Dropped 120,000 yuan, BMW's best-selling SUV sold like crazy
01. Sell out of stock at a significant price reduction
"BMW X3 discount of 120,000 has been sold out, and it will take half a month to pick up the car!"
Recently, a news about the price reduction of BMW X3 has attracted the attention of many netizens. In particular, whether you buy a car in full or in installments, X3 has a discount of up to 120,000 yuan, which surprises many prospective car owners who are holding coins to buy.
You must know that the guide price of the domestic version of the 2023 BMW X3 currently on sale in the market is 399,600 ~ 486,900 yuan. If you can discount 120,000 yuan, it is a proper "cabbage price".
The X3 was born in 2003 and is the second SUV model of the BMW brand. The car is positioned as a mid-size SUV, and the third-generation model was introduced to China by BMW Brilliance in 2018 and has been sold ever since. With BMW's consistent "sporty" label, the X3 has achieved good results in the Chinese market. Since 2019, the X3 has been BMW's best-selling SUV model in the Chinese market every year, and the competition with Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi Q5 is very fierce.
In order to explore the reality of price reductions, "City Boundary" visited a number of BMW dealerships in Beijing, and most of the showrooms did not have the X3 in it. According to the feedback of the sales staff, the X3 has either been sold recently, or the show car has not had time to be placed, and it has been favored by customers in the parking lot.
In a store that doesn't even have an X3 car, the sales said: "It's really sold out, and now I can only order a car, and it will take about two weeks to pick up the car." At the 4S shop, where there was still an X3 showcase, the city noticed that it only had the entry-level 25i model. "Customers who buy X3 will mostly choose the 30i leading model in the middle configuration. Although it is more expensive than 30,000 yuan, the power and configuration are much improved compared to the 25i, and it is the most cost-effective. The 30i is almost sold in the lead, and the top model is slightly more. The sales said.
Compared with the end of 2023, the increased discount of X3 mainly appears in the lead of the main sales model 30i, which has increased from about 80,000 yuan to 110,000~120,000 yuan. The entry-level 25i and the top-of-the-line 30i premium model have already reached this range. And from a regional point of view, this price reduction has basically covered all parts of the country.
On social platforms, BMW's dealers are also doing their best, "25i landing 320,000", "30i leading landing 360,000", "top 30i exclusive drop 130,000" and other posts swiped the screen.
▲ (Source/City Boundary)
However, some netizens suspect that the "moisture" is larger, speculating whether this is a discount only for the high interest rate of 80% of the loan car price, "The landing price without interest is a word game." ”
The concerns of netizens are not unreasonable, and some BMW salespeople have exposed routines such as "low-price drainage" before. "There are irresponsible sales that attract customers to the store, and then find various reasons to raise the price. "Many car owners who have just bought a car also said that there are many false prices on the Internet, and the discount for full payment and installment purchase is basically different. You can't just look at the price of the naked car, but the final landing price, including interest and various miscellaneous expenses, is of reference significance.
In response to the news of the BMW X3 discount of 120,000 yuan, some sales said that although the discount is a little exaggerated, it is still possible according to the specific situation of different stores. "It is important to note whether this is just a cash concession or includes a replacement subsidy or a local subsidy. The other is whether the full payment or installment is met, and whether it meets the conditions of large customers. ”
At present, there are still 4S stores in Beijing, and the sales can basically give a cash discount of 90,000 ~ 110,000 yuan, and there is still room for bargaining. A salesperson said, "If you take a 5-year loan, the price of the naked car can be discounted by 20,000 yuan more than the full amount." There is no penalty for early repayment after one year, and the interest for one year is about 10,000 yuan, which is equivalent to 10,000 yuan cheaper than the full amount of interest, which is currently the most cost-effective. The best-selling 30i is leading, and the landing price is in the early 370,000s. ”
Based on budget considerations, Xu Lu told "City Boundary" that in March this year, she bought the entry model of BMW X3 - X3 xDrive25i, with an official guide price of 399,600 yuan. "For the installment loan, the price of the naked car has been cut to 280,000, which is about 120,000 yuan, and the landing price is less than 320,000 yuan. If you add 15,000 yuan of interest a year, it will cost about 335,000 yuan in total. According to her, in the past two days, some car owners have cut the price of naked cars to 275,000 yuan.
From the point of view of sales, the current price of X3 is the "historical freezing price", and those owners who spend 400,000~500,000 yuan to buy X3 in 2022 "have already scolded".
