The price war has not stopped three major characteristics of the domestic passenger car market price cuts


From the year to date, the price war in the domestic passenger car market has not stopped. Compared with the previous year, the auto market has seen more severe price cuts this year, and it has three basic characteristics:

First, the models participating in price reduction are more extensive.
And the frequency of price cuts has accelerated. According to online car market statistics, in the first quarter of this year, there were more than 20 brands and nearly 80 models participating in price reductions, with an average of more than 25 per month, and most models had at least one price cut.

The second is a greater reduction in price. Statistics show that the average price drop for this year's price reduction model exceeds 9%. If you take into account the factors introduced by the manufacturers to promote the new cost-effective, the actual decline is even greater. Third, the price reduction mainly focused on models with a price of less than RMB 150,000, while the mid-to-high-end vehicles, which have not been highly competitive, have started to loose their price system, which in turn has driven down the price of imported vehicles.

The following is a general review of the major price cuts for the auto market this year:

On January 1, Geely Automobile took the lead in greeting the New Year with a price cut, which opened the prelude to a nationwide auto market price cut. Since then, the Nanjing Fiat series, the Changan Ford Carnival, Dongfeng Yueda Kia Maxima and so on more than 20 kinds of economic cars will be followed by lower prices. In February, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport lowered its price for the first time a year after its listing, with the highest drop of 30,000 yuan; Xiali dropped 2000-6000 yuan, a maximum drop of 10%; Hafei Racing reduced its price by 3000-5000 yuan for the entire series; Chevrolet Portland dropped by 20,000. Yuan; The minimum price of the Mini car of the Flyer is 5,000 yuan; the price of the FAW-Volkswagen golf car is 1,200-15,000 yuan; the price of the 2004 Jeep 4000 luxury model is lowered by 25,000 yuan; the price of the Fukang passenger car is 8000-14,000 yuan, of which the new people of Fukang are free. The "like" price was first explored to a low of 80,000 yuan.

In March, Beijing Hyundai Sonata adjusted its price by a maximum of RMB15,200; Nanjing Fiat officially launched “Thunder Action”, in which Palio Weekend Wind 1.3SG dropped by 21,000 yuan; The lowest price after the price reduction is only 136,000 yuan.

In April, the highest price reduction for the Southeast Fulika series was 14,000 yuan; the price of the Bora 1.6 manual basic model was reduced to 147,000 yuan, and the market guidance price for this 2004 Bora Bora was originally 161,300 yuan; For the first time, New Bluebird reduced the price by 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan; the Toyota Vios series was sold for the first time in one year and the price was lowered. The sales prices of the top models GLX-S (electronic navigation version) and GLX-i (high-end audio version) were changed. The RMB 195,000 and RMB 175,000 were adjusted to RMB 175,000 and RMB 155,000, respectively.

According to the online auto market observation, the frequency of changes in the auto market has been significantly accelerated this year, and the number of models that have participated in the price reduction so far has been comparable to that of 2003.

Xu Changming, deputy director of the Information Resource Development Department of the National Information Center, said that the new and reduced prices, and price reduction in thousands, is a significant feature of the car market in the first quarter of this year. According to statistics, 04 models introduced this year include Polaris, Beverly, Chollima, Jetta, Fume, and Santana 3000. The prices of more than 80% of the 04 models have declined.

Industry analysis believes that China's auto market has entered a period of transition from seller's market to buyer's market. With the rapid expansion of production capacity of automobile manufacturers and the increase of new entrants, the domestic auto market will inevitably become oversupply.

In fact, since the second half of last year, the production and sales relations of domestic cars have undergone subtle changes, the inventory of manufacturers has been increasing, and there are fewer and fewer varieties in the market, and this trend will only increase further in the future. In order to digest inventory and respond to increasingly fierce market competition, price reduction promotion has become an inevitable choice for auto manufacturers. Xu Changming believes that price cuts are becoming the norm in the auto market, and this normality will at least remain until the price of domestic cars is equivalent to the international market price of the same car. Hua Xue, the online auto market director, predicts that the average price reduction of domestic cars this year will be 9%, and the decline in imported cars may be even higher.

Judging from the competition situation of the passenger vehicle market in the future, economic vehicles under 100,000 yuan have gone through multiple rounds of price reductions and configuration upgrades, and the price has approached the bottom line of the cost. Except for individual slow-moving vehicles, it is unlikely that prices will continue to be drastically reduced. The focus of price competition in the future will be mainly on the mid-range vehicle sector where consumption growth is fastest and new vehicles continue to flow. In the high-end models with more than RMB 250,000, market competition is still very low. At the same time, due to the huge support of the official car market, there is insufficient incentive to cut prices. However, as the date for the cancellation of import car quotas in 2005 approaches, its high price system will not last long.

What needs to be pointed out in particular is that competition in the automotive product market is not only reflected in one aspect of price competition. The current rationalization of domestic automobile consumption is gradually taking the upper hand, and the trend of diversification of consumer orientation and increasingly market segmentation has not yet received enough response from automobile manufacturers. For example, although there are more and more new cars on the market today, the models that can meet the individual demands of consumers are rare. The concept of many manufacturers still remains in the analysis and judgment of “Chinese people like the sedan”. They are keen to “change to two” (Hatchback to three-box) or simply rely on the model level and price positioning. Dividing the market causes the product market to converge and the price competition to intensify, while the differentiation of vehicle models is obviously insufficient.

How to deeply and accurately interpret the socio-cultural content of the automotive consumer market and properly balance product individuation and scale, so as to seize the opportunities provided by market segmentation, will be an important issue for automotive manufacturers in the future. Question.