Have you visited the recent Shanghai Auto Show?
Have you seen Tesla?
Yes, Tesla is absent.
But even if you don’t participate in the Shanghai Auto Show, the legend of Tesla is spreading everywhere in the new energy market.
There is a legend that Tesla’s price will continue to fall in order to make it affordable for more people.
But is this really the case?
Data doesn’t lie
There is a group of people who say that every time Tesla cuts its price, it will end its domestic production.
In the mouths of these people, domestic new energy sources are completely paper tigers, and they can be sold only because of Tesla’s kindness.
But who is the paper tiger?
People’s words can lie, but data cannot.
On April 20, Tesla held its first quarter 2023 earnings call.
The financial report shows that Tesla’s first-quarter revenue reached US$23.33 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24%, a year-on-year decrease of 4%; net profit was US$2.513 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 24%.
Let’s take a look at the sales data: Tesla delivered 423,000 vehicles in the first quarter, an increase of only 4% from the previous quarter, which was lower than outside expectations; gross profit fell to 19.3%, reaching the lowest value since the end of 2020.
A brief summary is: Tesla sacrificed its gross profit margin and made several significant price cuts in succession, but it did not achieve the expected sales growth.
This seems different from what was promised?
Didn’t it mean that as soon as Tesla lowered its price, domestic products would fall?
Interestingly, Musk specifically mentioned this during this earnings call: Tesla does not have a demand problem.
Let’s imagine, does Wang Chuanfu need to emphasize that BYD “has no shortage of orders”?
As for whether you believe what Musk said, investors don’t believe it anyway.
After the financial report was released, Tesla’s U.S. stock price fell, once falling by more than 10%.
The price reduction is because it is difficult to sell, that’s all
In fact, whether it is the smartphone industry in the past or the new energy vehicle industry now, there is a so-called "price reduction is Statements such as “It’s affordable to make people buy it” and “It’s cheap to make friends with users”.
But this is contrary to common sense in business.
Automobile manufacturers are profit-oriented business entities, not charities. To sell cars, you have to make money, just like you have to be a living person. Any price reduction behavior is equivalent to a "discovery of conscience." All the statements can be characterized as anti-intellectual.
Generally, there are two situations of price reduction.
First: Technological progress and scale expansion have led to cost declines and subsequent declines in terminal retail prices. Although prices have been reduced, manufacturers' profit margins are still guaranteed, and price reductions will further stimulate sales and overall profits will rise. .
At present, only BYD dares to do this in the new energy vehicle market, and other manufacturers may join in the future. The decline in the production cost of new energy vehicles is an inevitable trend, and those that cannot reduce the cost will be eliminated.
Second: Sales volume is lower than expected, and we are forced to trade price for volume. The typical representative is Tesla. Of course, there are also car companies such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi that can easily reduce their sales by 80,000 to 90,000 yuan.
So, Musk has no money to make, but he lowers the price of cars just to make the poor affordable? Do you believe this?
Conclusion
This is a commercial society. Without enough profits, how can car companies do research and development? All kind words about feelings and conscience are a kind of interference to the new energy industry and should be abandoned.
This article comes from the author of Yichehao, the second brother who plays with cars. The copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprinting. The content only represents the author's opinion and has nothing to do with Bitauto