considering second-hand hybrid or pure trams, and the price is also jumping up." However, I only dare to collect some popular new energy models, such as Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y models that are very fast. The most exaggerated one was brought back in the morning before it was time to pack, and it was sold at noon, and the speed was similar to the 'sharp goods' in the fuel vehicle. Wang Shen, a car dealer who has been in the second-hand car business for nearly 10 years, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter.
The rapid rise in the market has also deterred consumers like Xiaoma who are considering buying new energy second-hand quasi-new cars. "Like Xiaopeng P7670E+, a new car has risen by 30,000 yuan, and I have asked several models in the second-hand market, all of which have risen by more than 10,000, and the price of second-hand quasi-new cars is only 20,000 cheaper than that of new cars, and I feel that the cost performance is not too high." The biggest advantage is that you don't have to wait for the car. Pony told reporters.
Image source: Photo by reporter Li Shuo
According to incomplete statistics, since the beginning of this year, due to the rise in raw material prices, new energy vehicle subsidies and other factors, 20 new energy vehicle companies have announced price increases, involving more than 40 models of new car-making forces, independent, joint ventures and imported brands. At the same time as the price of the car rises, the order delivery cycle is also extending. Tesla's official website information shows that the current delivery time of its Model 3 model is 20 to 24 weeks, while the delivery time displayed in late March is still 16 to 20 weeks. This means that ordering the Model 3 now will have to wait at least 5 months. Other brands such as Xiaopeng Automobile and Extreme Krypton Automobile also have a best-selling model delivery cycle of more than 3 months.
With the obvious changes in the price and production capacity of new vehicles, the selling price and inventory turnover of new energy used cars have also changed. On a second-hand car platform, the reporter searched for "new energy" as a keyword and found that the source of cars on sale in the country has exceeded 1,000 vehicles, the price ranges from 20,000 to 280,000 yuan, the age of the car is mostly concentrated within 3 years, and the brand covers a variety of types such as joint ventures, autonomy, and new car-making forces.
"However, the market still recognizes (can) popular models, customers can directly withdraw the car, but also cheaper than the new car, so go faster." Some Tesla owners bought one for less than 240,000 yuan at the low price of the car, and the car was opened for less than a year, and 230,000 or even 240,000 could be sold. After all, the price of Tesla rose 3 times in a row last month. Wang Shen said.
According to the "2022 Q1 China Automobile Retention Rate Ranking" released by the Auto Finance and Retention Rate Research Committee of the Automotive Industry Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, compared with the one-year retention rate in the third quarter of 2021, the retention rate of many popular pure electric models in the first quarter of 2022 has increased to varying degrees. Taking the five hot-selling models of Tesla Model 3, NIO ES6, Xiaopeng P7, BYD Han EV and Hongguang MINI EV as examples, their one-year retention rate in the first quarter of this year increased by 11.23%, 3.3%, 7.35%, 4.02% and 4.84% respectively compared with the third quarter of last year.
Watchmaking: Per reporter Li Shuo (data source: Automobile Dealers Association)
In the face of the potential blue ocean market, some car dealers have set up new energy used car stores. "(New energy vehicles) is a general trend, early entry and late entry must be entered, it is better to start doing it now." Zhou Siqi (pseudonym), who also operates the fuel used car business, told reporters that this new energy used car storefront has just started, and at present, the store only does high-end quasi-new cars, and the landing price of new cars for sale is generally more than 200,000 yuan, the age of the car is within 1 year, and there are even "new cars" that have not yet broken hundreds of kilometers.
But not all new energy models can appreciate the "fire" ignited in the market. For new energy used cars with long ages, large mileage and niches, the current market environment is still difficult to call "fertile ground".
2, "'Quasi-new' out of the fast, the old car no one loves"
"This car has been 7 years, don't charge it, go to another house and ask about it." Zhang Ningxu, who recently planned to change cars, took reporters to run a second-hand car market, and those car dealers who stopped every car were obviously not interested in his new energy used car that had been in service for 7 years, and even the car condition was unwilling to check carefully.
