#记录我的2024#在中国汽车市场上, B-class sedan can be said to be a very special existence, with the development of China's economy, B-class sedan has become the first choice for many family scooters, and its price has been firmly supported at more than 200,000 yuan for a long time, but just recently China's B-class sedan collectively fell below the 200,000 yuan mark, what is going on?
1. China's B-class sedan as a whole fell below the 200,000 yuan mark?
According to a report by Shell Finance, #中国B级轿车价格优惠近4万元# China's B-class sedan as a whole fell below the first line of 200,000 yuan, and the radicals directly dropped nearly 150,000 yuan. A once conventional price line has been broken.
Beijing Hyundai's 11th-generation Sonata was launched, with a starting price of 139,800 yuan for the 1.5 T version. A B-segment sedan with a length of 4945mm and a wheelbase of 2875mm starts at less than 140,000 yuan. Even the N Line version with a 2.0T engine and many sporty configurations can be purchased for just over 160,000 yuan.
A group of other representatives of the former joint venture mid-class car also discounted 30,000-40,000 yuan in the end market, which is similar to the price of the A-class car of the joint venture brand (such as the Ford Focus) in the past. Taking the 2024 Passat 280TSI Business Edition as an example, the price quoted at a 4S store in Beijing's Haidian District is 136,900 yuan, which is 45,000 yuan cheaper than the official guide price. In addition to the Sonata and Passat, the Camry, Honda Accord, and Nissan Teana, which are the core models of the joint venture B-segment car market, have seen their prices fall across the board.
According to the report of Fast Technology, B-class cars usually refer to models with a wheelbase between 2550-2700mm, and this level is also the mainstream model of family cars.
Yang Fujiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, once pointed out that 200,000 yuan is an important psychological price dividing line in China's auto market.
Coincidentally, according to the statistics of Phoenix Finance, BMW's two fuel vehicles X1 and 2 Series have a discount of six percent. The second-tier luxury brand is even more "broken bones", Cadillac XT5 all series dropped by 100,000 yuan, the original price of about 450,000 yuan Infiniti QX55, the naked car price is only 250,000 yuan, which is equivalent to a 55% discount.
According to Porsche's official website, the sports car manufacturer delivered 77,640 cars to customers worldwide in the first quarter, down 4 percent year-on-year. In China, Porsche delivered 16,340 vehicles from January to March, down 24 percent year-on-year.
The Prospective Industry Research Institute believes that the mainland auto market has entered the stock stage, and the competition is becoming more and more fierce. After 2018, China's auto sales showed negative growth for three consecutive years, and the auto market entered the "stock era". Judging from the sales of automobiles in mainland China in recent years, the overall sales of new cars in mainland China show a phenomenon of "short-term fluctuations, medium and long-term upward movements", with an average annual growth rate of about 2%-3%.
2. What's wrong with the auto market?
In recent years, China's automotive market has undergone unprecedented changes. Among them, one of the most striking phenomena is that the B-class car as a whole fell below the 200,000 yuan mark. This price change not only reflects the intensification of market competition, but also reveals the profound trend of the development of the automobile industry. How do we analyze and judge this?
First of all, the B-class car of 200,000 yuan is a long-term market consensus in the market. For a long time, 200,000 yuan has been regarded as a watershed in the B-class sedan market, which is not only the psychological threshold of consumers' car purchase budget, but also the tacit benchmark for automakers in terms of product positioning, cost control, and profit expectations. The formation of this price line is not accidental, but based on the comprehensive consideration of market demand, production costs, brand premium, market competition and other factors, reflecting the industry's widespread recognition of the value proposition of B-class sedans. For consumers, 200,000 yuan represents a reasonable expenditure for the purchase of a medium and high-end sedan with good quality, comfortable driving experience, advanced technology configuration and a certain brand added value; for manufacturers, it is the cornerstone of the pricing strategy to ensure profit margins, maintain brand image and resist the pressure of competing products.
