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our reporter yin limei and zhang shuo reported from chengdu

the 27th chengdu international auto show (hereinafter referred to as "chengdu international auto show"), held at the turn of summer and autumn in 2024, presents two completely different background colors of "cold" and "hot".

the so-called "cold" means that many media reporters participating in the exhibition felt that a large number of car companies have significantly reduced their investment in this chengdu international auto show. some chose not to hold press conferences and only participate in the exhibition, and some only sent booth invitations to the media instead of providing air tickets and hotel services to invited guests as before.

information obtained by a reporter from china business news shows that although the total exhibition area of ​​this chengdu international auto show and the 18th beijing international automotive exhibition (hereinafter referred to as the "beijing international auto show") held at the end of april this year is the same as 220,000 square meters, the former only held 58 new car launches, while the latter held a total of 163 press conferences during the two-day media day.

on august 30, 30 minutes before the opening of the chengdu international auto show, reporters arrived at the scene. unlike the 2024 beijing international auto show, which was crowded with people and long queues to enter the venue, at the 2024 chengdu international auto show, reporters went through the whole process from exiting the subway station to swiping their id cards to pass through the gate, security check, and then entering the venue. there was no need to wait in line. until about 9 o'clock, there were not many people in the exhibition hall, which formed a clear contrast with the phenomenon of the crowds of exhibitors in the venue on the media day of the 2024 beijing international auto show.

an industry insider told reporters that the cold reception of this chengdu auto show is the result of the continued spread of market involution. under the price war, the profit margin of the auto industry continues to be low, and the profit pressure of mainstream automakers has increased, so they choose to "tighten their purse strings" and reduce the cost budget in the field of communication and marketing.

on the auto show, a stage where many automakers gather, different automakers show different faces. we also see that for this chengdu international auto show, some automakers are reserved in their marketing investment, while some automakers choose to continue to participate in the exhibition with large amounts of money, presenting an uneven picture.

for example, byd "booked the entire hall" and brought all its brands, including yangwang, fangchengbao, and denza, to the show. great wall motors' exhibition area exceeded 3,500 square meters, breaking the historical record of a single booth area for domestic brands. bmw group brought 13 new cars from its two major brands, bmw and mini, to the chengdu international auto show, setting a new record for the number of new bmw cars exhibited at the chengdu international auto show.

sound reduction

compared with the 2024 beijing international auto show held at the end of april this year, the volume of this chengdu international auto show has been significantly weakened.

this year's chengdu international auto show had 130 chinese and foreign automakers participating, exhibiting more than 1,600 vehicles, holding 58 new car launches, and releasing more than 72 new cars on the first day of the show. the 2024 beijing international auto show held 163 new car launches, with 117 global debut models, attracting nearly 500 well-known auto parts companies and technology companies from home and abroad to participate.

at the same time, the reporter found that in 2022 and 2023, 72 and 66 new car launches were held on the first day of the chengdu international auto show, respectively, which were 14 and 8 more than this year's chengdu international auto show. the reduction in the number of launch events reveals that the scale of this year's chengdu international auto show is not as large as in previous years.

it is interesting to note that many car companies chose to hold new car launch conferences on the eve of the opening of this chengdu auto show to launch their blockbuster models. for example, on august 26, at the hongmeng intelligent driving new product launch held by huawei, the new m7 pro was officially launched. on august 28, the new lantu dreamer equipped with huawei intelligent driving was launched and officially opened for pre-sale.

not only did the blockbuster products of xpeng motors and mini go on sale on the eve of the auto show, but even though both brands participated in the chengdu international auto show, they did not schedule their blockbuster new product launch events in chengdu. on august 27, xpeng motors held a press conference in beijing, and its new compact sedan targeting the mid-to-low-end market, the xpeng mona m03, was officially launched. on the same day, the mini brand held a new car launch conference in chongqing, and its first crossover model, the new electric mini aceman, was launched.

the above phenomenon shows that under the background of the industry's continued internal competition, the importance of auto shows as a platform for showcasing new industry technologies and new corporate products has weakened for auto companies.

an industry insider told reporters that holding a press conference before the auto show can help companies attract more attention to their new products, because during the auto show, major automakers will release new products in a concentrated manner, which will distract consumers' attention. it is better to have a single product than to have a hundred schools of thought contend. moreover, doing so has another benefit, which is that it can maximize the use of time during the auto show to focus on new product sales and order conversion.

this more pragmatic approach reflects the operational pressure faced by automakers in the current domestic auto market environment.

recently, lei jun, the founder of xiaomi group, published the second quarter financial report of xiaomi group on his personal social media platform, showing that xiaomi auto delivered 27,307 vehicles in the second quarter of this year, with revenue of 6.4 billion yuan, a gross profit margin of 15.4%, and a loss of 1.8 billion yuan. based on this calculation, xiaomi auto lost more than 60,000 yuan per vehicle.

regarding this report card, lei jun said frankly: "making cars is hard, but success must be cool. xiaomi auto is still in the investment stage, and i hope everyone understands."

on august 26, at the launch conference of the new m7 pro, yu chengdong, huawei's executive director, chairman of the terminal bg, and chairman of the intelligent automotive solutions bu, also said: "the new m7 pro will lose nearly 30,000 yuan for every car sold."

the losses of xiaomi motors and the new m7 pro of the q-engine brand are just a "microcosm" of the new energy vehicle industry. currently, among china's new energy vehicle companies, except for byd and ideal auto, other listed chinese new energy vehicle start-ups have not yet achieved profitability.

us consulting firm alixpartners previously predicted that china's new energy vehicle market will accelerate integration, and by 2030, only 19 of the current 137 brands will be profitable and financially sustainable.

