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along withBMWAfter announcing their withdrawal from the price war in China and raising prices of all their models, automakers are now faced with a choice: to lie down or to roll in?

At the end of July, many automakers were reported to have announced price increases in August. So what strategies will they adopt in August? "Auto Talk" conducted a wave of investigations and interviews.

As the sales of various automakers in August are announced one after another, joint venture brands are undoubtedly under greater pressure from market decline than domestic brands.HondaFor example, in the first seven months of this year, the cumulative sales volume of terminal vehicles in the Chinese market was 468,500 units, a year-on-year decrease of 24.4%.

Under such circumstances, it is difficult for joint venture automakers to "call it quits". So just as August began, Dongfeng Honda announced a limited-time car purchase benefit for August. Participating models includeCR-V、CivicandInspurThere are three models. The CR-V is priced at 135,900 yuan for a limited time; the Civic is priced at 101,900 yuan after comprehensive discounts. The Insignia is priced at 132,800 yuan after subsidies.

SAIC VolkswagenOn the last day of July,ID.4 XSmart andID.3Smart models, the new car not only has improved intelligent configuration, but also has a maximum direct reduction of 60,000 yuan in official guide price compared to the original model. In addition, FAW-Volkswagen,a Toyota、Changan MazdaAlso launched August promotion information.

In fact, not only joint venture brands, but also traditional independent brands and new car manufacturers have launched new promotion policies in August. But overall, although the promotion efforts of car companies in August were not particularly "aggressive", they did not decline significantly. Some car companies have increased some financial, auto insurance and other car purchase subsidies.

Therefore, automakers like BMW that have clearly reduced their discounts are not mainstream. In August, which is a traditional off-season for sales, automakers are still "offensive" in terms of pricing for new models and discounts for old models. In particular, automakers whose sales in the first half of the year were not ideal are offering more targeted promotional policies for models in August.

Industry insiders said that tightening promotion policies in August is not in line with industry practice because according to historical data analysis, August is a traditional off-season for the auto industry because the weather is generally hot across the country in August, customers are reluctant to go out to view cars, and dealers are seriously short of customers.

After August, the important "Golden September and Silver October" of the year will come, which will determine the sales trend of auto companies throughout the year, so August is a very important month of transition. In August, auto companies should take action in advance to stimulate more car purchase demand in order to seize the "first opportunity" sales. It is for this reason that the auto industry has set the car buying festival on August 18.

There was news earlier that BMW's price increase caused a large number of orders to "flow"Benz, while ordinary brand models have more choices for replacement. In the current sensitive period of anti-"involution", although most car companies have not made a clear statement on whether to continue or stop the involution price war, at this critical moment of fierce competition in the auto market this year, the actions of car companies still clearly express their hope to make further progress in market performance rather than "handing over" the market to others.

"Qi Che Ba Tan" also learned from a salesperson of a traditional car company that compared with the past, the manufacturer has indeed formulated a more relaxed sales assessment policy this year, but on the other hand, the manufacturer has also added online sales lead collection and conversion, as well as test drive number assessment. "Although we will not compete solely on low prices, we will not let price become a barrier for customers to buy." The salesperson said: "The most important thing is to regain the attractiveness to consumers."