At this Beijing Auto Show, BBA (Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi) focuses on contrast.
On April 24, Mercedes-Benz launched the electric “Big G” in the world. This is the first time that Mercedes-Benz has launched the G-Class in China; BMW debuted 15 car series from two major brands, more than half of which are new energy models; Audi debuted Audi Q6 Le-tron, the new car uses the same PPE platform as the Porsche Macan.
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Not long ago, BBA was just another “face.”
In February this year, Mercedes-Benz officially announced that in view of the recent lower-than-expected market demand for electric vehicles, the company decided to re-plan the pace of its electric vehicle transformation.
It is expected that the number of electric models sold by Mercedes-Benz will be halved by 2030, which is delayed compared to the original target of 2025. In March, Audi Chief Executive Gernot Dorner said it would delay plans to switch to electric vehicles unless demand improves. BMW has also delayed the time for full electrification, saying it will not give up the internal combustion engine.
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As a result, topics such as “The West gave up on electric vehicles” and “European car companies delayed electrification” were widely circulated.
But it is obvious that BBA has never said that it will give up electrification. It only postponed its original plan because of its unsatisfactory results in the electric vehicle market.
While delaying electrification transformation globally, while being radical and urgent in the Chinese market, this Beijing Auto Show is like a mirror, reflecting BBA’s complex psychology of loving and hating electrification.
BBA at Beijing Auto Show
At this Beijing Auto Show, BBA’s actions are not small.
Mercedes-Benz debuted at the Beijing International Auto Show with 1 global premiere, 7 Chinese premieres and auto show debuts, and 8 China-launched 21 models from all brands. It also brought a new modular architecture MMA platform and a self-developed operating architecture MB.OS.
The most important one is naturally the pure electric G-class off-road vehicle, commonly known as the “electric big G”. Its appearance basically continues the “square box” design of the fuel version of the G-class, equipped with 4 independently controllable wheel motors and 4 Equipped with an electric two-speed gearbox and a 116-kilowatt-hour battery pack, it can achieve a cruising range of approximately 570 kilometers under CLTC conditions.
The electric “Big G” is Mercedes-Benz's ace player. The four wheel motors it is equipped with can realize the function of turning around in place. It is not a “future” and will be launched in the second half of this year.
At last year's Shanghai Auto Show, BMW launched the slogan “Home in China”, clearly demonstrating its desire for the Chinese market.
At this Beijing Auto Show, BMW has an equally luxurious lineup, with its two major brands, including the BMW new generation concept car, the new pure electric BMW i4, the new BMW M4, the new electric MINI Aceman and the new electric MINI Cooper, for a total of fifteen car series. Appeared at the Beijing Auto Show. Among them, the pure electric BMW i4 is the world premiere.
BMW also said that it will launch more than 20 new models in China this year.
According to the plan announced by BMW, the pure electric BMW new generation model will be domestically produced in Shenyang, China in 2026, and the supporting BMW sixth-generation power battery project will be fully started, with a total investment of up to 10 billion yuan.
As for slogans, Audi's “In China, for China” is also very sincere. At this Beijing Auto Show, the all-new Audi Q6 Le-tron made its debut, forming the Audi pure electric product lineup together with the Audi Q4e-tron and Audi RSe-tron GT.
Zhixing Driving (ID: carviews) observed that at the booths of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, nearly half of the models of the three companies were new energy.
But in fact, the weight of new energy models on the exhibition stand is far from BBA's actual market performance.
Each BBA has its own anxieties
The Chinese market has become BBA’s largest single market for many consecutive years. Last year, Mercedes-Benz sold 765,000 vehicles in China, accounting for 29.58% of Mercedes-Benz's global sales; BMW sold 820,000 vehicles in China, accounting for 32% of BMW's global sales; Audi sold 729,000 vehicles in China, accounting for 38% of BMW's global sales. . The Chinese market single-handedly contributed to nearly 1/3 of BBA's sales.
But in the new energy market, it is a different situation. In 2023, the cumulative sales of Mercedes-Benz EQE in China were only 8,471 units, followed by 6,667 units of Mercedes-Benz EQB and 6,120 units of Mercedes-Benz EQE. No new energy model sold more than 10,000 units. It can be said that Mercedes-Benz has not even touched the threshold of new energy.
Audi's highest-selling pure electric model in China last year was the Audi Q4e-tron, with cumulative sales of 23,350 units, followed by the Audi Q5e-tron with 5,270 units.
The best new energy performer in BBA is BMW. Last year, BMW sold nearly 100,000 pure electric vehicles in China, a year-on-year increase of more than 138%. And in November and December last year, the monthly sales of pure electric models exceeded 10,000 units for two consecutive months.
If placed in the BBA, BMW's figures are already quite good, but in the entire Chinese new energy vehicle market they are not impressive enough. Jikrypton and NIO, both pure electric brands, sold a total of 118,000 and 160,000 vehicles last year, both higher than BMW, and they are only new brands that have been established for less than ten years.
