The new energy vehicle market is accelerating the reshuffle and the price war in the auto market has begun again during the peak sales season of the new year.

　　Our reporter Zhao Yuhan

　　Price war was the key word in the automobile market in the past year.

Entering the threshold of 2024, facing the peak sales season of the new year, the price war has begun again.

　　Recently, many new energy brands such as Tesla, BYD, NIO, Ideal, Euler, and Jikrypton have once again reduced prices or launched limited-time discounts to seize the "golden sales period" before the Spring Festival.

Many experts predict that price war will still be the keyword of this year's auto market, and the new energy vehicle market will also accelerate reshuffling in more intense and cruel competition.

■Many car companies have price reduction promotions before the holidays

　　Since early January, a new round of price reduction and promotion policies have been launched one after another from new forces to traditional car companies, some of which are even more powerful than at the end of last year.

　　Reporters recently saw in a Tesla direct store in Beijing that there were many customers in the store who came to see the car and test drive it.

“Model 3 and Model Y have just recently had their prices reduced, and the prices are the lowest in history. It’s a good time to buy them,” said a staff member.

On January 11, Tesla reduced the prices of the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version, Model Y rear-wheel drive version, and Model Y long-range version, ranging from 6,500 yuan to 15,500 yuan.

　　Among the new car-making forces, car companies such as Lideal, NIO, and Leapmotor have also cut prices or launched limited-time offers.

The reporter consulted the Li Auto store and learned that the current discounts for L7, L8, and L9 are between 35,000 yuan and 38,000 yuan. In some areas, the discounts are reduced by more than 40,000 yuan. After the discount, the starting price of L7 is as low as 300,000 yuan for the first time. the following.

Also due to product changes, Weilai recently launched a "limited-time Spring Festival gift package" with discounts ranging from 24,000 yuan to 32,000 yuan for 8 models on sale.

　　Traditional car companies are also rushing to join the price war.

Many BYD dealerships in Beijing offer discounts ranging from a few thousand yuan to 20,000 to 30,000 yuan for Song, Han, Yuan, Dolphin and other models.

Geely Ji Krypton recently launched a limited-time discount on the 001 model, with a discount of more than 30,000 yuan; Changan Deep Blue recently launched a 10,000 yuan cash subsidy discount.

■Multiple factors contribute to preferential measures

　　Why has the price war that started at the beginning of last year not stopped yet?

Many industry experts and industry insiders predict that price war will still be the key word in the new energy vehicle market this year. This is caused by multiple factors such as intensified market competition, adjustments to purchase tax reduction and exemption policies, and falling raw material prices.

　　"This year's Spring Festival is later than in previous years. The period before this year is a golden sales period for car companies, which is conducive to the momentum of car companies, so the price war will start early." Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association, analyzed.

According to Wang Meng, an expert from the Automobile Dealers Association, currently, car companies are also competing in many aspects such as technology, service, and marketing. However, it is still difficult to form clear distinctions in these aspects, so price war has become an important means of competition.

　　The adjusted preferential policy on purchase tax reduction and exemption for new energy vehicles will also affect the pricing of car companies to a certain extent.

According to the Ministry of Finance’s announcement, new energy vehicles with purchase dates between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025 are exempt from vehicle purchase tax, and the tax exemption for each new energy passenger vehicle shall not exceed 30,000 yuan.

The current calculation method of motor vehicle purchase tax is vehicle purchase price/(1+13% value-added tax rate) × purchase tax rate (10%). As long as the invoice price of a new energy vehicle is higher than 339,000 yuan, the car owner needs to pay part of the purchase tax.

Therefore, in order to attract consumers, new energy vehicles that exceed this price will inevitably need to launch more attractive discounts.

　　In addition, the prices of raw materials such as lithium and nickel have fallen, and manufacturers such as CATL and BYD have promoted cost reductions. It is expected that the price of power batteries will gradually enter the era of 0.3 yuan per watt hour.

As the most expensive core component of new energy vehicles, lower battery costs will give car companies more room to carry out price cuts.

■Fierce competition will continue this year

　　In the formulation of annual goals for 2024, some car companies are "full of confidence", while some brands have a more stable and conservative stance.

　　BYD, which once again topped the global annual sales of new energy vehicles, has set itself an annual sales target of 4.5 million to 5 million vehicles, far exceeding the 3.02 million vehicles in 2023.

Ideal, which was far ahead among the new forces with 380,000 units sold last year, has set a "big goal" of annual sales of 800,000 units.

Also setting a target of 800,000 vehicles is GAC Aian, last year’s third-place finisher in domestic new energy sales.

　　Some new energy vehicle companies are relatively stable.

Among them, NIO, the "big brother" of the new force, has rarely lowered its annual target. Compared with the target of approximately 240,000 vehicles in 2023, its target sales volume in 2024 is 230,000 vehicles.

　　The annual goals of car companies reflect development confidence to a certain extent.

Wang Meng analyzed that domestic traditional car companies have stepped up their pace in transforming into new energy sources. With their advantages in supply chain and marketing system accumulated over many years, they have put greater pressure on new car companies that have accelerated in the past two years, such as WM Motor and Gaohe. When new power brands have gone bankrupt or slipped to the edge of the market, "fierce competition will continue this year, and no one dares to say that they can rest easy." (Beijing Daily)