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Chao News Client Reporter Fan Guofei

Wang Dong (pseudonym), a car enthusiast, has loved cars since he was a child. After work, he often pays attention to the dynamics of the automotive industry and knows many car models by heart. His biggest hobby is visiting auto shows and studying the differences between different models.

Because he is familiar with cars, many of his friends ask Wang Dong for recommendations when buying a car. In his opinion, if you really don’t know what car to buy, just buy the top ten models on the sales list. “There is always a reason why the models sell well, and a high ownership rate means that maintenance and repair are convenient, and they are more valuable.”

Like Wang Dong, many people use the car sales chart as an important reference when buying a car. However, in addition to the monthly sales charts released by industry organizations such as the China Automobile Association and the China Passenger Car Association, some car companies have also begun to produce and release weekly sales charts, and the charts have become a new marketing tool.

Are the sales lists released by car companies of any reference value to consumers who buy cars?

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

Li Xiang, stop it!

It is understood thatIdeal AutoIt is the first automaker to publish a weekly sales ranking, which has lasted for more than a year. Recently, executives of many automakers have publicly opposed this behavior.

exist"NIO At the "IN 2024 NIO Innovation Technology Day", NIO President Qin Lihong publicly questioned the weekly car sales list.

"Why should another car company use our brand for promotion? Can NIO be excluded? The relevant departments can still take care of these things." Qin Lihong believes that Ideal's release was not authorized by NIO and the data is not rigorous.

Li Bin, chairman and CEO of NIO, said that only four or five people inside NIO knew the weekly sales figures, and the channel through which Ideal Auto obtained the data was questionable. "Even if we could be the first, we would not publish a weekly ranking," Li Bin added.

On the same day, NIO PR Director Ma Lin posted on a social media platform that the weekly rollout was a low-level rollout, and publicly named Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Auto, "Li Xiang, stop it. The current mission of Chinese auto companies is to achieve technological breakthroughs through research and development, isn't it? Let's power up together!"

A few days later,Xpeng MotorsChairman He Xiaopeng said at the AI ​​intelligent driving technology launch conference that the American industry is more focused on how to improve end-to-end intelligent driving solutions, while domestic competitors are still busy making sales charts and only thinking about how to make money rather than technological innovation and breakthroughs. This is not what technological competition should be like.

As early as July last year, Xpeng Motors executives did not approve of the weekly ranking data released by Ideal Auto. At that time, Huang Honglin, general manager of product marketing at Xpeng, publicly questioned the falsification of Ideal's weekly sales data on social media, believing that Ideal Auto was "showing off its muscles by posting battle reports in a pretentious manner", and said that "long-termism wins and opportunism dies".

Image source: Ideal Auto Weibo

However, the doubts raised by executives of several auto companies did not stop Ideal Auto from releasing the ranking. Li Xiang even shared an illustration of the fable of the man who covered his ears and stole the bell on his WeChat Moments, with a "hush" emoji, presumably in response to the joint boycott of the Ideal Weekly Ranking by auto companies. On August 6, the latest ranking (July 19 to August 4) was released as expected. In the new power brand sales ranking, Ideal Auto ranked first with sales of 11,800 vehicles, surpassingAsk the worldAnd NIO.

Why is the weekly sales chart boycotted?

On April 12, 2023, Ideal Auto released its weekly sales ranking for the first time and has continued to this day. However, many netizens expressed confusion about the selection of brands on the list.

For example, Musk and Li Xiang are both cross-border car manufacturers, butTeslaBut it did not appear on the new power brand sales list;Zeekr、Zhiji、LantuThese are all new energy brands launched by traditional car companies. Ideal Auto sees them as new forces, but they are also traditional car companies.Guangzhou AutomobileNew energy brands launchedAionHowever, it did not appear on the list of new forces.

"It's just that Tesla and Aion's sales are too high, so they are always ranked at the top after being on the list, and Ideal Auto can only remove them from the list." After reading the list, some netizens couldn't help but comment.

As soon as Ideal Auto's list was released, it received strong attention from netizens and was widely circulated on social platforms. Other car companies could not sit still and followed suit, releasing various "custom" lists. Lists such as "Sales list of pure electric models above 250,000 yuan", "Sales list of hard-core off-road SUVs", and "Sales list of pure electric large SUVs above 300,000 yuan" have emerged one after another.

Netizens have discovered that as long as there are enough adjectives in front of the name, the models of the car company that publishes the list will always be ranked first, and the other models are just used as a foil.

In addition, during the more than one year of list release, Ideal Auto also stopped publishing several times. From March 26 to April 30, Ideal Auto stopped publishing six weekly lists. The outside world speculated that it was because the sales of the newly launched electric MPV model MEGA were not as expected. With the launch and delivery of L6, Ideal Auto's weekly list returned on May 7 and has been released ever since.

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

Zhang Xiang, director of Vodafone Digital Automotive International Cooperation Research Center, said in an interview with Chao News that monthly and quarterly sales to a certain extent reflect the competitiveness of models, and consumers' attention is understandable. "However, sales are greatly affected by factors such as the life cycle of the model, promotional methods, and seasons. The shorter the statistical period, the less reference value it has. It is an abnormal marketing method for car companies to increase exposure by publishing sales rankings every week, which disrupts market competition and is not advisable."

In addition, sales volume and average vehicle price should also be viewed comprehensively. Models priced at 30,000 to 50,000 yuan and models priced at 500,000 to 600,000 yuan have different value and should not be included in the same list.

Car companies should not engage in low-level involution

Since last year, the ongoing price war in the automotive industry has triggered involutionary competition, which has significantly reduced the profits of automakers but has not brought about sustained growth in sales.

In fact, involution is "inefficient repetition" that can only lead to inefficient and ineffective competition. Since the beginning of this year, executives of many auto companies have expressed opposition to involution.

auspiciousLi Shufu, chairman of the holding group, believes that endless internal competition and crude price wars will result in cutting corners, counterfeiting and selling fakes, and disorderly competition that does not comply with regulations. For the automobile industry, healthy competition in accordance with the law is very important. Only by healthy competition in accordance with the law can sustainable and high-quality development be achieved.

Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, also expressed a similar view. He believed that "it is not a good idea to continue to expand in this way. We should have a big picture and stick to a long-term strategy, rather than expanding in the short term. Without efficiency, a company cannot survive."

In Zhang Xiang's view, only by increasing technological innovation and improving product added value can automobile companies break out of the vicious circle of "low-level internal circulation".