On the other hand, the “brand” that BBA was proud of in the past is facing disintegration.
According to a survey by market research firm McKinsey, the most important factor for Chinese users to choose new energy vehicles from foreign traditional high-end brands is brand.
But in the technology-heavy automotive industry, brands are not everything. McKinsey said, “For foreign traditional high-end brands, relying solely on brand recognition can no longer prevent the one-way loss of customers. Consumers who currently own high-end brand cars (for more than three years) and are considering changing cars As the research object, we found that the owners of the top three German luxury cars are being transformed into Chinese high-end new energy vehicle consumers in an almost one-way flow: 24% of the top three German luxury car owners said that they currently “The initial menu of Chinese high-end new energy vehicle owners includes the top three German brands.”
In other words, when the owners of the top three German luxury cars buy their next vehicle, their yearning for high-end new energy vehicles of their own brands is much higher than the latter's yearning for the former; that is, the customers of the top three German brands have transformed into independent The possibility of brand customers is much higher than the possibility of the latter converting into the former.
For BBA, despite the poor performance of new energy models, their overall sales have not declined, so they have the confidence to delay the pace of electrification. But the good times may be coming to an end soon.
Chinese competitors are coming
According to the latest data from the Passenger Car Association, in the first half of April 2024, the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in my country reached 50.39%, surpassing fuel vehicles for the first time.
Another set of data is that last year, the market share of independent brands exceeded that of joint venture brands for the first time, and for the first time, they became “the masters of the market.” BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu also said in March this year that the market share of joint venture brands will drop from 40% to 10% in the next 3-5 years.
If in the past few years, independent brands have been using new energy models to compete for sales and market share, then by 2024, it has almost become an industry consensus to use new energy vehicles to capture the luxury market.
At this Beijing Auto Show, new energy luxury models such as Huawei Hongmeng Smart's Xiangjie S9, BYD Denza Z9GT, and Yangwang U7 were unveiled one after another, heading towards the hinterland of BBA.
Huawei positions the Xiangjie S9 as an “executive-level luxury flagship sedan”. It uses headlights similar to the Wenjie M9 and has the same OneBox shape design as the Zhijie S7. It will form a “Huawei 9 series dual flagship” with the Wenjie M9 . According to industry analysis, the Xiangjie S9 may be priced between 400,000 yuan and 600,000 yuan, targeting the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series and Audi A6.
Previously, the predecessor of the Xiangjie S9, the Wenjie M9, has proven Huawei's appeal in the luxury market. It sold over 70,000 units less than three months after its launch, and sold 2,639 units in the second week of April this year. Overtaking Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X5, Audi Q6, etc., becoming the “biggest brother” in the sales list of luxury SUVs with more than 500,000 yuan.
Xiangjie S9, which has inherited many pedigrees from “Big Brother”, will obviously put pressure on BBA.
On the other hand, BYD is making great efforts in the luxury market after leaving behind its rivals in the new energy market. The Yangwang U8, which was launched at the end of last year with a starting price of 1.08 million, exceeded 5,000 units within three months, becoming a milestone for domestically produced million-dollar luxury cars.
The Yangwang U7 unveiled at this year's Beijing Auto Show, like the Xiangjie S9, focuses on luxury executive sedans. While it inherits the Yi Sifang technology of the Yangwang U8, it is also equipped with the world's only Yunnan-Z.
It is reported that Yunnan-Z technology replaces the traditional hydraulic shock absorber with four highly integrated suspension motors, which greatly improves the adjustment response speed, reaching 10 milliseconds, which is far faster than traditional active suspension.
BYD's other luxury sedan, the Denza Z9GT, is equally aggressive. It is equipped with BYD's new Yisanfang technology.
It is reported that Yi Sanfang is built based on the vehicle intelligence strategy and is the world's first technology platform that can simultaneously realize three-motor independent drive and original rear-wheel steering, taking into account both pure electric and hybrid vehicles. Denza Z9GT has a maximum power of nearly 1,000 horsepower, can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers in 2 seconds, and has a Elk test score of over 85km/h. It is nearly 5.2 meters long but can achieve a minimum turning radius of less than 5 meters. The industry estimates that this car may be priced at 400,000-600,000 yuan.
Although it is difficult to predict whether they will succeed, in any case, Huawei and BYD, two brands recognized as having great technological capabilities in the country, have coincided with the luxury market of more than 400,000 yuan. Whether they succeed or not, it means a new The era is coming.
According to Automotive Business Review,In March this year, when Chinese media asked “Where does BMW's courage to be optimistic about electrification come from,” BMW Group Chairman Zipzer said, “I'm not sure if we have the courage.”
When fighting with bare hands, the most taboo thing is to be timid on the spot. For independent brands, they have never succeeded in the luxury market in the past, so even if they fail now, they have to start all over again.
BBA has been in China's luxury market for more than 30 years. The glory of the past has gradually become a burden today. If they want to resist the impact of independent brands, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi must show more real skills.