In the first week of April, sales were released, and the sales ranking of new automakers changed.
Ideal finally got back to the first position, and the question world dropped to second place; Zeekrypton 001 sold well, plus the low-cost version of the model launched by 007, to the fourth place, which is almost the same as the third-place zero run; what is surprising is that Weilai, in the context of the surge in sales of plug-in hybrid models, sold better than Deep Blue; after the strong period in March, Xpeng was cold again in the first week of April.
The most interesting thing is that Xiaomi holds a 40,000 lock order, and its sales in the first week of April are on par with Zhijie, which is stuck in the problem of difficult delivery.
Overall, sales in the first week of April and sales of new automakers generally decreased month-on-month, and of course there are many factors.
Tesla was badly affected, Xiaomi was unexpected and expected
Specific sales data, ideal sold 5,626 new cars in the first week of April, 4,189 Wenjie, about 3,200 for Leap and Zeekr, 2,139 for Weilai, 1,230 for Xiaopeng, 1,093 for Xiaomi, and 1,011 for Zhijie.
Compared with the sales volume in the first week of March (February 26 to March 3), except for Xiaomi and Zhijie, the other brands mentioned above all decreased year-on-year.
Other mainstream new energy brands, BYD sold 45,216 new cars in the first week of April, Tesla sold only 1,903 units, and Changan's Deep Blue and AVATR sold 1,900 and 786 new cars respectively.
In terms of data, after the delivery of Zhijie, the sales volume has increased significantly, and the sales of mainstream new energy vehicle companies, including BYD, have been affected.
One of the most influential is Tesla. Tesla, which sold nearly 90,000 units in March, fell off a cliff in sales under the crazy attack of the Xiaomi SU7 and a series of 200,000 to 300,000-level pure electric models. This is in line with Tesla's prediction that the growth rate of the pure electric market will slow down for a period of time in the future, and the siege of competing products will lead to a decline in Tesla's sales.
On the other hand, after Tesla announced the price increase of the Model Y in April in late March, a large number of Tesla's prospective customers chose to complete the lock-in order before the end of March and continue to enjoy the price before the price increase. However, after April, Tesla launched a zero-interest car purchase policy, which is the first time in Tesla's history to launch this policy, but judging from the feedback of the sales results in the first week, there is not much incremental effect.
Generally speaking, under the influence of price increases, production reductions, and the siege of competing products, Tesla has a tendency to fall off the altar, which depends on its subsequent adjustment ability. However, with a series of recent trends exposed by Tesla, Model 2 is difficult to deliver, robotaxi will be launched in August, and FSD is still far away in China, and Tesla does not seem to have much way to follow up in the Chinese market.
Another thing to keep an eye on is Xiaomi. The Xiaomi SU7 has been on the market since March 28, and the delivery volume in the first week of April surpassed that of its direct competitor, the Zhijie S7.
Yu Chengdong made remarks in early April that a large number of Zhijie S7 will be delivered to users, that is to say, Zhijie S7 will not have the problem of "difficult delivery" in the future. In this way, the Xiaomi SU7 that has just been launched can complete the weekly delivery of more than 1,000 units, and the results are reasonable.
Even with this average result, Xiaomi SU7's deliveries in April will be close to 5000, considering the ramp-up of production capacity, combined with the sales results of various new car-making forces in March, Xiaomi SU7 has a chance to beat a number of brands including VOYAH, AVATAR, and even Xiaopeng, which has the possibility of being defeated by Xiaomi.
In addition, in the direct dialogue between Huawei and Xiaomi, Zhijie S7 production capacity is also in the climbing stage, but considering the popularity of the two, the price and the audience, and the current number of orders, Xiaomi SU7 is almost a sure thing to surpass Zhijie S7 in the early stage. Now it depends on how much goodwill can be saved after the Zhijie S7 is re-listed.
