BMW decided to withdraw from the price war. If we want to buy BBA, we have to work hard again. Now when I go to the BMW 4S store, I can't buy the BMW i3 for 190,000 yuan, and the discount on the BMW 3 Series has also been greatly withdrawn. BMW's announcement said it was to protect dealers' profits and hinder the decline of brand value. After all, BMW is a luxury brand and can't fight a price war all the time. An unlimited price war will only ruin BMW's brand.
However, today's price war is directly related to the life and death of major car companies. Why does BMW have the confidence to withdraw from the price war early? Isn't it afraid of being overtaken by its own brand corners? What will be the impact of withdrawing from the price war on BMW?
In fact, 190,000 to buy BMW i3 has a big background, and this big background is called: clearing inventory. Previously, all major media were hyping that if you didn't work hard, you would have to buy BBA, with a naked car price of 190,000, and the first BMW for young people drove home. But these media have focused on price cuts and ignored the BMW i3 inventory. This is a BMW electric car that was launched in 2014, ten years ago. When the BMW i3 was built, it used a common platform for gasoline and electricity.
Those who like the i3 boast that the electric BMW still retains the handling and super chassis of a gasoline car, but adds electrification attributes. Its design is not as radical as that of the new energy brand, and it is a decent, electrically empowered mediocre BMW. People who don't like i3 can spray directly, and if you change oil to electricity, you will beat i3 to death with a stick. But for BMW, the i3 is a transitional product. Because BMW at that time had not yet established a pure electric platform, it could only start from oil to electric to build an electric i3 that did not lose the smell of BMW fuel.
But the early i3, because the pricing was too expensive, sold very averagely. It wasn't until the price war started that the sales of BMW i3 and ix3 really sold out. Like the price of the i3, when it was first listed, the starting price was 449,800, and the highest price was 516,800. At that time, the person who bought the BMW i3 was the real super injustice. After the domestic new energy took off, the price war was in full swing, and the price of i3 dropped all the way to 190,000, superimposed with local government subsidies and dealer discounts, and the minimum could be 170,000, with a depreciation rate of more than 50%.
But the price has come down, but the sales of the i3 have also gone up. Between 2021 and 2023, BMW's monthly sales of electric vehicles will stabilize at more than 8,000 units, once exceeding 10,000 units, surpassing NIO. As a transitional electric vehicle, the BMW i is not a failure. It really played a lubricating, transitional role for BMW.
So why did BMW suddenly withdraw from the price war? The so-called maintenance of brand value and protection of dealer profits are all superficial. Any high-end brand, without the premise of sales, can not talk about the brand. I built a car myself, named it Dark Horse Electric Vehicle, and sold 10 million units, but I couldn't sell one in ten years, does it make sense? It doesn't make any sense, let alone a brand. Moreover, when the i3 has been sold for 190,000, and the price rises to more than 200,000, consumers have already decided that it is not even worth 190,000, so why pay more than 200,000 to buy it? In this era of information explosion, consumers are not stupid.
The price increase to protect the brand, the result is often that the brand cannot be kept, and the sales volume has to decline. Isn't BMW worried? The real reason is that the i3 is destocked and is nearing the end. BMW's electric vehicles will be fully upgraded. You go buy the i3 now, ix3, it's the last batch before it was discontinued. The historical mission of this batch of electric BMWs is coming to an end, and BMW's own electrification platform is about to kick off.
The BMW 3 Series, a true pure electric platform, will be launched at the end of this month at the earliest. Previously, the all-electric BMW 5 Series had already gone on sale at the end of January this year. When it came to the launch of the all-new 5 Series, BMW opted for gasoline-electric synchronization. You can choose between a petrol version or a pure electric version. When the 5 Series was first launched, its monthly sales were as low as more than 2,000 units due to its overly aggressive appearance. But after half a year of climbing, the post-90s generation has become the main buyer of the new 5 Series. In June, BMW's monthly sales of the new 5 Series exceeded 10,000 units for the first time.
Of course, the key to achieving this result is the price. BMW's new 5 series dropped by 100,000, and those who didn't buy it said it was ugly, and those who bought it said it was good. After BMW's new 5 Series takes up the banner, the new 3 Series will also be launched. At this time, there is no need to reduce the price of the old BMW i3 and ix3. The inventory clearance is nearing the end, and even if there are still some stock cars left, there are not many, and they can be sold slowly. It's not that BMW doesn't fight the price war anymore, but the protagonist of the price war has changed.
In the past, it was to clear the inventory with pure electric i3 and ix3, and sell them at half a discount. But now, it is to take the new 5 series, drop 100,000, and seize the market. In the context of the new 5 series dropping 100,000, the price of the new 3 series will not be too high, and even if it takes half a year, the new 3 series that has not yet been listed will have to drop by 30,000 or 50,000.
If you want to sell sales, it is impossible not to fight a price war. Buying a car or buying a house is the same, the more the price of a luxury brand drops, the more you can't buy it. When the price bottoms, it means that the car will be discontinued. The opportunity to buy the i3 is gone, but you can keep the money and wait for the new 3 series.