Introduction: In 2022, subsidies will be further reduced by 30% compared to this year. By the end of 2022, new energy subsidies will be completely cancelled, and the electric vehicle market must move towards a new model driven entirely by the market, rather than relying on subsidies. The market needs more “AION Y phenomenon” to appear.
From the launch of new energy subsidies in 2015 to its gradual ending in 2020, the reduction in subsidies has also caused a synchronous chain reaction in the new energy vehicle market.
Taking the A-class pure electric vehicle market as an example, due to the abrupt reduction in subsidies in 2020, the market share dropped from 54% in 2019 to 35%, returning to the level of 2018. In the first quarter of this year, A-class pure electric vehicle share further dropped to 20%.
For a time, the new energy vehicle market formed a “U-shaped” situation of “high and low surges, and middle collapse”, which was completely different from the fuel vehicle market. A-class vehicles have become a dead zone, and many industry insiders express helplessness.
At the beginning of the year, I had a deep conversation with a friend and judged that due to the arrival of “second-generation” A-class heavy models such as the Guangqi Aion Y, Euler Cat, Geometry C, and NIO U Pro, the A-class vehicle market that fell into the bottom of the valley would launch a counterattack.
Now, looking again, models such as the Guangqi Aion Y, Euler Cat, and NIO U Pro have indeed performed excellently. Especially the Guangqi Aion Y, which was launched in April, had sales exceeding 5,000 units in August and orders exceeding 10,000 units in October, becoming the “AION Y phenomenon” in the automobile market.
With the strong performance of these A-class cars, the A-class pure electric vehicle share began to rise. As of September, the A-class pure electric vehicle share increased by 4 percentage points to 24% compared to the first quarter.
The turning point has arrived.
Because, if the first generation of A-class pure electric vehicle models relied on subsidies to grab market, then the second generation of A-class pure electric vehicle models will rely on real hard power to break into the market.
From the perspective of the most eye-catching performance of Aion Y, when Aion Y was launched, Guangqi Aion formulated the overall guidelines for benchmarking fuel vehicles, and launched multiple marketing directions such as safety, pain points, youthfulness, and new product points.
For example, in terms of safety, in March of this year, Guangqi Aion launched non-self-igniting magazine batteries, hoping to solve user concerns about the safety of electric vehicles. As of now, Guangqi Aion has not exposed any self-ignition cases, and the magazine batteries have stood the test.
Subsequently, Great Wall also launched the Dalu battery, and Voyah launched the amber battery. Branding battery safety technology has become a common practice in the industry.
To get rid of the influence of subsidies and activate the new energy vehicle market demand, the first priority is to tap into its product potential and target market demand, that is, entering the youth market, exploring new product points, etc., which is not unfamiliar to traditional marketing people.In the AION Y, we see core product features such as the ever-changing appearance of SkyCity, the intelligent entertainment living room (similar to the XPeng P5’s 23-hour space), as well as Guangdong vehicles’ signature modification elements, all meant for the purpose of “play with friends”.
At the Chengdu Auto Show this year, GAC AION released three limited edition modified vehicles: the AION Y Aegean convertible version, the AION Y Cyber Esports version, and the AION LX Glacier Blue four-seat commercial version. As designer XiaoCao, born in the 1990s, said, “GAC AION really knows how to play.”
In exploring the marketing of electric vehicles, Wuling has played a good game, but GAC AION is by no means inferior. And most importantly, they are what people commonly refer to as “traditional forces,” which means that the new energy market has entered a situation where old and new automotive personnel are creating together.
This time, the old and new automotive personnel have stood together on the united front to eliminate fuel-powered vehicles.
At that time, Qiu Liangping, the marketing director of GAC AION, said that the monthly sales target of AION Y was to break through 5,000, which appears to have been achieved, unlocking even greater achievements.
It is reported that AION Y is currently in short supply, with orders for 2021 completely booked up and deliveries scheduled for 2022. In early 2022, the “200,000 units/year production capacity expansion” of GAC AION’s intelligent ecological factory will be completed, greatly improving the current supply and demand imbalance of AION Y.
Furthermore, the success of AION Y has not only led to the activation of the A-level pure electric market but also solved GAC AION’s long-standing problem of being heavily focused on B-side needs and weak on C-side demand.
Starting from April when it was launched, up to September, GAC AION has insured a cumulative total of 15,552 vehicles, including 13,868 2C sales, accounting for 89.17%. Yes, GAC AION has finally opened up its true demand channels for the C-side.
On November 1st, the 2022 AION Y was launched with a total of 7 models, including three different battery versions with ranges of 410km, 500km, and 600km. The official subsidized price range is from 109,600 yuan to 157,600 yuan.
The new AION Y starting price is five thousand more expensive than the old one, which has some relationship with next year’s subsidy reduction. To balance out the price increase, the entire new AION Y lineup is now equipped with IBCM’s unique soundless startup, as well as added features such as car guarding.
Yesterday, GAC AION announced that the number of orders for the new AION Y exceeded 1,000 on the first day of its launch.Guangqi Aion emphasized that AION Y has not only become the sales champion in the subdivision market and achieved the milestone of breaking through 10,000 monthly orders, but also won the first battle against traditional fuel vehicles in the head-to-head competition, creating a classic example for pure electric models to surpass their fuel counterparts.
In 2022, the subsidies will be further reduced by 30% compared to this year. At the end of 2022, new energy subsidies will be completely cancelled. By then, the electric vehicle market must break free from relying on subsidies and move towards a new model driven entirely by the market.
The market needs more “AION Y phenomena”.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.