At the same time, the B-class car adheres to the 200,000 yuan mark, which is not only the natural result of the market supply and demand relationship, but also a relatively stable competition pattern formed by major manufacturers through market games. Relying on its technological advantages, brand influence and mature supply chain system, the joint venture brand has dominated this market for a long time, and has maintained a high price range through product differentiation and brand segmentation. While improving their own technical level, design capabilities and quality control, independent brands are gradually breaking through, trying to achieve brand upgrading when approaching or touching the range of 200,000 yuan. This dynamic equilibrium constitutes a relatively stable price consensus in China's B-segment sedan market, and has become a symbol of industrial prosperity and consumer confidence.
Secondly, the price consensus of B-segment cars is broken due to the "catfish effect". The rapid development of the new energy vehicle market has undoubtedly brought huge challenges to the traditional fuel vehicle market. With its many advantages such as environmental protection and energy saving, new energy vehicles have attracted more and more consumers' attention, thus promoting the rapid development of the entire industry. At the same time, the emergence of a large number of new energy vehicle brands has made the market competition more and more fierce. In order to quickly capture market share, these emerging brands have adopted various strategies, the most notable of which is the low-price strategy. By lowering the selling price, the new energy vehicle brand has successfully attracted a large number of price-sensitive consumers, further intensifying the market competition.
In the face of the full rise of new energy vehicles, traditional fuel vehicle manufacturers have felt unprecedented pressure. In order to maintain market share and competitiveness, ICE vehicle brands have had to adjust their pricing strategies. Especially in the B-segment sedan market, as consumers in this segment are more price-sensitive, gasoline vehicle brands have lowered their prices to meet the challenges of new energy vehicles. This move caused the originally stable price line to begin to loosen, and the price war broke out in the B-segment sedan market.
Third, the Moore-like law of new energy vehicles has exacerbated the price war. Different from traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles are more like electronic products that integrate advanced technology, and their cost structure and development trajectory are significantly affected by Moore's law. Moore's Law states that at the same price, the number of components that can fit on an integrated circuit doubles every once in a while, and the performance doubles. In the field of new energy vehicles, with the continuous progress of battery technology and the expansion of production scale, the production cost has gradually decreased, which provides strong support for new energy vehicles to reduce prices and improve market competitiveness.
On the one hand, as the core component of new energy vehicles, the technological progress of batteries has a crucial impact on the cost of vehicles. In recent years, the cost of batteries has been declining with the improvement of battery energy density, the improvement of production processes, and the reduction of raw material costs. This allows new energy vehicles to continuously reduce their prices and attract more consumers while maintaining performance.
On the other hand, the trend of intelligent and connected new energy vehicles has further promoted cost optimization. With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data and other technologies, new energy vehicles have achieved significant breakthroughs in intelligent driving, automatic parking, and remote control. The application of these new technologies not only improves the performance and safety of the vehicle, but also reduces production costs by optimizing production and operational processes.
Fourth, profound changes in China's auto industry are coming. In the long run, the decline in the price of B-class cars is actually the result of the overall rise of China's auto industry, especially the new energy vehicle industry. The rapid development of China's new energy vehicle market has not only driven the improvement and development of related industrial chains, but also promoted the progress of automobile production technology and the reduction of costs.
With the continuous expansion of the new energy vehicle market, China's automobile industry has gradually formed economies of scale. This effect enables automakers to effectively control costs and optimize the allocation of resources in the production process, thereby further reducing product prices.
Therefore, the loss of the price bottom line of B-class cars is not an accidental phenomenon, but the result of the combined effect of intensified market competition and the rise of new energy vehicles. This change not only means that consumers can buy better quality models at lower prices, but also marks the rapid development of China's auto industry, especially the new energy vehicle industry, and the improvement of international competitiveness. Looking ahead, we have more reason to believe that with the continuous innovation of technology and the continuous optimization of the industrial structure, China's auto market will continue to maintain a strong growth momentum, which may be the most important thing we need to pay attention to.