The 220,000 ID.7 was ridiculed by the crowd, why did the public shoot themselves in the foot?

"Order situation: 0~1 unit, less than 1 of 20 incoming stores (see ID.7). ”

When the 24-hour order of a new self-owned brand car has become the bottom line of the industry, the joint venture brother who has dominated the Chinese market for nearly 30 years has directly redefined what it means to be ignored.

According to car fan statistics, the actual orders for the FAW-Volkswagen ID.7 launched on December 15 were only in the triple digits.

Counting up, since the ID.3 was launched, it has been more than two years since the Volkswagen ID series models entered China, which can be regarded as the predecessors of Deep Blue, AVATAR, Haobo and Galaxy. However, now this old-timer who has been electrified for nearly two and a half years is still an abandoned child that no one cares about.

Half a year ago, the Volkswagen Group officially announced that it would maintain the market position of the first multinational car company and the third brand in China, but what was in front of the Volkswagen was the decline in sales of fuel vehicles and the cruel situation of crazy price cuts of new energy barely supporting sales.

At present, after two years of market baptism, the new products are still cold, and what else can the public rely on to maintain the top three positions of the whole brand.

01 "Four major automations", this is the core competitiveness of the joint venture tram?

Volkswagen ID.7 product power how much to stretch the crotch? You may not have a concept of simply putting the data, but as long as you put the ID.7 next to the ZEEKR 007 and the Zhijie S7, you will be amazed that the ID.7 is actually a product of the same era as the latter two.

When independent brands are rolling unmanned valet parking, full-scene intelligent voice, 800v high-voltage platform, Volkswagen ID.7 is shocked to automatically swing the air conditioner up and down, automatic left and right wind direction, automatic defrosting and defogging and automatic setting of the body temperature 22 °C and other functions specifically listed a page of PPT as an important selling point, which was jokingly called "four automations" by netizens, and half a year ago FAW Toyota Asia Dragon's "five killer features" have the same effect.

In terms of intelligence, which has the most complaints about the ID series, although Volkswagen has fallen on the intelligent thigh of Xiaopeng, the first model jointly created by the two parties is said to be officially launched in 2026, so although the ID.7 intelligent cockpit officially claims to use a new generation of car machine operating system ID. OS 2.0, but in fact it is still the same software foundation as the ID.3, and it has nothing to do with Xpeng. The voice interaction system is still used by iFLYTEK, and there is no mention of the configuration of the car machine chip, which is conceivable, the 8155 chip does not exist, and the LiDAR high-definition camera is naturally impossible.

Although the official press release said that "the operation experience of the car machine is smoother and more free", but referring to the performance of the car machine of the previous MEB platform model that was seriously overturned, coupled with the intelligent hardware configuration that is not even mentioned today, it is basically foreseeable what level of intelligent performance of the ID.7 will be.

In addition, power is also a weakness of the MEB platform models, and the previous ID family models were as fast as 6 seconds, and today's ID.7 is no exception.

The new car launched four configurations, in addition to the top configuration with dual motors, the other three configurations are equipped with a single motor of 150 kilowatts, even the power of the dual-motor version is only 230 kilowatts, and the maximum speed of the whole model is only 155 kilometers per hour, making it difficult for you to imagine that this is a 200,000-level pure electric product. Not long ago, the BYD Song L sold from 180,000 was also because of the 150 kilowatt motor that netizens complained about the power to pull the crotch, and now compared with the 237,800 single motor ID.7, Song L suddenly seemed very conscientious. Compared with the three-second 000 acceleration of models such as Xpeng G6 and Zhiji LS6, the intention of the ID.7 to cut leeks is even more exposed.

In addition, there are MacPherson front overhang, ID.3 same rear wheel drum brake, 4G car network, and a series of mysterious operations such as seat ventilation and heating that can only be installed at an optional cost of 3500 yuan......

If the independent brand that frantically piles up the refrigerator color TV sofa is rolling in, then the Volkswagen ID.7 The price, this configuration, and this core technology can be said to be completely rotten. Volkswagen did not pin its hopes on the ID.7 to reverse the decline in sales, but rather to brush up on the electrification of its existence, so that it would not be completely forgotten.

02 Why should ID.7 repeat the mistakes of the past

As a joint venture giant that has been in China for nearly 30 years, if Volkswagen does not understand the Chinese market, then no one understands the Chinese market.

You have to say that the public does not understand the current electric vehicle market situation, the original price of 162,800 Volkswagen ID.3, with more than 40,000 official discounts, sales suddenly from the level of 1,000 monthly sales in the first half of the year to the peak of 12,000 monthly sales today, has become the champion of the joint venture new energy market, and has even become the joint venture product with the greatest impact on domestic new energy.

