Is Ideal MEGA a failure at the moment?
First of all, for Li Xiang himself, it should be regarded as a failure. After all, the previous ideal MEGA's monthly sales goal is to focus on the first position in the luxury car market sales of more than 500,000 yuan, you must know that this overlord is BMW X5, with an average monthly sales of about 8,000 units. The current orders for the Ideal MEGA are about 4,000 units, and according to relevant data, the sales volume of the Ideal MEGA in the 11th week of 2024 (March 11 to March 17) is only 1,100 units.
However, for a pure electric MPV model with a price of more than 500,000 yuan, the ideal MEGA is still the best selling in the current market. It sells more than models such as the Denza D9 EV and Zeekr 009. Although it is not as good as the Xpeng X9's 01,200 units, the sales gap is not large, and the price of the Xpeng X9 is relatively lower.
A few days ago, a document of "Ideal Auto's Internal Communication Minutes" was exposed, which seems to be a response to the market expectations of Ideal MEGA. According to the document, the sales growth rate in 2024 is 50%-70%, and the corresponding sales guidance is 56-640,000 units, which is 16-240,000 units lower than the previous 65-800,000 units.
Previously, Li Xiang also mentioned in an internal letter: "We pay too much attention to sales and competition from top to bottom, so that desire surpasses value, and the user value and operational efficiency that we are best at have decreased significantly." The pursuit of desire makes us become the person we hate. ”
In this regard, Li Auto will reduce the expectation and desire of sales, return to healthy growth, return to the improvement of user value that it is best at, and return to the improvement of operational efficiency that it is best at. In addition, Li Auto will abandon its full-scale sales strategy, concentrate on large-scale retail centers in leading cities for product experience and test drives, and accelerate the construction of supercharging stations in these cities.
Nowadays, the problem faced by Li Auto is not only that the sales of Li MEGA are not as expected, but more importantly, the Li L series models are also under unprecedented pressure. Nowadays, there are more and more models of range extenders, especially the sales of AITO Wenjie continue to rise, with the blessing of Huawei, in terms of intelligent driving system, it is difficult for Li Auto to keep up with Huawei's footsteps, let alone surpass. In addition, Huawei's "circle of friends" is still expanding, which will further squeeze the market space of Li Auto.
At the same time, the highlight configuration of "battery, sofa, and large color TV" that Li Auto relies on the most is easy to copy. Although it is said that Li MEGA wants to achieve a breakthrough in the pure electric market through design differentiation, at present, it has failed because of the appearance design, so it is quite difficult for Li Auto to improve its competitiveness by virtue of differentiation.
Although Li Auto still plans to have an ideal L6 this year, when the price drops to about 200,000 yuan, it will also be the most brutal range of competition in the domestic auto market. It is also very difficult for it to stand out and even reach more than 20,000 units.
However, it is undeniable that Li Auto's timely "correction" allows it to avoid further mistakes, and also allows it to return to the track it is good at, effectively avoiding more costs of making mistakes. At the same time, last year, Li Auto became the first new car-making force in China with an annual revenue of more than 100 billion yuan, and its net profit reached 11.81 billion yuan, achieving profitability in the first year since delivery. As of the end of 2023, Li Auto's cash reserves will reach 103.67 billion yuan, which is also in the forefront of new car-making forces.
The previous good profits and sufficient cash reserves also allowed Li Auto to have the opportunity to make mistakes and not be knocked down by a stick, but whether it can re-find its "comfort zone" in the next competition also tests Li Xiang's strategic vision.
(This article is originally produced by Wenwu Lane New Media Studio, please indicate the source: Wenwu Lane, the author of this article: Qingfeng, personal opinion, for reference only)