Bauhinia. com (special correspondent Wang Yichuan) Beijing comprehensive report on June 22nd: At present, the new energy vehicle market is still a scene of "loud thunder and little rain". In the past two years, the state has issued a series of support policies and incentives for the development of new energy vehicles, but the overall market is worse than expected.
According to the data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China in 2015 was 330,000, far below the planned target of 500,000. Faced with the advantage of subsidizing more than 100,000 yuan for a car, why don’t consumers buy it?
"There are certainly factors such as slow construction of charging piles and limited travel radius of car owners, but the most fundamental thing is that consumers have a lot of concerns." An auto industry analyst pointed out that in the current auto industry structure in China, most consumers are still skeptical about domestic auto brands, not to mention new energy vehicles with low battery research and development level, which is the main crux of consumers’ lack of confidence.
Mr. Chen, the owner of Tengshi, who lives in Dongcheng District, Beijing, has been troubled by battery failures many times recently. As a pure electric vehicle positioned in the mid-to-high-end market, Tengshi is jointly produced by BYD and Daimler. The manufacturer BYD Daimler New Technology Company is located in Shenzhen, and it is mainly sold in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities where the number of cars is limited.
"The car price is nearly 400,000 yuan. After deducting the state subsidy of more than 100,000 yuan, we paid 291,000 yuan for the car and bought a distinguished version of Tengshi." Mr. Chen said that it was only nine months since he bought the car, but since April this year, the car has had three battery failures, the most recent of which was in early June. At present, his car is still parked in the 4S shop, waiting for the opinions of dealers and manufacturers.
According to informed sources, Tengshi has been sold in Beijing for more than a year, and many cars have experienced power battery failures. "The heart of the fuel vehicle is the power system, and the heart of the new energy vehicle is the battery system." The source said that although the country spared no effort to support, manufacturers and distributors of new energy vehicles also shouted loudly, but if they did not work hard on the battery system, they would undoubtedly be blinded by the clouds and eventually abandoned by the market.
The "battery king" is badly hurt.
When it comes to BYD, many people will think of its leading position in rechargeable batteries. Especially in the context of the global promotion of green environmental protection and China’s vigorous implementation of the concept of sustainable development, BYD has continued to increase the pace of expansion.
In 2010, BYD "overtook" Daimler Group and joined hands with Nuggets to explore the China new energy vehicle market with unlimited potential. In September, 2014, this "perfect match" marriage came to fruition, Tengshi pure electric vehicle jointly developed by both parties went on sale, and round after round of marketing offensive also rolled in.
However, judging from the situation of Tengshi owner Mr. Chen, the marriage between BYD and Daimler is not as beautiful as it looks. "On September 9, 2015, we bought a Tengshi Premium Edition car at Pangda Xinhong New Energy Automobile Sales Company in Yizhuang, Beijing. At present, it only travels more than 1,700 kilometers, but there have been three serious safety problems of car battery failures in the past two months." Mr. Chen said angrily that Tengshi has repeatedly claimed that "battery power technology is our housekeeping skill", but facts speak louder than words, and Tengshi’s frequent battery failures also make its marketing offensive look pale and powerless.
According to Mr. Chen, on April 7, 2016, I planned to send my children to school by car, but I found that the car parked in the basement could not be started, so I called Tengshi rescue. After the maintenance personnel came to check, it was called a small battery failure, and some treatment was carried out. To his dismay, when he was ready to send the children the next morning, he couldn’t start again, so he called the rescue phone. The rescuer said that "the second rescue will be charged" and suggested that they call the 4S shop after-sales phone; After the 4S shop maintenance personnel came to check, the cause of the failure was not clear. Mr. Chen and his family immediately requested to replace the power battery, but the maintenance personnel said, "We should drive the car back to the 4S shop for testing." One day later, the 4S shop verbally informed Mr. Chen that "the small battery was replaced".
On the morning of June 6, Mr. Chen and his family drove to the 4S shop to film, and at the same time upgraded the system due to navigation problems. When preparing to return, I found that the car could not start again, showing "power system failure". After preliminary inspection by maintenance personnel, it was said that the fuse of the power battery was blown. Mr. Chen waited for several hours in the 4S shop without results, so he had to return home. For more than 10 days, the car has been parked in the huge Xinhong 4S shop, and Mr. Chen is still anxiously waiting for the handling opinions.
