The growth rate of micro-electric vehicles has slowed down, and the sales volume of Hongguang MINIEV has declined. Can Bingo raise the banner？

In the first quarter of 2023, the cumulative sales volume of A00-class cars was 131,000, down 55.1% year-on-year, which was the biggest drop among all models this year. This is behind the withdrawal of subsidies and the cancellation of license concessions in some areas, because without these preferential measures, many consumers will be discouraged from buying new energy cars.

It is worth noting that, although the sales performance of 18,000 vehicles in April was not bad, compared with the average monthly sales volume in 2022 (33,700 vehicles), Wuling Hongguang EV was obviously seriously retrogressed this year.

Wuling, which builds cars for the people, why don’t people pay the bill now?

(1) The growth rate of micro-electric vehicles has slowed down, and competing products have been increasing.

After explosive growth in the previous two years, the market growth rate of micro-electric vehicles has begun to slow down. According to the data provided by China Automobile Association, in the first quarter of 2023, the sales volume of A00-class micro-electric vehicles was 131,000, down 55.1% year-on-year, which is the biggest decline this year. The market of micro-electric vehicles is becoming saturated gradually, and the number of consumers is decreasing, which affects the sales of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV to some extent.

In addition to the saturation of the market, the increasing number of competing vehicles at the same price has also affected the sales of Wuling Hongguang MINI EV. Panda, QQ ice cream and competing products with the same price poured into the market, which reduced the advantage of Wuling MINI EV at that time and further squeezed the living space of Wuling Automobile.

(2) There are few airbags, and the safety has been repeatedly criticized by consumers.

A consumer in Liuzhou, interviewed by the local TV program "New Broadcast", indicated that his car purchase budget was 50,000-80,000, because he was from Liuzhou, and he felt more proud to drive a Wuling car made in Liuzhou. However, when buying a car, we will also consider more practical factors such as cost performance and safety. BYD Seagull and Chery QQ ice cream with the same price attract her. The former is equipped with four safety bags, while the latter attracts her with a lifetime warranty after-sales policy.

At the same time, she also expressed her feelings about the test drive of Wuling Hongguang MINI EV: the grip is not strong, and it is shaking when driving. Besides the top version of Wuling Hongguang MINI EV with two airbags, the rest of the configuration is only one main driver airbag, and the overall safety is not strong enough.

This also reveals the reason why Wuling Hongguang MINI EV is not paid by the people more and more, lacks its own core competitiveness, and does not perform well in the key product strength of safety, which affects the current competition of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV.

(3) It is difficult to break through the price reduction. Can Wuling Binguo turn the tide?

Faced with such a market situation, Wuling started the second round of price reduction in 2023. From April 8 to May 31, 2023, consumers will get a maximum of 10,000 yuan for purchasing Wuling new energy vehicles, but from the sales data, the effect is not very good.

In addition to price reduction, Wuling also launched on March 29th this year.Wuling Binguo, the price is 59,800-89,800 yuan. In the first month of listing, it harvested the sales volume of 15,000 vehicles, and the results were acceptable. It provides a "bullet" for Wuling Automobile to transform into a market of 500,000-100,000.However, in this market segment, Wuling Binguo has to face multiple competitors, and the market competition is quite fierce.

The biggest competitor that Wuling Binguo faces is BYD Seagull, and the two cars have the same level and price. Although the body size of Wuling Binguo has certain advantages, butHowever, from the configuration point of view, Wuling Binguo is only equipped with a central control panel on the top version, and there is a passenger airbag on the vehicle configuration of nearly 80,000 yuan. In terms of safety function, the whole system lacks an ESP body stability control system. BYD Seagull, on the other hand, is equipped with active and passive safety configurations such as airbags, brake assist, anti-lock braking and ESP body stability control system. In this contrast, it seems that Wuling Bingo’s "sincerity" is insufficient, and it is inevitable that Wuling Bingo will be able to turn the tide and lift the banner of sales.

Conclusion:To sum up, Wuling automobile has fallen into the sales decline of low-end models at present, and it is difficult to transform further market segments with multiple competitors. In the future, Wuling automobile will be hard to "deus ex" in the increasingly fierce competition of new energy track, if it can’t make clear what consumers need in terms of safety and cost performance.