"Wei Xiaoli," as a representative of China's new car-making forces, is now attracting market attention in every move.。In the early days of entrepreneurship, the three companies were in a similar situation, and their respective founders felt a sense of sympathy and were also good friends in private.。But now with the influence of the three car companies gradually grow, the market competition is increasingly fierce, the former "friends" seems to be fast "turn into a feud."。

   

Ideal and Xiaopeng "mutual"？

    

On July 11, the official public number of Ideal Cars published an article on weekly sales。It was mentioned in the week just past (7.3-7.9), the weekly sales of ideal cars reach 0.790,000 vehicles, continue to lead the new forces。At the same time, Ideal Auto claims to be among the top four luxury brand sales in the Chinese market, the highest-ranking Chinese brand on the list, surpassing other luxury brands outside of BBA。

In addition to announcing its own sales, Ideal Cars made the sales and rankings of the other nine car companies "public" in one breath.。From this week's "report card," we can see that the second place in weekly sales is Weilai, which is 0.310,000 vehicles。The third place is the joint venture brand of BYD and Mercedes-Benz, with 0.250,000 vehicles。And Xiaopeng is ranked eighth, weekly sales of only 0.120,000 vehicles。

This week's sales release immediately drew questions from a number of Xiaopeng Auto executives.。

Huang Honglin, general manager of Xiaopeng Automotive Product Marketing, posted a picture of the ideal weekly sales volume in his circle of friends and wrote: "Please pay attention to the official information, the roadside club is really not very reliable.。"He also commented under this circle of friends:" The above information about Xiaopeng is false, good food is not afraid of late, thank you for your attention! We don't need to bravado to show our muscles, the car is a long-term win, opportunism dead industry, we still do a good job of products, quality and supply, the high-quality products to the hands of users.。"

Another Xiaopeng executive, Liu Yilin, senior director of autonomous driving products, also commented on the incident on Weibo:。In response to questions from netizens, he said that we do not need to publish sales every day and every week to hype, please pay attention to the monthly official data, which is the most authoritative.。

In response to Xiaopeng executives questioning the data, the head of Ideal Auto said: "The acquisition of data is legal and compliant.。The data we release to the public comes from data channels commonly used in the automotive industry.。Based on our contractual agreement with the data provider, it is not convenient to disclose, but our company has previously explained the source of the data to the relevant authorities.。"

At present, most domestic car companies publish delivery data in monthly units.。At the beginning of each month, the old and new car makers basically release last month's delivery data。But since April this year, Ideal has repeatedly released weekly sales figures.。Although the ideal car has a special note: the weekly sales volume is different from the delivery volume data released on the 1st of each month.。But for the average consumer, the statistical caliber is not too important。

Ideal "show off" weekly report card, in the eyes of other car companies, it is a bit "break the convention" means, and this "weekly report card" for good sales of car companies, such as ideal, is the "icing on the cake."。And for car companies that don't sell very well, such as Xiaopeng, it's "stressful."。This may be the reason why Xiaopeng's executives responded urgently this time.。

   

"Wei Xiaoli" began to widen the gap

   

Behind this "war of words" is the new car-building force "Wei Xiaoli" this year's sales have begun to open the gap.。

Deliveries of Ideal cars hit 13 in the first half of the year.90,000, a figure that has surpassed last year's full year, and for the first time in June, monthly deliveries exceeded 30,000.。On the NIO side, 10,707 cars were delivered in June and returned to the "10,000 Car Club," which is not as bright as it should be, but the situation has begun to improve.。Moreover, Weilai also received a strategic investment in the UAE in June.。In contrast, Xiaopeng's performance is not satisfactory。A total of 41,435 new vehicles were delivered in the first half of the year, with an average monthly delivery of only about 7,000 vehicles.。Although Xiaopeng's sales achieved five consecutive increases in the first half of the year, it still did not break through the "10,000" mark until June.。

At the end of June, when asked by the media how to view the gap between "Wei Xiaoli," Xiaopeng Automobile founder and chairman He Xiaopeng said: "The three of us (He Xiaopeng, Li Bin, Li Xiang) are still in a group, maybe I and Li Bin students will talk a little more, this year (sales) good does not mean that next year will be good, this year's poor does not mean that next。"

On June 29, Xiaopeng's super smart sedan SUV - G6 was officially launched。New car launched a total of 5 versions, the price range of 20.990,000 yuan - 27.690,000 yuan, which is about 20% lower than Tesla's Model Y。As of June 28, G6 pre-sale orders have exceeded 3.50,000 units, the current Max version of the model to buy more than 70%。