"No matter who knows, how important the safety of batteries is for pure electric vehicles." Mr. Chen said that three battery failures occurred in just two months, and he felt very depressed and uneasy. The serious quality problems made them afraid to use the car again, so they repeatedly requested the replacement of the car to Huge Xinhong and BYD Daimler Company.
For more than 10 days, Mr. Chen and his family have had difficult communication with dealers and manufacturers. "We called the service number many times to clearly put forward our reasons and demands, but neither the dealers nor the manufacturers responded to us voluntarily, not to mention any sincere apologies." Mr. Chen said that he was very enthusiastic before buying a car, but he adopted "delaying tactics" when the vehicle went wrong. The practices of dealers and manufacturers will not only make the majority of Tengshi car owners feel chilling, but also discourage other consumers.
Commitment to the market
Recently, several important news in the automobile market have been hotly debated by the majority of car owners:
First, Mitsubishi Motors intends to compensate the 625,000 car owners involved in the "fuel consumption gate" with a compensation amount of $1,000 per person, and the resulting taxes and fees will also be paid by Mitsubishi Motors.
Second, Dongfeng Honda decided to recall 1.03 million vehicles from July 31, 2016, because there are defects in airbags, which may bring safety hazards to passengers;
Third, SAIC-Volkswagen decided to recall nearly 150,000 cars from June 24, 2016, because there is a hidden danger of overheating failure of the car lamp fuse.
Earlier, relevant data showed that in May this year, a total of 12 domestic brands of multiple models issued a recall notice, with a total of more than 2.26 million vehicles, a record high in the same period. Among them, Aston Martin, Maserati, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and other famous cars are involved.
"No car manufacturer dares to make a 100% quality guarantee, and millions of luxury cars are no exception." The insiders believe that under the current situation that people pay more and more attention to automobile safety, some automobile manufacturers dare to face up to product quality problems and take responsible measures, and their market credibility will be further enhanced.
Hearing about these bold measures taken by car companies, Mr. Chen felt that the attitude of Tengshi dealers and manufacturers was unreasonable. In Tengshi Service Manual, the warranty clause clearly stipulates: "During the warranty period and the three-guarantee period, if DENZA‘ Tengshi brand family car products have serious quality problems, you can handle quality assurance matters such as repair, replacement and return according to relevant national regulations."
Previously, the Provisions on the Responsibility for Repairing, Replacing and Returning Household Automobile Products promulgated by the State Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine at the end of December 2012 also clearly pointed out that "in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers of household automobile products and clarify the responsibility for repairing, replacing and returning household automobile products (hereinafter referred to as" three guarantees "), household automobile operators shall not deliberately delay or refuse consumers’ requirements for three guarantees that meet these provisions without justifiable reasons".
The "Regulations" further clearly stipulates that "if serious safety performance failures have been repaired twice, and serious safety performance failures have not been eliminated or new serious safety performance failures have occurred", "if consumers choose to replace or return, the seller shall be responsible for replacing or returning".
"The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued this Regulation a few years ago, mainly for fuel vehicles, and there are no specific provisions for new energy vehicles." A lawyer from the Lawyers Group of China Consumers Association believes that for pure electric vehicles, battery failure is a "serious safety performance failure", and dealers should pay attention to and properly handle Mr. Chen’s appeal.
Experts believe that with the rapid improvement of people’s living standards, China’s automobile industry has developed rapidly, but overall, the current automobile market is still competing in the low-end market. Thousands of joint venture brands and foreign brands have made a fortune in the China market, while a handful of independent brands are still slow.
"The vast majority of consumers are willing to choose foreign automobile brands, mainly because the quality of others is better. They not only dare to make commitments to consumers, but also dare to take responsibility and actively practice their commitments." Relevant experts believe that the domestic automobile industry should strive to keep up with market changes, provide detailed services to consumers and promote the healthy and sustainable development of enterprises.
Only when you are stable can you achieve far-reaching goals.
Judging from the global trend, new energy vehicles are the general trend. In China, the new energy automobile industry has been regarded as one of the strategic emerging industries focused on national development, and favorable stimulus policies such as subsidies for new energy vehicles and charging piles have been introduced frequently, which has injected great impetus into the development of the industry.
