The German price is 2.6 times higher than that of the domestic, and the Volkswagen ID.3 allowed the Germans to break their defenses

Recently the Germans have broken their defenses a little, only because of one car - the Volkswagen ID.3.

Volkswagen ID.3 is a very popular pure electric car in Germany, but when the Germans knew that this car only cost 120,000 yuan in China, that is, about 15,000 euros, they broke the defense on the spot, because in Germany it costs 40,000 euros, which is 2.6 times that of China, and even some people have begun to call on "Germans don't buy Volkswagen".

Specifically, the lowest domestic configuration of the Volkswagen ID.3 discount is about 120,000, just equivalent to 15,000 euros, and in Germany the starting price is 39,995 million euros, the configuration is slightly different, Germany's ID.3 Pro battery is 58 degrees, the maximum power of the motor is 150kW, slightly higher than the domestic 52.8 degrees and 125kW, but other domestic configurations are higher, such as exterior interior parts, wheel styles, and key L2 assisted automatic driving, these are optional in Germany, Overall, the price of ID.3 in Germany is about 2.6 times that of the domestic one, which is true.

Since the configuration is similar, why can the price of the same car in Germany be so much more expensive than in China?

Europe lacks an electric vehicle industry chain

We know that the automotive industry in Europe is strong, especially in terms of supply chains, and Bosch, Continental, ZF, etc. are all world-class suppliers in Europe. But in terms of electric vehicles, Europe is lagging behind, at present, more than 60% of the world's batteries are produced in China, and in some key materials, China will account for a higher proportion, such as graphite of the negative electrode accounts for more than 90%, electrolyte exceeds 85%, and lithium hydroxide of the positive electrode accounts for more than 85%.

Even if Volkswagen's electric vehicles use the first-line Ningde era in China, they will be significantly cheaper than the battery supplier in Europe - Samsung SDI from South Korea, and the rare earths in permanent magnet synchronous motors also have to be supplied by China.

In the era of electric vehicles, the offensive and defensive trends of China and Europe are also reversed.

Energy and labor costs are higher in Germany

German workers' wages are obviously higher than domestic Everyone also knows that the general monthly salary of Volkswagen factories is more than 4,000 euros before tax, and skilled workers may reach more than 6,000 euros, while the basic wages of domestic basic workers are generally better than 5,000 yuan, and Germany's labor costs are about 6 times ours.

Of course, workers' wages are only part of it, since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, energy prices in Europe have also risen rapidly, and car building is also a very energy-intensive thing, Germany's power stations and Volkswagen's factories are very dependent on natural gas.

A study released Monday by Allianz Trade, a France-based trade credit insurance company, predicts that German industry will pay about 40% more for energy in 2023 than in 2021, before the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict triggered the European energy crisis, and lead to a 1%-1.5% decline in German industrial profits.

German car companies lack competition in Europe

The two points mentioned above are related to the cost of production of electric vehicles in Germany, which does not cause a gap of 2.6 times, and another reason why Volkswagen's electric vehicles are so expensive in Europe is the lack of competition.

In fact, this is easy to understand, 10 years ago to buy Taiwan Volkswagen Tiguan in China not only did not have today's tens of thousands of discounts, but also had to increase the price of 350,000, and the sales are likely to ignore you.

Looking at the Chinese auto market in 2023, it can be said that it is rolled up in the dark, and Lexus, which has always had to raise the price, can only lower its proud head now, Lexus ES has to increase the price by about 30,000 in previous years, and now it is directly discounted by more than 30,000, and the installment can be discounted by up to 60,000.

Another example is Cadillac Ruige, priced at more than 400,000 yuan, the result is only dozens of monthly sales, recently had to drop 78,000 yuan, the actual starting price has become 361,700, but even if it drops by nearly 80,000, Cadillac Ruige still has to face the "Shura inner roll" of NIO ES6, Gaohe Hiphi Y, Denza N7, ideal L7 and other products, if you want to have considerable sales, such as monthly sales of 5,000 vehicles, I am afraid that the price will have to fall.

The same is true on the Volkswagen ID.3, whose guidance price is also more than 160,000, but in the face of domestic "roll kings", especially BYD dolphins with a monthly sales of 20,000 or 30,000, they can only be reduced to about 120,000 to have good competitiveness.

But these are completely different in Europe, there is no BYD in Europe, there is no new force such as Wei Xiaoli, only Tesla this catfish, the remaining traditional car companies are still slowly testing the stage of electrification, Volkswagen Group because of the former CEO Diess resolute electrification transformation, so Volkswagen Group is significantly ahead of other European car companies in terms of electrification, at least the MEB platform is a serious undiscounted pure electric platform.

As the lyrics sing: "Those who are favored have no fear", the Volkswagen ID series is not only expensive in Europe, but also often waits for the car for half a year, Volkswagen Group said when it released its 2023 performance report that it still has 200,000 pure electric vehicle orders in Western Europe, and it is good to sell it to you (Germans) without a markup.

In addition, although Chinese car companies have begun to organize groups to sell electric vehicles in Europe, the price is also relatively high, such as the buyout price of NIO's ET775 battery is 81,900 euros, equivalent to 657,000 yuan, while the domestic is from 428,000.

On the whole, European consumers can still only "buy electric vehicles at high prices" for a long time, and things like the Volkswagen ID.3 to let the Germans break the defense will become more and more common.