China's auto market has completely changed: prices are extremely involuted, and many car companies have disappeared

High beams

2024-04-25 22:28Published on the official account of Hebei Tencent Automobile's "High Beam" column

Tencent Auto "High Beam" Author Guo Yifei

"The pouring traffic is coming straight to BJ30. On April 25, Peng Gang, vice president of BAIC, posted such a circle of friends. In the center of the picture is Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, and around him, dozens of mobile phones are holding high to take pictures and live broadcasts.

and Lei Jun also belong to the top celebrities of this Beijing Auto Show, Zhou Hongyi, the founder of "new Internet celebrity" 360. A photo of him wearing red long sleeves and sitting on the roof of a Dongfeng off-road car has been on the hot search, with the caption, "On the first day of the 2024 Beijing Auto Show, the only car model".

In the four years since the Beijing Auto Show was suspended, China's auto market has completely changed. Independent brands represented by BYD are overtaking in corners with the help of new energy technology, joint venture brands are on the verge of elimination, and BBA multinational car companies are fighting back.

With the entry of Huawei, Xiaomi and other cross-border car manufacturers, China's automobile knockout competition has finally begun, and it has been displayed to the greatest extent at the Beijing Auto Show. Behind this, under the extreme involution of prices, "traffic" is equated with "sales", and car company bigwigs have gone live one after another, which has become the focus of contention.

"Business leaders are the real traffic password, let the brand minister and general manager rush forward, and the traffic will definitely not be as big as yours. At the auto show, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, bluntly said to Tencent News "High Beam" and other media that Lei Jun and Yu Chengdong's personal IP ecology in the field of consumer electronics has a great advantage, and traditional car companies will be eliminated if they do not change.

Zhu Huarong said, "I also communicated with Yu Chengdong that day, preaching and teaching me what the traffic password is, and he said that Mr. Zhu must be on the field in person, which is one of the passwords." In the past, the channel was king, the product was king, and now the traffic is king, and we want to build Chang'an's own Rebus. ”

In the one-and-a-half-hour media conversation, Zhu Huarong, who is nearly 60 years old, kept mentioning "traffic", fans, etc., and his urgency can be seen.

Lei Jun and Zhou Hongyi toured the exhibition, but Yu Dazui was missing

At 3:45 p.m. on April 25, surrounded by a huge crowd, Lei Jun finally returned to the Xiaomi booth with difficulty. Previously, BYD, Equation Leopard, Ideal, Weilai, BAIC and other booths all left his back.

"After 'Rebus' left, this traffic dropped too much, and there were more than 2,000 people online just now, but now it has dropped to less than 200 people. A car critic who live-streamed Lei Jun's tour told Tencent News "High Beam".

However, the popularity of Lei Jun's first car SU7 brought to Xiaomi is still high, and there is a long queue at the booth, with more than 30 people waiting in line to see the car.

Just before Lei Jun's tour, Zhou Hongyi, who became popular with the help of the "Selling Maybach" incident, took the first step. In this 3 and a half hour live broadcast of the museum visit, he visited almost all the popular booths such as Wei Xiaoli, Zeekr, Huawei, CATL, etc., and interacted with Li Xiang, Li Bin, Zeng Yuqun, Yin Tongyue and other industry bigwigs, commenting on products one by one. Netizens jokingly said, "I went around and collected a lot of cars."

Chery Automobile also made a timely statement on its official Weibo, calling it a "new male god in the car circle", and Nezha Automobile directly played the slogan "Welcome to Zhou Hongyi, the head of the experience group", on the big screen of the booth.

In fact, on the first day of the Beijing Auto Show, the competitors who are fiercely involuted in business temporarily unguarded, and the bigwigs can be seen everywhere on each other's platforms, visiting and learning. He Xiaopeng went to find Li Bin, Li Bin went to the Lotus booth, and Li Xiang went to the ZEEKR booth to communicate with An Conghui. And all of this not only earned a bit of decency for each other, but also reached the "1+1〉2" traffic blessing, and finally won a little more chips to stay at the game table.

However, it is a little regrettable that on the first day of the Beijing Auto Show, only another top car circle was missing-Yu Chengdong.

Beijing Auto Show, the final feast?

At 5 p.m., the music sounded as the exit began, and a head of joint venture brand marketing told Tencent News' "High Beam" that this could be "the last feast".

In his opinion, the market increment is getting narrower and narrower, and the scale of new energy brands and products is rising sharply, this year may be the most lively auto show, with the most brands and new products in history, but with Xiaomi's entry into the game, the knockout game officially started, and there will be fewer and fewer brands behind.

According to official statistics, there are as many as 117 models that debuted in the world at this auto show, including 30 multinational car companies and 278 new energy models. Compared with the data of four years ago, there were 82, 14, and 160 models, respectively.

Judging from the Beijing Auto Show, GAC Mitsubishi, Dongfeng Citroen, Gaohe, Qoros, Weimar, etc. have disappeared, in contrast, nearly 20 brands such as Huawei Hongmeng Zhixing, Xiaomi, and Zeekrypton have been added.

"In the short term, I judge that this year and next year, especially this year, will be a challenge of life and death, and those who can stay at the table will have to pass five levels and six generals, and it will be a battle of life and death. A person in charge of independent brand marketing told Tencent News "High Beam" that brands may not die out in large numbers, but the group and capital market behind the merger and acquisition will be more, and now one-third of brand owners on the market may transfer ownership.

According to statistics from Bosch, the largest automotive supplier, the average car price in China will drop by 15% in 2023, and the price war will start in February 2024, with some models falling by 20% and 30%. At present, Tesla, BYD, and Ideal are the only new energy vehicle companies in the industry that have achieved profitability.

In the eyes of the outside world, if Musk and Li Xiang use social media to win the voice advantage of their brands, at present, in the tide of the transition of the automobile industry from machinery to consumer electronics industry, Lei Jun's entry into the game, Xiaomi SU7 frequently appeared on the hot search, and completely reconstructed the complete system of car companies from product concept to marketing strategy.

Earlier, the car company bigwigs who were hidden behind the scenes also came out of the mountains and stepped forward to the stage and began to broadcast live.

On April 14, Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Holding Group, drove on the road live to show high-end intelligent driving at long-distance highways; on April 15, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor, broadcast live to measure Great Wall Motor's full-scene NOA; on the same day, Xia Yiping, CEO of Jiyue, live-streamed the latest Jiyue 01 and invited Baidu founder Robin Li to help; on April 17, Nezha Automobile CEO Daniel Zhang appeared in the official live broadcast room of Nezha Automobile, responding to netizens' questions, saying that a delivery ceremony will be held when the car is handed over next time," I am willing to bow 90 degrees and personally open the door for the owner."

Four live broadcasts in four days show the thirst for traffic of more and more car companies. 62-year-old Yin Tongyue said frankly in the live broadcast that this time he used some new Internet thinking, "Learn from Yu Chengdong, learn from Lei Jun, explain and introduce in person, this is also forcing me, an old man in his sixties, everyone came out."

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