"Price war, price war, or price war."

　　Recently, this may be the most deafening keyword that has pervaded the entire Chinese car market. As for the cause, it still needs to start from Tesla's sudden official demotion at the beginning of the year, which "injured a thousand enemies and self inflicted 800 losses.".

　　Even though this American car company is well aware that it will be subject to extensive rights protection by older car owners, that it will reduce brand trust to a freezing point, and that it will spawn more "waiting parties", it still has brought Model 3 and Model Y to their lowest prices in China in history of 229900 yuan and 259900 yuan, respectively.

　　Referring to the sales report issued by the February Passenger Transport Association, it still achieved the desired results. Especially considering the impact of the decline in new energy subsidies, as well as the lengthy recovery period of terminal consumption vitality after the epidemic, and the accumulation of various factors that have led to the existence of an increasingly diverse "waiting party", Tesla still exhibits strong resilience.

　　From this perspective, for this American car company, the ultimate goal of actively initiating a "price war" is to cut the flesh and yield profits and momentum. However, for more independent and joint venture brands forced to join, the impact is increasing exponentially.

　　After all, many of the vulnerable among them do not have sufficient capital to engage in frenzied infidelity. Instead, all they can do is continue to overdraw and resist. Just because of this, the severity of the Chinese car market is gradually becoming beyond imagination, and the resulting elimination tide may be even more threatening than most people expected.

　　Forced by the helpless "insurance war"

　　"We need to take survival as the most important program, shrink and close the scope of marginal business, abandon some national markets, and pass on the chill to everyone."

　　It is very subtle that the slightly abrupt view above comes from an internal letter released by Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder, in September last year. Among them, it is highlighted that the global economy will face recession and declining consumption capacity. Huawei should change its thinking and business policies to ensure that it will survive the crisis in the next three years.

　　Now, it is undoubtedly inexplicable and appropriate to quote from the Chinese car market. Under the "price war", even though the spring equinox of everything's recovery has already arrived in the season, every relevant practitioner still feels the biting cold winter.

　　Unexpectedly, just recently, the new force car builders, who are already weak in resisting risks, have launched a "price war" again, which is also thought-provoking.

　　The first to bear the brunt is Ideal, which announced that it would purchase the ideal L-series models (ideal L7, ideal L8, ideal L9) through official channels. Within 90 days from the purchase date (including), if the official selling price of the purchased model falls, it promised to actively refund the price difference.

　　For this user's price protection rights and interests, it is also ideal to provide a description of the situation, including changes in the official selling price and the ideal provision of cash discounts and benefits for car purchases (excluding local government car purchase subsidies and special restricted urban fuel vehicle purchase policies).

　　Soon, ZeroRun chose to follow. From March 14 to 24:00 on March 31, the official announcement announced that users who placed and locked orders for 23 full range models of ZeroRun (23 models T03, 23 models C11, 23 models C01) and C11 extensions during this period will actively refund the price difference if the official sales price of the purchased model is reduced or cash incentives are increased within 90 days from the purchase date (including).

　　As an onlooker, the deeper meaning read from it focuses on: facing the current environment, it is inevitable that some consumers worry that after starting, the main engine factory suddenly announced a price reduction, so the "waiting party" group continues to expand.

　　In other words, the weakening of car buying confidence is the biggest "persistent disease" in the current Chinese car market. In a sense, the more fierce the "price war" is, the more potential users hold coins and wait, and the new orders of car companies have not significantly increased.

　　In addition, as the vicious cycle intensifies, the corresponding pricing system is also collapsing. Therefore, due to various helplessness, the so-called "insurance war" will emerge.

　　Roll up to fly up, roll up to suffocation

　　"Now is the time for you to reduce the price, and you may not be able to sell it, but if you insist on not reducing the price, you may not be able to sell it." This complaint really comes from a brand employee. Between words, one can hear his confusion and bewilderment.

　　Radiating from point to surface may also reflect the true mood of most Chinese car market participants: rolling, rolling, flying.

　　From this perspective, BYD officially released the championship versions of Han EV and Tang DM-i just last week. In terms of the selling price that consumers are most concerned about, the recommended retail price for the former is 2098-299800 yuan, while the recommended retail price for the latter is 2098-233800 yuan. In addition, a discount of 10000 yuan can be added when the order is made before April 30.

　　Undoubtedly, the above operation is another decision to "lift the table", completely reshaping the pattern of B-class sedans and medium-sized SUVs, even at the risk of "stabbing" many old car owners.

　　Last time, BYD lowered the price of the champion Qin PLUS DM-i to 99800 yuan. As for the purpose, it is very straightforward and clear. On the one hand, it uses plug-in hybrid technology to overtake on curves, completely rewriting the pattern of long-term dominance of the A-class sedan market by "champions" such as Toyota Larola, Nissan Xuanyi, and Volkswagen Langyi. On the other hand, it provides the strongest support for its impact on annual sales of 4 million vehicles.

　　It can be said that BYD's playing method this year can be regarded as "abandoning certain profits and fully harvesting orders". This approach undoubtedly killed all joint venture brands and independent brands by surprise.

　　To be more straightforward, as the title of this paragraph states, in addition to Tesla, the Chinese car market is also being sucked into suffocation due to its existence.

　　Writing here, as the article nears the end, one final question I want to discuss is: How do you evaluate the upcoming quarter? "Price war" leads to the deterioration of the living environment and the intensification of terminal competition. Is it good or bad?

　　To be fair, from different perspectives, there must be significant differences in the answers. In contrast, personally, I would like to say, "Since some things cannot be reversed, all you can do in them is struggle desperately, but don't let too many things happen when bad coins are chasing good ones."

　　In short, the Chinese car market in 2023 is destined to be bloody, and some people are destined to say goodbye