【Text by Observers Network, Pan Yuchen, Editor by Gao Xin】According to a report from the "Nikkei" on October 9, due to weak demand for electric vehicles in global markets, multinational car giants such as Nissan, Tesla, Hyundai, Ford, and General Motors have chosen to significantly reduce prices to stimulate consumption. Industry insiders believe that with the intensification of global competition, the prices of electric vehicles will continue to decline in the future.

Longer range, lower prices

On October 9, Nissan announced that it will launch the third-generation Leaf on October 17 and plans to start deliveries in the United States and Japan at the end of this year and in January next year. The starting price of the model in Japan is about 5.2 million yen (approximately RMB 243,000). With government subsidies, the final price will be around 4.3 million yen (approximately RMB 200,000). In addition, Nissan plans to launch a version with lower battery capacity and price in February next year, with a price of about 3.5 million yen (approximately RMB 163,000).

The first generation of Nissan Leaf was launched in 2010 and was the world's first mass-market electric vehicle, with a cumulative global sales of more than 700,000 units so far. However, Nissan's Chief Marketing Manager Shigeyoshi said that the first two generations of Leaf have always been considered to have short driving ranges and require frequent charging, so Nissan must work hard to change customers' fixed impressions.

Nissan third-generation Leaf Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Nissan's senior manager for marketing and sales in Japan, Akira Suyama, said that the third-generation Leaf not only has a lower price, but also has a range of 700 km, an increase of 250 km over the previous model. It can charge from 10% to 80% in 35 minutes, and has improved driving performance, comfort, and efficiency.

As a comparison, the price of the Hyundai IONIQ 5 Voyage in the same class is 5.236 million yen (approximately RMB 248,000), with a range of 703 km; the price of BYD Seal is 5.28 million yen (approximately RMB 246,000), with a range of 640 km; the price of the Tesla Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive is 6.219 million yen (approximately RMB 291,000), with a range of 766 km.

However, electric vehicles are still far from being the mainstream in the Japanese market. According to data from the automotive research company MarkLines, in August, electric vehicles accounted for only 1.9% of total car sales in Japan, while Norway was 81.5%, China was 54.9%; in other parts of Asia, Thailand had an electric vehicle share of 23.1%, South Korea 18.3%, both much higher than the Japanese market.

But according to Nissan and its competitors, there is still a lot of growth potential in the Japanese electric vehicle market. For example, BYD and Hyundai are accelerating their promotional activities in the Japanese market: Hyundai will provide discounts of up to 1.58 million yen (approximately RMB 73,700) before the end of this year, reducing the price of the Hyundai IONIQ 5 to about 3 million yen (approximately RMB 140,000); BYD offered discounts of up to 1.17 million yen (approximately RMB 54,600) in September and plans to launch a K-Car in Japan next year, which accounts for more than 30% of car sales in Japan.

Hyundai IONIQ 5 Visual China

30,000 dollars is the threshold

Interestingly, Tesla also recently announced the launch of a new model in the United States. The starting price of the new Model Y is 39,990 dollars (approximately RMB 285,000), which is 5,000 dollars (approximately RMB 35,000) lower than the current lowest-priced version. Notably, this move comes after the Trump administration in the United States canceled a 7,500-dollar (approximately RMB 53,400) electric vehicle tax credit at the end of September, which effectively caused the terminal price of models like the Model Y to rise by about 20%.

Tesla urgently launched cheaper models to avoid losing customers. Despite this, Tesla's stock fell by 4% on the 7th, and many investors believe that its latest move is difficult to offset the decline in market share. In 2020, Tesla's market share in the U.S. electric vehicle market once exceeded 80%, but now it is below 50%. Its CEO Elon Musk has been discussing the launch of a model priced below 30,000 dollars (approximately RMB 214,000).

Tesla Model Y Visual China

Additionally, Hyundai will also reduce the price of its electric vehicles sold in the United States by 20%. Its CEO Jose Munoz stated that Hyundai hopes to launch more price-competitive electric vehicles in Europe, India, and China. Meanwhile, General Motors and Ford in the United States have been lowering the prices of electric vehicles and plan to launch models below 30,000 dollars each.

The "Nikkei" reported that due to the greater competitive pressure brought by Chinese automakers led by BYD, as well as the global expansion of Chinese battery manufacturers such as CATL, in the long run, the prices of electric vehicles globally will continue to decline. Shigetaro Fukao, an executive researcher at Itochu Research Institute, believes that the electric vehicle market will move from the first stage dominated by early models such as Tesla to the second stage dominated by economical models.

According to Goldman Sachs, although electric vehicles will account for only 15% of global car sales this year, the growth of electric vehicle sales will begin to accelerate around 2030; by 2040, this number will reach 52%. In the European market, with the end of government subsidies, electric vehicle sales have temporarily stalled, but leading companies such as Volkswagen have recently been launching compact models to re-launch their efforts.

Moreover, except for a few automakers such as Tesla, BYD, Li Auto, and Seres, other companies are experiencing losses in their electric vehicle businesses. The termination of subsidies by governments around the world will further hit the profitability of these companies, thus making the industry more polarized and leading to industry restructuring.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559752286025597480/

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