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Chedongxi (Official Account: chedongxi)
Author: SR64, Janson
Editor: Zhihao

A BMW car was ordered with real money, but the car could not be delivered, and it became a hot topic!

▲BMW’s failure to deliver the car became a hot topic (Photo source: Internet)

Less than two weeks after the news that BMW was going to withdraw from the price war came out, a new chain reaction has occurred. Recently, many users in many places have reported that they need to pay a premium to the 4S stores before they can pick up their cars.

Just today, BMW responded under pressure from public opinion. A person from BMW China told Chedongxi: "We have noticed the relevant content and conducted a preliminary internal investigation. The cases involved in the public opinion are all individual cases, and the specific circumstances of each case are different.

BMW is actively communicating with relevant dealers, urging BMW authorized dealers to comply with the "Auto Sales Management Measures" and related laws, regulations and contractual agreements, safeguard consumer rights and interests, and ensure that consumers receive a satisfactory service experience."

It can be seen that BMW has intervened to deal with this matter, but it seems that the problem has not been truly solved. From the current situation, consumers, BMW and dealers have all been affected. Consumers have not received the car, the reputation of the BMW brand is also being tested, and dealers are caught in a tug-of-war with users. This matter presents a situation where all three parties suffer losses.

How did this happen? Who should be held responsible for this? After extensive investigations by Chedongxi, we found that the deep-seated impact of this incident is far more terrible than we imagined. It not only affects the self-protection of traditional luxury brands in the face of price wars, but also the traditional dealer model that is in crisis. It even involves Guanghui Group, a listed auto dealer that is on the verge of delisting.

1. BMW is difficult to pick up in many places. You either have to pay more or wait.

After multiple investigations, Chedongxi has a more comprehensive understanding of the recent online rumors that BMW owners cannot pick up their cars after ordering them. To begin with, BMW officials have responded that it is true that users cannot pick up BMW models, but it also shows that these facts are just isolated cases.

▲Users in many parts of China reported that it was difficult to pick up BMW orders

After investigation, Chedongxi found that the users who could not pick up their cars this time were mainly in the following situations:

1. I had previously ordered a BMW model from a dealer and paid a deposit directly at that time, but now the 4S store requires users to pay a premium before they can pick up the car.

A user from Guangdong said online that he ordered a BMW 325 in mid-June this year. The tax and insurance together cost a total of 278,600 yuan. He paid a deposit of 30,000 yuan at the time. Now the car is on the way, and the 4S store requires him to pay an additional 24,000 yuan before he can pick up the car.

▲Consumers in Guangdong reported that BMW dealers asked them to pay extra to pick up their cars

Another user from Chongqing said that he signed a car purchase contract on May 29, 2024, and the model wasBMW i3（parameter丨picture), the price was 174,500 yuan, and a deposit was paid. The salesperson said that there was no problem in picking up the car, but when it was time to pick up the car, the defendant needed to pay an additional 30,000 yuan. After many negotiations with the 4S store, the salesperson said that the car could be picked up by paying more than 10,000 yuan, and then the salesperson said that there was no car available.

2. The 4S store stated that the store currently does not have the model and can refund the deposit to the consumer.

A prospective car owner in Henan said that after he had placed an order for a car, the salesperson told him that the store had not yet allocated the car and he needed to wait. If the user found that other stores had the resources and the car, the deposit could be refunded to the user.

▲Some consumers said that they were asked by BMW dealers to return their deposits

3. The delivery cycle is very long.

Many users have also stated on the Internet that they can pick up their cars, but the process is very difficult. Even if all the contract procedures are completed, consumers can only pick up the car after repeated requests. Some consumers in Gansu even stated that they had already paid the down payment but the car delivery time was still delayed.

2. The key behind this: dealers in the cold winter

In response to this situation, Chedongxi also conducted detailed research on BMW 4S stores in Beijing.

According to the information obtained by Chedongxi, some dealers are indeed in the above situation. A salesperson told Chedongxi that it is well known in the dealer circle that due to the previous break in the capital chain of Guanghui Group, it has reached the edge of delisting, and users who order cars at stores under Guanghui Group will face this situation.

▲Guanghui Automobile has been suspended

Guanghui Group currently has two major distributors in Beijing, namely Chendebao and Yanbao.

If users want to pick up a car at a store under Guanghui Group, there are only two ways. One is to choose to pay extra money to pick up the car, and the other way is to wait for a long time until the goods are successfully distributed. However, it is difficult to say what the period will be at the moment. The salesperson said that some users who ordered a car in February have not picked up the car until now.

Chedongxi contacted a prospective car owner in Beijing who ordered an iX3 pioneer model naked car in late May. He purchased an iX3 with an official guide price of 445,000 yuan. The 4S shop gave him a price of 268,000 yuan, and after adding decoration and license plate fees of 6,000 yuan, he paid a deposit of 20,000 yuan and can pick up the car within this week.

