Car core shortage has become a common topic recently. Due to multiple factors such as the epidemic, the lack of production capacity, led by MCU and ECU, has affected the production rhythm of many models. There are even rumors that car company employees spend dozens of times the daily price to purchase chips on the black market. Judging from the latest sales volume in October, in October this year, automobile production and sales reached 2.33 million units and 2.333 million units respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 8.8% and 9.4%; however, the month-on-month production and sales data are increasing, and the situation is gradually improving. Among them, core shortage accounts for a certain proportion of factors, but it is not all. At the same time, the improvement in sales compared with the previous month is also inseparable from the active response of various car companies. As for the problem of core shortage, how do various car companies deal with it?
Let’s first take a look at Ideal, a new power enterprise that has caused widespread debate recently. On October 7, it officially released the “Ideal ONE Delivery Plan”: early delivery according to customer wishes For vehicles lacking 2 radars, some vehicle functions will not be available. This plan involves users who originally planned to pick up their cars in October and November. Delivery experts will communicate with users one by one. Users who originally planned to pick up their cars in December will not be affected.
The picture comes from the Internet
This batch of delivered vehicles is equipped with 1 front + 2 rear corner millimeters The three-radar model of the wave radar will be installed free of charge for users from December to the Spring Festival next year. Due to the installation of three radars, the model does not enable automatic merging and front crossing vehicle warning for the time being. Other ADAS functions can be used normally and have been tested, so users can use them with confidence.
Ideal first guarantees delivery in the form of temporary reduction of allocation, and then waits for the chip function to reach the standard before reinstalling it. This is an option for users who are anxious to pick up the car. It only reduces the short-term use ability of some functions; but for some Car owners cannot accept such a plan and can only choose to continue waiting. Of course, as compensation, Li Auto will give away 10,000 points and a lifetime vehicle warranty to users who choose this plan.
Coincidentally, Xiaopeng also chose such a plan. There is also a shortage of millimeter wave radars, which limits the delivery of Xpeng P5. They provide users with two options. Option B is to pick up the car first and then reinstall the radar (the reinstallation process is expected to be launched in batches from March 31, 2022). At the same time, the XPILOT3.0/3.5 software is given free of charge. If you don’t want to choose If Plan B is not selected, Plan A will be selected by default: continue to wait, without rights, and deliver in order.
It is said that Xpeng gave priority to the millimeter-wave radar to the Xpeng P5 model with higher profit margins, which caused dissatisfaction among some prospective Xpeng P5 owners. They also jointly sent a letter to He Xiaopeng hoping for reasonable compensation. solution. But in any case, when encountering delivery constraints, it is difficult for companies to cover everything.
Nio was actually the first among the new car companies to suffer from core shortages. Its sales were affected by the supply chain as early as August, and its sales in October As soon as it comes out, WeiXiao Li has become Xiao Nali, and the former Big Brother suddenly dropped 3,667 channels, causing a denunciation on the Internet. However, due to circumstances, JAC NIO's Hefei advanced manufacturing base production line renovation and upgrade required the line to be shut down to prepare for the mass production of the ET7. Some vehicle orders scheduled to be delivered in October will be delivered later than originally planned, and the October production plan will be affected. As for the user side, NIO’s solution:
Generally, if the order delivery cycle exceeds 2 months (calculated from the order lock date), starting from the third month, the user will receive 1,000/day of deferred delivery points until the vehicle is delivered. Under this special circumstance, users who originally planned to deliver the vehicle in September or October 2021, if the vehicle fails to be delivered as scheduled, will receive an additional 2,888 points at one time after picking up the vehicle, in addition to the above points for delayed delivery.
It can be seen that Wei Xiaoli, a new power car company that focuses on mid-to-high-end products, has been shot one after another. On the one hand, it is a response to the lack of cores. What they have is relatively high-end functions such as advanced assisted driving, and their remedial measures are also because as a company starting from scratch, the number of monthly deliveries is more important to them, so they came up with the idea of "delivering the car first and then replenishing it." "Installing radar" is a delaying strategy, but it is difficult to guarantee user satisfaction.
Compared to the new power car companies that are still in their infancy, most traditional car companies have big businesses, each brand has a large product range, and the sales level is not comparable to that of the new power car companies. However, no eggs are completed when the nest is overturned, and the global core shortage is bound to have an impact on everyone. The response strategy of traditional car companies is to prioritize production capacity for high-profit models (of course, the premise is that the high-profit models themselves have online sales capabilities). This phenomenon is more obvious for joint ventures and luxury brands than for independent brands.
Models such as Camry, RAV4, Accord, and Haoying may be affected by their own comparative sales, but within the brand and other models Comparing sales in consecutive months also shows that car companies are shifting their production capacity towards high-profit, best-selling models, and this is also true for luxury brands.
And the reduction of equipment has also appeared at the manufacturer level of traditional car companies. The BMW 3 Series has reduced equipment three times in a year in aspects such as automatic parking assist and electric lumbar support. Audi's remote control keys have been reduced from two to one, and the new Mercedes-Benz CLA has also canceled configurations such as front-seat wireless charging and induction rear tailgate.
This is the perception brought to consumers at the manufacturer level, but the dealer level has also undergone great changes due to the lack of cores. The previously heavily discounted models have become small discounts, and hot-selling models have even increased prices. Relatively speaking, Generally speaking, there are not many cases of self-owned brands raising prices for cars, while joint ventures and imported cars are relatively more obvious.
Here, I would like to mention Tesla specifically. Why is it that in the nearly year-long crisis of core shortage, there is rarely any sound of Tesla core shortage? ? A research report from Morgan Stanley may explain the reason:
1. Tesla has strong vertical integration capabilities, so it is particularlyTesla can understand the supply chain situation earlier and use multiple suppliers to ensure supply;
2. Tesla has strong self-research capabilities for chips, which is the basis for its self-developed chips ;
3. Tesla has strong negotiating power, which ensures that he can maneuver among major suppliers with ease;
4. Suppliers are more optimistic about Tesla development, so in the context of insufficient supply, it is more willing to give priority to supplying chips to Tesla.
Relying on technology + operation to solve the problem of core shortage, Tesla quickly passed through this difficult time. This is also worth learning for many car companies. Volkswagen Group CEO Diseng invited Musk There are reasons for holding online meetings.
The picture comes from the Internet
In fact, the exposure of the car core problem can be traced back to Volkswagen in December 2020 Cars, but it has continued until now. Although there are signs of improvement, there is no fundamental solution. Some experts predict that it may not be able to completely get rid of the core shortage problem until 2023. A lesson in adversity is a lesson. Car companies have also discovered many of their own problems during this difficulty. Tesla's active self-rescue has also provided many things for its peers to learn from. In this protracted war, for consumers who just need to buy a car, the cost of time and money may become a choice they have to make.