The price of the whole system of ideal cars has been reduced, and if one round doesn't work, then there will be another round!

On April 22, Li Auto officially made a decision to reduce the price of the whole series, announcing the adjustment of the terminal price, with a reduction of up to 30,000 yuan.

The maximum price of the MEGA was reduced by 30,000 yuan, from 559,800 yuan to 529,800 yuan, the price of the Ideal L9 series, the top Ultra of the L8/L7 model, and the Max of the middle model was reduced by 20,000 yuan, and the price of the Pro version of the L8/L7 model was reduced by 18,000 yuan.

For car owners who have already purchased, Li Auto will be compensated in the form of cashback. See the specifics on a case-by-case basis. It should be noted that in this round of adjustments, we did not see the non-airborne version of the L8/L7 Air model previously launched by Ideal.

Ideal L6 has been released at a reduced price, and Liu Jie, vice president of the product line of Ideal Automobile, previously said at the press conference that the L6 Pro version was originally priced at 259,800 yuan, but after internal consideration, it was finally changed to 249,800 yuan. Therefore, it is not within the scope of this price reduction.

Ideally, this price cut is for the sake of sales. If this round of price reductions is not effective, it is not ruled out that Li Auto will come again.

The price reduction is really a last resort

In 2023, Li Auto's cumulative sales will reach 376,000 units, becoming the only Chinese new energy vehicle brand to achieve the sales target for that year. It is precisely because of this confidence that the ideal set a sales target of 800,000 this year, which has more than doubled.

Just as Li Auto was preparing to make a big move in 2024, it suffered a series of critical hits. First of all, in the first quarter of the year, sales were overwhelmed. Since the launch of the new M7 last year, sales have rebounded sharply. In the first quarter of 2024, the cumulative delivery volume of Wenjie reached 85,842 units, winning the quarterly sales championship of new forces. Li Auto has delivered a total of 80,400 vehicles, and the growth momentum has been curbed. What's even more interesting is that the ideal car that has not been able to announce weekly sales in the past has no longer released weekly sales data since March 19 this year. One of the most likely is that the delivery is not ideal.

At the same time, Li Auto also suffered the failure of the release of MEGA, which is the first MPV released by Li and the first pure electric model, which was originally pinned on high hopes. For MEGA, from the beginning of product design, to publicity, to sales stores, Li Auto has invested a huge amount of resources. It is understood that Li Xiang has repeatedly encouraged the styling team to be "radical, forward-looking, cutting-edge, and different from others" for MEGA. This is completely contrary to the mature experience of the ideal in the L series.

is such a star model that is extremely valued by Li Xiang and built with the resources of the whole company, but it lost Maicheng after the price was announced.

The failure of MEGA is not only reflected in the product, but also affects the annual planning of Li Auto. Originally, it was an important increment in the brand's annual target of 800,000 units. Now, MEGA has failed, and Ideal can only lower its sales target.

It is reported that Li Auto has adjusted the annual delivery target of 800,000 units to 560,000 to 640,000 units. The sales guidance for the Ideal MEGA has been lowered to 2,000 units per month, and it is expected to gradually increase to 4,000 to 5,000 units per month. Previously, Li Auto's internal internal sales of the MEGA were expected to be 8,000 units.

Even if the ideal sales target is adjusted to 560,000 units, it means that in the next nine months, the ideal monthly average will be 53,000 units. This is undoubtedly a major challenge in terms of the current delivery of ideal cars.

Therefore, stabilizing the sales of the L series has become the primary goal. In this context, it is logical to reduce prices.

The war of public opinion has been changed to a price war

Looking back on 2023, Li Auto is indeed prosperous, with the highest annual delivery volume among new car manufacturers, an annual revenue of hundreds of billions, and the second new energy brand to achieve profitability after BYD. At that time, Li Xiang was known as the king of Weibo, and he scolded the air in the middle of the world, criticizing his friends for being merciless, what friends sold three melons and two dates, and friends brushed their sense of existence, marketing expenses were too high, and they boasted that they were even more spitting lotus, and a sentence L9 is the best SUV within 5 million, which set off an exaggerated wind in the automobile circle, and directly sent himself to the hot search, so to speak, Li Xiang himself can always trigger discussions, thus gaining huge traffic.

According to media statistics, in February 2024, Li Xiang posted and commented on a total of 39 Weibo posts, most of which were MEGA warm-up content, and he was not idle even during the Spring Festival holiday.

After the failure of MEGA's listing, Li Xiang began to say that this was an organized manipulation of the scope by competitors, posing as if he had been framed, and even used legal means. The phrase "countering darkness with light" has become a famous aphorism at the beginning of 2024.

Subsequently, Li Xiang sent an internal letter to reflect on the need to operate according to the rhythm from 0 to 1 and reduce internal sales expectations and desires.

We see that Li Xiang has a different attitude before and after the MEGA matter, it can be said that he is first condescending and then respectful, and he acts like two people. The logic is that Li wants to use his personal Weibo, whether it is to speak for his own brand or quarrel with his opponents, this is to reach empathy with consumers, create a real personality, and strive for more public opinion.

However, the current market situation is that the price war has been fought in the dark, and it has reached the rhythm of flipping the table. According to the statistics of the Bosch Group, the average car price in China's auto market will drop by 15% in 2023. By 2024, the cost reduction of some models will be about 20%~30%. Consumers are all looking at the above, and no matter how loyal the iron fans are, they can't generate electricity with love. Therefore, Li Xiang can't solve the problem by relying on his mouth alone, he has to come up with the real thing.

Previously, Ideal has also carried out various forms of price reduction promotions, but there is no official announcement. For example, the starting price remains unchanged, and terminal discounts are given through local subsidies and other means; for example, when the facelifted model is released in 2024, the 2023 model will be reduced; and for example, the price range is lowered by simplifying the configuration, in March, Ideal launched a non-airborne version on the L7/L8, which is 10,000 yuan lower than the airborne version.

At the same time, the opponents are making moves. NIO has launched a 1 billion yuan subsidy for the replacement of gasoline vehicles, Xpeng has launched a limited-time car purchase subsidy of 500 million yuan, with a maximum reduction of 50,000 yuan, Huawei Wenjie M7 entry model has been reduced by 20,000 yuan, Geely has reduced the subsidy of up to 53,000 yuan for a limited time, Chery has also given a subsidy of 10 billion yuan, with a maximum of 30,000 yuan for old cars, and Tesla has reduced the price of all models in China by 14,000 yuan.

In this way, Li Auto's price reduction this time is very targeted, which is to stimulate sales through a real price war.

The people evaluate the car

Li Xiang has remained silent for more than 20 days since the last time he spoke on Weibo. Without saying a word, the backhand is a price reduction for the whole system, which shows that the playing style of Li Auto has changed.

As for the stimulus effect of the ideal price reduction, it remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure, the ideal will usher in a tough battle.