New energy car companies with soaring sales are still in the danger zone of increasing prices

　　In March, the wholesale volume of passenger vehicles in China was 1.814 million, down 1.6% year-on-year and up 23.6% month-on-month. The cumulative wholesale volume from January to March was 5.439 million units, an increase of 8.3% year-on-year and an increase of 410,000 units.

　　Judging from the sales data of Chinese passenger cars released by the Passenger Car Association, the overall market performance of passenger cars in my country is not sluggish. However, if we just look at the sales data of China’s new energy passenger vehicle market, it is a completely different picture.

New energy vehicle sales soar, but the situation is not optimistic

　　Since 2021, due to chip shortages and rising raw material prices, vehicle and power battery costs have risen much faster than the industry expected. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to February 2022, the revenue of the auto industry will increase by 6%, but the cost will also increase by 8%, which will directly lead to a 10% year-on-year decrease in the overall profit of auto companies.

　　On the other hand, in January this year, my country’s national new energy vehicle subsidy standard declined as planned. New energy vehicle companies that were already under the double pressure of chip shortages and skyrocketing battery raw material prices could only do so under such circumstances. Forced to increase car prices to make up for the impact of rising costs.

　　Take Tesla, the “price adjustment maniac,” as an example. It raised two rounds of prices for its two main models in March alone. Among them, on March 10, the prices of Tesla Model 3, Model Y all-wheel drive, and high-performance models were all raised by 10,000 yuan.

　　On March 15, the price of Tesla’s Model 3 rear-wheel-drive version was raised to 279,900 yuan (up 14,200 yuan), while the Model 3 all-wheel-drive high-performance version, Model Y full-size model, which had previously increased by 10,000 yuan. The wheel-drive version will rise again by 18,000 yuan, while the Model Y all-wheel-drive high-performance version will directly increase from 397,900 yuan to 417,900 yuan.

　　In the eyes of many people, the price increase of new energy vehicle companies may discourage many consumers who originally planned to buy new energy vehicles . Many factors that are not conducive to the development of new energy vehicles may even foster new energy vehicles that have been cultivated in China for more than ten years. The energy vehicle market is stifled in the cradle.

　　However, judging from the current sales of new energy vehicles, this does not seem to be the case. After the price adjustment in January, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in my country in February 2022 was 273,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 180.9%. Of course, even by February, most of the new energy vehicle companies are still bearing the burden of rising costs alone.

　　By March, more new energy vehicle companies in my country have joined the price hike. However, at this time, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in my country reached 445,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 137.6% and a month-on-month increase of 63.1%, which was better than the trend in March of previous years. From January to March, the domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles was 1.07 million, a year-on-year increase of 146.6%.

　　For new energy car companies, when they face rising costs, they can also transfer pressure to the market by raising prices. So why do consumers flock to new energy vehicles when new energy vehicle companies frequently raise prices?

Will price increases affect China’s new energy vehicle market?

　　In Xiaolei’s view, the reason why the continuous rise in the price of new energy vehicles has not shaken consumers’ determination to buy new energy vehicles is mainly due to the following reasons:

　　First, the price increase of new energy vehicles is not without warning, and consumers already have psychological expectations for the price increase of new energy vehicles.

　　According to the original plan, my country’s state subsidies for new energy vehicles should be completely cancelled as early as 2020. The reason why there are still subsidies for new energy vehicles now is that the pace of subsidy decline has been delayed due to the epidemic. In other words, even if the state subsidy is reduced by 30% this year, consumers are still earning subsidies for new energy vehicles.

　　On the other hand, factors that are not conducive to the development of new energy vehicles, such as chip shortages and soaring power battery raw material prices, did not appear this year. In addition, Tesla, which has always been regarded by car companies and consumers as the “vane of the new energy vehicle field”, has taken the lead in raising prices, so consumers can also accept the price increase of new energy vehicles from other car companies. It should be known that consumers of new energy vehicles have strong rigid demands and relatively low price sensitivity, so small price changes will not significantly affect consumers’ demand for new energy vehicles.

　　Second, new energy vehicles do not only refer to pure electric vehicles that are most dependent on power batteries, but also hybrid vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles. Since plug-in hybrid vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles are not highly dependent on power batteries, the price increase is also within the range that most consumers can accept.

　　Since last year, the market share of plug-in hybrid vehicles led by BYD and extended-range electric vehicles led by Lili has gradually increased. These two models that do not rely too much on power batteries and enjoy the benefits of the new energy vehicle policy are also devouring the traditional fuel vehicle market under the banner of “new energy vehicles”.

　　From another point of view, although the impact of the collective price increase of new energy vehicles on the new energy vehicle industry is not reflected in the sales of new energy vehicles in February and March, it may also be because the time of this reaction is “delayed” “.

　　You must know that the sales model of most new energy vehicles is order sales. At present, various car companies have more orders before price increases. Taking my country’s new energy vehicle giant BYD as an example, it has a backlog of more than 400,000 orders, which means that most of the cars BYD is currently delivering are digesting its orders before the continuous price increase.

　　Third, it is precisely because of the successive price increases of new energy vehicle companies that consumers who want to buy new energy vehicles have the impression that the price of new energy vehicles will continue to rise. Therefore, many consumers are holding the idea of ​​locking the order price before the price of new energy vehicles rises again, which leads to a new situation in which more consumers are rational or follow the trend to order. For example, Xiaolei has a colleague who placed an order for a Qin PLUS DM-i before BYD announced the second round of price increases, fearing that BYD would soon carry out the third round of price increases.

　　In Xiaolei’s view, the crazy rising cost of new energy vehicles and the crazy rising prices of new energy vehicles are both testing the pressure resistance of new energy vehicle companies and new energy vehicle consumers. You must know that consumers’ ability to accept prices is limited. If car companies cannot effectively control the rising cost of products, consumers will have other models to choose from, but car companies can only face collapse.

　　Obviously, although my country’s new energy vehicle sales are rising against the market, new energy vehicle companies are also struggling. But fortunately, in the face of the worldwide “lack of core and short lithium”, the market position of Chinese cars in the world has been greatly improved. .

　　In January-February 2022, the wholesale sales of passenger vehicles in China reached 3.624 million units, a year-on-year increase of 14.0%, achieving a real good start. The Chinese market share of the world auto market reached 36%, a record high. This is also due to the lack of cores on a global scale. Compared with other countries’ car companies, Chinese self-owned brand car companies have tapped more chip resources, so self-owned brands have obtained higher growth opportunities.

　　Under the passive circumstance that the world’s lithium ore resources are in short supply and the price of lithium carbonate has skyrocketed by 10 times, the wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China will reach 734,000 in January-February 2022, a year-on-year increase of 162%. From January to February 2022, the market share of China’s new energy vehicle sales reached a record high of 65% of the world share.

　　Judging from the comparative data of the world auto industry, the shortage of auto chips in the world has not only brought no great losses to the development of Chinese auto companies. Coordinated and achieved super market results; under the background of soaring lithium prices, Chinese independent brands rose to the challenge and achieved a good performance of super sales growth.