"Adding all the current discounts, the maximum discount can be 50000 yuan, which is greater than before," a staff member of Hongmeng Zhixing told reporters during the May Day holiday.
Before and after the May Day holiday, car companies focused on this rare sales window and successively offered unprecedented preferential policies to the market. Coupled with the implementation of the old for new subsidy policy, the entire car market was ignited during the May Day period.
Hongmeng Zhixing delivered a total of over 8600 vehicles from May 1st to 4th, and the latest L6 model order from Ideal Automobile also exceeded 30000 vehicles during the May Day holiday.
The industry expects that as various car companies increase their promotional efforts, the penetration rate of new energy is expected to continue to increase significantly. Correspondingly, car sales in May are also expected to reach a new high.
Hongmeng Zhixing and Ideal "sell well"
This May Day holiday is the first long holiday since the Lunar New Year, so various car companies have high expectations for the sales of this holiday.
According to observations by reporters, during the May Day holiday, car stores were overcrowded in multiple large shopping centers in Futian and Nanshan, Shenzhen, with a constant stream of consumers entering to experience the experience.
"At present, the Shenzhen region enjoys a special subsidy of 10000 yuan for Hongmeng Zhixing." On May 4th, the above-mentioned Hongmeng Zhixing staff told reporters, "This subsidy can also be combined with other government subsidies. After obtaining the license plate and driving license, you can submit documents to apply for the subsidy."
According to the source, the current Shenzhen Hongmeng Zhixing model can add up to a discount of up to 50000 yuan, "which has never been offered before."
Under this unprecedented promotional efforts, Hongmeng Zhixing handed over its impressive performance report before the May Day holiday ended. On the evening of May 4th, Hongmeng Zhixing officially announced that from May 1st to 4th, the total number of models in the brand's entire lineup will exceed 8600.
According to previously released data, on May 1st, the total number of Hongmeng Zhixing vehicles exceeded 2700, including 952 Wenjie New M5 models and 865 Wenjie M7 models; Subsequently, Hongmeng Zhixing announced that it had surpassed 4700 vehicles in the first two days of May; On May 3rd, its bulk order quantity exceeded 6600 vehicles.
At this speed, Hongmeng Zhixing is expected to achieve a complete lineup of vehicle models exceeding 10000 during the May Day holiday.
Under the support of various subsidies, Ideal Automobile, which started a large-scale price reduction in April, also experienced a surge in orders.
According to the latest data released by Ideal Automobile, as of May 4th, the cumulative orders for its newly launched Ideal L6 model have exceeded 30000 units.
This model is also seen by Ideal Automobile as an important "chess piece" to "reverse its decline.". According to the ideal staff, after combining a series of subsidy policies, the low-end PRO version of this model has landed for less than 250000 yuan.
It is worth noting that on April 30th, the cumulative order volume of the L6 model announced by Ideal Automobile just exceeded 20000 units. In other words, during the May Day holiday, the single model of Ideal Automobile received orders of up to 10000 units.
Car companies are intensively promoting promotional policies
Based on the "long holiday effect" of the May Day holiday, many car companies have coincidentally targeted this rare promotional opportunity, and some car companies have already announced preferential policies to the public.
On April 28th, Changan Automobile officially announced that it will launch an exclusive "old for new" discount, with a comprehensive subsidy of up to 57000 yuan. Brands participating in the discount policy include Changan Qiyuan, Avita, Shenlan Automobile, Changan Automobile, etc.
And Guangzhou Automobile Group's subsidiary car companies have also taken action quickly, launching exclusive discount activities, covering various models such as sedans, SUVs, and MPVs. GAC Trumpchi offers a comprehensive discount of up to 40000 yuan, with GAC Aion and Haobo offering an additional subsidy of 4000 to 10000 yuan for trade ins, and GAC Honda offering an additional subsidy of 8000 to 11000 yuan for trade ins.
NIO also announced on May 1st that it will launch a "zero down payment" car purchase plan in May, with a maximum exclusive subsidy of 20000 yuan for "old for new" purchases.
It is worth noting that on May 3rd, BYD, the leader of new energy vehicles, also released a big move, introducing preferential car purchase policies for various models under its subsidiary, Dynasty Net. The subsidy for bicycle replacement is up to 18000 yuan, including a national subsidy of up to 10000 yuan and a BYD subsidy of up to 8000 yuan.
In addition, the BYD dynasty has also simultaneously introduced corresponding financial policies: a minimum of 0 down payment, with any loan period of 12-60; Starting from 40% down payment, 24 installments with zero interest; 50% down payment and 50% final payment, with 0 interest for 1 year and 0 monthly payment. Users can choose from three financial options: 0 down payment, 0 interest, and 0 monthly payment.
In fact, this is BYD's second price reduction for the Dynasty series this year. After the start of the Spring Festival holiday in February this year, BYD was the first to launch the Qin Plus Honor Edition for 79800 yuan. Subsequently, multiple models such as the Song, Tang, Han, Destroyer 05, Dolphin, and Seagull all launched the Honor Edition, which also sparked a price war in the new energy vehicle market.
Trade in policy becomes a key factor
The sales policies of the above-mentioned car companies during the May Day holiday are based on the "Implementation Rules for Subsidies for Automobile Trade ins" jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance and seven other ministries on April 26.
According to the regulations, as of December 31, 2024, a subsidy of 10000 yuan will be given to individual consumers for scrapping National III and below emission standard fuel passenger cars or purchasing new energy passenger cars registered before April 30, 2018, and a subsidy of 7000 yuan for scrapping National III and below emission standard fuel passenger cars and purchasing 2.0-liter and below displacement fuel passenger cars.
In fact, in early April, the recovery momentum of the car market was not sufficient, and various car companies adopted price reduction strategies to cope. However, the conversion of transactions brought about by the price decline had little effect, and the market atmosphere was quite wait-and-see.
However, in the industry's view, with the official introduction of subsidy details at the end of April and a timeline given, and the implementation of this policy by various regions and car companies, the market's wait-and-see sentiment is expected to gradually dissipate.
Dongfang Securities pointed out that with the official introduction of subsidy regulations, it is expected that the demand for holding coins for purchase due to wait-and-see policies in the early stage will gradually be released, and the demand in the passenger car market is expected to gradually recover in the future. The demand for mid to low-end passenger cars is expected to be the first to recover.
As mentioned by the aforementioned institutions, the requirement for scrapping new energy vehicles this time is for new energy passenger vehicles registered before April 30, 2018, while the new energy vehicle models launched in the market at that time were mainly concentrated in the range of 50000 to 150000 yuan.
According to the estimated 5-8 year lifespan of the power battery at that time, this batch of vehicle models is nearing replacement or scrapping.
Therefore, the market expects that the sales elasticity in the next 50000 to 150000 yuan range will be the highest, and car companies with a large market share in this range are expected to achieve a significant increase in sales.
It is worth mentioning that after entering May, the car market will enter a period of intensive release of new products, and consumer attention will gradually increase. The industry generally expects that the car market in May is expected to further warm up.