Original title: Another car company raises prices!

BYD's official announcement: Dynasty and Ocean's two major sales networks have adjusted prices and many car companies have successively acquired them. What's the situation?

　　A series of chain reactions brought about by the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles are emerging.

　　On January 21, BYD (250.400, -0.67, -0.27%) officially announced that it would adjust the official guide prices of its new energy models related to Dynasty.com and Ocean.com, ranging from 1,000-7,000 yuan.

It is reported that the price adjustment will take effect on February 1, and customers who have paid a deposit and signed contracts before this will not be affected by the price adjustment.

　　Regarding the price increase, BYD conveniently stated that it was mainly due to the sharp rise in raw material prices and the decline of subsidies for new energy car purchases.

Price hikes have wide-ranging effects

　　According to public information, Dynasty.com and Ocean.com, which have raised prices this time, are BYD's two main sales networks.

Among them, Dynasty.com mainly sells new energy vehicles such as Qin, Han, Tang, Song and Yuan; Ocean.com mainly sells e-series, BYD Dolphin, Song PLUS, and warship series.

　　According to industry insiders, BYD's price adjustment of the main models has a wide range of influences.

The courage of enterprises to adjust prices also represents their confidence in the terminal market to a certain extent.

　　It is understood that in 2021, the annual sales volume of BYD Han series models is 117,700 units, the annual sales volume of Tang series models is 54,200 units, the annual sales volume of Qin series models is 194,200 units, the annual sales volume of Yuan series models is 41,400 units, and the annual sales volume of Song series models is 20.09 units. The annual sales volume of the e-series was 38,400 units.

The BYD Dolphin series, which was launched soon, also achieved sales of over 10,000 in December last year, reaching 10,000, with sales increasing for four consecutive months.

　　According to BYD, the price is mainly affected by the sharp rise in raw material prices and the decline in subsidies for new energy car purchases.

　　In fact, the problem of rising raw material prices has plagued many car companies. Previously, the heads of car companies such as GAC Group (14.560, -0.26, -1.75%) and Xiaopeng Motors have publicly expressed their concerns about rising raw materials. 's concerns.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has also repeatedly warned of the impact of rising raw material prices.

Raw material prices continue to rise

　　The rise in the price of raw materials for automobiles is not a new topic.

　　In March of last year, analysts at JPMorgan Chase estimated that the price of raw materials for a car had risen by 83%, and these parts usually account for about 10% of the cost of making a car.

That means the price of a $40,000 car would have to rise 8.3% to offset the profit impact from rising raw materials, JPMorgan said.

　　According to a person from a car company, in the past year, although the price of raw materials has risen significantly, most car companies did not transfer the cost increase to the terminal level, but chose to use a variety of methods. Reduce costs to ease this part of the pressure.

　　It is understood that, taking new energy vehicles as an example, the sharp rise in the price of upstream raw materials for its core components, power batteries, has already had an impact on the industry.

　　In 2021, the cost of automotive power batteries will be greatly affected by the price fluctuations of upstream metal raw materials in the supply chain, including cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium and other metal raw materials and their compounds, with huge increases.

Among them, cathode materials account for the largest cost in power batteries, and raw material costs account for 90% of the cost of cathode materials.

　　Some analysts pointed out that the price changes of cathode materials will greatly affect the research direction and technical route of power batteries.

To this end, a number of leading power battery companies have begun to actively deploy upstream materials to alleviate the tight supply and demand in the market.

　　Ma Xiaoli, deputy secretary-general of China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, told the Securities Times reporter that according to public data estimates, compared to June 2020, the cost of 523 ternary batteries has risen from 0.52 yuan/Wh to 0.77 yuan/Wh, and the cost of lithium iron phosphate batteries From 0.47 yuan/Wh to 0.66 yuan/Wh, up 48.1% and 40.4% respectively.

　　According to her analysis, the current cost of raw materials for power batteries is basically the same as or upside down from the current battery price, and it is inevitable for battery companies to raise prices across the board.

　　At present, power batteries account for about 30% to 40% of the total cost of new energy vehicles, and are the most important part of new energy vehicles.

The rise in battery prices means that the cost of new energy vehicles is bound to increase. It seems that the price increase of products by car companies has become a necessity.

Subsidy decline adds variable factors, many car companies announce product price increases

　　In addition to rising raw material prices, the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles is also a major factor driving car companies to increase product prices.

　　On December 31, 2021, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Notice on the Promotion and Application of Financial Subsidy Policies for New Energy Vehicles in 2022".

In 2022, the subsidy standard for new energy vehicles will be reduced by 30% on the basis of 2021. Considering factors such as the development plan of the new energy vehicle industry, market sales trends, and the smooth transition of enterprises, the subsidy policy for the purchase of new energy vehicles in 2022 will be implemented in December 2022. It will be terminated on the 31st, and vehicles registered after December 31, 2022 will no longer be subsidized.

　　Immediately after the policy was released, it caused widespread influence in the industry.

In fact, before BYD announced the price increase, many car companies had already raised the prices of their models, including Tesla, Nezha, Xiaopeng, GAC Aian, Leapmotor and many other new energy vehicle brands.

　　Among them, the price increase of Nezha's models ranges from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, and the price adjustment range of Xiaopeng Motors for all models is about 4,300 yuan to 5,900 yuan.

This basically corresponds to the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles.

　　It is reported that according to the latest subsidy plan, from January 1, 2022, pure electric models with a cruising range of 300 kilometers (inclusive) to 400 kilometers will be subsidized by 9,100 yuan, a decrease of 3,900 yuan compared with 2021; pure electric models with a cruising range greater than or equal to 400 kilometers The subsidy for electric models is 12,600 yuan, a decrease of 5,400 yuan from 2021; in addition, the subsidy for plug-in hybrid models is 4,800 yuan, a decrease of 2,000 yuan from the previous year.

　　Although new energy car companies have set off a wave of price increases, some experts believe that this round of price increases will not last long.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association, told the Securities Times reporter that the scale of the new energy vehicle market is still expanding rapidly, and the expansion of the scale will inevitably bring about cost improvements. This round of new energy vehicle price increases will not lasts too long.

　　In his view, the new energy subsidy policy in 2022 is a huge positive. It is expected that the sales of new energy passenger vehicles in 2022 are expected to reach 5.5 million.