In the first quarter of this year, the B-segment car market was not uneventful.
I thought that the starting price of the ninth-generation Camry, which was launched in early March, was as low as 171,800 yuan, but as everyone knows, the starting price of the 11th-generation Sonata that was just launched not long ago was directly 139,800 yuan!
As a result, within a few days, the topic of "120,000 Xi Ti Passat" was on the hot search again. Combined with the background of the increasingly fierce price war in the auto market since 2024, many people seem to have seen the dawn of "bottom-buying" joint venture fuel B-class cars for a while.
You know, in the past, this price was just the entry price of many joint venture fuel A-class cars. So, is it really a good time to buy a joint venture fuel B-class car? I chose a working day and went to a number of 4S stores along Xinjiao Road in Guangzhou to find out.
01, Volkswagen Passat: 2.0T has a maximum discount of 40,000 yuan, and the landing price is more than 200,000 yuan
SAIC Volkswagen was the first brand I visited, after all, the "120,000 Passat" is really attractive.
"It is said on the Internet that the Passat is discounted to 120,000, is it true?"
"That's unlikely, the 1.4T version can't be so low. ”
In the face of this news spread on the Internet, the sales were a little crying and laughing. According to the sales introduction, at present, the Passat provides two power versions of the 1.4T and 2.0T models, the 1.4T version is mainly for commercial car purchases, while private car users can only buy the 2.0T version.
Sales revealed that the 2.0T model can now be discounted by 30,000 yuan for full purchase, and the mortgage can be given a discount of 40,000 yuan, and the discount can be landed in the early 200,000 yuan, and some models have existing cars.
As a sister car of the Passat, FAW-Volkswagen Magotan also has a discount of about 35,000 yuan at the terminal.
02, Ford Mondeo: The whole series is reduced by 20,000, and the hybrid is cheaper than the two fields!
At the second stop, I went to Changan Ford. As soon as I entered the store, I saw the Mondeo in the C position.
Sales told me that at present, Mondeo provides three different powertrains: 1.5T, 2.0T, and hybrid, with a discount of 20,000 yuan for the whole system. It is worth mentioning that the official starting price of the Mondeo hybrid is 189,800 yuan, and the price of the car is only 169,800 yuan after the discount.
Friends who know something about Ford's hybrid technology know that this set of hybrid technology is similar to Toyota's hybrid in principle, and its comprehensive performance has not lost to Toyota in the evaluation of foreign media, but unfortunately the market awareness is not high, resulting in many domestic consumers not knowing that Ford also has a hybrid.
The Mondeo hybrid adopts a power combination of 1.5T engine + motor + E-CVT transmission, with a maximum power of 153kW and a WLTC fuel consumption of 4.56L per 100km.
Because of this, the Ford 4S store does not regard the Mondeo Hybrid as the main sales model, and the existing cars in the store are all gasoline models. However, for those who are interested in buying a hybrid B-segment car, the Mondeo hybrid may also be a cost-effective choice.
It's just that among the American B-class cars, Ford is not the one with the most discounts. In contrast, the Buick Regal terminal also has a discount of about 25,000 yuan, the 1.5T model is only sold at 134,800 yuan, and the Chevrolet Malibu XL is even more discounted at 50,000 yuan, and the starting price is as low as 125,900 yuan after the discount.
03, Accord/Tian Lai comprehensive discount starts from 40,000 yuan, and the 9th generation Camry gives 2,000 yuan of rights
When it comes to joint venture B-class cars, of course, Japanese brands are inseparable, Toyota's Camry, Honda's Accord, and Nissan's Teana were all star models in the B-class cars, but today's market performance is becoming increasingly polarized.
In terms of Honda, the 2024 Dongfeng Honda Inspire has not yet launched a HEV model, and only offers two models: a 1.5T fuel version and a PHEV version. Among them, the discount for the fuel version terminal is 35,000 yuan, and the discount for the PHEV version can reach 38,000 yuan.
The salesperson told me, "At present, there is only a gasoline version on site, and the PHEV has to be ordered." "It is not difficult to find that the Inspie terminal has been more inclined to sell the fuel version. However, under the current tide of electrification, perhaps the "absence" of the HEV version has become a major reason for the decline in sales of Inspie - in 2023, the sales volume of Inspie will only be 53,988 units, 23,278 units less than in 2022, and sales will decline by about 30% year-on-year.
A similar situation happened with the "sister car" Accord. In 2022, the Accord sold more than 230,000 units for the year, but by 2023, it will only sell around 170,000 units. In order to boost sales, Guangqi Honda also recently released official preferential information - Accord can enjoy a discount of up to 43,000 yuan (32,000 yuan car purchase subsidy + 11,000 yuan replacement subsidy).
Dongfeng Nissan Teana's discount is more "direct to the heart" - the discount of 40,000 yuan for the whole series, the 2.0L version is as low as 139,800 yuan after the discount, and the starting price of 2.0T is only 176,800 yuan.
"It's going to be so hard for Japanese B-class cars now?", I secretly speculated after leaving Dongfeng Honda and Dongfeng Nissan stores. However, when I walked into the GAC Toyota 4S store, I instantly dispelled this idea.
I thought that it was normal for 4S stores on weekdays to have less traffic like those in Dongfeng Honda and Dongfeng Nissan stores. But when I walked into the GAC Toyota 4S store on Xinjiao East Road, there were a lot of customers in the store, and several negotiation tables at the door were sitting with guests who were looking at the car and consulting.
In the store, in addition to the newly launched ninth-generation Camry placed in the most conspicuous position at the door, there is also an eighth-generation Camry next to it.
"Is the old Camry still on sale now?" I asked curiously.
"It's just that the remaining cars in the store are sold, but don't say it, there are still many people who come to ask about the old models!" the salesman enthusiastically introduced to me.
"Is there a discount on the old model now?"
"There is a discount of 40,000 yuan, but there are only 2.5L fuel and 2.5L hybrid cars left."
Maybe seeing that I didn't continue to ask, sales turned around and began to recommend the ninth-generation Camry to me. "Now the 9th generation Camry can enjoy 2,000 yuan of new car purchase rights, which can be used to offset the cost of paint color and some optional configuration packages. "The sales told me.
From the start of pre-sales on January 1 to the official launch, the ninth-generation Camry has received a total of 9,136 orders, of which 80% are hybrids. Although there are many voices of "Japanese cars are going to be finished" and "joint venture car companies are going to be finished", judging from the liveliness of GAC Toyota's stores, consumers have actually given the answer.
After a day of visiting, it was found that under the impact of the price war, the joint venture fuel B-class car market has of course been affected to a certain extent, especially for some models with relatively weak market performance, "price for volume" is inevitable, if consumers want to "pick up the leaks" suggestions can pay more attention to this type of model, perhaps the final price has room for concessions. (Text: Deer Yuki)