SMM News: "Elephant has finally turned around", this sentence may be used to describe the electric transformation of Volkswagen Group. According to the plan, Volkswagen will launch nine pure electric models by 2025. Can this big winner of the age of fuel trucks continue the myth in the age of electrification?
The belated Volkswagen ID.3 is the first true all-electric car that Volkswagen offers to the world, built on the MEB platform and delivered in bulk in the European market. It is hailed as "opening the third important chapter in the history of the brand after the Beatles and golf". As the first pure electric car to be delivered to consumers, what kind of answer did Volkswagen ID.3 hand over? What are the implications of its market performance for the two pure electric cars launched by Volkswagen in China not long ago?
The ill-fated Volkswagen ID.3
It is not too late to start electric cars, Volkswagen has also built its own MEB platform for electric vehicles, and as Volkswagen's first model to enter the electrified market, Volkswagen has specially developed a "VW.OS" on-board system for ID.3. In November 2019, Volkswagen began mass production of its first all-electric car, the Volkswagen ID.3, at a factory in Zwickau, Germany.
As Volkswagen brand's real pure electric car debut, Volkswagen ID.3 has high hopes, but the car first caused a strong market popularity-software problems because of "problems". In December 2019, overseas media revealed that Volkswagen ID.3 vehicles encountered software problems that could affect delivery, but in February 2020, Volkswagen denied the delay in delivery and "will still deliver in the summer as scheduled."
In September, Volkswagen ID.3, which fixed a series of software problems, was finally delivered in large quantities in Europe. How did Volkswagen ID.3, which was held up like a new star, hand over in the European market?
The mass delivery will reach the top pin crown in the second month.
Since September, Volkswagen ID.3 has been officially delivered in large quantities in Europe, with registered sales of 7572 vehicles in the first month and 9579 in October, an increase of 26.5% over the previous month. With a small number of deliveries in Germany before September, Volkswagen ID.3 's total registered sales in Europe have exceeded 18000 so far.
In October, Volkswagen ID.3 topped the European all-electric car sales list, surpassing the established Renault ZOE. The Renault ZOE, the longest-selling and best-selling model in Europe, held the top spot in European electric car sales until the Tesla Model 3 entered continental Europe. The new Renault ZOE regained the top spot from the Model 3 in July, but lost the top spot to the Volkswagen ID.3 in October.
Volkswagen ID.3 is a compact model, which is not dominant in terms of European electric car consumption habits. In Europe, the best-selling electric cars have always been small cars and subcompact cars. For example, among the top 10 all-electric cars sold in October, there are six small cars and two mini cars, followed by Volkswagen ID.3, a compact car, and Audi e-tron, a medium-and large-sized car.
In Europe, more than 40% of pure electric vehicles are small electric vehicles, while compact electric vehicles only account for about 20%. In the first 10 months of this year, registered sales of small electric vehicles in Europe increased by 94% compared with the same period last year, compact electric vehicles grew by only 36%, and miniature pure electric vehicles increased by 292%. Medium-sized electric vehicles, which have a market share of only 14%, are the only category with a year-on-year decline of 8.9%. The cumulative sales volume of the year is still Renault ZOE.
At present, there are not many compact electric cars on the European market, and Nissan Leaf and Golf New Energy are the only two cars that can sit down and drink a pot. The veteran Leaf is as steady as a rock, but in the electric age of new products, new stories and new visions, it is so quiet that everyone almost forgets it. Golf New Energy, Volkswagen's own oil-to-electricity products, the ID series has come out, and its mission is almost complete.
So in the compact all-electric car market, the only peer competitor to Volkswagen's ID.3 is the Nissan Leaf. However, there is also an electric car that "returns to Europe" from China-- Mingjue EZS Pure Electric. This car is positioned as a small SUV, but there is a certain consumption overlap between a larger small SUV, and a compact car. As the pure electric car exported most by Chinese brands overseas, Mingjue EZS Pure Electric has a lot of ambition in the European market, combined with its consumption trend in the UK and Norway. I'm afraid there will be some belligerence between the famous Lord and the public in the future.
France faces strong competition to conquer the markets of Norway and the Netherlands
At present, the German stronghold is the largest regional market of Volkswagen ID.3, with cumulative sales of 5308 vehicles, accounting for 29.4%, followed by Norway with a cumulative sales volume of 4465 vehicles, accounting for 24.7%. Sales in the Netherlands also accumulated 3397 vehicles, accounting for 18.8%. With the rapid growth of Volkswagen ID.3 production capacity, sales in the European market will continue to grow and is expected to become a new popular electric model.
