Industry's consumption upgrade trends are clear; luxury market grows.
Against the background of the overall slowdown or decline in the growth rate of the automobile industry, the sales volume of the luxury car market has grown steadily, and the growth rate will accelerate in 2023, with a year-on-year sales growth of 18.9%, which is higher than the overall growth rate of the automobile industry;
At the same time, after four years of development, the market share of luxury cars has also been rising year by year, from 17.5% in 2020 to 22.4% in 2023, and the trend of consumption upgrading is obvious.
New energy vehicle brands gain sales, eroding traditional automakers' share.
Although traditional car companies are in the mainstream, their share has been constantly impacted, while the share of new forces has been rising year by year, from 6.2% in 2020 to 25.6% in 2023, an increase of 19%, constantly eroding the cake of traditional car companies.
On the other hand, the contribution of sales growth in the luxury market mainly comes from new power brands. Data in the past four years show that the sales volume of traditional car companies has stagnated, while the sales volume of new forces has ushered in explosive growth, with a year-on-year increase of 53.7% in 2023.
Traditional automakers' "pricing strategy" for high-end retention shows little success.
Faced with the dilemma of continued decline in market share, traditional car companies hope to maintain the high-end market through "price strategy", but the effect is minimal. In the past three years, traditional car companies have continuously increased their preferential efforts and lowered terminal prices. The average discount rate has increased from 11.5% in 2021 to 17.2% in 2023; at the same time, new forces have also joined the "price reduction trend" by lowering the guide price to narrow the terminal price gap with traditional car companies.
With the decline in the price of power battery raw materials and the reduction in vehicle manufacturing costs, the price reduction space for new energy vehicles will be further expanded. In order to grab the market, the prices of new power brands are expected to continue to fall, and traditional car companies are bound to follow closely, and the industry's internal volume will become more serious.
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BBA's increased discounts fail to curb their declining market share.
In order to consolidate its high-end market share, BBA, Lexus, and Cadillac have increased their discounts to reduce terminal prices to stimulate consumption. For example, the discount rates of BMW Brilliance and Lexus have increased by about 6% year-on-year, and the discount rates of Audi and Cadillac have exceeded 20%, but the effect is minimal, the year-on-year sales growth rate is still slowing down, and the market share has also suffered varying degrees of decline.
New power brands have also joined this "price war", and 3 car companies have entered the TOP10 ranks. Among them, Ideal has shined in the extended range field, with sales increasing by 178.2% year-on-year and market share increasing by 4.5% year-on-year, driving the share of new power brands to rise.
New players dominate the 300,000-500,000 market; old guard rules above 500,000.
The structure of the luxury market price segment is relatively stable, with the 300,000-500,000 price segment in the mainstream position, accounting for more than 80%; traditional car companies continue to lose share in this price segment, from 92.9% in 2020 to 70.4% in 2023, while new forces have become more competitive, with their share rising year by year, and are expected to compete with traditional car companies.
In the 500,000-1 million market segment, traditional car companies still show strong competitive advantages and maintain a monopoly position, currently occupying more than 90% of the market, but as new forces accelerate product layout and launch, and consumers change their brand awareness, new force brands are expected to break through again in this field.
Price wars may extend above 500,000, challenging traditional automakers further.
The mainstream market (300,000-500,000 yuan) is the main battlefield of this round of price war. The current competition is already in a "white-hot" stage. Car companies keep up with their competitors and constantly adjust their pricing strategies to seize the commanding heights.
Traditional car companies continue to increase preferential efforts (a year-on-year increase of 5.1% in 2023), and prices have repeatedly yielded to cope with the impact of new forces. New forces also followed suit and lowered prices to seize the market.
As competition in the mainstream market becomes more and more intense, car companies are bound to expand to the market above 500,000 yuan, and the price war will intensify. There are currently signs of reaching the 500,000-650,000 yuan market segment (the price gradient has dropped from about 450,000-500,000 yuan to below 450,000 yuan). It is expected that new forces may bring a new round of impact to traditional car companies.
Ideal L9/L8's "high spec, same price" strategy disrupts traditional auto market.
The competition in the 300,000-500,000 market is particularly fierce, and the prices of hot-selling car series have generally fallen. For example, the average transaction price of Model Y has dropped by about 50,000 yuan, and the price gap with Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3 Series, and Audi A4L has narrowed again, forcing the sales of the three cars to be crushed by them even when the prices have been reduced.
In the same price range, Ideal's three car series are superior to competitors in terms of space and configuration, which undoubtedly formed a dimensionality reduction attack on traditional car companies. Among them, Ideal L9/L8 sales increased by 183.2% and 629.2% year-on-year, constantly surpassing Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi Q5L.
NIO ES8 and Zeekr 009 impact market despite no clear price lead.
New power brands have launched fewer products in the 500,000-650,000 segment. Among the hot-selling models, only NIO ES8 and Zeekr 009 are on the list, and the transaction price is concentrated around 550,000. However, compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the price advantage is not obvious. Therefore, the sales volume has not become a hit product in this field like Ideal, but it still has a certain impact on competitors (BMW 6 Series GT and Mercedes-Benz V-Class sales showed negative year-on-year growth), forcing them to increase promotion efforts and explore prices.
The pricing strategy of Lexus RX HEV and Audi A7L seems to have achieved certain results. In 2023, the sales of the two will achieve a significant year-on-year growth.
Intense competition in mid-to-high-end gasoline vehicle market.
In the 650,000-1 million market segment, the hot-selling car series are still dominated by traditional fuel vehicles, and the competition among gasoline vehicles is also particularly fierce. They have increased discounts and lowered terminal prices to grab market share. For example, the transaction price of Audi Q7 has dropped by 50,000 yuan year-on-year;
Currently, there is a lack of new energy hot-selling models in this field (there is only one product, HiPhi X, but the market sales are not good), and the market potential needs to be further tapped. Car companies can find new development opportunities from it, accelerate
product planning and layout, and then seize the market opportunity.
