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Audi A7 has always been the title of "the most beautiful Audi" and "the most beautiful coupe" in the world, but the domestic version of A7L has been controversial since its birth. As the mainstay of SAIC Audi’s sales, the big price reduction in recent months has finally helped the company recover its dignity.
Author | Huang Shuo
Editor | Tian Yanlin
Operation | Liu Shan
Watching Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series lower their prices, Audi’s high-end cars can’t sit still.
"480,000 Audi A7L, no aura! The 380,000 Audi A7L is impeccable! " In November, 2023, Feng Li from Guangdong bought a Darth Vader version of SAIC Audi A7L 45TFSI quattro S-Line with an official guide price of 478,700 yuan at a landing price of less than 430,000 yuan.
The price of bare car was reduced by 100,000 yuan, including the purchase tax and insurance, and the landing price of the full amount was around 420,000 yuan. As a car enthusiast, Feng Li told the "city circle" that he wouldn’t have paid attention to this car at all if the price had not been cut so hard.
Although Audi A7L has always been the title of "the most beautiful Audi" and "the most beautiful coupe" in the world, and the imported goods are not cheap, it is a dream car for many people, but Audi A7L, as a domestic version of Audi A7, has been controversial.
As long as the price is in place, disputes are trivial.
Unlike Audi A6L, A4L, A3/A3L, Q5L/Q5LSportback and Q3/Q3 Sportback, which are very dazzling star models in China market, Audi A7L does not belong to the camp of FAW Audi (established in 1991), but is the first model launched by SAIC Audi (established in 2021).
At present, SAIC Audi only sells three models of Audi A7L, Q6 and Q5 e-tron. Among them, Q6 and Q5 e-tron are both "special offerings" in China market, and only A7L is a global model made in China, but there are always doubts about styling changes and production support.
The manufacturer of Audi A7L is SAIC Volkswagen, which cancelled the slip-back shape and tail wing when it was localized. Some insiders have analyzed that the original Audi A7 is a niche model, with many people like it and few people buy it. Therefore, when carrying out localization transformation, SAIC Audi designed A7L into a sedan version of the executive car to expand the audience, but it also directly made this car lose its "aura".
An Audi A6 allroad owner said that this is equivalent to cutting off A7′ s biggest selling point. "Originally, A7 took the sports route. Many people just bought it for its beautiful shape and personality. This really changed the soul of A7."
Lengthening the wheelbase is a routine action made in China, but the iconic sliding back shape and lifting tail are cancelled, and it is forcibly changed into a sedan that caters to the market demand of China. This change has made many people say that it is unacceptable, and imported Audi owners are especially "contemptuous".
In addition, some car enthusiasts think that A7L is too close to the calmness of the domestic A6L in the adjustment of daily driving feeling, which is quite different from the original A7L’s brisk sports style.
Based on the above, A7L has been ridiculed by many netizens as "Audi A6.5L", "Audi A6L" and "Audi A6L Plus".
In January 2022, Audi A7L went public for the first time, and the market response was very cold. In 2022, the annual sales volume was only 3,801 vehicles, with an average monthly sales of 316 vehicles. On September 1, 2023, the 2024 Audi A7L was officially launched, with a small change, and the configuration and price were fine-tuned. The price range was 418,700 ~ 699,700 yuan.
According to Sina Auto data, from August to November 2023, the monthly sales of Audi A7L were 1,037, 1,437, 1,645 and 1,806 respectively. In the same period, the average monthly sales of BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E Class of the same level exceeded 10,000.
Soon by the end of 2023, major car companies started a price war, showing their reserve prices one after another. At the beginning of the year and in the middle of the year, it almost became the norm for all brands to encounter "backstab", and even the owners of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi were not spared. Some imported models with high prices have also experienced large price fluctuations.
It seems that whoever doesn’t reduce the price will be eliminated by the market. Although SAIC Audi has set itself an annual sales target of 50,000 vehicles, it is not high, but it is also very urgent with only three cards in hand.
Recently, the "City Circle" visited a number of SAIC Audi stores in Beijing. Sales staff said that since October 2023, A7L has increased its price reduction efforts, and all models started with a discount of 100,000 yuan, an increase of about 40,000 yuan compared with the middle of the year.
For high-end cars with a price of nearly 400,000 yuan, this new discount seems to be few, but because many consumers are used to comparing it with A6L owned by FAW Audi, it suddenly highlights the cost performance of A7L.