G6 supply, He Xiaopeng said, in order to protect the supply, Xiaopeng car two months in advance to do a buffer, early July can start delivery, is expected in the third quarter of this year Xiaopeng G6 monthly delivery climbing speed to far exceed Xiaopeng G9 and Xiaopeng P7i。It seems that before the "delivery time is too long" to eat the loss, Xiaopeng does not want to eat again.。

At a time when Xiaopeng's sales have been "not going up," the newly launched G6 is widely regarded by the outside world as an important step in Xiaopeng's "turnaround," bearing the burden of reviving sales.。But He Xiaopeng does not agree with this view。He thinks cars are a long-term business, and the idea that a company depends on just one car is wrong.。"Xiaopeng will have a lot of new cars in 2024 and 2025, it's a system of ability to see who has the last laugh.。"

  

The dispute between hybrid and pure electricity

   

Among the three "Wei Xiaoli," Xiaopeng and Weilai are both pure electric vehicles, but Ideal does not have its own pure electric models. At present, the models sold by the company are equipped with extended-range hybrid power systems.。The extended-range hybrid is a kind of plug-in hybrid. It adds an engine (range extender), fuel tank, etc. to the pure tram. However, the range extender generally does not directly participate in the drive. Its main function is to supply power to the battery and motor.。Compared with plug-in hybrid models, the driving experience of extended-range cars is closer to that of pure trams。

According to data from the China Automobile Association, in June, China's new energy vehicle sales 80.60,000 units, up 35.2%, the market share reached 30.7%。Among them, the production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles hit a record high for the first time。Sales volume increased 93% year-on-year, compared with 20% year-on-year growth in pure electric.5%。In the first half of 2023, China's cumulative sales of new energy vehicles were 374.70,000 vehicles, of which the cumulative sales of pure electric 271.90,000 vehicles, up 31.9%。Plug-in Hybrid Cumulative Sales 102.50,000 units, up 91.1%, accounting for about 27% of the new energy vehicle market。Sales growth of plug-in hybrid vehicles is more than three times that of pure electric vehicles。

In this plug-in hybrid growth rate is much greater than the background of pure electricity, the ideal sales performance than Weilai and Xiaopeng "beautiful" is also reasonable.。

Before pure trams solved the problem of battery life, hybrid cars were always considered a transitional product of tankers and trams。But in the past year, the market share of hybrid vehicles has been on the rise。The reason behind this, on the one hand, is that some consumers are afraid of "moving too fast" when they abandon gas trucks and turn to trams, and will consider hybrid cars as an "insurance" option.。On the other hand, both hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles are within the scope of national new energy subsidies, and they can also have "green license plates" (new energy license plates)。In big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, "blue license plates" usually require lottery or bidding, while "green license plates" are easier to obtain.。

Coupled with the advancement of technology, the cost competitiveness of plug-in hybrids at this stage can be comparable to that of fuel vehicles.。Previously, the cost and price of plug-in hybrid models were 60,000 to 70,000 yuan more expensive than equivalent fuel models.。

Some experts believe that the advantages of mixing will continue for some time。At this stage, plug-in hybrid vehicles are mainly eroding the market share of fuel vehicles, but as the market share of fuel vehicles gradually declines, pure electric vehicles may be more and more affected。

In early April this year, at the China Electric Vehicle Hundreds Forum (2023), Ouyang Minggao, a professor at Tsinghua University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that within 5-10 years, plug-in hybrid and extended-range electric vehicles will be in the entire new energy The proportion of vehicles will increase, from 22% last year to 30% to 40% is possible。

However, Ouyang Minggao believes that in the medium and long term, there is a lot of room for battery business model innovation and technological innovation, the comprehensive cost of battery acquisition and use will continue to decline, and the advantages of pure electric will become more and more obvious.。

Perhaps considering that the "victory" of the hybrid cannot last forever, at the Shanghai Auto Show held in mid-to-late April, Ideal officially released its pure electric solution。In terms of product planning, by 2025, Ideal Auto will form a product layout of "1 super flagship + 5 extended-range electric models + 5 high-voltage pure electric models," and will be oriented to a market of more than 200,000 yuan.。

For Weilai and Xiaopeng, which only do pure electric car companies, may continue to "boil" for some time to come.。

However, He Xiaopeng is still confident in the road he has chosen. He believes that by 2027 or 2030, the sales of gasoline vehicles will be very low, and the hybrid will be very low.。"What the outcome is, the market will give the final answer.。"