The good days of "Old Man's Fun" are over?

"Core Tips"

The most invincible existence on the road, people don't know which one comes first, the accident or the old man. For the old man's music, some people complain, and some people are "really fragrant". After the ban, how to solve the problem of "the last mile of travel"?

Author | Chen Fashan

Edit | Liu Yang

Posting "old man music" has become the new fashion on social media.

This three-wheeled and four-wheeled low-speed electric vehicle has a high imitation of Mercedes-Benz, Bentley, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and other luxury cars, with a price as low as more than 10,000 yuan, realizing the dream of many people's luxury cars, which is not only a travel artifact for the elderly, but also a new favorite of young people.

Many users posted their modified old man's music on social media: put on cute car stickers, transform the interior into a pink princess color, and can also sing karaoke and blow air conditioning in the car. Except that it does not need to be licensed, it is almost no different from ordinary family cars.

The old man's music is also full of controversy, some users feel "really fragrant" after immersing themselves in the old man's music, and at the same time admit that they are often scolded: driving motorized lanes is too slow by cars, and driving non-motorized lanes is too much space, you need to have a good attitude and don't care about other people's eyes.

The most criticized thing about the old man is that he runs rampant on the road, which can be called the most invincible existence in the city. In the eyes of some "old man" car owners, there seems to be no traffic rules, traffic lights seem to be decorations, going in the wrong direction, changing lanes at will, running red lights, the main one is freewheeling, people don't know which one comes first between the accident and the old man.

At the beginning, the old man was still in the shape of a tricycle, commonly known as the "three jumpers", and the volume was not large, and the car driver could still distinguish by the size and stay away. But the old man is getting bigger and bigger, some of them are even close to pickups, and the appearance is highly similar to that of luxury cars.

The old man has also become a public enemy of the road. Since January 1, Beijing and other places have banned illegal electric three- and four-wheeled vehicles from driving on the road, nor are they allowed to park in public places, and violators will be investigated and punished in accordance with the law.

Previously, Beijing and other places had given a transition period of about two and a half years, and many manufacturers were also transforming and upgrading to actively save themselves. Especially after the issuance of the policy of "developing the silver economy", improving the happiness of the elderly has become a strategic goal for a long time in the future.

Without the old man, how can the old people be happy?

1. "Old Man Le" exited

In Beijing, the good days of buying a "Mercedes-Benz" and "Bentley" for more than 10,000 yuan are gone.

From January 1 this year, Beijing will prohibit illegal electric three- and four-wheeled vehicles from driving on the road, and will not allow old men to park in public places.

Although the ban date is New Year's Day, on social media, a user posted at the end of December that he parked his car outside his window in the community and was dragged away by the relevant unit if he was not careful. Fortunately, I found it in time, stopped the trailer at the gate of the community, and promised to scrap it when it expired, so I barely kept the transportation artifact.

"Leopard Change" saw in many communities in Beijing, with billboards prohibiting the old man from being on the road at the gate, and the old man being scrapped subsidy publicity policy was posted next to it. Through official channels, three-wheeled and four-wheeled old man car owners can receive subsidies of up to 1,000 yuan and 1,500 yuan respectively. The earlier it is recycled, the higher the subsidy, and the subsidy will be gone if it is too late.

A billboard/leopard change prohibits the old man from being on the road at the entrance of a small community in Beijing

However, some car owners do not care about subsidies, and they are reluctant to use their favorite scooters. Uncle Li, who lives in Daxing New Town in the South Fifth Ring Road, said that it is a day to be able to open one more day. Due to the proximity of the community to the Sixth Ring Road, the management of the traffic management department is relatively weak, and by January 13, Uncle Li still drove his three-wheeled old man out of the house, and parked the car in the parking space when he returned to the community.

Cheng Di (pseudonym), a post-90s generation who lives in the same community, complained about this: "After getting off work at night, I finally saw a parking space from a distance, and when I got closer, I found that there was an old man Le. The parking space in the community is already tight, and the old man is small, can't he find a corner to park?

What makes Cheng Di complain even more is that he has been participating in the lottery in Beijing for seven years, and he has not yet reached the index, so he can only drive the car in his hometown, but the old man Le does not need to be licensed at all, and he can go on the road when he picks up the car.

The old man can go deep into the capillaries of urban traffic, and it is not an overnight thing.

According to the statistics of the Prospective Research Institute, 14 provinces or subordinate cities such as Henan, Shandong, and Hubei have issued low-speed electric vehicle management measures to promote the healthy development of the market. According to data released by the Shandong Automobile Industry Association, the production and sales of low-speed electric vehicles in Shandong alone can reach millions.

Even Li Xiang, the founder of Li Auto, did not want to make a car in the standard sense at the beginning, but a two-person version of a low-speed electric vehicle SEV. "Boiling New Decade" mentioned that this stems from Li Xiang's user thinking: there are enough new energy vehicle projects on the market, but there are no low-speed electric vehicle projects that are good enough, suitable for big cities, good parking, and can be swapped.

