Luxury car "price cut tide" swept through the Shenzhen auto market

Last year, the overall Chinese auto market slowed, but the luxury car market is still one of the best, promoting China to become the world's second largest luxury car consumer market. This year's Chinese auto market has been in a sluggish year. Although the luxury car market is still a bright spot, the recent “price cut” has seemed to indicate a turning point in the “bigger” situation in the luxury car market. In the face of falling prices, luxury car dealers also collectively began to face varying degrees of anxiety.

The status quo: The luxury car market surges in price cuts "We expect this year's luxury car market may have some price changes, but did not expect to come so fast." The head of a luxury car dealership market in Luohu told reporters.

According to the person in charge of the market, after the start of this year, the price of the luxury car market has appeared some loose, but the price reduction models are mainly concentrated in the high-end models of luxury brands. After the sudden "draining" of the Mercedes-Benz terminal network at the end of February, the price of the luxury car market can be described as "a thousand miles per day." The prices of some luxury brand models have changed from January to January and even the price of the next day. Not the same.

"The Mercedes-Benz has hundreds of thousands of models, and cuts the price by one or two hundred thousand. Which brand do you think you can live in?" The person in charge complained to reporters: "The price of Shenzhen's peripheral market has fallen even worse, and the diverted customers have not less."

After the Lantern Festival in 2012, a Mercedes-Benz-dominated luxury car price surge suddenly swept through Pengcheng, from the A-class to the S-class vehicle prices, "collective diving." Mercedes-Benz's Shenzhen car dealers played a "20% discount for A-class cars and a 8.5-percent discount for B-class cars..." for the entire series of promotional advertisements. Although the price reduction of more than 200,000 yuan only appeared on some high-level models, from the perspective of the sales promotion plan, the cash discount rate for Mercedes-Benz's main sales models was not small, and the discount rate for E-class vehicles was all above 100,000.

The price of Mercedes-Benz immediately touched the nerves of the entire luxury car market. BMW, Audi and others followed suit. This "discount wind" began to sweep Pengcheng under Mercedes-Benz's price cuts. As the most direct response, an Audi dealer in Shenzhen hit a special discount of “20% discount for the whole car model”. The discount rates of the main models such as the A1, A4L and the old model A6L are not small, and there are dealers to the old models. A 6L gives a discount price of 90,000 yuan.

BMW and Lexus, which have always been stable in terms of price, have not been able to “spectate”. BMW dealers have also recently launched “80% discount for BMW 7 series” promotional advertisements, and even entry-level 3 series, the discount rate should not be underestimated. Lexus's flagship model ES series also had to adjust the price to follow up. The ultimate discount rate of the package price of the E S240 flagship has exceeded the historical 60,000 yuan, which is not worth the gift of over a million worth of navigation, car film and other gifts.

Under the “price offensive” of the main luxury brands, the prices of some other luxury car brands such as Volvo, Land Rover, Infiniti, and Acura have also been lowered. Almost all luxury brands’ major models are involved in this “price cut”. The high price of luxury cars has become the biggest bright spot in the boring auto market in recent days, triggering many speculations about the direction of this rampant and aggressive market segment.

Reasons: Multiple factors may have prompted the luxury car market to turn to the inflection point Although the luxury car brand price reduction has always been the “leadership big brother” in the auto market price war, similar large-scale price cuts such as the first two months of this year are rare. The dealers who are in the center of price reduction vortex have a strong feeling about this. Some dealers believe that the sudden price drop this time is not accidental but a result of multiple factors, and the luxury car market is also facing a pattern. Adjustments.

Compared with last year's market conditions, most dealers believe that this year's luxury car market did not anticipate such a boom. Some dealers believe this is affected by the overall consumption environment. "After the opening year, sales and orders were noticeably declining. This is similar to other low-end brands," a BMW dealer told reporters.

The market downturn directly affects the luxury car market experts have said that the current auto market boom, especially the luxury car market, one reason is that consumers in other areas after the investment profits, the shift to luxury car consumption as the representative In durable goods and luxury goods consumption, part of the stock and real estate capital flows this year are not optimistic, and the external environment has affected the consumption of high-end goods.

In addition, at the beginning of 2012, the slowdown in economic growth ultimately affected the auto market, and luxury cars were the first to bear the brunt. Most of the luxury car consumption in China comes from industry players such as coal mines, real estate and transportation. Due to the impact of the escalation of the European debt crisis, real estate control policies and other factors, their car purchase plan has naturally been affected. Therefore, most of the industry experts are cautious about this year's auto market and believe that the growth rate of luxury auto market will not exceed 15%.

The most direct result of the decline in sales is the increase in terminal inventory. Southern Reporters learned from the market that some of the leading luxury brands have been in stock for more than 2 months, which is very rare in the past two years. High inventory brings in high capital demand. In the current economic environment where financing is not easy, dealer pressure is evident. In particular, luxury car brands have relatively high prices, and large stocks require more money. Therefore, there are dealers believe that the inventory pressure eventually contributed to a substantial price reduction of some luxury car brand models.

