On the evening of March 23, Wuling Motors released a statement on the price adjustment of new energy vehicles on its official Weibo, proposing to adjust the official guide price of its Wuling Hongguang MINIEV series, Wuling NanoEV and Baojun KiWiEV. 4000 yuan -8000 yuan. This round of price increases will take effect from 0:00 on March 24.

　　Subsequently, Wuling officially released the latest prices of various models after the price adjustment. Among them, the Hongguang MINIEV macaron version is priced at 43,800 yuan and 49,800 yuan for the fashion model and 49,800 yuan respectively, and the classic models are priced at 32,800 yuan, 38,800 yuan and 4.48 yuan respectively million. The prices of NanoEV Play Model, Play Model High-Power Edition, Love Model and Disney Zootopia Limited Model are 56,800 yuan, 58,800 yuan, 61,800 yuan, and 66,800 yuan respectively.

　　Image source: Wuling Motors

　　It is worth noting that this is Wuling's second price adjustment this year. In early February, Wuling also issued a price increase statement, but at that time it only involved Wuling NanoEV models, the price increase was 3,000 yuan, and the adjusted price range of related models was 52,800-62,800 yuan. This means that the price adjustment of NanoEV models this time has reached 4,000 yuan, which is higher than the last time.

　　Wuling pointed out that the price adjustment is mainly due to the continuous and sharp rise in upstream raw material prices and other comprehensive factors. According to Wind data, as of March 18, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was 503,000 yuan / ton, a year-on-year increase of 491.76%; the price of lithium hydroxide was 489,000 yuan / ton, a year-on-year increase of 630.6%; the price of electrolytic cobalt was 568,000 yuan / ton , up 52.21% year-on-year. As a result, the cost of downstream power battery manufacturers has risen significantly. Power battery manufacturers including CATL, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Funeng Technology, etc. have announced to increase product prices.

　　The price hike of car companies is the result of this wave of raw material price hikes being passed further downstream. According to incomplete statistics from Gasgoo, since 2022, nearly 20 car companies have officially announced price increases, involving more than 40 models. Not only that, but the price increase is also expanding, and the current maximum increase has exceeded 30,000 yuan. According to the latest information from Gasgoo, Lantu Auto, a high-end new energy brand owned by Dongfeng Motor, will also join the price hike, and will announce the price adjustment plan for its first mass-produced model, Lantu FREE, on March 31.