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In mid-July this year,BMWChina was the first to withdraw from the price war, and thenBenz、AudiAfter luxury car brands followed suit, major joint venture brands also reduced their terminal discounts, and some independent brands also adjusted their vehicle prices.

Seeing the reduction of discounts, many people think that the price involution in the car market is coming to an end, especially for luxury brands. But what is interesting is that FAW Audi recently responded to the national call for old-for-new and offered a limited-time car purchase policy with an additional subsidy of up to 42,000 yuan. On the one hand, it is withdrawing from the price war, and on the other hand, it is offering subsidies. What is Audi trying to do?

Small offer, big signal

In terms of the discount, Audi's subsidies are not much.Audi A4L、Audi A6L、Audi Q5L、Audi Q4 e-tronIf you wait for a car, you can enjoy a replacement subsidy of up to 7,000 yuan, and a low interest rate or 0 down payment for 5 years, or a car owner membership and repurchase can also get a gift package of up to 4,000 yuan. Even if all are added together, the discount is less than 20,000 yuan.

The only thing that looks bigger is to buyAudi A8L Horch can enjoy a maximum of 42,000 yuan replacement subsidy, and the Audi A8L regular version can enjoy a maximum of 35,000 yuan replacement subsidy. Then it also has low interest rates or 5 years of 0 down payment, and car owners can enjoy a gift package of up to 4,000 yuan for additional membership purchases.

Audi A4L, Audi A6L, Audi Q5L, Audi Q4 e-tron, etc., no matter how low the price is, it costs 200,000 or 300,000 yuan. 7,000 yuan is just a drop in the bucket.Maybach S-ClassThe starting price of the A8L Horch is 2.0768 million yuan, and the replacement subsidy of 42,000 yuan is not even a fraction of the price of the car.

Indeed, compared with the price of the car, the subsidies given by Audi are just a drop in the bucket. But the emergence of "official subsidies" reveals a big signal, that is, Audi seems to be withdrawing from the price war.

Rewinding is easy, but selling is not

Compared with other ordinary brands, luxury brands do have stronger anti-rollover capabilities. On the one hand, their brands have a large enough historical accumulation to serve as a moat to resist risks. On the other hand, their level is so high that if they don’t roll over, at most their sales will be a little lower, and people will still buy them. If they are given enough blockbuster new products in the future and survive the difficult period, it is not impossible for sales to return to their original state.

For some luxury brands, this operation is feasible, but not necessarily for Audi. In terms of sales in July, Audi still ranks behind Mercedes-Benz and BMW, with 45,233 units sold in a single month, a decrease of 7,586 units compared to 52,819 units in June. At first glance, the data seems pretty good.

But if you compare it with Mercedes-Benz and BMW, you will find a bright spot. Mercedes-Benz sold 49,568 new cars in July, a decrease of 3,398 from 52,966 in June; BMW sold 48,991 new cars in July, a decrease of 6,629 from 55,620 in June. By comparison, we can see that the decline of Mercedes-Benz and BMW is smaller than that of Audi, which ranks last.

Audi was not the first to say it would withdraw from the price war, nor was it the one with the biggest price correction. However, it was the one that suffered the most severe beating. Who can withstand such a counter-involution?

Price is the lifeblood of Audi, and so is price reduction!

For luxury brands, price is the most important factor in maintaining their brand image. After all, there is no price but only brand. However, it is easy to encounter the same problem: how to have an inferiority complex while owning XX brand? You just need to buy XX model.

As a luxury brand, Audi also needs price to maintain its image, but unlike other brands, it also needs to reduce prices to maintain sales. Consumers who buy Audis want the German mechanical beauty, the quattro power, and also want greater discounts than Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

When comparing Mercedes-Benz and BMW models of the same level, what Audi sales staff like to talk about most is bigger discounts and higher cost-performance than models of the same level, and consumers are also very fond of this. When pre-sales are tight, they are more willing to choose A-Audi among BBA.

As a result, people have developed the impression that Audi’s biggest advantage is that it is “cheap” compared to Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

What do you think of a brand that is famous for being "cheap" and suddenly does not cut prices, and a brand that has cut prices less suddenly cut prices? It's nothing more than the former getting carried away and not wanting to sell anymore, while the latter is a prodigal son who has turned back and is selling at a loss. Seeing this, you should understand that Audi is the hardest hit.

In addition, Audi has not made much progress in the hot new energy sector, and even did not announce the sales of new energy vehicles in the first half of 2024. Other luxury brands' new energy vehicles are still hotly discussed, but Audi is silent. New energy vehicles cannot take off, and fuel vehicles will either fall sharply or fall sharply. In this situation, Audi has to follow suit.

Final Thoughts

Of course, restarting the price war does not mean that Audi will go inward without a bottom line. After experiencing the limited success of trading price for volume, Audi will have a bottom line in mind to avoid continuous overdraft of brand value. However, blindly making concessions is not a long-term solution. If Audi wants to turn the price war into a value war, it must make more efforts than Mercedes-Benz and BMW.