Fuel vehicles are going crazy by BYD
01, BYD flipped the table, and friends and businessmen should fight
BYD showed its long gun, and the 100,000-yuan new energy vehicle market was full of bullets.
On February 19, BYD Auto announced the official launch of the 2024 Qin PLUS Honor Edition and Destroyer 05 Glory Edition, with a starting price of 79,800 yuan for the two car series. As soon as the news came out, topics such as "BYD has cut prices" and "fired the first shot of price reduction in the car market in the Year of the Dragon" instantly appeared on the hot search.
Compared with the 2023 model, the official price of the 2024 Qin PLUS Honor Edition, whether it is a DM-i plug-in hybrid or a pure electric model, has been reduced by 20,000 yuan, the entry model of the destroyer 05 has also been reduced by 22,000 yuan, and the other configuration versions have been reduced by 20,000 yuan compared with the old model.
The low price of the new model made many car owners who picked up the car in January and early February bluntly said that it was "very painful" and complained on social media. "I'm the pure big injustice, just drop a few thousand, it's really a bit unacceptable to drop 20,000 directly, the key is that the sales haven't mentioned the new model at all. ”
Just when netizens speculated whether the 79,800 yuan Qin PLUS had cut some configurations, "City Boundary" found that the car not only did not reduce the configuration, but also added a new color paint, upgraded the voice continuous call and power-off functions.
However, in the eyes of some old Qin PLUS owners, the voice continuous call and power-off functions upgraded by the 2024 Qin PLUS can actually be achieved through OTA upgrades on the 2023 models, "The new model is more like a gimmick to increase the configuration and reduce the price."
There is no time to appease the emotions of old car owners, and BYD seems to be more concerned about whether this round of price offensive can knock down fuel vehicles.
Li Yunfei, general manager of BYD's brand and public relations department, recently issued an article aimed at fuel vehicles, saying that the two cars of Qin PLUS and Destroyer 05 Glory Edition are "double nuclear bombs" thrown into the fuel vehicle market, and will completely open the decisive battle with fuel vehicles. "The price of plug-in hybrid can be lower than that of fuel vehicles of the same level, not only the price is lower than that of fuel vehicles, but also can be fueled and electric, and ultra-low fuel consumption!
From playing "oil and electricity at the same price" to now shouting the slogan of "electricity is lower than oil", BYD has just won the global new energy vehicle sales championship, and has made such a ruthless move in the 100,000-yuan new energy vehicle market, which has stimulated the nerves of friends.
"One word, with. Zhou Jinkai, deputy general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling brand division, said on Weibo.
On the day BYD launched the new car, Wuling Starlight, Changan Qiyuan A05, and Nezha X followed up with price cuts. Geely Emgrand L Hi· P joined the battle the next day, the Longteng version was listed at a price of 89,800 ~ 99,800 yuan, and Leapmotor announced that T03 was discounted by 10,000 yuan for a limited time, and the starting price was 49,900 yuan after subsidies.
Of course, the fuel car that was stabbed by BYD was not convinced.
Beijing Hyundai announced that "Elantra starts at 75,800 yuan", and the poster format is almost a copy of BYD's, with the tip of the needle shouting "oil is stronger than electricity". Buick also officially announced on the same day that a number of its models opened limited-time offers. LaCrosse, Valeant Pro, and Envision Plus have discounted 35,000 yuan, 55,000 yuan, and 65,000 yuan respectively.
Whether it is serious or rubbing BYD's popularity, these manufacturers have undoubtedly earned a wave of attention, but the biggest winner may still be BYD.
Some netizens ridiculed that BYD's price reduction publicity this time can be described as "Qin Shihuang touched the electric door - won the hemp" and "the price reduction of the model was not only a surprise to consumers in terms of expected management, but also the price policy of other manufacturers felt completely dependent on BYD's face".
Recently, "City Boundary" visited several BYD Dynasty 4S stores in Beijing and found that almost all of the 79,800 yuan Qin PLUS showed cars and existing cars arrived at the store at the same time as the official announcement, but because the Spring Festival holiday had just ended, there were relatively few consumers who came to the store on weekdays. On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, car owners have already posted that they have mentioned new cars.
In the view of Wu Pei, a blogger in the automotive industry, BYD is likely to have a hand left, and it can fall again if it is urgent. He compared the fuel vehicles of the same level and believed that the Qin PLUS DM-i compressed the cost of the engine, motor, electronic control system, battery, wiring harness and other costs to the extreme, and the increased BOM standard cost (materials, labor, manufacturing) of the whole vehicle was only tens of thousands of yuan.
And considering that BYD has also sold fuel vehicles before-F3, with a price of about 50,000 yuan, plus the extra BOM cost of plug-in hybrid models, "Roughly calculated, BYD can indeed do 7.98, and even only BYD can do 7.98." The car blogger said.
