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Unlike many new energy car companies, SAIC Audi began a new round of price cuts at the beginning of the new year.

"Automotive Industry concern" learned from SAIC Audi's official website that the official prices of Audi A7L, Audi Q5 e-tron and Audi Q6 models were adjusted. Among them, Audi A7L 45TFSI in addition to 45TFSI S-line dream new version of the streamer set, other models are reduced by 13000 yuan, while canceling the 45TFSI S-line dream youth version. The prices of some Audi Q5 e-tron models have been reduced, and the prices of the 40-star models have all been reduced by 20000 yuan. As for Audi Q6, 40TFSI quattro Guanyun, 4 TFSI quattro Qiyun, 45TFSI quattro Black Samurai and 45TFSI quattro Shadow Samurai have all reduced the price by 12000 yuan.

SAIC Audi official downgrade, the official did not disclose the specific reasons, can be understood as New year's benefits, but inevitably linked to its market performance. It is understood that in 2022, SAIC Audi launched Audi A7L, Audi Q5 e-tron and Audi Q6 in China. Audi A7L, as the first mass production model, attracted numerous eyes and high expectations from the outside world from the moment of exposure. However, SAIC Audi's performance in the market is very general.

According to the insurance figures, SAIC Audi sold a total of 5301 vehicles from January to November 2022, of which the Audi A7L was 3406. From the price point of view, FAW Audi A6L 45TFSI currently sells for 42.79-499800 yuan, while SAIC Audi A7L 45TFSI sells for 41.87-476900 yuan. In other words, although the Audi A7L sells cheaper than the Audi A6L, its full-year sales are almost a fraction of the latter. To some extent, the failure of Audi A7L is not only the disapproval of the product, but also the disapproval of SAIC Audi brand.

The failure of Audi A7L can be traced back: giving up soul and weird orientation. First of all, the imported Audi A7 is known as the "most beautiful Audi car" because of its frameless doors, sliding back shape and car body, but after SAIC Audi made the A7 model, in order to increase practicality and business type, it even cancelled the soul's sliding back body design and lengthened the body to transform a personalized car into a traditional three-car car.

Second, in order to avoid competition with FAW Audi, SAIC Audi aims at niche market segments and Chinese special models. It does make sense from the point of view of the business plan, but since you choose the minority route, you should stick to the tone instead of stepping into the two "spending pools" of sports and business at the same time. In the process of localization, SAIC Audi changed Audi A7L into "Audi A6L PLUS", while Audi Q6 changed its shell into SAIC Volkswagen Tuang. As a first-tier luxury brand, it is really difficult to please Chinese consumers.

Why does SAIC Volkswagen have to be SAIC Audi? As we all know, SAIC Volkswagen is the profit cow of SAIC, which is much higher than SAIC GM and SAIC GM Wuling. According to the annual report, the net profit of SAIC belonging to shareholders of listed companies in 2021 was 24.533 billion yuan, while that of SAIC-Volkswagen was 10.186 billion yuan, down 34.24% from the same period last year. However, unlike FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC-Volkswagen has only two brands, Skoda and Volkswagen, which means that the high-end market has been vacant. For both SAIC-Volkswagen and SAIC, it is imperative to launch high-end brands.

In fact, it is not difficult for SAIC Volkswagen to launch the Audi brand, but its growth process is indeed very difficult. In November 2016, SAIC signed a cooperation agreement with Audi, but it was quickly opposed by FAW Audi dealers. In the same month, SAIC and Audi suspended sales network negotiations and held many rounds of small-scale negotiations with FAW-Audi dealer investor representatives.

In February 2017, the Audi Dealers Association of the China Automobile Circulation Association issued a "Sanya statement" expressing two meanings: first, it opposes Audi's cooperation with SAIC; third, if it wants to start a fresh start, it can first reach 1 million sales in 2020; in order to quell the anger among Chinese dealers, Volkswagen Group directly dismissed Dietmar Voggenreiter, Audi's global marketing and sales director.

In 2018, the SAIC Audi project with frequent news of "dissolution", "suspension" and "withdrawal" took a turn for the better, and Volkswagen transferred 1% of its shares in SAIC-Volkswagen to Audi. This move lays the foundation for the development and production preparation of the first product in SAIC Audi's plan, and SAIC-Volkswagen is also qualified to produce and sell Audi products. However, the faint flame was soon extinguished, and SAIC Audi project entered a 24-month quiet period.

In 2020, the progress of SAIC Audi project has accelerated. On July 14, Volkswagen and SAIC invested 4.13 billion yuan in revamping the Shanghai plant to prepare for the production of Audi models. On December 23, FAW of China, Audi of Germany and SAIC reached a consensus on sales and service cooperation, probably as follows: SAIC Audi shall not sell vehicles before 2022, after which SAIC Audi can build cars; SAIC Audi can establish its own sales channel, but it must be established by existing FAW-Volkswagen Audi dealer investors, and after-sale is in a unified channel.

The benefits are evenly distributed, and the progress behind has obviously speeded up. In April 2021, SAIC Audi A7L made its debut at the Shanghai Auto Show; in September 2021, the first domestic A7L went off the line; and in January 2022, SAIC Audi A7L began delivery. Since then, SAIC Audi has improved everything, except for sales.

It is understood that SAIC Audi's annual sales target is 40,000 vehicles, which is far from expected at present. Jia MingDi, general manager of SAIC Audi, once said, "it is a good seedling, but it is very small and it takes a little time for it to look long." For the young SAIC Audi, the market will give a certain amount of time, and it will have more room for development, but the indifference of the Audi A7L is really worth SAIC Audi's warning to think seriously about what users need.

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