Editor's introduction: In the case of insufficient product strength, "price for quantity" cannot solve the dilemma of Japanese trains.
Japanese trains followed up with price reductions
On February 17, Dongfeng Nissan's compact pure electric SUV ARIYA was discounted by 60,000 yuan for a limited time under the superposition of government and enterprise subsidies. After the completion of the price reduction, the price of the model starts at CNY 224,800, and the cost performance has improved. At the same time, Dongfeng Nissan has also become another Japanese brand involved in this round of price reduction after GAC Toyota bZ4X officially reduced the price by 30,000 yuan and FAW Toyota's dealers advertised a limited time discount of 60,000 yuan for its bZ4X.
Earlier, on February 9, GAC Toyota officially issued a notice that its product mid-size pure electric SUV bZ4X was directly reduced for a limited time, and ordering GAC Toyota bZ4X can enjoy a final discount of 30,000 yuan, and the price of entry-level models after the discount reached 169,800 yuan, which is equivalent to the price of some fuel models of the same level; a few days later, some dealers of FAW Toyota pulled the bZ4X down to 60,000, which is more advantageous than the price of domestic brand competing models in the same class, and the price of the car is even lower than that of the BYD Song PLUS EV positioned as a compact SUV.
It should be noted that the above models are all quasi-new cars that have been officially launched in China for less than half a year, and at the same time, they carry the high hopes of their respective brands to develop new categories and new markets. For example, bZ4X is the pioneer of Toyota's electrification transformation, and in this case, whether it is the official direct drop of the brand or the sharp price reduction of dealers, it has attracted greater attention in the industry. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that from the perspective of the price strategy of the above brands, this is the second time that Japanese brands have adopted the "price for quantity" measure for their electric vehicles.
As early as October 2022, at the beginning of the listing of ARIYA, a subsidiary of Dongfeng Nissan, it launched a cash car purchase subsidy of 20,000-30,000 yuan for a limited time; At the same time, the official price of GAC Toyota bZ4X is also 1.02-20,200 yuan lower than the pre-sale price, while the Honda e:N series gives a deposit deduction activity, plus terminal discounts, the price reduction is more than 30,000 yuan.
In fact, after the launch of the pure electric model of the Japanese brand, the outside world has constantly questioned the "inflated pricing" of Japanese trams, and from the sales performance, the Japanese trams after the price reduction have not been recognized by consumers. As of January this year, the sales of pure electric models of major mainstream Japanese brands were FAW Toyota bZ4X cumulative sales of 1453 units, GAC Toyota bZ4X cumulative sales of 2391 units, and Dongfeng Nissan ARIYA sales of 1272 units; Guangqi Honda's e:NP1 Jipai 1 sales were 3,710 units, while Dongfeng Honda's e:NS1 sales performance was slightly higher, but only 5,788 units.
The transformation of Japanese brands has been frustrated
The "common advance and retreat" of Japanese brand electric vehicles in price reflects the setback in the domestic new energy market, and the reason for the setback is that compared with independent brands and new forces, Japanese trams still have a large gap in core product strength. For the new energy transformation of Japanese brands is "unfavorable", some insiders have analyzed CRRC.com that at present, Japanese brands are not fully ready to embrace electrification, safely and independently develop products and seize the market in accordance with the requirements of intelligent pure electric models, and the direction has not yet been formed.
At the same time, Zeng Zhiling, forecast director of GlobalData Greater China, also frankly told CRRC.com that at present, consumers buy new energy vehicles with a low degree of consideration for Japanese systems, and Japanese electric vehicle intelligence and other fields are far behind domestic brands, domestic consumers have higher requirements for vehicle aircraft, interior, endurance, etc., and Japanese brands have products that may not be able to keep up with the rhythm of the domestic market. Zeng Zhiling also told CRRC.com that the root cause of the poor performance of Japanese brands lies in the lack of product strength, and Japanese brands are not attentive to pure circuit lines, resulting in investment intensity can not keep up, resulting in the developed products are also more perfunctory products.
