Taking hot spots and giving away license plates, BAIC New Energy needs Plan B

Recently, two pieces of news that have nothing to do with sales have put BAIC New Energy on the hot search radar.

First, BAIC also warmed up to the car owner who ran three red lights in a row and saved lives.

BAIC New Energy officially stated, “Thumbs up for kindness, thumbs up for justice, thumbs up for heroes in ordinary life, thumbs up for Mr. Ai, and thumbs up for righteous deeds. BAIC New Energy has decided to award Ai Mr. Ai was given the title of honorary car owner and a new car was presented to Mr. Ai."

Secondly, BAIC has been "generous" to Beijing consumers who are deeply troubled by the lottery.

BAIC New Energy officially stated, “If you purchase ARCFOX? , the first year is free, and the fee is 12,000 per year for the next two years. The total for three years is 24,000 yuan, and the annual cost is only 8,000 yuan/year.

Behind these actions may be somewhat related to the current situation of BAIC New Energy.

As early as 2016, BAIC New Energy, which announced that its production and sales would exceed 500,000 yuan by 2020, was "defeated" in this target year.

Recently, BAIC Blue Valley announced that its subsidiary BAIC New Energy sold 1,754 vehicles in November, down 74.9% from 7,005 vehicles in the same period last year. The cumulative sales in the first November were 24,877 vehicles, down 74.9% from 7,005 vehicles in the same period last year. During the same period, there were 114,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 78.18%.

In sharp contrast to the weak performance of BAIC New Energy, the entire new energy vehicle market is making rapid progress.

Feilv Auto's latest data from the China Automobile Association shows that the cumulative sales growth rate of domestic new energy vehicles has turned from negative to positive. In November, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 198,000 and 200,000 respectively, month-on-month. Increases of 17.5 and 24.1, year-on-year increases of 75.1 and 104.9, its monthly production and sales refreshed the historical record for the month for the fifth time. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology predicts that domestic sales of new energy vehicles may reach 1.3 million units this year.

Previously, regarding the plummeting sales volume, BAIC Blue Valley analyzed in this year’s semi-annual report that the new energy vehicle industry faced tremendous pressure in the first half of 2020. First, industry sales fell sharply, and incremental market competition shifted. Competition to enter the existing market;

Second, industry competition is extremely fierce, promoting the reshaping of the competitive landscape of the new energy vehicle industry;

Third, new energy vehicle companies are facing electrification and intelligent technological innovation Facing the dual challenges of upgrading and accelerating product updates and iterations, new energy vehicles are accelerating from "is there any" to "is it good or not" in the high-quality direction.

However, in the second half of the market's continuous improvement, BAIC New Energy still did not break the downward trend.

In addition, a "2020 car company sales target" data sheet circulated on the Internet recently made BAIC New Energy's embarrassing situation "clear at a glance."

The data shows that compared with other self-owned brand car companies of the same level whose full-year target completion rate passed the "passing line", BAIC New Energy only achieved a completion rate of 4.98 for the full-year target in the first 11 months of this year. . Whether in terms of absolute sales volume or completion rate, it has almost fallen out of the market's field of vision.

In fact, the industry has long been aware of the decline in sales of BAIC New Energy: BAIC New Energy, which relied on subsidies and procurement to develop rapidly in the past, now suffers from the disadvantage of having a single product and low competitiveness. It gradually became apparent that it did not have much advantages in terms of shape, design, and battery life, and many quality problems were also exposed.

According to feedback from car owners on a car quality website, BAIC New Energy's current models have problems such as power battery failure, abnormal steering noise, seat failure, cruising range failure, and charging failure. In addition, BAIC New Energy has not escaped the issue of spontaneous combustion. Spontaneous combustion incidents of BAIC New Energy have been reported by the media from time to time.

The dismal sales also caused the company to suffer serious losses.

According to the third quarter financial report, BAIC Blue Valley achieved revenue of 3.922 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year decrease of 78.16%; net profit loss reached 2.884 billion yuan, compared with a loss of 313 million yuan in the same period last year. In the net profit after deducting non-operating profits and losses, BAIC Blue Valley's net loss was as high as 3.109 billion yuan.

This brand, which has ranked first in sales of pure electric vehicles in China for seven consecutive years, was hit the bottom in 2020.

"Will there be any measures and actions to significantly increase sales in the next two months?"

On November 16, in the face of falling sales, during an investor relations interaction On the platform, some investors asked BAIC Blue Valley a question that everyone has?

In response to this, BAIC Blue Valley said: "Currently, the company attaches great importance to product sales. In the next step, the company will deploy all marketing channels and service channels to support ARCFOX?αT sales. On the other hand, we will do a good job in new products Capacity building for private sales channels and after-sales service channels for energy vehicles, gaining market recognition through product quality and service quality assurance capabilities, and promoting the company's sales growth."

It can be seen that ARCFOX?αT is regarded as BAIC's new product. Energy "life-saving straw".

“The core product of the ARCFOX brand is to create a car that is comparable to Tesla in all indicators, and to comprehensively surpass it from the definition of the entire indicator.”

In October this year , the first mass-produced car of the ARCFOX brand under BAIC New Energy was officially launched. ?ARCFOX?αT*** launched three cruising versions*** 5 models, with NEDC cruising ranges of 480km, 600km and 653km, and subsidized after-sales The price range is 241,900-319,900 yuan.

As the first product jointly created by BAIC and Magna, whether it is the maximum cruising range of 653 kilometers, the acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometers in 4.6 seconds, and the ultra-luxury "Friends" led by Magna Circle"...all add a lot of attractions to this car.

For this reason, Liu Yu, general manager of BAIC New Energy, once made a bold statement in an interview: "ARCFOX? Compared with BAIC New Energy's confidence, the market is more concerned about overestimating its capabilities.

As we all know, although Magna has OEMed for BMW 5 Series, Jaguar I-PACE, Mercedes-Benz G-Class and other models, it has its own capabilities and can provide services for the R&D and manufacturing of ARCFOX to a certain extent. The high-end experience and technology make the birth of high-end brand products more secure. But if ARCFOX wants to gain a foothold in the new energy market, the three-power system and intelligence are the core.

“However, according to public information, in terms of battery life and acceleration, ARCFOX is obviously no match for Xpeng P7 and BYD Tang EV; in terms of intelligence, the configuration of the belated ARCFOX is also a new energy The basic threshold of the automobile market has no outstanding highlights. "Some insiders said that in the high-end new energy market where competition is intensifying, it is difficult for ARCFOX to have a chance of winning.

In fact, sales volume is the best test stone in the market.

According to October sales data, ARCFOXαT sold only 336 units. Although it was already a lot to sell more than 300 units in just over a week after it was launched, ARCFOXαT opened in Beijing on September 26. Pre-sales started at the auto show. Obviously, ARCFOXαT has not become a hit.

Facing the ever-slumping market, BAIC New Energy will inevitably have to launch Plan B.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.