Further left behind? It has long been said that Audi and Mercedes-Benz BMW are not at the same level at all!

As a member of the first-line luxury brand, Audi's influence in the era of fuel vehicles is self-evident, and even, in 2015, when "Wei Xiaoli" was just born, Audi's sales in China were as high as 570,900 units, at that time BMW and Mercedes-Benz sold 463,800 and 373,500 respectively, BBA should be called "ABB", because Audi's sales far exceeded the other two.

From 2020 to 2022, FAW Audi's annual sales were 726,000, 701,000 and 642,000 respectively, while the sales of Mercedes-Benz and BMW were rising, in 2020, the sales of BMW and Mercedes-Benz were 777,400 and 774,300 respectively, and in 2021, the sales of the two were 846,200 and 758,800 respectively, which were still higher than Audi. Mercedes-Benz's sales in China were 792,000 and 752,000 respectively, and the gap between Audi and the two companies has widened to 100,000 units.

In the first half of this year, FAW Audi sold 317,000 vehicles, an increase of only 0.03% year-on-year, while BMW and Mercedes-Benz sold 392,000 and 377,000 respectively, and the sales gap between Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz exceeded 60,000 units in half a year. If it is extended to the whole year, the sales gap will widen to 120,000 units.

Not only is the gap between sales widened, but in terms of average price, Audi and Mercedes-Benz BMW are not of the same magnitude. At the end of 2022, the average transaction price of Audi's bicycles was 317,000 yuan, far behind Mercedes-Benz's 500,000 yuan and BMW's 409,000 yuan, which is a little higher than that of second-tier luxury brands such as Cadillac, and even not as high as the average transaction price of Lexus and Volvo, which is only 11,000 yuan higher than Tesla's average transaction price.

In the price war in March, Audi's main model 2023 Audi A6L can be discounted by up to 120,000 yuan, the price reduction of Audi Q5 is close to 100,000 yuan, the starting price falls below 300,000 yuan, and the discount range of Audi A4L is 75,000-80,000 yuan. Today's Audi, the average price has further declined, and the gap with Mercedes-Benz BMW has long been more than 100,000 yuan.

The decline of the Audi brand in the Chinese market is mainly due to the product. When it first entered the Chinese market, Audi cars mainly labeled official cars, which were more popular than Mercedes-Benz and BMW, but with Audi's withdrawal from the catalog of official procurement vehicles, Audi began to play the label of technology again.

A few years ago. Relying on Audi's headlights and virtual cockpit, Audi's technology label can be regarded as standing, but now, the so-called virtual cockpit is not a full LCD instrument? Which domestic car company does not have it? And Audi's headlights are not a bright spot, domestic cars have played with the headlights, headlight projection patterns, and the interaction between cars and people can be done. What else can Audi call it technological?

The dual-clutch gearbox that has remained unchanged for 10,000 years, the engine of EA888, Audi has updated the powertrain in recent years, which is lackluster, and in terms of new energy, it is also early in the morning and a late set. As early as 2019, FAW Audi imported the Audi e-tron, and BMW's first electric model was the BMW iX3 that was launched in China in 2021.

In the past four years, FAW Audi has introduced a number of electric models such as the Audi e-tron, Q4 e-tron, RS e-tron GT, and e-tron GT. However, the Audi Q4 e-tron sold only 2,287 units in September; Only 510 units of the Audi Q5 e-tron were sold; Only 265 units of the Audi e-tron were sold; Only three units of the Audi A6L PHEV were sold. In the same month, BMW i3 sales reached 6,074 units, and the cumulative sales of a single model have exceeded the cumulative sales of Audi's four models.

At this year's annual press conference of the Audi Group, Audi announced that two-thirds of the company's spending will be invested in the electrification and digitalization of the future from this year until 2027, with around 28 billion euros (about 221.9 billion yuan). By 2027, all models launched by Audi in all segments will be electrified.

But Audi is always determined to go big, slow to act, today's Audi as a luxury brand, lost a clear brand image, so its irreplaceability will also be weakened, as if losing the soul, Audi's current problem is this, not by the launch of a few pure electric models, can be made up. The next step may be to see a change in the market landscape. At least for now, Mercedes-Benz and BMW do not seem to have much impact, but Audi has touched the edge of the second-tier luxury brand, and BBA has become BBT or even BBL, it is not impossible, I wish Audi good luck.