In the era of fuel vehicles, in the 300,000-class luxury car market, the monopoly position of the German BBA is solid. In the era of electrification, however, the BBA has failed and seems doomed to be a thing of the past. Why is that?
1. The Ashkenazi BBA was a complete flop
In the past, the luxury car market was basically the world of BBA, and it was basically difficult for other brands to touch the 300,000-level market. However, entering electrification, BBA seems to have been abandoned by consumers. According to the data, in 2021, the sales of pure electric models of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi were 103,000, 90,000 and 81,900 respectively, and the sum of the three was only 274,900, less than one-third of Tesla's 936,000 vehicles. March this year. Among the high-end pure electric vehicles of more than 300,000 yuan, BBA sold 3123, 1199 and 116 vehicles respectively, and the three companies added up to only 4538 vehicles, less than half of Weilai's 9985 vehicles.
2. Oil to electricity is both appropriate and standing
The root cause lies in the hesitation and vacillation of the BBA's electrification strategy. In the face of unprecedented changes in the automotive industry in a hundred years, the BBA, as a vested interest in fuel vehicles, does not want to miss the opportunity of the future, but lacks the courage to dare to try and make mistakes, so they invariably adopt the conservative strategy of "oil to electricity", in an attempt to defend their status as the king of fuel vehicles while grabbing the cake of electrification. But it turns out that where there is such a perfect thing, the BBA's strategy of being both decent and standing has been hit hard by reality.
The pure electric cars currently sold in the BBA, such as Mercedes-Benz EQC, BMW iX3, Audi e-tron and other models, are all modified on the basis of fuel vehicles, which is the biggest original sin. Because of the "oil to electricity", there are many natural defects that cannot be overcome, which is an extremely irresponsible attitude towards consumers. The body structure and chassis of fuel vehicles have long been fixed and harmonious, and suddenly imposing battery packs must be the product of compromise. As a result, oil-to-electricity products may have problems in terms of safety, handling, and battery life. For example, the endurance of BBA oil-to-electricity models is basically 400 to 500 kilometers, which is far from Tesla and Xiaopeng 700 kilometers.
3. The BBA is a thing of the past
Left behind by Tesla, BYD, Weilai and other rookies, BBA these century-old brands realized that danger was coming. Unwilling to be abandoned by the times, BBA has accelerated the pace of electrification. Recently, BBA has released new products, Audi urbansphere concept car, BMW i7, Mercedes-Benz EVA pure electric platform first SUV EQS one by one unveiled. These are no longer oil to electricity, but products on a pure electric platform. Backward is backward, although the BBA is the king of the fuel vehicle era, but in the era of electrification to "late first", it is not easy. Perhaps, the facts have long proved that the BBA has become a thing of the past.
First of all, elephants are difficult to turn around, and the BBA is stuck in path dependence. As the king of fuel luxury cars, BBA is very successful in the field of luxury cars, making a lot of money, and they did not look at the sales of electric vehicles before. For example, Mercedes-Benz's net profit in 2021 is as high as 162.415 billion yuan, ranking first in the world; BMW is 86.518 billion yuan, ranking sixth in the world. The BBA has become the beneficiary of the fuel luxury car, but it has fallen into path dependence, and they definitely hope that the car will stay in the era of fuel vehicles forever. Elephants turning around is not easy, and on electrified tracks, it is difficult for the BBA to even see the backs of its forwarders.
Secondly, industry insiders pointed out that the three flagship pure electric new models of the BBA did jump out of the old routine of "oil to electricity", but the biggest selling point is still the sense of luxury. This shows that the BBA's definition of electric vehicles is still stuck in the era of fuel vehicles. The sense of luxury is BBA's weapon in the era of fuel vehicles, but it is also a burden in the electrification transformation. In terms of the intelligence of the biggest selling point of electric vehicles, BBA is difficult to compete with new forces such as Tesla, if you rush to weaken the sense of luxury and highlight the sense of technology, it may be a devastating blow to BBA. Luxury or intelligence, BBA seems to be caught in an insoluble dilemma.