"It is difficult for micro-cars to make money", which is the consensus of auto manufacturers. Even Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, which has a strong advantage in cost control, has also reported that the profit of bicycles is only 89 yuan.
A large part of the reason why it has been able to sell at such a profit is that the positive points brought by new energy models can also be profitable.
According to some data, in the whole year of 2021, due to the hot sales of Wuling Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, SAIC-GM-Wuling accumulated 443,000 tradable points. According to the transaction price of a single point of 2,500 yuan in 2021, by selling new energy credits, SAIC-GM-Wuling can make a profit of 1.1075 billion yuan.
In fact, the micro-electric vehicles currently on the market will basically not pin their profit hopes on the sale of the car itself, like Changan, Chery and other fuel vehicles as the main sales of traditional car companies, the main purpose is to produce micro-electric vehicles, to balance the fuel consumption points.
But the problem is that with the increase in new energy models, the price of points is facing a serious contraction.
According to cui dongshu, secretary general of the association, the price of new energy credits in 2022 will be less than 1,000 yuan. It should be known that in 2021, the double integral transaction is about 2500 yuan, and in 2020, because the NEV positive integral cannot even make up for the CAFC negative integral gap, the highest price of carbon integral trading even reached 3000 yuan.
From the current situation, the production and sales of new energy vehicles this year will undoubtedly maintain rapid development compared with traditional fuel vehicles. In the long run, the price of new energy credits is bound to be further reduced. If the points cannot be profitable, then the micro pure electric car with extremely high cost pressure will be more difficult to maintain survival.
The decline in the price of points, coupled with the rise in the price of upstream raw materials, car companies have to make changes, some announced price increases, and some announced the cessation of orders. The former has Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, QQ ice cream, etc., while the latter has Euler black, white cat and Changan Ben E-Star.
The person in charge of the Euler brand once explained the reason for the "suspension of orders" of Euler black and white cats: from October last year to January this year, the battery cost of A0-class new energy vehicles rose by about 3100 to 3500 yuan, and the cost of the vehicle increased by about 3400 yuan due to the impact of the national replenishment slope. Coupled with the chip price increase and other reasons, the loss of black and white cat bicycles has approached 10,000 yuan.
At the same time, if the price of bicycles is increased without increasing the configuration, I am afraid that consumers will be difficult to accept, so they finally chose to suspend the road of receiving orders.
After that, models including Wuling Hongguang MINIEV and QQ Ice Cream chose to increase prices to cope, perhaps more or less difficult to give up this market segment.
According to the sales data released by the Association in March, the most sold pure electric car is still Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, with a sales volume of 41980 vehicles, in addition, Chery QQ ice cream, Benben EV, BYD Dolphin, Chery eQ and other micro and small electric vehicles are also among the best.
It is not difficult to see that the proportion of micro pure trams in the entire new energy vehicle market cannot be underestimated.
Consumption downturn, demand return,
Micro-electric vehicles are no longer just about price wars
As we all know, the reason why Wuling Hongguang MINIEV can open the market in a short period of time is not only because of the low-price strategy, but more because it uses a more stylish appearance and higher cost performance to seize the market that originally belonged to Lao Lao Le (low-speed electric vehicles).
According to statistics from some institutions, the province with the best sales volume of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV in the country is not a first-tier city, but henan and Shandong provinces, which happened to be the regions with the largest demand for old man music.
Although the rising cost and the falling price of integrals have brought a certain crisis to the survival of low-profit micro pure trams like Hongguang MINIEV, it is certain that the demand is still there, and the market is still there.
During the Great Depression, the United States used the "lipstick economy" to conclude that "in the event of an economic downturn, people will be more likely to pursue cheap goods that meet spiritual needs." Miniature pure trams also happen to meet this condition.
More importantly, during the period of domestic epidemic, there will be many restrictions on public travel, and the micro pure tram that just needs to exist will be more stable than other market segments.
After all, the price increase of new energy models is the status quo of all enterprises, and people will not turn their car purchase choices to the compact market because of the price increase of micro pure trams, after all, the pure trams in the compact market have also increased in price.
What's more, such structural adjustments will also give birth to a more mature micro-electric vehicle market.
A few days ago, China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd. officially released the "Special Evaluation Procedures for Micro Electric Vehicles", which comprehensively considers product characteristics and consumer concerns and tailors micro-electric vehicle examination questions.
According to the plan, the regulation is scheduled to be officially implemented from July this year, and the reliability of micro pure trams will be evaluated from three major sections: endurance charging, use safety, and collision safety.
You know, at present, some of the entry level of micro-electric vehicles on the market is not equipped with airbags, and the endurance performance is not satisfactory, once the procedures are officially implemented, it will make many micro pure electric vehicles increase the configuration to cope with the exam. The increase in configuration is bound to cause further price increases.
At that time, price will not be the only reference answer, and a more mature market competition model will emerge.
epilogue
These are the best times and the worst times. The epidemic has led to an increase in raw materials, which has brought a heavy blow to low-cost micro pure electric models, but the epidemic has also led to an increase in demand for just-needed automotive products.
In order to cope with the changes in the market, Wuling launched the Hongguang MINIEV GAMEBOY priced at 55,800 yuan in April, and Changan LUMIN is also aimed at this market segment, and configuration, price and quality will be the key to determining the outcome of this game.