If you're a consumer who is holding on to your coins, what has pleased you the most since the beginning of 2024? For consumers, a price reduction means a decrease in the cost of buying a car, which is of course a good thing.
After this wave of price cuts, many major new energy models have achieved "electricity is lower than oil", which proves that China's new energy vehicle industry is becoming more and more mature, and 2024 may be a real turning point.
A price war at the beginning of the year?
This wave of price cuts started with BYD. In late February, the BYD Qin PLUS Glory Edition was launched, with a starting price of only 79,800 yuan, which is the first time that a domestic plug-in hybrid A-class car has fallen into the range of less than 80,000 yuan.
BYD is naturally reluctant to use the word price reduction, but whether it is the Champion Edition model at the beginning of 2023 or the current Glory Edition model, it is a disguised price reduction through new models. In addition to the Glory Edition model of Qin PLUS, the Dolphin Glory Edition, Han Glory Edition, and Tang Glory Edition are also on the market one after another.
BYD is the global new energy sales champion for two consecutive years, and its global sales will exceed 3 million units in 2023. As soon as such an industry giant lowers its price, other manufacturers must follow suit. On the same day that the Qin PLUS Glory Edition was launched, the Wuling Starlight plug-in hybrid version also announced a price cut, and the price of the 150 advanced version dropped by 6000 yuan, entering the price range below 100,000 yuan for the first time.
The second is Geely Automobile, launched the Emgrand L HiP Longteng Edition, this car and Qin PLUS Glory Edition is the same level of model, the price of the entry model is reduced by 20,000 yuan, only 89,800 yuan, although it is more expensive than the entry model of the Qin PLUS Glory Edition, but there are certain advantages in terms of battery life.
In addition, Chang'an's Qiyuan brand also launched a limited-time preferential policy on the day after the price reduction of Qin PLUS, and the starting price was reduced from the original 89,900 yuan to 78,900 yuan. And new power brands such as Nezha have also announced price cuts, and even joint ventures like Buick are following suit.
If you're a consumer who is holding on to your coins, what has pleased you the most since the beginning of 2024? For consumers, a price reduction means a decrease in the cost of buying a car, which is of course a good thing.
After this wave of price cuts, many major new energy models have achieved "electricity is lower than oil", which proves that China's new energy vehicle industry is becoming more and more mature, and 2024 may be a real turning point.
A price war at the beginning of the year?
This wave of price cuts started with BYD. In late February, the BYD Qin PLUS Glory Edition was launched, with a starting price of only 79,800 yuan, which is the first time that a domestic plug-in hybrid A-class car has fallen into the range of less than 80,000 yuan.
BYD is naturally reluctant to use the word price reduction, but whether it is the Champion Edition model at the beginning of 2023 or the current Glory Edition model, it is a disguised price reduction through new models. In addition to the Glory Edition model of Qin PLUS, the Dolphin Glory Edition, Han Glory Edition, and Tang Glory Edition are also on the market one after another.
BYD is the global new energy sales champion for two consecutive years, and its global sales will exceed 3 million units in 2023. As soon as such an industry giant lowers its price, other manufacturers must follow suit. On the same day that the Qin PLUS Glory Edition was launched, the Wuling Starlight plug-in hybrid version also announced a price cut, and the price of the 150 advanced version dropped by 6000 yuan, entering the price range below 100,000 yuan for the first time.
The second is Geely Automobile, launched the Emgrand L HiP Longteng Edition, this car and Qin PLUS Glory Edition is the same level of model, the price of the entry model is reduced by 20,000 yuan, only 89,800 yuan, although it is more expensive than the entry model of the Qin PLUS Glory Edition, but there are certain advantages in terms of battery life.
In addition, Chang'an's Qiyuan brand also launched a limited-time preferential policy on the day after the price reduction of Qin PLUS, and the starting price was reduced from the original 89,900 yuan to 78,900 yuan. And new power brands such as Nezha have also announced price cuts, and even joint ventures like Buick are following suit.
The price reduction is also divided into three, six, nine and so on?
The price war in 2023 has exhausted many manufacturers, but BYD has launched a challenge, and other manufacturers will follow whether they are willing or unwilling. Therefore, these manufacturers involved in price reductions are also divided into three, six, nine and so on.
Some manufacturers can afford to follow BYD to reduce prices, such as Geely, its new energy sales are second only to BYD in domestic brands, and have made gains in the high, medium and low-end markets, and have entered a virtuous circle of "from oil to electricity", which can be reduced by price reduction.
Some new power manufacturers also have good development and strong financial strength, so they can continue to reduce prices. However, unlike traditional car manufacturers such as Geely and Changan, new power manufacturers do not have the "cash cow" of fuel vehicles, so the desire to follow the trend and reduce prices is not strong.
Other traditional manufacturers who are slower to transform seem to be reluctant. The reason is very simple, their new energy business has not yet taken shape, and price reductions will erode profit margins, increase the burden on enterprises, and at the same time lead to lower revenues and affect follow-up investment, which is a vicious circle.
BYD, Geely and other mainstream manufacturers cut prices, mainly because the early stage of technology investment has entered the harvest period, and the expansion of sales scale, the decline in power battery procurement costs, but also make a significant increase in the profit of a single car, so dare to reduce prices. But for those brands that are not strong and not yet ready, they may not be able to hold up after a few more waves of such price cuts.
Why is it important that electricity is lower than oil?
This time the price was reduced, and BYD played such a banner: electricity is lower than oil. The reason why the 79,800 yuan Qin PLUS has attracted strong attention is because its price is low enough, which is lower than the Volkswagen Lavida and Toyota Corolla after the sharp price reduction. To achieve this step, new energy manufacturers dare to say that the cost performance of new energy vehicles truly exceeds that of fuel vehicles of the same level.
The advantages of new energy vehicles are obvious, the cost of using the car is low, the purchase tax reduction, the number of unlimited lines, the power performance is strong, the car experience is good, etc., are the reasons why they attract consumers, but new energy vehicles also have insufficient battery life, unclear value retention rate and other problems, so only their price is lower than the same level of fuel vehicles, most consumers will try.
In the past two years, car manufacturers pursued the same price of oil and electricity, and now they are pursuing lower electricity than oil. Only when the lower electricity than oil becomes a common phenomenon, the real new energy era will come.
A few years ago, industry insiders predicted that 2025 will be an important node in the battle between oil and electricity, and from this year onwards, the cost performance of new energy vehicles will significantly exceed that of fuel vehicles. Judging from the current situation, this point in time may be even earlier than 2025.
What are the trends for 2024?
This wave of price reductions is different from the wave of price reductions in March 2023. This time, the number of manufacturers participating in the price reduction is obviously small, and many manufacturers have a wait-and-see attitude.
The reason is not complicated, the price reduction tide in 2023 has squeezed out the premium and inflated components in the price, and many manufacturers can still bear it, but this year's price reduction has touched the bottom line of many manufacturers, and another price reduction may affect normal operations.
But once this wave of price reductions starts, it is difficult to stop, and price reductions in 2024 are still the main theme of the new energy market, if nothing else, in 2024, "electricity is lower than oil" will become the real mainstream, and after this toss, by the end of the year, whether it is a new energy manufacturer or a fuel vehicle manufacturer, there will be a number of eliminated out.
In fact, price reduction is a process of survival of the fittest, which is a good thing for consumers, and a dimensionality reduction blow to traditional manufacturers that are too slow to transform. If you're buying a car this year, but you don't need it urgently, it's okay to wait a few months, because there may be bigger surprises when you wait.