From the perspective of market sales in 2022, the overall sales of Japanese brands in China have declined, and on the basis of mainstream fuel vehicles enjoying 60 billion rescue subsidies, they still show a significant downturn. In 2022, Japanese car sales in China will be only 4.092 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 10.3%, second only to the 34.7% decline of Korean cars. At the same time, the market share of Japanese companies fell below 20% again, down 2.7 percentage points from the previous year.
For traditional fuel vehicle brands, especially Japanese brands with slow new energy transformation, the dividends on the main battlefield have become less and less, and only by opening up a rapid new energy track can we maintain their original status. Including Japanese brands, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles among mainstream joint venture brands will only be 4.3% in 2022. Previously, the passenger car association predicted that the total retail sales of passenger cars in 2023 would be 20.6 million units, basically maintaining zero growth. Among them, the sales of new energy passenger vehicles will reach 8.5 million units, maintaining an increase of more than 30%, and the market penetration rate will reach 36%.
As for this round of price cuts for Japanese brands, industry insiders are not optimistic about its results. Zeng Zhiling believes that in the electric vehicle market, expect to get sales through the "price for volume" measure, there are not many successful cases, BBA at every turn 200,000+ reduction has no obvious effect, only such as Tesla such a brand with sufficient product strength, the use of "price for volume" measures have lethality, and Japanese tram product strength is insufficient, the implementation of "price for volume" may have limited results, and will also damage the reputation of its own brand.
The Japanese Three Musketeers have a continuous layout
In addition, the crux of the transformation of Japanese brands, an insider of a leading new energy brand analyzed CRRC.com, "In fact, the transformation pressure of Japanese brands comes more from itself, and traditional car companies are especially like these joint ventures as an external brand, which is now an inherent interest." Like Toyota, which is the world's first, contributes so much profit every year, this time to change, is to change Toyota's own advantages, to remove its own advantages, it is very difficult. ”
However, although the first round of new energy transformation attempts of Japanese brands ended in failure, Japanese brands did not stop their new energy transformation actions. In January this year, Dongfeng Nissan, a joint venture of Nissan Motor in China, completed internal framework reform and personnel changes in January this year, and the original marketing department and customer development department were integrated into a new user operation center. Some media believe that this reform is a signal for Dongfeng Nissan to accelerate its adjustment in the face of the electrification transformation of the automobile industry.
As for Toyota, Tsuneji Sato, the incoming president of Toyota, is regarded as a supporter of electrification transformation. According to media reports, during the period of being in charge of the Lexus brand, Tsuneji Sato has been leading Lexus' pure electric transformation, and he has said that Lexus will transform to pure electric vehicles. At the same time, he said, "Although Toyota's pure electrification is slow, electric vehicles 'have added value that gasoline vehicles do not have.'" ”
Specifically, in terms of electrification layout, by 2025, Toyota plans to launch seven pure electric models, of which five will be introduced to the Chinese market. In 2023, FAW Toyota's bZ3 is already in the pre-sale stage, and it is reported that the new car is expected to be officially launched on February 28; According to GAC Toyota officials, this year it will accelerate the introduction of bZ pure electric series products and launch a new strategic model jointly developed by GAC Group, Toyota and GAC Toyota. However, its insiders said that it needs to wait further for the official announcement, and there is no specific information at present.
In addition, at the end of January, Honda China issued several announcements announcing that it would adjust its organizational management system and other areas. From April 1, 2023, Honda will start implementing a new organizational management structure, one of the key points of which is to establish a new electric business development headquarters. Honda China told CRRC that it plans to launch 10 electric vehicles and strengthen production by 2027; Among them, Hiromon and Higashimoto are both building new EV plants, which will start production in 2024. In terms of battery procurement strengthening, a procurement company has been established to purchase centrally from CATL.