"I went to the market to ask, no one wanted it at all, especially after hearing that the tram for 7 years and the mileage was only 100 kilometers, the people who collected the car were scattered, and some people suggested that I directly scrap it." Zhang Ningxu helplessly told reporters that as the first batch of owners to buy new energy vehicles at that time, the lower starting price and use cost made her have a high degree of favorability for new energy vehicles, but she did not expect to be so difficult when she sold.
Image source: Photo by reporter Li Shuo
In fact, in addition to the quasi-new cars driven by the recent price increases, the overall retention rate of new energy second-hand cars is still quite different from that of fuel vehicles. According to the statistics of China Automobile Dealers Association, the average 1-year retention rate of traditional fuel used cars remains at 85.6%, and the 3-year retention rate is 72.6%. In contrast, the average retention rate of pure electric vehicles in 1 years is 71.5%, and only 51% in 3 years. The reporter calculated an account, the same spend 200,000 yuan to buy a car, sold after three years, fuel vehicles can sell an average of 145,000 yuan, while trams can only be sold at an average price of 102,000 yuan.
Watchmaking: Per reporter Li Shuo (data source: China Automobile Dealers Association)
The retention rate of new energy used cars with long years and high mileage is even more bleak. "Before there were several batches of car rental, online car platform off the line of second-hand new energy vehicles, in fact, the year is not long, the price is also very cheap, but there is still no one in the industry dare to pick up, if it is a fuel car, it is estimated to be robbed, but the tram is generally not interested, on the one hand, it is afraid that the car condition is not accurate, on the other hand, there is no customer source in hand, worried about smashing it here." Used car dealer Hu Minghan (pseudonym) said.
Some insiders told reporters that the reason for the sudden recovery of new energy second-hand quasi-new cars has a lot to do with the lack of production capacity of car companies. Many "scalpers" look at the timing, order before the price increase of the new car, and turn the order backwards after the price increase, and the market speculation atmosphere is heavier.
"This Model 3 Performance Edition was ordered by us from the official website, bought to re-sell, so you can see that the number of kilometers is less than 100 kilometers." When introducing the vehicle situation, Zhou Siqi did not shy away from saying that some of the popular vehicles were also ordered as buyers, and compared with the conventional vehicle acquisition and transfer process, the profit of the bicycles ordered by themselves was higher.
The reporter searched for "new energy vehicles, orders, resales" as keywords on a second-hand goods trading platform and found that popular new energy vehicle brands such as Tesla, Xiaopeng and Ideal have orders for sale, and the transfer price ranges from 2,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan. It is understood that the level of the transfer fee mainly depends on the pick-up time and price advantage, the earlier the pick-up time, the cheaper the price is now, the more valuable the order.
Recently, many car companies have begun to take measures against the "scalper" transfer behavior, and it is becoming more and more difficult to modify order information. In order to avoid the relevant policies of the manufacturer or avoid the risk of unsuccessful modification of user information, most "sellers" will choose to pick up the car first and then increase the price to transfer the property. "I'll go with you when I pick up the car, and when the vehicle formalities are completed, I'll transfer it to you." A "seller" on a second-hand item trading platform said.
However, the above-mentioned industry insiders told reporters that the "virtual fire" of new energy second-hand cars will not be maintained for a long time, and eventually the market will return to rationality, and the transaction situation will remain to be seen.
3. The evaluation standards are lacking, and the rights and interests of car owners are difficult to protect
Behind the uneven hot and cold phenomenon of the new energy used car market, many pain points such as opaque car conditions and the inability of car owners' rights and interests to be transferred with the car are still the most concerned issues for consumers.
"Many merchants who sell cars can't even say the configuration of the car, how much mileage is left is ambiguous, and the rights and interests of the car are even more unknown." Xiaoma admits that such an experience makes him very unconfident in new energy used cars.
At the same time that consumers are "beating drums" in their hearts, car dealers are also complaining bitterly. "The speed of replacement of new energy vehicles is too fast, it is normal for oil vehicles to change generations in 3 to 5 years, new energy vehicles have changed too fast in recent years, new brands 'every day' have, model versions, configurations are even more confusing, in addition to a few popular cars, others really can't remember." And for the evaluation of new energy vehicle batteries and electric drive systems, we are still learning. Wang Shen told reporters.