02, why did BYD raise the butcher knife first?
Regardless of how much profit margin BYD has left for itself, after sitting on the top spot in the industry, why did it choose to take the lead in raising the price butcher knife in 2024?
Taking the Qin PLUS as an example, this is not the first time BYD has lowered the official price of the car.
When the model was first launched in March 2021, it had a starting price of CNY 113,800. The Champion Edition launched in February 2023 will be reduced to 99,800 yuan, when BYD shouted the slogan "The same price of oil and electricity, subverting fuel".
In mid-November 2023, BYD made an official discount of 10,000 yuan for Qin PLUS at the critical juncture of hitting 3 million annual sales, which is equivalent to a starting price of 89,800 yuan. These two price adjustments in 2023 have allowed BYD to reap the sales volume.
The new version lowers the starting price, and the pressure comes from both internal and external aspects.
In 2024, BYD's new vehicle sales target is 4.5 million units, an increase of about 50% compared to last year. It's quite a challenge. At present, the cake of the entire domestic automobile market is basically 30 million units, and there is only one way to ensure growth - to grab it from friends.
The full-category product strategy of "having more children and fighting" and "seeing the seams" used by German Volkswagen in China has been successfully copied by BYD very early.
Now, BYD's dynasty series and marine series product matrix, basically covering the mainstream family car market of various categories, around the 70,000 ~ 300,000 yuan price range, sedan and SUV models are fully covered, the best-selling models are Qin PLUS, Song PLUS, Yuan PLUS, Dolphin, Seagull, Han, Song Pro, Tang, Seal, Destroyer 05 and Frigate 07.
Despite this, BYD inevitably has missing segments and markets. Since last year, BYD has been deliberately adjusting its product structure.
For example, Song L, which will be launched in December 2023, is to fill part of the price gap between Song PLUS and Tang, and secondly, to attract different consumer groups with differentiated design styles.
For another example, the declaration information disclosed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that BYD will launch four models in the near future: Qin L, Yuan UP, Seal 06, and Hiace 07. Among them, the positioning of Qin L is between Qin PLUS and Han.
As a new member of the Qin family, Qin L will launch two DM-i plug-in hybrid models with different pure electric ranges in the early stage, and the industry predicts that the starting price will be about 120,000~130,000 yuan. Before this round of adjustment, the official price of Qin PLUS DM-i (medium and high-end models) is exactly in the range of 120,000 ~ 150,000 yuan, which will partially overlap with the new model Qin L.
Now, after the reduction of 20,000 yuan, Qin PLUS DM-i (medium and high-end models) falls in the price range of 100,000 ~ 120,000 yuan, avoiding internal competition, and at the same time, it can also rely on price advantages to seize the external market, which is a bit of killing two birds with one stone.
The upcoming Yuan UP, Seal 06, and Sea Lion 07 are similar to this idea. For example, the positioning of the Yuan UP is between the Yuan PRO and the Yuan PLUS, the positioning of the Seal 06 is between the Seal DM-i and the Destroyer 05, and the positioning of the Sea Lion 07 is like the Song L of the Ocean series.
The question arises again, with so many cars, why did BYD choose Qin PLUS and Destroyer 05 as the vanguard of the price war?
In the eyes of industry insiders, these two models are the cheapest plug-in hybrid models of the Dynasty and Ocean series, which have a wider audience than pure electric vehicles, and are likely to become a new generation of "national cars".
And compared with Qin PLUS, the sales performance of the destroyer 05 has been tepid. Since its launch in March 2022, monthly sales have never exceeded 10,000 units, and the average monthly sales volume in 2023 will be about 7,150 units. From October to December 2023, its monthly sales were 7,966, 6,706 and 8,302 units, respectively. January 2024 also saw a decline of 6,400 units.
▲(June 2023, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Auto Show, BYD booth)
In the eyes of the industry, the destroyer 05 is actually a copy of the Qin PLUS, but the power form cancels the EV pure electric, and only retains the DM-i plug-in hybrid, which is purely a model added by BYD in order to enrich the marine series. Therefore, when the price of Qin PLUS is reduced, the price of Destroyer 05 will inevitably be reduced.
Of course, in addition to internal factors such as adjusting product strategy, BYD has also encountered external competitive pressure.
The new plug-in hybrid cars launched by Geely, Wuling, Changan, Chery and other independent brands have gradually posed a threat to BYD around the price range of 100,000 yuan.
For example, the Wuling Starlight, which is sold from 88,800 yuan, with the size, space and "large volume" configuration of the B-class car, has a cumulative sales volume of 18,294 units in the first month of listing in December 2023, and 10,005 units in January 2024, which is a complete dark horse.
In addition, in the price range of 100,000 ~ 120,000 yuan for high-end models, BYD is also facing the impact of Geely Galaxy L6 and Chery Fengyun A8.