It is understandable that it is difficult to catch up in the short term in terms of the core technology of intelligence and electrification, but in terms of price positioning, the precedent of the success of the ID.3 is already in front of us, why does the ID.7 repeat the mistake of smashing its own job?

In the final analysis, it is still the arrogance in the bones of the joint venture that is at work.

When the pricing of new cars of independent car companies is desperate to achieve "one step in place", Volkswagen still can't let go of the glory of the high premium of the joint venture brand, so it has resumed the past pricing strategy in the relatively high-end models, and wants to test the bottom line of Chinese consumers again.

The current pricing strategy of the ID.7 is probably due to the fear that one step will lower the brand tone of Volkswagen, and at the same time wipe out the space for dealership terminal discounts. Perhaps it is the success of the Volkswagen ID.3 after the price reduction that gives the Volkswagen the illusion that as long as the price is in place, consumers will also pay for the price reduction after realizing it.

The same operation may work in an entry-level market such as the ID.3, but it may not be possible to do so again in the mid-size car market, which has now become the main battlefield of intelligence. After all, BMW i3 also relied on the terminal 120,000+ discount to achieve today's monthly sales of 5000+, and the follow-up ID.7 terminal does not offer 6w+, and it is estimated that no one will glance at it.

Clearly, the public is underestimating the urgency of the current situation.

As mentioned earlier, the ID.7 is currently in the third digits nationwide, and the car fan statistics also point out that on average, less than 1 in 20 customers entering the store pay attention to the ID.7, and customers who buy other ID series models do not pay attention to the ID7 at all......

The current situation facing the ID.7 is far more cold and miserable than that of the ID.4 and ID.6. It is foreseeable that the market will soon teach the public to behave.

03 The rebellion of the people is gone, and the top three thrones of the public still have a lot of gold

Judging from Volkswagen's current consciousness and ability, maintaining the third market position of the whole brand in China is not an absolute goal.

Although Volkswagen is still the largest joint venture brand in China in terms of market share, the performance of the entire Volkswagen Group in the first three quarters of this year has gradually become weaker.

According to the Volkswagen Group's financial report for the third quarter of 2023, in the first three quarters of 2023, the Volkswagen Group delivered 6,715,800 new cars worldwide, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%, of which 2,289,100 were sold in the Chinese market, down 3% year-on-year, accounting for 34.1% of the global market share.

In order to keep profits, in mid-June, the Volkswagen Group announced a plan to reduce costs and increase efficiency, planning to cut those low-priced models with low sales and no profits, but this move did not stop Volkswagen from increasing revenue but not increasing profits.

In the first three quarters of this year, the Volkswagen Group's sales revenue increased by 16% year-on-year to 235.1 billion euros, while operating profit fell by 7% year-on-year to 16.2 billion euros, with an operating return on sales of 6.9%.

Nowadays, the Volkswagen brand in the Chinese market is not able to sell independent car companies, making money is getting less and less day by day, in the face of the Volkswagen brand that is no longer in the limelight, the joint venture dealers who used to lie down to make money have also begun to choose to "fly separately when the disaster comes".

Recently, many netizens across the country said that they have received a number of notices from Volkswagen brand dealers to withdraw from the network, or downgrade from the first-level network to the second-level network.

In fact, not only Volkswagen, but the entire joint venture brand dealer camp is facing a round of escape. According to a survey by the China Automobile Dealers Association, nearly 1,400 4S stores across the country withdrew from the network in the first half of this year, approaching the number of withdrawals in the past two years. According to industry insiders, in September and October, many joint venture dealers have been unable to purchase goods in accordance with the requirements of the main engine factory, which means that these terminal stores have begun to enter a state that is not controlled by the manufacturer. The industry insiders predict that the next round of more ferocious dealer exodus will probably come around the Spring Festival. Even if it is as strong as the public, there is a high probability that it will not escape the doom at that time.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the current situation facing the public is "a rebellion by the public".

Today's Volkswagen can indeed rely on those classic fuel models to struggle in the Chinese market for another year or two, but by 2025, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will exceed 60%, coupled with the cruel situation of the increasingly disintegrating sales network, it is hard to say how long the backbone of fuel vehicles can be supported.

Fuel vehicles are unsustainable, new energy products come later, and when the first model jointly created by Xpeng Volkswagen is launched in 2026, will the market still leave a chance for Volkswagen?

As the saying goes, those who seek the top get it, and those who seek it get the bottom, Volkswagen's "top three in the whole brand" is not so much a new goal, but may become the next "shame monument" for Volkswagen to retreat from China.