Behind NIO's "reneging" word, "never reduce prices": China's "new forces in car manufacturing" accelerate the reshuffle

(Economic Watch) Behind NIO's "reneging" "never cut prices": China's "new forces in car manufacturing" have accelerated their reshuffle

Beijing, 6 Jun (ZXS) -- Behind NIO's "broken word" that "never lowers prices": China's "new forces in car manufacturing" have accelerated their reshuffle

China News Agency reporter Liu Wenwen

NIO, which has always adhered to the high-end route and claimed that it "will never reduce prices", finally chose to reduce prices.

NIO recently officially announced that the price of all new cars will be reduced by 3,<> yuan (RMB, the same below). Why did NIO "break its word"?

NIO has reduced prices

In addition to the price reduction, NIO has also adjusted the rights and interests of the first owner of the new car buyer: the right to free battery replacement four times a month has been abolished. If the owner still wants to enjoy free power replacement and other rights, he can choose to purchase a 4,3 yuan rights upgrade package. In other words, NIO battery swapping will officially become a paid service, separate from the car price.

Industry insiders pointed out that NIO's price reduction and equity adjustment are of turning significance. NIO has always adhered to the high-end route and service first, but its free power replacement rights bring high-quality services to car owners, but also bring huge cost pressure to itself: the more users, the higher the cost to bear. Today, the unbinding of car prices and free battery replacement rights has brought lower starting prices and more flexible car purchase options, which can significantly improve product competitiveness.

"Wei Xiaoli" accelerates differentiation

From never reducing the price to reducing the price by 3,<> yuan, NIO's "broken word" reflects the fierce competition of new forces in car manufacturing.

Looking at the first quarter report card of the new forces of car manufacturing "Sanjie" NIO, Xiaopeng and Ideal, it can be found that NIO and Xiaopeng performed sluggishly compared with the "soaring progress" of ideal revenue and delivery.

Look at NIO first. Nathan, deputy director of the Science and Technology Communication Department of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, analyzed that NIO's "falling behind" stemmed from anchoring itself in the luxury brand of new energy vehicles, and the initial price was more than 40,<> yuan, but this determined that its own market share to tap was very small.

When other new energy competitors have risen and jointly "fight" at this price, and traditional luxury brands have also made efforts to precipitate, NIO's market share has been continuously diluted. Now NIO has realized that its growth ability to take the high-end route is very limited, and it is also "self-helping" by expanding a new brand matrix.

With the unpromising range extension, ideal to play a "good hand". Although from a technical point of view, the overall power effect and fuel enthusiasm of extended-range electric vehicles have obvious disadvantages compared with pure electric and pure fuel vehicles, but from the actual use scenarios, the conclusions are completely different.

Nathan analyzes that ideally, based on the basic user portrait of its entire product matrix, clarifies that most of the car use scenarios are urban high-frequency cars, not high-speed scenarios, "which is very in line with the car use mode of Chinese users."

As far as Xpeng is concerned, Nathan believes that whether it is the recent rumors of frequent internal personnel changes, or a large amount of budget invested in marginal projects, and its own original product line does not have a complete layout, it is a matter of business strategy. Xpeng is still in the first or quasi-first echelon of new energy vehicle products in terms of technology.

Big waves rushing sand, the industry accelerated the reshuffle

When "Wei Xiaoli" was divided, more and more "rising stars" were accelerating, and new forces in domestic car manufacturing continued to "expand". Traditional domestic car companies are accelerating their transformation to new energy, and overseas car companies are also unrelenting. Under the big waves, how will the future industry structure evolve?

In Nathan's view, it needs to be analyzed from different price points. For entry-level products, he believes that Chinese pure electric brands must be able to firmly grasp the vast majority of the market share. In the price range below 15,<> yuan, considering the iteration of pure electric models and consumers' brand loyalty to this price point, domestic new force brands and domestic traditional car company pure electric brands do not lag behind international brands.

However, in the mid-price pure electric model of more than 15,<> yuan, joint venture brands and some imported brands will still occupy a certain market space; At the high end of the price, there will be a more distinct "shuffle".

At present, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi (BBA) electrified products have been placed on high hopes and heavy bets by the headquarters, but they have not achieved the desired results. Its electric market share is pitifully small compared to the staggering share of the luxury market occupied by BBA Fuel Age. "If there is still no obvious progress in their next generation products, I believe that the high-end electric sub-brands in China's own brands will occupy a higher share abroad." Nathan said.

Liu Yiming, chief analyst of the automotive industry of Haitong Securities Research Institute, believes that the global passenger car market is in the stage of accelerated penetration of electrification and intelligence, and domestic independent brand OEMs and industrial chains have certain leading advantages in the field of electric intelligence.

Recently, domestic new car companies have taken frequent actions, and NIO's new ES6, Xpeng G6, Extreme Krypton X and other heavy models have been unveiled. West China Securities Research reported that 2023 may be a key year for the rise of independent brands.

The analysis believes that the brand barriers formed by traditional fuel vehicles in the luxury car market in the past are being continuously broken by electric vehicles. Now Chinese-style luxury cars have "started". (End)