However, it is an indisputable fact that the prices of BMW models will continue to rise. According to the store sales price, the latest price of this model has been adjusted back to 290,000 yuan. The salesperson also said that their store has just increased the price once today, and it is expected to increase the price further next week.

Regarding the delivery issues currently circulating online, its salesperson also said, "This 4S store is a regular store. We will perform as the contract was signed at the time, and conduct sales activities strictly in accordance with the contract and the manufacturer's guidance."

This is also related to the different backgrounds of dealers.

We learned from conversations with relevant sales staff that, taking Beijing as an example, most dealers are owned by domestic owners, and a small number of dealers are owned by foreign capital. Currently, dealers owned by foreign capital are more likely to abide by contracts.

Sales staff from other BMW dealers also posted slogans in their circle of friends, such as "All previous quotations are invalid", "Resources are scarce due to manufacturers' production cuts, and prices will continue to fall in the future".

▲BMW sales circle of friends said that BMW has stopped reducing prices

What can be concluded is that BMW is still adjusting the prices of its products and reducing production schedules.

There were signs of this earlier. Just last week, there was news that BMW would withdraw from the price war and further implement the "reducing sales to maintain prices" policy to deal with the losses of stores caused by the price war. Auto blogger Sun Shaojun also said that due to the price war, the stores suffered serious losses. Since July, BMW has been stabilizing prices by reducing sales volume to ease the operating pressure of stores.

Subsequently, BMW began to raise the prices of its products. A BMW employee stated that the prices of all BMW products will be increased, with the increase ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 yuan.

In this context, in order to alleviate the losses caused by the price war, the logic of 4S stores has become to deliver orders with new prices first, while the original low-priced orders continue to be delayed.

3. BMW cuts volume and maintains price to stop losses in the price war, triggering a chain reaction

The reason for the price adjustment is also related to BMW’s current situation.

Last week, BMW released its sales data for the first half of 2024. The data showed that in the first half of this year, BMW delivered a total of 1.0965 million vehicles worldwide, a year-on-year increase of 2.3%. Among them, the sales of pure electric vehicles reached 179,557 units, a year-on-year increase of 34.1%.

However, unlike the hot performance in the global market, BMW's performance in China is not good. In the first half of the year, BMW's sales in China were 376,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 4.2%.

And this is the result after BMW participated in the price war.

Observing the market situation at the beginning of this year, the BMW brand has indeed adopted an active discount strategy to maintain its market share, especially in the field of electric vehicles. For example, the bare car price of the BMW i3, one of the BMW models with the largest discounts, has been almost halved from the recommended price of 353,900 yuan, and the landing price has dropped from about 250,000 yuan last year to about 200,000 yuan. Some users even posted a price of 174,500 yuan.

After confirmation by phone from Chedongxi, the current bare car price of i3 has been adjusted down to 210,000 yuan.

According to Autohome data,BMW iX3andBMW X3Several of them have also experienced a certain degree of correction. The iX3 has increased by as much as 45,000 yuan, and the X3 has also been adjusted by nearly 20,000 yuan.

▲Price change information of some BMW models

Similarly, even this year's newBMW 5 SeriesThe price of fuel-powered models has also dropped by 30% to 290,000 yuan, which is a record low. The price of the 5 Series has also been adjusted, but the adjustment is smaller than that of electric cars.

Obviously, BMW's "price-for-market" strategy in the Chinese market has failed to prevent the decline in sales.

This result obviously did not meet BMW's expectations, so the company had no choice but to stop losses in time and start "reducing quantity to maintain prices." This would maintain the brand's price range and reduce the pressure on dealers. At the same time, the revenue might not be worse than cutting prices. It was indeed a choice that killed two birds with one stone, but this sudden brake also triggered an unexpected chain reaction.

Under the influence of the price war, BMW China's sales and profits have been affected, and dealers are also unable to remain immune. As the executors of the price war, dealers may suffer a greater impact.

Conclusion: The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it

In the past two years, the price fluctuations in the automobile industry have become very frequent. It is very normal for car companies to raise or lower prices, especially when the direct sales model is becoming more and more common, but delivering cars on time is a basic business rule. For example, Tesla, a price adjustment maniac, has a roller coaster-like price increase or decrease, with no regularity at all.

In the face of price fluctuations, we understand that if Tesla's models increase in price, users can continue to receive deliveries through pre-locked orders, and if Tesla's products drop in price, there are sometimes some flexible ways to deal with it, such as negotiating a new price or exchanging models.

However, Tesla has chosen the direct sales model, which does not involve dealers in the middle, and its price adjustments will be more flexible.

Back to the BMW incident, since consumers cannot get the car at the predetermined price, both the car manufacturers and dealers are certainly to blame. If the situation develops further, it will be a double blow to the 4S store model and the car manufacturers. In the whole incident, no one benefited from the car manufacturers, dealers and consumers, but all three sides suffered losses.

At present, the person who tied the bell must untie it. We hope that BMW can reach a result that satisfies all parties through "active communication".