Volkswagen's ID.3 sold the most in the Netherlands in October, up 3.6 times from September, but it accounted for more than 40% of Dutch pure electric car sales in October. The Netherlands is Europe's fifth-largest electric car market, and South Korea's Jirui New Energy was the top-selling car in South Korea before Volkswagen entered, with sales of the Volkswagen ID.3 nearly four times that of VW in October.
Norway is the most attractive consumer market for electric cars in Europe. Volkswagen is also ambitious in the Norwegian market. Just two weeks after delivery, Volkswagen ID.3 outsold Tesla Model 3 in Norway, and the Golf has always been the best-selling model, given Volkswagen's brand influence in the Norwegian market, so the Volkswagen ID.3 is likely to be crowned Norway's best-selling electric car in the future. And Volkswagen ambitiously hopes to capture 90% of the Norwegian electric market by 2021.
Volkswagen ID.3 says it will sell five times as much as EZS Pure Electric, its biggest competitor in the Norwegian market, in 2021. Lord Mingjue, are you ready to take it?
If you look at Germany, Germany is the fourth largest single car market in the world, and it is also the largest market in Europe. Volkswagen's Germany is also under the greatest pressure to reduce emissions. Relying on the sale of ID series electric cars to reduce carbon emissions and reduce large fines is Volkswagen's most pragmatic goal in the region. The initial version of Volkswagen ID.3 is priced at 356-45900 euros (excluding subsidies), and the price for subsequent production is likely to fall to 30, 000 euros. After deducting subsidies, the cost of buying Volkswagen ID.3 in Germany is close to that of fuel golf. The Golf is the highest-selling model in the European market in 2019. If Volkswagen ID.3 can seize a certain proportion of the market from its consumer groups, it will form a very considerable scale of sales.
In October, Volkswagen ID.3 did not work as a Renault ZOE, in Germany, which has been on the market for five years, and it is difficult to predict whether it will be able to withstand the offensive of Volkswagen ID.3 in the future. But unlike Norway and the Netherlands, which do not have local car industries, Volkswagen ID.3 is under intense pressure from local brands in France, where Renault and Peugeot have a very deep consumer base, and Volkswagen ID.3 ranked sixth in October.
Is Volkswagen ID.3 perfect?
In fact, although it has been delivered, the software problem of Volkswagen ID.3 does not seem to have been solved perfectly. German car rental company Nextmove has made a Bug collection of Volkswagen ID.3 software-recording the 22 Bug, they have found, including: the rear camera will be turned off randomly, the position of the car in the navigation system and both displays will stop, the speaker system will hiss when the smartphone is connected to Bluetooth, and the keyless system will work intermittently. Wait.
The challenge that traditional automobile enterprises face in the era of electrification is not in the field of machinery, and the software system has become their technical blind spot. Peter Mertens, a former Audi R & D director, revealed that not a single line of Volkswagen ID.3 was written by Volkswagen engineers, which illustrates the difficulty of software development on the one hand and the challenges that Volkswagen Group faces in its transition to electrification on the other.
In spite of this, we can still say that Volkswagen has launched a benchmark pure electric car in Europe, and Volkswagen ID.3 basically made its debut in the European market. With the gradual repair of its software Bug in 2021, it may not be difficult to capture more consumers.
What are the expectations of the Volkswagen ID.4 series to enter the Chinese market?
Interestingly, instead of launching a relatively mature Volkswagen ID.3, in the Chinese market, Volkswagen has launched two compact SUV models. Deep meaning, on the one hand, I am afraid that the previous software problems of Volkswagen ID.3 make it difficult to directly gain the trust of Chinese consumers, and Volkswagen cannot afford to lose in China; on the other hand, compact SUV is a hot-selling category in the Chinese market in recent years, and the launch of Guanghe 4X and FAW-Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ not only caters to the popularity of Chinese consumption, but also brand-new products without "defects", which is full of sincerity. It is very clear that Volkswagen wants to get a good consumer reputation and a big piece of the pie in China's electric car market as soon as possible.
However, will they replicate the myth of Volkswagen ID.3 in the European market in the Chinese market?
Although European electric vehicle consumption began to break out in 2020, it is still a relatively conservative market-consumers are keen on small and micro models, supply-side electric car products are not enthusiastic, there are not many competitors, and the Volkswagen brand has brought a good brand endorsement to Volkswagen ID.3 sales in the European market.
Different from Europe, the competition in China's electric vehicle market is more fierce. Volkswagen, as a late entrant, is like "entering Houmen as deep as the sea". Sinoghe 4X and FAW-Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ will bear more pressure than the European market. Although the price of 250000 yuan steps into the main range of China's auto consumption.
