Breaking the "monopoly" of foreign capital, new car manufacturers compete for the luxury car market cake

　　Author: Wu Ziye

　　Cracks have appeared in the luxury car market, which has long been dominated by foreign car companies. It is mainly the new Chinese car-making companies that break the ice.

　　The latest insurance data from the China Securities Regulatory Commission shows that the total number of luxury cars insured in August reached 356,000, a year-on-year increase of 14.6% and a month-on-month increase of 9.2%.

Since March this year, due to the impact of the epidemic and the supply chain, the luxury car market has been declining for consecutive months, and it began to gradually recover in the second half of the year.

In the luxury car market in August, the sales of most brands ushered in growth, and the market share of luxury cars also reached a new high, accounting for 18.7% of the entire passenger car market (1.904 million passenger cars were insured).

　　Among the top 10 car companies with insurance coverage in August, only Hongqi and Lexus saw their sales decline.

In the traditional luxury brand market, first-tier luxury brands have developed relatively steadily and still occupy a relatively high market share.

Sales of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi in August were 71,000, 66,000 and 65,000, respectively, narrowing the sales gap between the three.

The traditional second-tier luxury brands Cadillac (20,000 units), Lexus (19,000 units) and Lincoln (8,283 units) ranked in the top ten, of which only Lincoln ushered in a relatively large growth, Cadillac only increased by 1% year-on-year, and Lexus decreased year-on-year 6.8%.

Over the past few years, second-tier luxury brands have tried to break through and grab the market from ABB, but so far they have been unable to move.

　　However, the sales of Tesla and some new domestic car manufacturers have already entered the top ten list, which has changed the competition pattern of the luxury car market to a certain extent.

Judging from the data in August, Tesla surpassed second-tier luxury brands and was second only to ABB, with sales of 36,000 vehicles in August.

NIO also ranked ninth with 11,000 vehicles.

In addition, Chinese car companies such as Ideal Auto, BYD, and Gaohe Automobile also occupy a place in the market of more than 300,000 yuan.

　　According to the "New Energy Vehicle Market Insights Report (2022 Edition)" released by Know Chedi and the National Big Data Alliance of New Energy Vehicles, new energy vehicle brands and traditional energy vehicle luxury brands have created a competitive intersection.

In particular, China's new car-making forces, advanced technical concepts, rich configuration applications and considerate customer service have been recognized by the market.

To a certain extent, the new car-making forces have helped Chinese car companies achieve a breakthrough in brand positioning, and have created a strong competitive relationship with traditional luxury brand benchmarks such as BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.

In addition, the development of new energy vehicles has given users a new judgment standard for the definition of "luxury", and technology has become an important factor for new energy vehicles to have the opportunity to enter the high-end car market.

In the future, with the continuous rise of new car-making brands and the implementation of the electrification strategy of luxury brands, the competitive relationship between the two will become closer and closer.

　　In the past two years, new car-making forces have continuously challenged the luxury car market. The starting price of the ES8, the first model launched by NIO, is approaching 500,000 yuan.

Since its inception, NIO’s target has been the head camp of traditional fuel vehicle luxury brands.

Li Bin, chairman of Weilai Automobile, once said that he hopes to achieve "one-third of the world" in the luxury car segment where Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are located.

The delivery of the NIO pure electric sedan ET7, the mid-to-large five-seat SUV ES7, and the mid-sized smart electric coupe ET5 will also be delivered by the end of this month.

Li Auto's second model, the L9, has entered the luxury car market with a price of more than 400,000 yuan. Xpeng Motors' flagship model, the Xpeng G9, has also been launched, with a starting price of more than 300,000 yuan.

　　Among the top ten high-end SUV sales in August (models above 300,000 yuan), the Tesla Model Y topped the list, surpassing traditional luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz GLC, Audi Q5 and BMW X3.

In addition, although the sales of Ideal ONE dropped significantly in August, it also ranked tenth.

In the ranking of high-end cars in August, Weilai ET7 broke into the top ten list.

　　Judging from the current market of more than 300,000 yuan, traditional luxury fuel vehicles still have an advantage as a whole, but new car-making forces have begun to grab the cake in this market segment.

The above report shows that, judging from the comparative behavior distribution of users between vehicles of different energy types, with the improvement of new energy vehicle products and the continuous enrichment of models, users are increasingly engaged in new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles. Compared.

In addition, new energy vehicles are subtly downplaying the concept of "car", and "smart space" and "smart cockpit" have become new expressions.

The data shows that the search volume of the keyword "smart cockpit" in the car emperor shows rapid growth, and potential users of new energy vehicles pay more attention to intelligence, space and interior decoration than traditional energy vehicles.

　　In the luxury car market, with the launch of high-end models of new carmakers, consumers have more and more choices.

In addition to Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal, the new leading car manufacturers, brands such as Ji Krypton, Wenjie and Zhiji have also launched higher-priced models.

Companies such as Xiaomi and Baidu are also about to enter the market.

However, in the field of electric vehicles, although traditional luxury brands have launched electric vehicles of more than 300,000 yuan, their overall performance is still poor.

According to public data, whether it is Mercedes-Benz EQA, BMW i3 or Ford Electric Horse, its monthly sales hover around 1,000 units.

With the advent of the era of new energy vehicles, traditional luxury brands need to accelerate the pace of catching up in the field of electric vehicles.

　　A research report released by Soochow Securities shows that under the general trend of consumption upgrades, the domestic luxury car market of more than 300,000 yuan continues to expand; demand-side users have changed car purchase standards, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is expected to increase rapidly driven by replacement purchases; The supply-side self-owned brand new cars are launched intensively, and the independent share of benefiting industry reforms is expected to continue to increase.