"The i3 35L is about 170,000 yuan. I didn't dare to ask for this price before, but now it is really suitable. The price can be negotiated when I arrive at the store."
On June 4, when the reporter consulted a BMW 4S store in Beijing as a car buyer, the salesperson confirmed the rumors that the BMW i3 and i5 pure electric models would be significantly reduced in price recently.
The price of the BMW i3 and BMW i5, which were priced at RMB 353,900 and RMB 439,900 respectively on the official website, is now only around RMB 170,000 and RMB 300,000 for the bare models. The price of the i3 has almost been halved. Recently, the BMW Group has seen a decline in both revenue and profit, and its sales in China are also facing difficulties.
May 5, 2024, Tianjin International Automobile Fair, BMW Automobile Exhibition Area.
Buying a BMW within 200,000
Recently, many consumers said that the price of BMW i3 has "diveped", with the BMW i3 35L, which has a guide price of 353,900 yuan, actually selling for less than 200,000 yuan in 4S stores. On June 4, the topic #BMW's price cut# became a hot search on Weibo, sparking heated discussions.
China Securities Journal reporter consulted a BMW 4S store in Beijing and learned that the store is indeed currently offering promotions on electric vehicles. The price of the BMW i3 35L is more than 170,000 yuan, with a large discount; the discount for the i5 model is also around 140,000 yuan, and the price of the standard version after the discount is less than 300,000 yuan.
According to the BMW official website, the current official price of the BMW i3 is 353,900 yuan, and the price of the i5 is 439,900 yuan. This means that the actual price of the i3 has dropped by more than 50% compared to the official website, and the price of the i5, which was only launched this year, has also dropped by more than 30%. Previously, the price of the i3 model had dropped significantly on platforms such as Autohome.
The salesperson told the reporter: "We didn't dare to mention this price before, but we can still negotiate the price when we get to the store...it's still quite suitable to buy a car now."
Ms. Bao from Shanghai told reporters that as a BMW owner, she was very surprised to see the price. She did not expect that the price of BMW's pure electric model had dropped to less than 200,000 yuan, which made her want to change her car.
The salesperson said that the current preferential low prices for cars are only for cars in the store, and they require a loan. If you are not buying a car in stock, you need to apply for a preferential price, which is uncertain.
Traditional car companies face many challenges
Behind the price plunge of BMW is the decline in both revenue and profits in the first quarter and the poor sales performance in the Chinese market.
According to the BMW Group's first quarter report for 2024, the BMW Group's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 36.614 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 0.6%; net profit was 2.951 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 19.4%. Among them, the automotive business revenue in the first quarter was 30.939 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1%; the automotive business pre-tax net profit was 270.3 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 29.4%.
It is worth noting that BMW delivered 187,700 vehicles in China in the first quarter of 2024, down 3.8% year-on-year, making it the only market with a decline in deliveries among BMW's major markets. BMW officials attributed the decline in sales in the Chinese market to the fact that the new BMW 5 Series was not launched in China until February 2024.
However, simply launching new models may not help BBA (Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi) much. In the growing new energy vehicle market, BBA and other established car companies have not been recognized by domestic consumers.
Many consumers who are planning to buy cars recently told reporters that if they buy new energy vehicles, they will consider domestic new energy brands more and basically will not consider electric vehicles from traditional car companies such as BBA. The main reason is that they do not trust the products enough and do not feel the more cutting-edge technology and design of the products.
Experts said that the "electrification" and "intelligence" of automobiles are the two major trends in the current development of the automobile industry, and the two are closely related. In the application of intelligent technology, electric vehicles are more suitable for intelligent equipment than fuel vehicles. Electric vehicles receive and respond to sensor signals faster, and computer-processed data can be directly transmitted to the three major departments of motors, batteries, and electronic controls, and the actions will be more accurate.
As intelligent automotive technologies increasingly take over consumer markets and the range anxiety of new energy vehicles is basically resolved, traditional car companies are facing huge challenges.
In recent years, Porsche's sales in China have dropped sharply. In 2023, its sales in China were 79,283 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 15%, making it the only market segment in the world with negative growth. In the first quarter of this year, Porsche only delivered 16,340 vehicles in the Chinese market, a year-on-year decrease of 24%.
Porsche China said in a statement released on May 27: "The current automotive industry is undergoing unprecedented major changes. Porsche China and its dealers are facing a number of complex issues... We will work together to find effective ways to actively respond to market changes and find new opportunities in challenges. These discussions involve many aspects, including but not limited to business policies, local customer insights, customer service, and many key areas such as electrification transformation."