"Many customers refer to A6L. In October, A7L’s entry model, 45TFSI S-Line Dreaming Crystal Edition, had a preferential landing price of about 360,000 yuan. The A6L 45TFSI, which is also a two-wheel drive and 2.0T high-power engine, was selected as elegant. The landing price in the same period was basically 370,000 ~ 380,000 yuan, and the overall configuration was slightly lower than that of A7L. " Sales theory.
However, due to too little attention paid to Audi A7L before, the news of price reduction has lagged behind. From October to November, 2023, the monthly sales volume only increased slightly, and it broke out in December. It is reported that when the price reduction is the largest in December, it can be cheaper by 120,000 ~ 130,000 yuan to buy A7L through loans.
SAIC Audi officially announced that A7L sold 6,281 vehicles in December 2023. According to the data of Easy Car App, the total sales volume of the car in these four weeks has reached 4,801 from January 1 to 28, 2024.
It seems that as long as the price is in place, no matter how controversial the car is, it can’t escape the law of true fragrance.
An interesting episode is that "City Boundary" found on platforms such as Knowing Car Emperor and Xiaohongshu that due to the low popularity of SAIC Audi and the few offline stores, many intentional consumers mistakenly entered FAW Audi’s online live broadcast room and offline 4S shop to consult the price of A7L.
Who is buying Audi A7L?
In Feng Li’s view, compared with the original imported A7L sold in China market, the domestic A7L has a lower value, but its power specifications are very affordable.
For example, Audi’s proud quattro four-wheel drive system will only appear on the imported version of A7 with 3.0T At present, the price of bare car in the market is about 660,000 yuan. In addition to the entry-level models, the Audi A7L is equipped with a quattro four-wheel drive system, whether it is a 45TFSI model with a 2.0T engine or a 55TFSI model with a 3.0T engine.
"Personally, I think that the quattro is the real Audi, but fortunately A7L is not as stingy as the imported version." Feng Li said.
Therefore, when the news of price reduction came, many consumers who had "disdained" A7L went to see the car "honestly".
"City Boundary" found on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu that A7L owners who posted posts are generally young people, most of whom are around 30 years old, and many of them are returned students in their twenties.
Zhao Pu, the owner who bought the A7L Darth Vader version, is one of them. According to him, in the third quarter of 2023, manufacturers launched preferential activities for duty-free cars for international students across the country.
▲ (Source/February 2024, official website, the duty-free car of China Automobile Corporation)
Liu Shan, a returned student from Jiangsu, also said that the Audi A7L she bought in December 2023 was 100,000 yuan cheaper. After tax exemption and agency fees, the final landing price was in the early 390,000 yuan. Liu Shan chose the "Summer Special Edition" model with optional package, and also picked his favorite body color. "If it is a regular model, the price can be lower."
In February, 2024, a duty-free car agency increased the preferential treatment for international students, saying that after the A7L of 3.0T was offered a maximum discount of 130,000 yuan, the company would also enjoy free purchase tax, and also send a fuel card of 1,500 yuan or an equivalent shopping card.
▲ (Source/Little Red Book)
However, the 2.0T version of A7L on the market has a discounted landing price of around 400,000, and there are too many optional models at this price, such as Audi A6L, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series. Moreover, when these cars had the greatest preferential treatment in 2023, there were about 100 thousand, and tax exemption policies were also introduced. Comparatively speaking, the Audi A7L is too small, why do young people love to buy it?
Zhao Pu said that apart from the tax exemption policy, he chose A7L more because "this car is rare on the road".
Minority means uniqueness, which conforms to the aesthetic taste of young people "the more special the better, the better the personality". According to the "city boundary" observation, many car owners who choose A7L have jumped over from BMW 4 Series, Audi A5, Audi A4 Avant, Aouita 12 and other niche models.
Although the A7L’s cancellation of the slip-back shape and tail wing is full of controversy, the design of the sedan operated by German designers is not completely unrecognized. "As long as we don’t compare with the imported A7, we only compare the sedan medium and large cars of the same level on the market, and the value of A7L has few rivals." A consumer who is considering starting said.
In the eyES of some young people, mainstream models such as Audi A6L, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series and lexus es are "either too commercial or old-fashioned", and they don’t care much about the relationship between A7L and A7. Plus, there are discounts now. After comparison, they chose A7L with little struggle.
