5 years of 0 interest, behind the different price wars, what really dominates users is intelligence

The price war in the automotive industry will not only not stop, but will also continue to "reduce" prices in various ways. The current actions of various automakers have already confirmed this.

Unlike previous years, the price involution in the new year is no longer a direct price cut, but rather an exercise in financial policy.

For example, the car purchase policies released by multiple automobile brands such as Tesla, Xpeng, Zhiji, and GAC Toyota include a combination of insurance subsidies, five-year 0 interest financial plans, and direct price reductions.

The price war has suddenly changed its tactics. Will consumers really buy into it?

Judging from the specific pricing policies of various car companies, if the financial policy benefits are sincere enough, they may really become the main theme of competition in the automotive industry in 2025.

Taking Tesla as an example, Model 3 can enjoy an insurance subsidy of 8,000 yuan, plus a 5-year 0 interest loan policy and special charging benefits.

You should know that this is the first time that Tesla has covered the entire Model 3 series with a limited-time insurance subsidy of 8,000 yuan. It is also the first time that Tesla has launched an insurance subsidy and a 5-year 0% interest policy at the same time. The Model 3 has a minimum selling price of 227,500 yuan after the subsidy, and the 5-year 0% interest policy is equivalent to a price reduction of nearly 20,000 yuan.

Perhaps influenced by this, Xiaopeng, NIO, Zhiji and Guangfeng have also launched similar and more powerful car purchase preferential policies.

Although the preferential policies of various car companies may differ to a certain extent, judging from the form and direction, 0% interest for 5 years is indeed the main theme of this wave of price wars.

So, at a time when price cuts and discounts are prevalent, why is the price war at the beginning of 2025 so subtle?

There may be only one reason, that is, the price war does not bring more benefits to car manufacturers and users.

Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows that the peak price reduction for new energy vehicles reached 7% last year, and the number of models involved increased from 150 in 2023 to 224. The number of models reduced in price throughout the year reached 227, far exceeding the 148 models in 2023 and 95 models in 2022.

The pursuit of low prices has caused many automakers to suffer heavy losses and their profits have fallen sharply. Data shows that the profit margin of the auto industry will fall to 4.5% in 2024, and some automakers will even lose money on every car they sell.

In order to survive temporarily, many automakers can only find room for compression in various links. Therefore, news of price cuts, reduced configurations, cutting corners, and supply chain conflicts often occurs, which not only affects the healthy development of automakers, but also harms the interests of consumers.

In this environment, many automakers called for "high-quality internal development" last year. It can be seen that such calls are quite effective.

Nowadays, many mainstream car companies have begun to shift their focus from direct price cuts to financial incentives, which is actually an upgrade in the form of the price war.

Car companies can cooperate with financial institutions to jointly launch more attractive car purchase preferential policies, which will not only help optimize the car purchase threshold for consumers, but also will not overly affect the survival space of car companies, thus achieving multiple goals at one stroke.

Of course, as the automotive industry undergoes a profound transformation from price competition to value competition, not all car companies can thrive. The competition between new energy and fuel, and between independent and joint ventures, remains extremely fierce.

As early as last month, when the 2025 "national subsidy" had not yet been implemented, many car companies had already rushed to launch a bottom-line policy to seize the market through cash subsidies, insurance subsidies and other means.

For example, BYD has introduced national and local subsidies to provide consumers with replacement subsidies ranging from 8,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan. Ideal has given 15,000 yuan in cash subsidies to car owners who are not covered by the "local subsidies". Xiaopeng and Weilai provide subsidies in the form of points and equal charging.

Automakers such as Chery, Changan, Zhiji, and Arcfox have also launched subsidy guarantees, but for those automakers that are not strong enough and are slow to move, 2025 will still be a difficult year.

More importantly, new energy and intelligence will still be the major trend in 2025. The Ministry of Finance officially released the 2025 new energy vehicle subsidy policy at the beginning of the new year, with a total amount of up to 9.885 billion yuan.

In other words, even if car companies that are slow to transform innovate their price war tactics, it will be difficult for them to catch up with the discounts offered by new energy vehicles.

In addition, many joint venture car companies are not very prominent in intelligent technology, while many domestic brands have already made their mark in the field of AI intelligence. This is actually a disguised price reduction - in the same price system, upgrading configurations can better meet user needs .

BYD has currently proposed that it hopes to allow everyone to enjoy high-end intelligent driving through the "Eye of God" system; Great Wall Motors has brought a new generation of smart space system - Coffee OS 3 and an upgraded intelligent driving system Coffee Pilot Ultra‌; Xiaopeng Motors demonstrated its split flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier", which will start mass production in 2026‌.

It can be seen that intelligence will become a battleground for all car companies in 2025. This series of information means that many domestic brands are ready to make a big splash, while those car companies that mainly rely on fuel seem to be still sleeping.

When a price war breaks out in the automotive industry, the most likely winner will definitely not be the one with the lowest price. The winner can only be the one that provides users with a higher value experience.