Rapid Expansion Brings Pressure The performance of China's auto market and other overseas markets is quite different, and luxury brands all over the world have turned their sights to this hot spot in China. In recent years, these luxury brands have increasingly invested in the Chinese market, in a limited market. In space, competition has become more intense.

Judging from past public information, the luxury car company's layout for 2012 has already begun. BMW entered 23 new cities in 2011 with more than 60 new dealers; Audi headquarters invested 400 million euros in the construction of China’s dealer network; Mercedes has increased its investment in China and plans to increase its presence in the Chinese market this year. Increase 40 dealers.

In the Shenzhen market, a number of luxury brand new 4S stores are already under construction. It is reported that Shenzhen will add 2 BMW 4S stores, a Mercedes-Benz 4S store and a Lexus 4S store this year. According to luxury car brand dealers, manufacturers in recent years have greatly increased the dealer's mission objectives. Not only that, these luxury brand manufacturers also have high-profile launch their own plans for the Chinese market this year. Some dealers said that due to the impact of European debt, sales of some European auto companies are not optimistic, so the resources have also increased the investment in the Chinese market. One of the more obvious features is that the hot-selling models that used to wait in line for a long time or increase their prices have now greatly reduced their waiting time and even have their current car supply.

Some dealers believe that the pressure of expansion directly led to Mercedes's sudden price cuts. According to reports, the sales target set by Audi in China in 2012 was to impact 420,000 peaks and continue to pursue a 40% market share in its luxury car market; BMW hopes to maintain its leading position in the world and increase its production in China. Step up to narrow the gap with Audi. At present, Mercedes-Benz's global sales ranking has dropped to third place. This way, Mercedes-Benz's sense of urgency is self-evident.

Luxury car prices to seize market share In the case of a number of luxury brand upgrade targets, together to compete for the original market segments can only make the competition more intense, these luxury car brand manufacturers also know this point, so expand the market's capacity It has become an inevitable choice for many luxury cars and car companies. Currently, the space for the uplift of the luxury car brand models is already small; while the downward extension, it may bring about a broad market.

Senior high-grade cars have always been the main force for upgrading car purchases. With the increase in consumer spending power and the further decline in prices of luxury cars, high-end cars have reduced their prices, forming a significant impact on the mid-end car market of around 200,000 yuan. Industry sources said that this will undoubtedly further squeeze the living space of the mid-range car.

The reporter learned from the market that many luxury car brands have come close to the price of mid-size cars. The current BMW 3 Series, Audi A 4L, and Mercedes-Benz C-class entry models are highly promotional in Shenzhen. The market price is the lowest to 250,000. Near Yuan, this is already the mainstream consumer price of high-grade cars. For example, after the implementation of the preferential policies, the BMW 3 Series has already fallen to around 260,000 yuan, which is only slightly higher than the price of the Accord's highest configuration model.

“As long as customers add tens of thousands of pieces, they can upgrade the brand to a higher level.” The head of the dealership of GAC Toyota told reporters: “If luxury brands continue to decline, the pressure on mid- to high-class cars will be very high this year. Big."

At present, all major luxury brands have increased the price adjustment of entry-level models, BMW 1 Series and 3 Series have a greater degree of concessions, although the 3 Series discount factors have new models, but in fact the 3 Series in Shenzhen The price has been below 300,000. The prices of the Audi A 4L and the Mercedes-Benz B 200 have also gone down to the 24-270,000 range, which is not a small temptation for consumers who upgrade their cars.

â–  Comment on the responsibility of the owner of the luxury car Bentley made a release event in Sanya. The entrance to the lobby of the event hotel was parked with two rows of red Ferraris. The two Bentley display cars on the scene were obviously a bit untenable. The ocean appears to be alone.

Outsiders also thought that Ferrari would also like to engage in any activities here. Carefully inquire that there were originally rich people who came to this wedding banquet, many 20-year-olds later drove Ferrari to watch the ceremony, so they created this red wonder.

Liu Shuwei, director of Bentley’s marketing operations, expressed complex expressions to reporters at the reception. On the one hand, she expressed her happiness for the increase of China’s wealthy class. This is a great opportunity for Bentley to flex its muscles. She is a little worried that some people are over-exiting and enriching society. Contradictions, in the long run, are not conducive to the growth of luxury car brands.

When Mercedes-Benz BMW first entered China, it had faced such problems. Some traffic accidents caused by uncivilized driving and other reasons eventually spread into social hatreds, and they were condemned by the whole society for the owners of these luxury cars and denounced them as inseparable. .

In recent years, luxury brands such as BMW have paid great attention to brand building, actively planned public cultural activities, and conducted training in driving technology throughout the country, thus eliminating the chance of traffic stories from occurring.

Liu Shuwei said that fortunately Bentley's brand is very low-key, and in China, such a low-key wealthy class is growing, last year, Bentley sales in China reached 7003, ranking second in the world, this rapid development also shows this. These low-profile people are more willing to regard the car as a way of life, not the explicit symbol of the rich.

It seems like a movie has said that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. In the era of moral deficiencies, we must also set a variety of examples and use them to influence a group. Those who drive luxury cars and live in luxury are more responsible for educating consumers. How to be a civilized, tasteful, cultured, and supportive person has of course a precondition that these people must first become such people.