It has been five days since the launch of Ideal MEGA, and the poor order status is in stark contrast to the expectation of "Ideal Automobile's next explosive product".
The market performance of the first pure electric product has affected the sensitive capital market, and the ideal stock price has plummeted significantly. On the evening of the listing press conference on March 1st, the US stock market of Ideal Automobile closed down 5.10%, and on March 4th, the Hong Kong stock price of Ideal Automobile plummeted by 10.71%, evaporating its market value by $7.798 billion.
Although the official order data for MEGA after its listing has not been released, information from multiple third-party market channels shows that MEGA's order volume is lower than previously expected by the market.
Ideal officials have high expectations for the market performance of MEGA, with the goal of becoming the top seller of over 500000 yuan, regardless of category or energy form. It is expected that monthly sales can reach 8000 vehicles. Third party data shows that Ideal MEGA's nationwide bulk orders range from 3000 to 4000 vehicles, with a cancellation rate of 10% to 15%.
Sun Shaojun, the founder of Car FANS, publicly stated that 72 hours after the launch of Ideal MEGA, the average large order per store is between 8 to 9, with 60 to 70% of incoming orders. Sun Shaojun believes that the proportion of MEGA customers entering the store is rapidly increasing, with the majority being curiosity seeking users, while car ordering users are also gradually entering the store. In addition, price exceeding expectations has become a factor affecting customer observation.
Li Yanwei, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, told Interface News that MEGA has just been launched, and market performance still depends on later delivery data. If MEGA sales fall short of expectations, it may be related to product positioning.
On the one hand, MEGA is priced relatively high and operates in a relatively niche MPV market. Data shows that in 2023, the sales of models priced above 500000 yuan were 410000 units, with sales of medium and large MPVs being less than 60000 units; On the other hand, MEGA is positioned for multi child family users, which deviates from the existing MPV business users.
An industry expert told Interface News that the ideal choice is to cut off the MEGA extended range version, which carries certain risks. In terms of the current development status of the Chinese automotive market, the hybrid market is developing well, and there are still issues such as battery range that have not been overcome in the pure electric market.
In the new energy MPV market, hybrid still holds the mainstream share. Taking the well performing market model Tengshi D9 as an example, its pure electric version sold only 330 units in January this year, which is less than 4% of the sales of the hybrid version.
As the first pure electric model, the subsequent sales performance of MEGA will also have a significant impact on the ideal pure electric route. At present, consumers are in a wait-and-see state regarding this model with advanced exterior design and high price.