Fierce market competition coupled with the replacement of new and old models, the growth rate of Qin PLUS has slowed down. Compared with the sales volume in December 2023 (41,142 units), in January 2024, the Qin PLUS sold only 29,244 units.
As a direct result, BYD Group's wholesale sales in January 2024 (201,000 units) were surpassed by Geely Automobile Group (213,000 units). And Chery and Changan are catching up with sales of 197,000 and 192,000 units.
03. Joint venture fuel vehicles are not easy to gnaw
While BYD achieved sales of more than 3 million units in 2023, Qin PLUS (including plug-in hybrid and pure electric) also ushered in its own glorious moment.
In the compact car market, Qin PLUS surpassed two strong rivals, Nissan Sylphy (376,000 units) and Volkswagen Lavida (346,000 units), with annual sales of 434,000 units, and topped the best-selling sedan in the Chinese market in 2023.
Such a strong market appeal has made the joint venture fuel car companies sweat. In particular, BYD openly pointed the finger at fuel vehicles, and many people speculated that the "three mothers on the road" - Lei Ling, Xuanyi, and Corolla represented by the joint venture fuel vehicles, its good days are coming to an end.
Are fuel cars really going to be forced to death by BYD?
According to third-party data, the new energy penetration rate of A-class sedans in 2023 is only 22.5%, far lower than the overall market's 35.7%. Specific to the 80,000~150,000 yuan A-class car market, the penetration rate of new energy is only 17.2%.
This relatively blank market is not that new energy vehicles do not want to enter, mainly because the cost and price are really not advantageous compared with fuel vehicles.
In addition, mainstream joint ventures and self-owned brand fuel vehicles have been controlling this market for a long time, and it may be difficult for consumers' perceptions to change quickly.
"City Boundary" visited several Hyundai 4S stores in Beijing and learned that the price of "75,800 yuan" on the poster is basically true, and the price of the Elantra's naked car is indeed more than 70,000 yuan.
Taking the 1.5L GLX Elite Edition with an official guide price of 112,800 yuan as an example, the current cash discount is 33,000 yuan, which is equivalent to the price of a naked car of 79,800 yuan, which is just the same as the price of the new Qin PLUS DM-i. At the end of 2023, the price of this car can be reduced to 76,800 yuan, "basically there is no room for further price reduction." Beijing Hyundai salesman said.
In the Nissan 4S store, the sales staff said that after hearing the news of BYD's price cut, they did not have much worry about the sales of Sylphy, especially the sales of the classic Sylphy.
"The landing price of the classic Sylphy has been around 80,000 yuan in the past year, which is basically the same as the Qin PLUS after the price reduction, and the space is larger. Now the price after the Spring Festival has only increased slightly by 3,000 yuan compared with before the holiday, and the price and sales have been relatively stable. Nissan sales said.
In fact, the overall price reduction of fuel vehicles will start in the second half of 2023, and joint venture cars such as Buick Veran and Volkswagen Lavida Xinrui, which originally had a guide price of 100,000 yuan, once dropped to more than 70,000 yuan when the price war intensified.
Toyota's sales also exclaimed, Corolla Hybrid has an unprecedented discount of nearly 40,000 yuan, "This price can only be described as crazy!"
In the view of Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger association, the decline in the cost of new energy and the "same price of oil and electricity" have brought huge pressure to fuel vehicle manufacturers.
In addition to the unprecedented low price, the reputation of the joint venture car accumulated over the years is also an advantage that cannot be ignored.
The salesman of BYD Dynasty also said frankly that most of the household consumers he has received will feel that the 55 kilometers of pure electric range of the Qin PLUS DM-i low-profile model is a little short, and they are more willing to consider the 120-kilometer high-end version, "but in this way, the price will go up, the price of more than 100,000 yuan, and their own home customers still feel that the mainstream joint venture car is more down-to-earth." ”
In his opinion, although Qin PLUS has become a hit in 2023, most users actually buy it to run online car-hailing. "A customer once bought 6 Qin PLUS DM-i from me, and then rented them out to an online car-hailing driver for 5,000 yuan a month. It's okay if you don't charge, when you drive a conventional gasoline-electric hybrid car, it's no problem to pay back quickly. ”
Now, the 79,800 yuan Qin PLUS can be leveraged the most by consumers who originally budgeted about 60,000 ~ 70,000 yuan and considered their own brand fuel vehicles. "Although it exceeds the user's budget, the long-term cost is lower after calculating the fuel money and purchase tax saved, and some customers decide to buy it after calculating this account. BYD salesman said.
Although BYD is not ready to leave a way for fuel vehicles, it is not so easy to change the life of fuel vehicles only by relying on low prices and low fuel consumption.
You know, consumer needs are not the same, and the factors that influence the purchase decision are also strange. BYD also needs to listen more to the voice of consumers and work its products.
Author | Huang Shuo
Edit | Tian Yanlin
Operations | Liu Shan