In 2023, it will be after the Lunar New Year that the "price war" of joint venture cars will officially start.
When entering 2024, many car companies have not had time to take stock of the "results" of the past year, so they have started a new round of price war directly under the urging of the sense of crisis.
In addition to joint ventures such as SAIC Volkswagen, FAW Toyota, Changan Mazda, SAIC-GM Buick, and Guangqi Honda, first-tier luxury manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi have also taken the initiative to put down their positions and plunge into the fierce competition with substantial discounts.
In fact, through the price reduction of these joint venture brands, we can unearth a lot of information. From the macro level of the market, Chinese brands and Chinese new energy brands have had a huge impact on the joint venture camp; from the consumer level, the sharp price reduction of joint venture brands and mainstream luxury brands also needs to be divided into two, and low prices do not equal real "affordability".
- What is the situation of the joint venture price war?
According to the information collected by the author, almost all joint venture brands and luxury brands have kicked off the price war before the Spring Festival.
At the same time, I have also collected a few more representative brands for your reference.
At the beginning of the new year, SAIC Volkswagen launched a joint promotional campaign with Chow Tai Fook. Before February 29, as long as you buy a car and complete the APP binding, you can draw a co-branded customized "gold banknote", go to the designated service point for maintenance, and draw a safety pendant...... In addition to giving away real gold, SAIC Volkswagen also brought a lot of discounts. The comprehensive discount range of the 2024 Passat and Lavida will reach 58,000 and 40,000. In the SUV camp, the Touron has a comprehensive discount of 58,000 yuan, while the Tiguan L has a starting price of 169,900 yuan.
Among other joint ventures, many have brought preferential policies of "purchase tax subsidies". According to the author's preliminary statistics, there are Volvo, FAW Toyota, Beijing Hyundai, Yueda Kia and other manufacturers in order to further attract consumers, providing purchase tax subsidy policies.
For example, within the Yueda Kia brand, consumers can enjoy a purchase tax subsidy of 15,000 yuan, and also enjoy other cash preferential policies, with a total terminal discount of more than 30,000 yuan, and the entry-level price of the 1.5T model has been reduced to less than 150,000 yuan.
Among the luxury brands, the discounts of each car company are also quite large. For example, as a "second-tier luxury brand goalkeeper", Volvo enjoys substantial preferential policies for many models. The author's friend bought a S90 T8 low-profile version of the model some time ago, this car is based on the direct sales price of Volvo discounts, the landing price is less than 370,000 yuan, and a large number of high-quality products are presented, which can be called the cost-effective role of the C-class luxury car.
Coming to the first-line luxury brands, the three brothers Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi will hold their basic plates in 2023.
But after entering 2024, they also have a clear "sense of crisis". The author understands that in the near future, the reduction of Mercedes-Benz A-class and GLB can reach 80,000 yuan, the reduction of BMW iX3 can reach 100,000 yuan, X1 and other models also have a discount of about 80,000 yuan, and in the Audi brand, A6L has a discount of about 140,000 yuan......
On the whole, on the surface, the current major joint venture brands and luxury brands are not small, and they show a relatively high attraction to consumers at the price level.
What is the underlying logic of the price war?
First of all, we need to understand a basic logic: joint venture brands and luxury brands have generally joined the price war, and the war is intensifying. Their core appeal is to sell more new cars. If you dig deeper, then you have to start from the dimension of "market pressure".
First of all, from the perspective of the "price war", the author is willing to use two words to describe the current war situation, that is, "chaos".
In the past ten years, the author has only seen the chaotic "price increase" of the joint venture brand, but has never seen such a chaotic "price reduction price war".
Many brands and models have reduced their prices, which gives us a new view of them: "It turns out that this kind of car is only worth so much money?"
From the perspective of the brand, after the price war started, the profits of many car companies were decreasing, and there was a trend of "losing money and making money".
However, for the sake of market share, this is also a way for major joint venture car companies to compete.
After all, from the current point of view, many Chinese car companies and Chinese new energy car companies are expanding rapidly, and with the gradual increase in market sales and volume, they have brought more pressure to mainstream joint venture manufacturers.
The author believes that as there are more and more brands in the automobile market, the market will become more and more volatile.
The price war is a manifestation of the severe competition in the automobile market. As time enters 2024, there will be more and more players in the automotive industry, in addition to the price war, the author predicts that some car companies will face the risk of elimination.
With some brands out, the market will also return to normal after two or three years of "madness". Therefore, for consumers, at this stage, the preferential margins of major car companies are generally larger, and buying a car at this time is also a more cost-effective time node. It's just that when buying a car, everyone needs to be more rational.
Do you think the discounts are really affordable?
At the moment of "price war", many car companies actually like this "general ledger", that is, how much is "equivalent to how much" various discounts and courtesies are superimposed.
For example, in the price war, in addition to cash discounts, many car companies have also converted insurance subsidies and warranty extensions into today's to attract consumers with large discounts. But in fact, when you enter the store to buy a car, you also need to recalculate the amount of cash discounts.
In addition, the "official price reduction amount" of many car companies is inconsistent with the terminal discount amount of 4S stores.
The author found that some car companies claimed that "the preferential range reached 35,000 yuan" in the promotional page, but in fact, in the quotation of the 4S store, the preferential range of the same model can be as high as 45,000 yuan.
Therefore, the author also reminds everyone here that when you really enter the store to talk about discounts, don't just hold the official discounts to talk, continue to talk with sales, maybe there will be "unexpected surprises".
In addition, one of the issues I would like to talk to you about is actually some hidden worries behind the "price war".
At this stage, many joint venture brands and luxury brands have reduced their prices, and it is not excluded that there is the idea of "losing money and making money". But objectively speaking, car companies and dealers want to make money, and the wool is actually from the sheep.
In order to control costs and expand profits, in the wave of price reductions, consumers will inevitably buy some "stock cars" or even "reduced cars". In this regard, this test is not only the sincerity of manufacturers and distributors, but also the ability of consumers to discriminate.
Epilogue:
In 2024, the "price war" and "wave of price reduction" of joint venture car companies will still continue. From a macro point of view, such a price war actually corresponds to the increasingly volatile automobile market. From the perspective of consumer experience and feelings, today's cars are getting cheaper and cheaper, and it is naturally a good time to sell. But before making a move, in addition to looking at the price but also on the quality, only by really buying a car rationally can we leave no regrets as much as possible.