Let's talk briefly about the struggle between the world and the ideal. Judging from the current order volume and the speed of new orders, it is somewhat unexpected that it has been overtaken by the ideal. However, the current terminal is that there are still a small number of old models on sale, with a maximum comprehensive discount of 46,000 yuan, and a minimum discount of L7, and a comprehensive discount of more than 40,000 yuan. For new models, in addition to the official discount of 5,000 yuan, the local policy also gives a cash discount of 10,000 yuan, which is not seen in the ideal new car listing in the past.
Wenjie also has corresponding preferential policies, the best sales of Wenjie M7, cash discount of 20,000, the starting price has dropped to less than 230,000, it can be said that it is very competitive, but the effect has not been reflected in the terminal sales.
Another reason is that the ideal will complete the production capacity ramp-up in 2023, and the current production capacity is relatively stable, while the Wenjie has been climbing the production capacity, but from the perspective of the delivery cycle, the production capacity is not stable. For example, the current sales volume of the M9 was 2 to 3 months a month ago, and the same is true now.
The overall sales decline is only a temporary adjustment on the market side
Driven by the price war, the sales of some car companies ushered in an explosion in March, such as BYD's return to 300,000 units, and the breakthrough of 30,000 units. In the first week of April, the auto market tended to be flat.
Several reasons:
- Although the price war has not stopped, it has tended to be flat, and there has been no large-scale price reduction wave;
- The product structure of the auto market is in a period of adjustment, and the proportion and growth rate between fuel vehicles, plug-in hybrid models, and pure electric vehicles are being reshuffled;
- Under the price war, in addition to car companies that have launched strong policies, such as Tesla, which announced price increases, some users choose to wait and see changes in car prices;
- Most importantly, a large wave of new cars is on the way, and the Beijing Auto Show will be the beginning of the next round of car market carnival.
After a round of price reductions for new energy vehicles in January and the price war in the overall auto market caused by BYD in February, car prices in various market segments have stabilized.
The next round of market changes will focus on the Beijing Auto Show. Based on the available information, some models have the potential to lead the next round of price wars.
For example, the ideal new model L6, some bloggers revealed that the starting price of L6 is 259,800, although the official urgently refutes the rumors, but with the price of the ideal L7 as a calibration, the ideal L6 drops to 250,000 level, which is not impossible. The 250,000-level extended-range SUV, with the principle of optimal configuration of ideal conventional products of the same level, will trigger a new round of SUV price reduction.
In addition, there is also the BYD Qin L, which has attracted much attention, and the B-class car between the Qin PLUS and the Han, according to the average starting price of 140,000 yuan in the current mainstream B-class sedan market, the Qin L is expected to achieve the purpose of "market pricing power" again.
Of course, there is also the Volkswagen Tiguan L Pro, which wants to subvert the intelligence of fuel vehicles, and can also open up a new pricing model for fuel vehicles, thereby changing the way the fuel vehicle market plays.
In general, a number of new cars at all levels, each market segment has the ability to redefine the market product pattern is coming, according to the new energy vehicles in the past two years after becoming the mainstream, the new law in the market, either continue to fall, or completely high-end, that is to say, the new ones that are about to be launched, most of the products for the purpose of redefining the market, are likely to trigger a larger round of price war this year. The current situation is that the price of a popular main sales model will be reduced, and the price of the main sales model of the entire market will be adjusted.
Epilogue:
The biggest change in the new energy-dominated auto market is not only the acceleration of product changes, but also the frequent fluctuations in product prices due to the speed of product changes. The current experience is that at the beginning of 2023, there are still a few car companies that have raised prices due to profit problems, and only a year later, profits are important, but market share is more important, except for Tesla, few car companies have the ability to increase prices. Coupled with the changes in the industry and technology, the new car does not have the ability to upgrade from technology, thereby affecting the rise of car prices, that is to say, in the future automobile market, price reduction is still a general trend and irreversible.
Wait and see if you buy a car, there may be bigger surprises after the Beijing Auto Show.