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Text/Wang Xinxi

After NIO executives made a series of statements like firecrackers, Ideal released the new power brand sales ranking for the second week of August, firmly securing its position as the top new power.

The sales volume of QX was halved to only 3,900 units, a decrease of 58%.Zero RunSurpassed, and soon to beXiaomi SU7Xiaomi has risen to fourth place, surpassing Weilai andZeekrThe sales of Zeekr Auto and NIO were 3,400 and 3,300 vehicles respectively.

On the other hand, sales of traditional luxury cars are picking up, with Tesla selling 15,500 units.BenzSales volume was 12,200 units.AudiSales volume was 10,700 units.BMWThe sales volume was 7,200 vehicles, and the gap is obvious.

Among them, the decline of Wenjie is the most obvious. What are the deep reasons behind it?

First of all, this is related to the holiday of the SERES factory.

Chongqing is a hot and humid city. When it is the hottest time in summer, it is like a steamer. During the high temperature period, all the SERES factories were closed for holiday. It is said that the high temperature holiday lasted for 10 days in succession. No production was arranged, and without production, there would be no delivery.

An industry insider revealed that Wenjie has orders on hand, but some of these orders may not be scheduled for production. The factory resumed production on August 8, and it will take some time to arrange production for the orders on hand, and there needs to be a transition process.

"Secondly, the new M7 will be launched soon, and the factory will have to rearrange its production schedule. The factory will need to rearrange which orders will be used for the new M7 and which orders will be used for the old model."

Suppressed by Ideal and surpassed by BBA, Wenjie faces the problem of brand power precipitation

Holidays definitely have an impact on sales, but is the impact that big? Therefore, there is still something to think about.

last yearQJM9After the release, there was a joke that if you don’t work hard, you can only buy BBA. With the support of Huawei’s brand, the brand premium of QX50 continues to rise. QX50 M7 and M9 were sold well before, grabbing a lot of cake from BBA, especially M9 has always been the number one in sales of luxury cars above 500,000 yuan, and BBA can’t sell more than M9.

But in early July this year, the transfer of the trademark and patent of Wenjie to Seres triggered heated discussions in the industry. It seemed that Wenjie made a profit, but the biggest disadvantage of Wenjie was thatThe loss of Huawei's brand premium has caused a certain degree of psychological fluctuation among users in the high-end market.

When the trademark belonged to Huawei, Wenjie possessed Huawei's exclusive technology and brand label, but now, consumers do not know how much effort Huawei will put into future Wenjie brand models. Huawei has also been cooperating with Audi. Wenjie and Huawei are separated at the brand level. We clearly feel that without Huawei's support, Wenjie's brand power is not as strong as before.

Today, the sales of Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW have surpassed the world's total sales, and are far ahead, especially Mercedes-Benz, which is three times that of the world's total sales, and Audi is more than twice that of the world's total sales.The reason behind this may be that in the competition of brand power, Huawei can equalize the premium level with BBA, but it has fallen behind in the industry.After years of brand accumulation, BBA is still recognized by the middle class in terms of identity and face. One reason is that many middle-class buyers go for the Huawei brand, and now this part of the middle class has turned to BBA.

Some industry insiders pointed out a unique phenomenon in the automotive industry, that is, after the release of a new car, in the short term, the sales of the new car will soar, but when the popularity of the new car has passed, the sales will begin to decline and return to normal levels.

The reason behind this is that the sales of Wenjie have always relied on Huawei's new technology and modified new products to boost brand power and sales. The sales growth of Wenjie Automobile in the first half of the year was mainly based on the successive modification of the three models of Wenjie. Another reason is the huge momentum brought by Yu Chengdong's platform.

In addition, many factories in Chongqing and Sichuan arrange heat holidays every year, and SERES arranges one in early August. After the last few new cars were sold, there were basically no new cars for more than a week, so sales fell sharply. Starting this week, after the heat holiday, factory employees have returned to work one after another, and sales will slowly pick up.

Marketing and services have not kept up with the pace, and consumers' perception of smart driving is changing

The success of the M7 and M9 once threatened Ideal's position as the leader of new forces.Ideal AutoThe two are almost neck and neck. SERES sold 42,176 vehicles in July, and its cumulative sales from January to July were 243,000 vehicles. Li Auto's retail sales in July were 51,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 49.4%. Its cumulative sales in the first seven months were 240,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 38.5%.

In the first seven months, the sales of Wenjie surpassed that of Ideal Auto. But the situation changed in August, and the gap between Ideal and Wenjie was widening. Behind this, in addition to losing Huawei's exclusive support in technology, the marketing and service levels have not kept up with the pace. When the gap in product strength was small, Wenjie lost Yu Chengdong's platform, and the popularity of Wenjie decreased, and the importance of service also became more prominent.

On the other hand, consumer perception is changing. Consumers care more about the premium brought by the comprehensive cost-effectiveness of the product, rather than just looking at smart driving. Although Ideal Mage failed, butIdeal L6After listing, the monthly sales volume is equivalent toQJM5and M7 combined, its total sales volume is far ahead of the rest of the world.

Behind this is the change in Ideal’s strategy, from profit priority to sales priority.

Typically, Ideal L6 now focuses on the 200,000+ market to increase sales. Judging from the weekly sales data, this model accounts for about 60% of the total sales. The total sales are maintained as entry-level models, which means that it is weak in the 300,000+ high-end market to compete with BBA.Secondly, there is a gap in the ideal annual sales target, which was adjusted from 800,000 at the beginning to 560,000, and then to 480,000. In this case, high-volume models are needed to increase sales, and the strategy of sales taking precedence over profits is obvious.

Wenjie recently launched a new M7 Pro model, which has a price and positioning exactly matching the Ideal L6. This is a new move by Wenjie to compete with the Ideal L6.

In general, judging from the weekly list released by Ideal, our overall new force strategy has changed. In the context of a sluggish market, we no longer blindly stick to the high-end market, but focus more on sales rather than profits. This has also freed up some space for BBA in the high-end market. There are fewer benchmark products for the middle class in the 300,000+ market, which has brought relatively stable performance to BBA's sales. Compared with the new forces, whether it is Ideal or Wenjie, the sales have been ups and downs. The reason behind this is that the technology and brand accumulation are not enough.

The hidden worry of the ideal is that it starts with the 200,000+ market as the basic market, facing the lack of technological breakthroughs and brand premium. This means that there is no domestic car company that can put huge pressure on BBA in terms of technology and brand recognition like Huawei.Defeating BBA is not something that can be achieved by just talking. Brand accumulation and technological advancement cannot be achieved overnight. It takes time to accumulate. The best strategy is to be low-key, modest, and less boastful, keep your head down, develop steadily, and carry out pragmatic research and development.

Author: Wang Xinxi, senior TMT commentator. Reprinting without permission is prohibited.