According to industry insiders, in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the sales of new energy vehicles have increased in the past two years, while in second-and third-tier cities, there are few. "According to incomplete statistics, three-quarters of the sales of new energy vehicles in 2015 were concentrated in cities where restrictions and purchases were imposed, and some consumers only bought new energy vehicles when they had to." The person said.
Ms. Li, who lives in Xicheng District, Beijing, said that she and her husband both participated in the car lottery in this city, and they failed for three consecutive years. However, children need to pick up and drop off in kindergarten, so the rogue had to take the road of new energy vehicles.
"The government supports new energy vehicles, shakes the number separately, and travels without limit. Just use it as a means of transportation." Ms. Li said that she and her family compared several new energy vehicles. Finally, because the children liked the appearance of Tengshi, they gritted their teeth and bought a fashion version. The price of the car was 369,000 yuan, after deducting 55,000 yuan from the central government subsidy and 55,000 yuan from the local government subsidy, the actual purchase price was 259,000 yuan.
"This price is really a bit high." Ms. Li believes that new energy vehicle manufacturers not only earn a lot of government subsidies without risk, but also sell cars at a high price. "When testing a pure electric vehicle with an original price of 230,000 yuan and a subsidy of about 100,000 yuan, the sales staff also said that this car is worth 40,000 yuan." Ms. Li said that the core of the new energy vehicle is the battery, but the battery is updated quickly, which means that the car also depreciates quickly.
After a period of use, Ms. Li realized the inconvenience of new energy vehicles. The first is charging. Because there is no fixed parking space in the community, it is impossible to install charging piles, while the charging piles in some public parking lots are either occupied or out of order. "When there were dozens of kilometers left, I began to worry about charging. There was really no way, so I ran to the 4S shop to charge."
Judging from the charging time, a car needs to be full, ranging from more than 2 hours to more than 6 or 7 hours. "It’s not like a fuel truck. It takes a few minutes to refuel." Ms. Li believes that for new energy owners, charging is also a kind of time investment, and it can’t be as free and easy as fuel owners.
From the cruising range, most of the mileage advertised by various new energy vehicles have a certain amount of water. "Tengshi’s advertisement says,’ achieve a cruising range of up to 300 kilometers’, but most cars can only drive to 260 kilometers; On the weekend, my friend invited me to visit Gubei Water Town. When I saw that it was 140 kilometers one way, I had to give up. " Ms. Li said that compared with fuel vehicles, the travel radius of new energy owners is greatly limited. "Going to the suburbs to see the flowers and flowers is a luxury."
Since the beginning of this year, the relevant ministries and commissions of the state have carried out investigations on "fraudulent compensation", which has affected the nerves of the entire new energy automobile industry. Since 2009, the Ministry of Finance has made a decision to give subsidies to the new energy automobile industry, and give corresponding subsidies according to the cruising range. In 2015, the state and local subsidies for new energy vehicles exceeded 30 billion yuan, but several billion yuan of them were tricked into the bag by enterprises.
Relevant experts believe that the "cheat to make up the door" in the new energy automobile industry is mainly to make a fuss about batteries, which can be described as a variety of tricks, but the investment in battery research and development is not enough. In this regard, Liu Xinwen, general manager of Chery New Energy Vehicle Technology Co., Ltd. also admitted that "battery technology has become the biggest shortcoming of new energy vehicles in China."
The "vote with your feet" market is the best tester. For Tengshi, which is known as "having German car-making technology and advanced battery power technology", it is also "not looking at advertisements, but looking at the curative effect". Data show that from January to April 2016, the national sales volume of electric vehicles was 38,472 units, the sales volume of Beiqi E-series electric vehicles was 792 units, and Tengshi sold 667 units.
"Occupy the weather, location, people and advantages, but the sales volume is so bleak, which will become the biggest crisis of Tengshi." Song Nan, a senior commentator in the automotive industry, believes that once the Tesla 3 with a price of 350,000 yuan is successfully localized and Toyota, GM and Peugeot Citroen quickly catch up, it will bring a fatal blow to Tengshi.
"The tide receded and I didn’t know who was swimming naked. In the next 10 years, if the state cancels the preferential policies for new energy subsidies, how should China new energy vehicles face market competition? " Zhu Jun, deputy director of SAIC Passenger Car Technology Center, pointed out that the core technology is a difficult and breakthrough point in the development of new energy vehicles, and efforts must be made on core technologies such as batteries to promote the healthy development of the new energy vehicle industry.