in fact, in the involutionary market environment, the overall profitability of my country's automobile industry is not optimistic. on august 27, cui dongshu, secretary-general of the passenger car market information joint branch of the china automobile dealers association, wrote that in july this year, my country's automobile industry had revenue of 797.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3%; profit was 35.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.2%; the automobile industry profit margin was 4.4%. from january to july 2024, the profit margin of my country's automobile industry was 4.9%, lower than the average level of 6.3% of downstream industrial enterprises. cui dongshu believes that the severe price war in the auto market has increased the pressure on the overall decline in profits of auto companies.

when it becomes increasingly difficult to make profits, car companies choose to spend their limited budgets on the "cutting edge", that is, reducing marketing expenses at auto shows, press conferences, etc., and investing more resources in increasing car sales.

fuel vehicles fight back

even though car companies nowadays have different positioning and choices for auto shows, as the first a-level auto show in china in the second half of 2024, this chengdu international auto show still has a weather vane significance for the current auto market.

the reporter noticed that in terms of power type, the three major tracks of this chengdu international auto show, namely oil, electric and hybrid, each have their own highlights.

among them, fuel vehicles, which have gradually become a "supporting role" in recent years, have become more prominent. the new bmw x3 long-wheelbase version, cadillac xt5, the fifth-generation santa fe, passat pro, tuyue xinrui and other fuel vehicles from foreign and joint venture automakers were announced at this year's chengdu international auto show, attracting widespread attention.

traditional car companies’ heavy launch of fuel-powered models at the auto show reflects their attitude towards the current fuel-powered vehicle business.

it is important to note that despite the strong growth momentum of new energy vehicles, the domestic automobile consumer market is still dominated by fuel vehicles. at present, there are still a large number of consumers who firmly choose fuel vehicles for various reasons such as the convenience of refueling, harsh use environment, and usage habits. moreover, for traditional car companies, the fuel vehicle business is still the main source of profit.

therefore, maintaining a strategic balance between fuel vehicle business and new energy vehicle business is an issue that many traditional automakers need to face. in this process, automakers must not only solve long-term development issues, but also take into account current survival issues.

on july 4, bmw group's director of research and development, weber fan, said in an interview with reporters that the company will continue to invest in the future of battery-powered vehicles as planned, while also sticking to the foundation of traditional fuel vehicles. this is a common practice of many traditional car companies.

compared with new energy vehicles, fuel vehicle product updates are relatively slow, and the degree of product intelligence is not high, allowing new energy vehicles to invade the heart of the fuel vehicle market, and the fuel vehicle market continues to shrink.

however, no matter what the external public opinion environment is, traditional car companies have never stopped exploring the intelligence of fuel vehicles.

the reporter noticed that at this chengdu international auto show, the biggest highlight of the bmw group was the new bmw x3 long-wheelbase fuel model. the new car adopts a long wheelbase design, which is 110 mm longer than the standard version, reaching 2975 mm, which is consistent with the standard wheelbase version of the bmw x5.

in terms of intelligence, the new bmi wx3 long-wheelbase version is equipped with a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel and a 14.9-inch central control screen forming an integrated floating curved screen. it is equipped with the bmw group's 9th-generation idrive operating system, supporting voice control, apple carplay/android auto mobile phone interconnection mapping, online navigation and other functions.

the highlight of the joint venture car company saic volkswagen at this chengdu international auto show was the launch and debut of two heavyweight fuel models, the new tuyue and the all-new passat pro.

the reporter learned that the tuyue new rui is available in two power versions, 1.5t and 1.5l, with a wltc comprehensive fuel consumption as low as 5.7l/100km, and high fuel economy. the new passat pro has been fully upgraded in terms of body size, smart driving, smart cabin and quality. in terms of intelligence, the new passat pro is equipped with qualcomm snapdragon 8155 in-vehicle smart chip and iflytek's voice solution, making voice recognition more accurate and significantly improving the level of intelligence.

beijing hyundai's fifth-generation santa fe was also launched at the chengdu international auto show on august 30. beijing hyundai has been preparing for the launch of the fifth-generation santa fe for a long time. the fifth-generation santa fe is equipped with a 2.0t+8at power combination, of which the maximum power of the 2.0t engine is 182kw, and the trunk volume can be expanded to a maximum of 2046l.

in terms of intelligence, the fifth-generation santa fe has created a new intelligent cockpit system ccnc, equipped with f-ota wireless upgrades, and also has 30 adas intelligent driving assistance functions, including panoramic imaging, lane keeping assist and adaptive cruise, achieving l2+ level driving assistance.

cadillac's new xt5 also made its debut at this year's chengdu international auto show. it is reported that in terms of intelligence, the new xt5 is equipped with a new generation of cue in-vehicle intelligent system, qualcomm snapdragon 8155 chip, 33-inch 9k surround curved screen, and acc+holca and 3609 imaging are standard for the entire series.

"no matter how high or low the price is, fuel vehicles are almost never equipped with advanced intelligent driving functions, but in fact, fuel vehicles can also achieve intelligent driving." in march this year, shen shaojie, head of dji's vehicle-mounted equipment, said at the china electric vehicle 100 forum (2024).

it can be seen that almost all the heavy-duty fuel vehicle models unveiled at the chengdu international auto show have been upgraded in terms of intelligence, which reflects that the above-mentioned traditional car companies are trying to redefine the intelligent experience of fuel vehicles in order to defend the status of fuel vehicles in the industry.

(editor: zhang shuo, reviewer: tong haihua, proofreader: yan jingning)