Li Xiang later gave up low-speed electric vehicles to make extended-range cars, because the subsidy policy has not been introduced for a long time, making SEVs not accepted by the market in terms of cost.

The key node in rewriting the historical process of Laotoule is the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Low-speed Electric Vehicles" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at the end of 2018. The "Notice" determined that these low-speed electric vehicles have low driving speed, short driving mileage, low technical level of key components such as batteries and motors, and most of the products belong to road motor vehicles, but the production and use are not included in the motor vehicle management system, and the performance of product braking, steering, and collision does not meet the technical standards for motor vehicle safety.

According to the requirements of the "Notice", in addition to restricting the production capacity of new low-speed electric vehicles, all localities also need to set a timetable to clean up and rectify illegal production capacity.

In addition to the changes in the policy environment, Lao Toule is defined as a violation of the vehicle mainly because it is not listed in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Announcement on Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products" (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Product Directory), and the safety performance of the vehicle is difficult to be guaranteed.

Usually, such vehicles are restricted to specific places such as parks and residential areas, and once they are driven on urban roads, the means of transportation will become smelly.

2. Why is it not welcomed?

Although banned in big cities such as Beijing, Lao Tou Le's popularity in the sinking market is still very popular.

Jinan, Shandong Province, an important production area of old man music, has held new energy vehicle exhibitions for several consecutive years, and one of the protagonists is old man music. Judging from the videos taken by the participants on the spot, there are all kinds of pickup trucks, SUVs, and supercar shapes, with prices ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan. In order to attract attention, some booths also invited a lot of car model platforms.

For example, the Hongqi SL7 model also has an old-fashioned step version: the original SUV has been transformed into a pickup truck to facilitate the pulling of goods, and the exaggerated chrome grille on the front face is domineering and exposed, and it is well versed in the needs of users in the sinking market.

Users share the modded old man music on social media

The old man is so fragrant, but there is a fatal flaw: safety, which is also an important reason why the old man was "killed".

The old man has the appearance of a car, but the production standard is far from the car. In July 2023, Liu Jian, deputy squadron leader of the Beijing Vehicle Management Institute, said in an interview with CCTV News Channel that most of the illegal three- and four-wheeled vehicles have high chassis, narrow bodies, no differentials, and are easy to roll over when driving;

Grandma Yang, an 86-year-old grandmother who lives in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, still has lingering feelings about the car accident many years ago. At that time, she took a "country bus" to visit relatives, and on an uphill section of the bend, the driver slammed the direction in order to avoid the oncoming car, and the old man lost control and led the car to a slope several meters high. The accident caused multiple fractures of Grandma Yang's lumbar vertebrae and lower legs, and she was barely able to stand and walk after multiple surgeries and bed rest for more than half a year.

And the old man has no insurance, and Grandma Yang has no choice but to file a lawsuit in order to claim medical expenses, and after several years, she only got back part of the medical expenses, and the rest can only be paid out of her own pocket.

This is a typical epitome of traffic accidents in the old man: low-profile vehicles, coupled with the fact that car owners generally do not have a driver's license and insurance, have poor driving habits and weak safety awareness, and can easily cause traffic accidents.

According to the statistics of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, in 2022 alone, there were 131 illegal electric three- and four-wheeled vehicle accidents in Beijing, killing 138 people, and in 2023, the driver fatality rate is as high as 71%, and more than 70% of the drivers are over 60 years old, of which 85% are driving without a license and have never received formal driving training.

However, it is difficult for many elderly people to get a driver's license, and even if they get a three-wheeled motorcycle license and buy a compliant vehicle, such old people are prohibited from driving on and around Beijing's Sixth Ring Road. This is destined to be the last of most old man music car owners to miss out on old man music.

Behind the old man's unpopularity, there are car companies who are having a hard time. Reading Automobile is a car company in Changle County, Weifang, Shandong Province, which produces Laotoule, and is also the national head enterprise in this industry. However, due to the impact of the environment, sales continued to decline, and in 2021, 30,400 units could be sold, and in 2022, only 17,900 units will be sold, a decrease of 40%. With the cessation of deliveries of Reading cars and the door-to-door collection of debts by dealers across the country, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Li Guoxin, the founder of Reading Motors, issued an open letter in January 2023 saying that Reading Motors acquired Mustang Motors in January 2019 and became the only enterprise in Weifang City with new energy vehicle qualifications. However, due to the lack of funds, it was unable to obtain loan renewal, and was "forced to a desperate situation of stopping work and production", and then declared bankruptcy.