SAIC Audi needs to work harder.
About "how to please young people" is the homework of many car companies at present, and SAIC Audi has also paid a lot of tuition fees for it.
Audi A7L has launched the first version, the first version, the Darth Vader version, the White Mage version, the Wind Knight version, the Paladin version, and many other special models. SAIC Audi wants to rely on these distinctive models to achieve a balance between sales and profits through scarcity. Unfortunately, this strategy was not successful at first.
Although SAIC Audi claims that its owners are aged 25-35, the sales volume of less than 1,000 vehicles per month from January 2022 to March 2023 shows that young people who are really willing to spend tens of thousands more than A6L, BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class before the big price reduction are really rare.
On the other hand, another BMW 4 Series, which takes the niche route, is similar in price to A7L, and once sold at a higher price, but people sell better than Audi A7L. In 2023, the monthly sales volume of BMW 4 Series will basically remain above 1,500 vehicles.
Young people are not "stupid people with more money". If you want to impress them, either the products are excellent enough or the prices are sincere enough, they will always be the same.
This round of price reduction, Audi A7L’s approach is wise and helpless. This helplessness began when SAIC Audi turned A7 "magic change" into A7L that was ridiculed by the group.
The birth of A7L is directly related to Audi’s strategic changes in the China market in recent ten years.
Before the establishment of SAIC Audi, Audi had only one joint venture car company in China, namely FAW Audi, which was established in 1991. For more than 30 years, FAW Audi has achieved enough success in China market.
In 2023, FAW-Volkswagen sold more than 1.91 million vehicles, of which Audi brand contributed 36.5% of the sales.
▲ (Source/Eye Check)
Watching old rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW make money in China market, German Audi is unbalanced, trying to seize more market share and introduce more models. The simplest way it can think of is to set up another joint venture company to seek higher profits.
In 2016, SAIC and Audi signed a cooperation agreement. As expected, the cooperation was collectively opposed by FAW Audi dealers. It was not until April 2021 that SAIC Audi was formally established, and the first model A7L was released in the same year.
However, since its establishment, SAIC Audi has not had many comfortable days. Because there are too few original models that Audi can directly localize, and the main models in the product matrix have been basically taken away by FAW Audi in recent years, only a few niche and high-end cars such as A5, A7 and Q7 are left to be developed.
Audi, on the other hand, wants to maintain its brand image by importing high-end cars and performance cars, but also wants to make a domestic model that can be accepted by more China consumers, and it can’t affect the imported version, so it can only move out the old routines of "lengthening" and "sedan".
A little different from the previous localization, A7L’s "sedan" may be a helpless choice made on the basis of "lengthening".
After the original A7 is lengthened, a cross beam needs to be added to enhance the strength of the rear part. If you continue to slip the back shape, the cost will increase greatly. Manufacturers who haven’t made any money are of course more inclined to make a sedan.
In fact, apart from the modeling and slightly complicated life experience, A7L itself doesn’t have many slots. The body size, mechanical specifications and design style are basically in line with the global positioning of A7 slightly higher than A6.
Taking the American market as an example, the starting price of the standard wheelbase version of the sedan A6 is 57,300 US dollars (about 412,000 yuan), while the starting price of the A7 is 71,200 US dollars (about 512,000 yuan). The price difference between the two models is just about 100,000 RMB.
In Germany, the starting price of the standard wheelbase sedan A6 is 53,800 euros (about 418,000 yuan), and the starting price of A7 is 63,500 euros (about 493,000 yuan), and the difference is about 75,000 yuan.
Therefore, when A7L was cheaper than A6L, it did attract some consumers who paid attention to cost performance. "Whoever loves to spray it will be finished with incense." In the eyes of some car owners, "the more you spray, the cheaper I buy."
Some people say that the price reduction of A7L has brought SAIC Audi back to life, but after the price is changed, the high-end positioning of A7L may be shaken. However, in the face of the growing volume of China automobile market, SAIC-Audi is very open-minded, and sales volume is king.
(The interviewee in the article is a pseudonym)
Originally produced in the city, please do not reprint it without authorization.
E-mail for communication suggestions: gaojian@boyamedia.com
Unless otherwise specified, the pictures are all from vision china.
Original title: "One car drops 100,000, SAIC Audi is in a hurry"
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