Challenging new car-making forces: Can the BBA "be a latecomer" on the pure electric track?

Although the epidemic has disrupted the rhythm of the 2022 Beijing Auto Show, it has not stopped the determination of luxury brands to release new cars.

Last week, the three luxury brands of the BBA released new pure electric cars. Mercedes-Benz's new EQS pure electric SUV debuted in the world, opening up a large luxury pure electric SUV market segment; the new Audi urbansphere concept car also ushered in the world debut; BMW's new pure electric 7 series - BMW i7 world premiere.

BBA, which is riding the dust in the traditional fuel vehicle market, is accelerating the pace of electrification transformation. At the new car conference, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi three car companies invariably mentioned the Chinese market, in order to highlight the brand's emphasis on the world's largest electric vehicle market.

Can BBA's pure electric transformation change the situation of the new power?

Bidding farewell to the "oil to electricity", the BBA showed a new bottom card

BBA speed-up electrification is imminent.

According to the statistics of the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, in 2021, China's new energy passenger car retail sales achieved 2.989 million units, an increase of 169.1% year-on-year; in the first quarter of this year, the domestic retail sales of domestic new energy passenger cars were 1.070 million units, an increase of 146.6% year-on-year, and the penetration rate continued to increase, forming a strong differentiation with the trend of traditional fuel vehicles.

In the beginning, BBA's electrification strategy was more conservative. In order to quickly keep up with the pace of electrification, many "oil to electricity" products have been launched, such as Mercedes-Benz's EQC, BMW's iX3, and Audi's e-tron. However, whether in terms of mileage or intelligent level, the sales performance of the above models is flat compared with Tesla, "Wei Xiaoli" and other new car-making forces.

In the face of the fierce offensive of new car manufacturers, it is obvious that the above products alone cannot better meet the needs of consumers. In recent years, BBA has launched a new electric platform and flagship new energy products. Whether it is the release of the new EQS pure electric SUV, BMW i7, or Audi's urbansphere concept car, to a certain extent, it represents the new definition of luxury electric vehicles by the three luxury brands.

Mercedes-Benz still puts luxury first. As the flagship SUV of the current EQ family, the new EQS pure electric SUV is the third model based on the forward development of the EVA pure electric platform, and the new car adopts a digital cockpit design, with the MBUX super-connected screen as the interior core, presenting a luxurious cockpit atmosphere. In the field of intelligence, the intelligent driving assistance components of the new EQS pure electric SUV include intelligent pilot distance limit function, active blind spot assist system and disembarkation safety warning function, active lane keeping assist system, etc.

Unlike Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi pay more attention to creating a sense of technology and intelligence.

In terms of intelligent driving experience, bmw i7 adopts BMW surround interactive light belt, BMW suspension giant screen and other designs. At the same time, the BMW i7 has the level of L3 autonomous driving at the technical level.

At the new car launch, Wen Zeyue, president of Audi China, called the urbansphere concept car the "core of Audi China's enterprising 2030 strategy". Bidding farewell to the "oil to electricity" model, the urbansphere concept car is based on Audi's latest high-end pure electric PPE platform, using 800 volt charging technology and equipped with Audi pure electric drive system.

The urbansphere concept car is defined by Audi as an "L4 self-driving car." According to Audi, in the L4 level automatic driving mode, the steering wheel and pedals of the urbansphere concept car can be hidden, and the interior of the car will become a mobile interactive experience space.

In addition to the difference in positioning, the significance of the Audi urbansphere concept body lies more in the core elements of its "Chinese localization". Unlike all previous Audi concept cars, the Audi urbansphere concept car is the first concept model with the Audi China team independently responsible for interior design, and it is also the first time in Audi's history to try to create a design model with Chinese consumers.

Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, said in an interview with the Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter that although the Beijing Auto Show was postponed, the new car represented the latest technology and technology of BBA, and the earlier it was listed, the more likely it was to have a first-mover advantage, so the car company still released the new car according to the original time node.

Can we challenge the "first-mover advantage" of new forces?

Previously, under the background of continuous sales growth, new car-making enterprises such as Weilai and Ideal directly benchmarked their products against BBA models. Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of WEILAI, has said that he hopes to achieve "one of three in the world" in the luxury car segment where Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are located.

At the 2021 NIO Day, NIO released a brand new model ET5 and aimed at the Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 Series. Qin Lihong, co-founder of Weilai Automobile, said bluntly, "We pay more attention to the contrast relationship with the mainstream traditional fuel luxury models such as 'BBA'. As WEILAI enters the high-end market and forms an alternative to high-end mainstream luxury fuel vehicles, we should be able to turn the 'BBA' pattern into an 'NBA' in the future. ”

At the end of last year, Ideal Auto CEO Li Xiang revealed that the top three user groups of Ideal ONE are the owners of the three BBA brands, followed by the owners of VTH (Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda), and the owners of luxury and joint venture absolute first-line brands.

The confidence of the new forces of car manufacturing comes from market sales. According to terminal retail data released by China Automobile Center, in March this year, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi sold more than 300,000 high-end pure electric vehicles with sales of 3123, 1199 and 116 vehicles, respectively. In contrast, Weilai, a new car-making force, sold 9829 vehicles in March, which has exceeded the sum of the three BBA companies.

"New energy vehicles are the direction of the industry." Zhang Xiang believes that the faster the pace of transformation of traditional car companies, the more advantageous they are in the new energy vehicle track.

BBA concentrates on issuing new cars, or intends to lay out the million pure electric luxury car segment in the blank area in advance, while further demonstrating its determination to electrify and transform. However, Zhang Xiang pointed out that the luxury brand image and brand premium ability accumulated by BBA in the fuel era will not necessarily work in the pure electric track. He said the technical advantages of luxury brands are based on traditional powertrains. But electric vehicles open up a whole new track, and the core advantages of luxury brands in engines, transmissions and other technologies are not "useful". And compared with the new forces of car manufacturing, traditional luxury car companies started relatively late in battery, motor and other technologies. "Therefore, in the pure electric vehicle track, the influence of luxury car brands may not be effective, which is also reflected in the market performance of BBA electric models."

While countering new opponents, the internal competition in the BBA is also very interesting. Mercedes-Benz said it will release three pure electric model architecture platforms by 2025 and will build an eight-seat battery core factory with partners; it will invest more than 40 billion euros by 2030 to maintain its position in the field of luxury electric vehicles.

According to the previous plan released by Mercedes-Benz, in 2022, Mercedes-Benz will launch 21 new products based on the Chinese market, including 8 pure electric and plug-in hybrid models.

"Electrification is one of the bmw group's top priorities. In 2022, the Group plans to double its global sales of pure electric vehicles compared to 2021. Mr. Gao Le, President and CEO of bmw group greater China, said that this year BMW will launch 5 pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market.

In its new "Vorsprung 2030" strategy, Audi proposes that audi will complete a comprehensive electrification transformation in the next 12 years. From 2026 onwards, Audi's new models for the world will be all pure electric models. By 2033, the production of internal combustion engines will be phased out.

In the release of Audi's "Vorsprung 2030 Strategy", Audi specifically mentioned, "We believe that the performance of the Chinese market will be the key to the success or failure of Audi electrification." ”

However, in the current era of new energy vehicles, the competition is gradually white-hot, and it is still worth paying attention to whether traditional luxury brands can continue to lead the industry trend under the new competitive pattern.

Beijing News shell financial reporter Zhang Bing Editor Xu Chao Proofreader Liu Baoqing