Faced with Tesla’s ever-lower prices, where will China’s new energy vehicle companies go?

From watching the fire from the other side to close combat

This time, the wolf finally came.

Recently, Tesla China has once again adjusted the prices of all its models: Model 3 prices have dropped by 26,000 to 44,000 yuan, Model S prices have dropped by 11,400 to 277,500 yuan, and Model X prices have dropped by 174,300 to 341,100 yuan. Among them, the Model X Furious Acceleration Performance Edition (formerly P100D) has seen a price reduction of 341,100 yuan.

Including this price cut, Tesla has lowered the sales price of its vehicles for the Chinese market for three consecutive times (from November 2018 to now). After this adjustment, the cumulative price reduction of Model 3 is between 79,000 and 85,000 yuan (excluding the new rear-wheel drive model), the cumulative price reduction of Model S is between 156,600 and 659,700 yuan, and the cumulative price reduction of Model X is astonishingly between 360,800 and 724,000 yuan.

Back to July 10, 2018. Musk signed a pure electric vehicle project investment agreement with the Shanghai Lingang Management Committee and Lingang Group. In Lingang, Tesla will solely invest in building a Tesla Gigafactory that integrates R&D, manufacturing, and sales, with an annual planned production capacity of 500,000 pure electric vehicles.

At the same time, China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce jointly released the latest version of the "Negative List for Foreign Investment", which clearly stated: From 2019, the 50:50 equity ratio restriction on foreign investment in the construction of new energy vehicle factories in China will be lifted. The trend of China's new energy vehicle market adhering to open competition has become completely clear.

Just last month, Tesla announced the acquisition of Maxwell. Tesla is attracted by Maxwell's process efficiency of manufacturing battery components, which is significantly higher than that of other companies in the industry. Even compared with the most efficient battery manufacturing process on the market, Maxwell's process can significantly reduce the production cost of electric vehicles. This is consistent with Tesla's concept of reducing battery costs. In addition, Maxwell's supercapacitor technology can effectively extend battery life. These technologies can make Tesla even more powerful.

Situation Analysis

As mentioned in the article "Faced with Tesla, which has completed the integration of the entire industrial chain, Chinese new energy vehicle companies collectively shuddered", China's new energy vehicle market will be extremely broad in the future, and Tesla's various marketing methods in the past six months have been demonstrating its ambitions.

For example, the first wholly foreign-owned automobile factory in Chinese history has arrived. This will be Tesla's first factory outside the United States and the largest foreign-owned manufacturing project in the history of Shanghai, China's largest city. Musk, who has always been accustomed to breaking the rules, has once again become the first to try something new.

As for its products, Tesla's are not only of high quality but also affordable.

Why do you say that?

Let's talk about Wumei first - Tesla has the most advanced battery technology and the strongest design in the world. Tesla's battery is composed of 7,000 small cells, which are managed and coordinated by battery manager technology. With this battery technology, Tesla Roadster can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 1.9 seconds, from 0 to 100 miles per hour in just 4.2 seconds, and has a top speed of 250 miles (400 kilometers). Tesla Model 3 can travel up to 606 miles (about 975 kilometers) on a single charge, setting a new record for pure electric vehicle driving.

975 kilometers, what does that mean? This is roughly equivalent to the distance from Guangzhou to Wuhan. After 480,000 kilometers, the battery degradation of Tesla is less than 5%! In other words, if you drive 20,000 kilometers per year, it will take 80 years to scrap a Tesla.

Then there is the low price. Just yesterday, Tesla released the cheapest Tesla, starting at $35,000 (about RMB 234,000), known as the standard version of Tesla. As for the price of domestic Tesla, consumers can completely "fantasize". Netizens predict that the most basic version of the domestic Model 3 will probably cost 250,000 to 270,000 yuan. This price, coupled with a real range of 400km, has already affected some high-end electric vehicle products in China, such as Weilai, which can only run more than 200 kilometers but sells for 400,000 yuan. The situation is imminent.

Where are China's new energy vehicle companies heading?

Facing the catfish of Tesla, where should Chinese car companies go? Here are two suggestions.

1. Face up to ourselves and constantly develop new technologies, especially discover new materials, to increase the range of the vehicle with "real money".

Why do we advocate this? Because many netizens have reported that the actual mileage of their plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles is falsely reported, but the merchants replied that this is due to driving habits.

After consulting with relevant experts, they believe that many Chinese independent brand companies may use ambiguous language to convey certain information to consumers during promotion. In fact, the driving range is the same as the fuel consumption we used to talk about. In the past, the advertised fuel consumption of some models was very different from the actual fuel consumption used by consumers. Later, the national competent authorities required companies to report the fuel consumption under comprehensive working conditions, and the situation of false propaganda was curbed.

New energy vehicles are still in their infancy, and some relevant laws and regulations have not yet fully caught up. Relevant departments should formulate a range testing standard in a relatively short period of time, which will enable the market to develop in a healthy way. Domestic electric vehicles need to develop and grow, especially without subsidy preferential policies.

The most important thing is to have a safe and reliable battery management technology and a good electric driving control experience. In the final analysis, it still needs to be "independent". Domestic electric vehicles should take advantage of the huge preferential support of the current policy to step up technology research and development, make good calculations, and be fully prepared to meet the upcoming changes in the electric vehicle market.

2. Find your own positioning and launch new products.

As we all know, Tesla is a high-end brand, and its price in China has bottomed out at around 250,000 yuan. Does this mean that older brands like BYD and GAC New Energy, as well as emerging independent brands like NIO and Xpeng G3, have no way out?

I think, no, no. It's like Apple is made in China, and no one buys the 4,000 or 5,000 yuan phones of Huawei and other domestic brands? Wrong!

Many consumers are now quite dissatisfied with Tesla's repeated price cuts, and Tesla will definitely lose a large number of users. As for domestic independent brands, as long as they launch products properly and have a good grasp of the selling points of their products, the market will not be affected at all, and may even rise instead of fall.

For example, BYD, a leading domestic brand. You should know that BYD's main business is dry batteries. The batteries it manufactures are top-notch in the world and have great advantages in driving range. In addition to having top battery technology, BYD is also very strong in the research and development of new energy technology. Not only that, BYD's signature skills also include dual-mode, 542 technology, bidirectional inverter technology, high-power charging, etc., among which 542 technology and bidirectional inverter technology are more important.

Another example is the Aion S from GAC New Energy, which has a NEDC comprehensive operating range of 510km, a maximum power of 135kW, and a maximum torque of 300N.m. In terms of configuration, the Aion S is equipped with GAC New Energy AI System 2.0, as well as L2 level automatic driving assistance systems such as TJA traffic congestion assistance, ICA integrated cruise assistance, and APA automatic parking assistance. It is also equipped with the world's first solar self-circulating ecological cockpit, which can realize battery charging, ventilation and other functions through solar power generation. All these made in China are breakthroughs.

It is said that 2019 is the worst decade in the next decade, but also the best year in the next decade, with opportunities and challenges coexisting. Nothing in this world is immutable. The wheel of history rolls, and only those who adapt to the changes of the times can stand at the forefront! Believe in Chinese new energy enterprises and believe in Made in China.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.