Compared with the relatively fixed process of fuel vehicle detection and maintenance, the state detection and evaluation of new energy vehicles is still in the exploratory stage, and there is a lack of accurate quantitative assessment methods for the health judgment of core components such as batteries, and can only be inferred based on the state of use. Therefore, at present, market car dealers and second-hand car trading companies still maintain a relatively cautious attitude towards new energy used car recycling transactions.
"At present, there is no perfect second-hand car evaluation system for new energy vehicles in the world, which makes it impossible to objectively and professionally evaluate the residual value of new energy second-hand vehicles. Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the core link of the identification and evaluation of new energy second-hand vehicles is the health of the power battery, and if the endurance and health status of the power battery cannot be known, it is impossible to develop an accurate residual value assessment model for new energy second-hand cars, and it is impossible to form a complete second-hand car trading system. Wang Du, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said.
At the same time, the car company's car purchase rights for the first car owner will also be affected in the process of changing hands. For example, WEILAI has made it clear that used cars purchased from NIO only enjoy part of the rights and interests of the first owner: the number of free power exchanges in the BaaS scheme has been reduced from 6 times to 2 to 3 times for the first owner, and the free lifetime warranty has been cancelled. However, used cars purchased from third parties do not enjoy any benefits. It is understood that Xiaopeng, Lantu, Ideal, etc. have also made provisions for the rights and interests of the first car owner, and most of them cannot be transferred to the next owner with the vehicle transaction.
Image source: Screenshot of WEILAI's official website
"In fact, when I first bought a car, I also considered second-hand cars, because the price of the tram with two or three years of age is much cheaper than that of the new car, but I heard that the endurance, configuration, car engine, after-sales and other aspects will be more or less discounted, and later with the family to sum up or choose a new car." Owner Shen Hongwei (pseudonym) bought a pure electric car in 2021, mentioning the purchase experience at that time, he said.
In order to enhance the transparency of used car transactions and the professionalism of testing, there are also new energy vehicle companies entering the second-hand car business. In January 2021, NIO announced that it intends to invest 3 billion yuan to establish its used car trading system, and then launched a used car business called NIO Certified, which provides users with full-process services such as vehicle inspection, evaluation, acquisition and sale.
However, since it was launched for more than a year, Weilai's second-hand car business has not changed the industry ecology. In the Weilai APP, the reporter found that there are only 11 official used car sources currently on sale in the country, including 9 EC6 and 2 ES6, all of which use the BasSS solution, and the total number of used cars sold is also within 200. For reference, as of March 1, 2022, NIO had approximately 183,000 vehicles.
GAC E-An, Euler, Weima, Geometry and other brands have also launched used car repurchase business, proposing the official value preservation rights to repurchase vehicles at a certain discount within a few years after the sale of vehicles, but this practice is more focused on promoting new car sales rather than second-hand car recycling, and the brand side has not disclosed the scale of used car recycling and sales channels.
In the end, the ponies who have circled the second-hand car market several times still chose to borrow money to buy a new car that cost about 150,000 yuan. "Second-hand new energy vehicles are still a bit chicken ribs, quasi-new prices are really unnecessary, the old car condition can not be understood, or buy a new car steadfast, wait for the car to wait for the car." His claim also represents the majority of consumers who are interested in buying new energy used cars.
According to the data, the national used car trading volume in 2021 was 17.5851 million units, an increase of 22.62% year-on-year, and the ratio to new car sales was 0.67:1, a record high. However, the trading volume of new energy used cars was only 360,500 units, accounting for 2% of the total number of used car transactions.
With the increasing number of new energy vehicles, it is foreseeable that the scale of the second-hand new energy vehicle market will eventually expand. However, in the process of the "cake" becoming bigger, how to solve the concerns of consumers and promote the evaluation of new energy second-hand cars still needs to be jointly explored by all parties in the industry.
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