02. BMW may want to enlarge its moves
In 2024, the fierce price war in the auto market and the increasingly strong wait-and-see sentiment of consumers have made traditional luxury brands feel the chill and increase their discounts. For BMW X3, it is not only necessary to deal with the attack of old rivals Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi Q5L, but also to face new forces such as Wenjie and Ideal at a similar price.
According to data from the Yiche App, from January to February 2024, the sales volume of BMW X3 will be 20,469 units, Mercedes-Benz GLC will be 21,628 units, and Audi Q5L will be 20,429 units, which are basically at the same level. The M7 handed over a report card of 51,080 units, and the Ideal L7 and L8 also sold 21,802 and 14,518 units respectively. If you are not careful, the share of traditional luxury brands may be snatched away by new players.
The severe market environment makes BMW dare not slack off in the slightest. Especially as we approach the end of the first quarter of 2024, we need to rush the overall sales volume. However, since the 1~2 months after the Spring Festival every year are the traditional off-season for the automobile consumer market, the methods to stimulate sales are basically simple and crude to increase discounts.
Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned external factors in the market environment, the X3 price reduction is also due to BMW's own reasons.
BMW 5 Series has just completed the handover of the baton of the seventh and eighth generation models, and the seven generations of old models have basically completed the clearance, while the new models of the eighth generation are difficult to sell because of the small discounts, and the 3 Series and X3 need to be topped as much as possible.
In addition, the X3 is also approaching the annual facelift period - the 3 Series has been updated to the 2024 model year in November 2023, while the X3 is still stuck in the 2023 and 2022 models.
Zhao Kai, the head of the department of a BMW dealership, told "City Boundary" that the X3 has been in a state of reduced production recently and is preparing for the upcoming new model, so dealers are cutting prices to clear inventory. From a longer-term perspective, BMW is brewing a bigger move - the domestic landing of the new generation X3, and "lengthening the wheelbase is almost a sure thing." ”
"Now we get unconfirmed news that in May, the manufacturer will have a relatively large move, which may be the first foreign X3. In China, the X3 will be launched in May with a facelift for the 2024 facelift. Zhao Kai said. "According to BMW's previous rhythm, the new X3 will basically wait until the end of 2024 to be launched in China, but it is not ruled out that it will be faster, because the Chinese market is too important. ”
The X3 currently on sale in the global market is a third-generation model, and the domestic version of the model was introduced "originally" without a longer wheelbase.
Recently, the information of the fourth-generation X3 has also been frequently exposed by overseas media, some media reported that the fourth-generation X3 will be officially mass-produced in August, its size is slightly larger than the domestic version of the third-generation model, the body length has been increased from the third-generation 4737mm to 4755mm, the width has increased from 1891mm to 1920mm, but the height has been reduced from 1689mm to 1660mm.
You know, the biggest pain point of the current BMW X3 in the Chinese market is the small legroom in the rear, while the X3's old rivals Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi Q5L have lengthened the wheelbase as early as 2019 and 2018, and only a long wheelbase version has been launched today.
The small space in the rear row has made the X3 lose a lot of consumer groups that are taller or have children at home. When sharing their experience of using the car on social media, some car owners said that they usually don't feel that the rear space is insufficient, and after installing a child safety seat, they feel that it is really small. "In particular, the rear-facing child seat will affect the front row" and "When the safety seat is placed, the passenger seat is always in the front position." There are also some car owners who end up buying Mercedes-Benz GLC because of space problems.
Although BMW wants to insist on its "sporty" uniqueness and is reluctant to lengthen the wheelbase, it is not 2018 anymore, the market environment has changed, and BMW has indeed tasted the sweetness of lengthening the wheelbase.
In March 2022, the X5 produced by BMW Brilliance was launched, which not only lengthened the wheelbase, but also improved the rear comfort and equipment to meet the needs of Chinese consumers.
In 2022, the BMW X5 won the sales championship of more than 600,000 SUV models with an annual performance of more than 500,000 units. In 2023, sales of the BMW X5 will increase to 93,000 units, once again becoming the segment champion.
From January to February 2024, the BMW X5 sold 18,388 units, only about 2,000 fewer than the X3. Since there are almost no opponents, the price of BMW X5 is also extremely strong, and there is only a cash discount of 2~30,000 yuan at the current terminal. Combined with its high price of 615,000 ~ 800,000 yuan, it is called "BMW's profit cow" by industry insiders.