According to the enterprise investigation, as of now, the amount involved in the case of Reading Automobile as a defendant exceeds 1.2 billion yuan. The official WeChat accounts of "Reading Automobile Group" and "Reading Motor" will stop updating from November 2022 and March 2023 respectively.

In addition, Hebei Yujie Automobile Industry, Shandong Lichi, Jinpeng Automobile, etc. have also made efforts to transform to the production of formal new energy vehicles, but the market performance of the products launched is not satisfactory. As the price war for new energy vehicles intensifies, the outlook is not optimistic. This has also become a microcosm of the disorderly expansion of new energy vehicle production capacity in the local area.

3. Upgrade, sink or go to sea?

The "ceiling" of the old man's music market is limited, and the transformation and upgrading of micro electric vehicles has become one of the few ways out.

It can be seen from the sales list of new energy vehicles that A00-class cars such as Wuling Hongguang MINI EV and Chery ice cream have always had good sales, which can be called a travel artifact. The size and endurance of the A00 class car are closer to the old man's music, and it has also become the direction of the latter's efforts.

In addition to Reading Automobile, Sichuan Mustang, Shandong Litz, Jinpeng Automobile, Hebei Yujie Automobile Co., Ltd. have laid out the new energy vehicle industry by acquiring new energy vehicle qualifications and cooperating with traditional car companies.

Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger association, believes that the current demand for high-end electric vehicles in the market is not very strong, but similar to the old man's upgrade to small and micro cars, and the demand for low-end family transportation is greater, especially affected by the epidemic, the market demand for A0 class cars and A00 class cars is higher.

"The inclusion of low-speed electric vehicles in standardized management, in fact, gives standardized enterprises an upward channel, and at the same time eliminates non-standard enterprises. Mini car companies will face an embarrassing situation: to choose between high cost and survival, if you go up, the cost will be high, and if you go down, there will be no way to survive. Cui Dongshu said.

Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Developing the Silver Economy and Improving the Well-being of the Elderly", which is the first special document issued by the state to support the development of the silver economy, aiming to cope with the aging of the population and realize the people's yearning for a better life.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on January 17, there are currently 297 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 21.1 percent of the national population, of which 217 million are aged 65 and above, accounting for 15.4 percent of the national population. Ageing is expected to deepen until mid-century.

At present, the upper age limit for obtaining a small car driver's license is 70 years old, and the upper age limit for obtaining a three-wheeled car and motorcycle driver's license is 60 years old.

The elderly have a strong demand for travel vehicles. Especially in dual-income families, parents are busy with work, and the task of picking up and dropping off their children to and from school every day naturally falls on the elderly at home. If there is a car that can shelter from the wind and rain, it can naturally greatly improve the happiness of the elderly.

Previously, the reason why the elderly loved the old man was that he did not need to take a driver's license and could go directly on the road, which led to unlicensed driving becoming the norm, causing the old man to expel the bad money of regular cars.

Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the driver's license system to facilitate the elderly to study and drive regular micro electric vehicles on the road. Ordinary people generally get C1 and C2 driver's licenses, but in comparison, the C5 driver's license for people with disabilities with two legs is much more difficult.

Cui Dongshu suggested that the elderly over 50 years old can apply for a C5 electric vehicle driver's license to facilitate the travel of the elderly. With the development of intelligence, the intelligence level of micro electric vehicles has been greatly improved, and they are much safer than motorcycles.

And deep cultivation of the sinking market, and even export overseas, is also an important way out for many old car companies.

An old man in Dezhou, Shandong told "Leopard Change" that in addition to the stricter management in Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other places are not greatly affected and are still selling normally. In Shandong Province, special vehicles can be arranged for delivery, and special vehicles can be delivered. It can also cooperate with customers to customize the paint color and interior.

At present, almost every day in the factory, there are cars sent to Northeast China, Jiangxi, Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia and other places.

At the 2023 Munich Motor Show, the Chinese old man stole a lot of limelight. Due to the large number of ancient buildings in many European cities, the roads are narrow, which is especially suitable for driving a small car. Previously, Citroen had launched a model AMI similar to the old man's Le, but the model was single, and the price of 6,000 euros persuaded many people. The domestic old man Le not only has richer models and functions, but also has a great advantage in price, which can be called a dimensionality reduction blow abroad.

On Christmas 2023, a Douyin blogger living in the United States ordered an electric tricycle from China to be shipped to the United States as a gift for his father-in-law. In China, the three or four thousand yuan electric three-wheeled wheeler, plus the freight, is still much cheaper than the local price in the United States. And this kind of charging and convenient three-wheeled goods is a rarity in the local area, so that her father-in-law instantly became the "most beautiful boy" in the community, and many friends came to experience a Chinese "black technology". It can be seen that the market potential of the old man in overseas is not small.

With the price of A00 class cars falling and the policy space shrinking, although the ban on old man music has not been rolled out across the country, but under the general trend, old man music needs to seize the time to think about the way back.