It is precisely like this, "lengthened wheelbase" is regarded by many industry insiders and netizens as a sharp sword that BMW X3 has not yet been unsheathed, if the news is true, it is estimated that it will soon be BMW's turn to show its edge. However, BMW told the city that there is no information that can be made public about this at this time.
03. Is it sustainable to exchange price for quantity?
If the X3 price cut is a big move behind BMW, is the idea of price reduction sustainable? Zhao Kai said that the most feared thing now is that consumers' psychological expectations are getting lower and lower, and inertial thinking is formed.
Taking BMW's electric products as an example, from the model matrix, BMW already has i3, i4, i5, i7, iX1, iX3, iXX these 7 pure electric models, and all of them are launched in the Chinese market, covering sedans and SUVs, the actual terminal price ranges from 220,000 ~ 820,000 yuan, and there are layouts in various market segments in the middle and high-end.
However, under the extremely fierce competition in the domestic electric vehicle market, the i3 has dropped to more than 200,000 yuan, and the actual terminal transaction price can be discounted by 65% or even 6%. Zhao Kai is worried that in the long run, it will leave consumers with the impression that "BMW's electric vehicles can only be exchanged for price", or even "only worth this price".
For example, many netizens now said that although BMW's latest pure electric model i5 is very good, considering the discount of i3, "at least wait for a 7% discount before considering buying i5".
Although at the beginning of 2024, BMW Group Chief Financial Officer Walter Mertl said at a media conference that the critical point of BMW's fuel vehicle sales has passed, and now most of the sales growth comes from electric vehicles, and it has become profitable, "we can make money from electric vehicles", but at present, the profit of electric vehicles is not as good as that of fuel vehicles.
In fact, from the adjustment of BMW's product matrix in the Chinese market in the past year, it can be seen that BMW's senior management has extremely high expectations for electric vehicles.
The most obvious thing is that BMW has discontinued some entry-level models that do not meet the mainstream needs of the Chinese market in terms of fuel vehicle products. For example, in July 2023, the domestically produced BMW 1 Series will officially stop production, and some media reports say that it will switch to the production of long-wheelbase 2 Series four-door coupe. In September of the same year, the production of the first-generation BMW X2 was officially discontinued, and the second-generation X2 was sold in the Chinese market as an original import.
It is not difficult to see that BMW's main energy in fuel vehicles is concentrated in mid-to-high-end models of more than 300,000 yuan, which is also BMW's biggest advantage at present. An entry-level model like the X1 with a guide price of 290,000~350,000 yuan, even if a large discount of 100,000 yuan was released, the sales volume did not exceed that of the more expensive X3 and X5.
Behind the shrinking defense line of fuel vehicles is BMW's investment in electric vehicles. In 2023, the BMW Group delivered 2,554,100 luxury vehicles worldwide, of which more than 375,000 were pure electric vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 74.2%. Combined with the plug-in hybrid models delivered throughout the year, the BMW Group sold more than 560,000 new energy vehicles in 2023. Specific to the Chinese market, BMW will deliver about 100,000 BMW BEVs in 2023.
Therefore, Zhao Kai expressed concern about the impact that the price reduction news may bring to BMW's electric vehicles.
However, judging from the situation of fuel vehicles, it is indeed difficult to retain customers without reducing prices. "Like the all-new 5 Series, this discount really doesn't sell right now. Zhao Kai said. "Everyone knows that the whole car market is crazy about price cuts, and it is basically impossible to sell cars at the guide price, and we are all more anxious. ”
At present, the new BMW 5 Series has a cash discount of about 30,000 yuan, but the lethality is still not enough. According to the data of the Yiche App, in the three weeks after the Spring Festival, February 19 ~ March 10, the BMW 5 Series only sold a total of 2,113 units. The new Mercedes-Benz E-class, which also completed a major replacement and had no discounts, sold 3,284 units. The Audi A6L, which had a bigger discount, sold 7,202 units.
In 2023, BMW delivered a total of 825,000 BMW and MINI cars in the Chinese market, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%, and won the top luxury car sales crown. Among them, the exchange of price for volume has played an important role.
In 2024, when the price war is intensifying and new energy vehicle companies are beginning to enter the "knockout game", BMW's fuel vehicle foundation and global market volume are enough to support it to fight a protracted war, but its friends are not vegetarians. How to reduce prices while maintaining the brand image, BMW still has a lot to consider.
Author | Huang Shuo
Edit | Tian Yanlin
Operations | Liu Shan