Recently, Shanghai Volkswagen AG announced that it has adjusted the price of over 100 kinds of accessories for its two series of PASSAT and POLO models, with the largest drop of 80% and an average reduction of 25%. When this news came out, the industry was at a loss.
Like the price cuts of cars that broke out in early March of this year, the price cuts of Shanghai Volkswagen's accessories by domestic automobile giants have caused many people's vigilance: Is the avalanche of accessory prices coming?
Parts are more expensive than complete vehicles
“The price of a new car is more than 30% higher than selling a new car directly.†When reporters were very surprised at this, the sales staff in Nanjing Xinzhuang Auto Parts City also expressed the same level of disdain for the reporter’s surprise. A Mr. Li of Runda Auto Parts Sales Center stated that the new car can be sold for more money. This has always been the case, but it is difficult to sell big parts such as the body and the engine. Otherwise, the accessories sales center will enter the vehicle to sell. Absolutely better than fitting into the accessories.
The strong price of auto parts has been a major source of profit for the auto aftermarket. It is understood that the price cuts that have swept the car market for more than half a year have so far not shaken the price of accessories. Many Auto Parts Centers stated that since the beginning of the year, the price of accessories has not basically been loosened, and occasionally price reductions are only a small amount of “drizzleâ€. A master trainer of Dongdu Auto Parts told reporters that three or four hundred things would cost a few dollars and they would not feel it at all.
Covered with the coat of technology and art, the price of auto parts at the same level can be three or four times the difference. When the average family spent 1,270 yuan to replace a POLO's electric exterior mirrors, this thin mirror certainly caused many people's hands to flick.
Consumer "ignorance"
At the 2004 Nanjing International Auto Show that is being held at the moment, the reporter saw that after opening the door, many citizens paid a lot of attention to the small details of the hands-free, cup holder and sunglasses box of the mobile phone. The price of accessories is rarely mentioned.
Although the government's price department has expressly provided for the collection of vehicle maintenance costs, the regulations can only control the small amount of manual maintenance fees and other maintenance costs, and there is nothing to do with the price of spare parts that need to be replaced. Professor Hu Hanhui of Southeast University's Industrial Research Center pointed out that the domestic automobile aftermarket is still a rising sun industry. As more and more consumers become increasingly rational about car consumption, more consumers are still ignorant of the operation of the auto aftermarket, so the response to the ever-rising price of accessories is lukewarm. Xinzhuang Auto Parts City staff told reporters that occasionally savvy consumers buy parts to find repairs, but most people stop the car and allow them to settle.
The impact of vehicle price cuts on accessories is not very clear. The industry analysts believe that in the context of the deep decline in car prices, the price of accessories still does not seem to be loose, because many economic car prices have dropped to the point where they can no longer be reduced. Only earn money on accessories.
Parts prices fall short
Recently, Nanjing Fiat, Southeast Auto and other auto makers have adjusted the prices of some accessories. As the price of economic vehicles continues to fall, the corresponding auto parts have gradually been pushed to the point where they cannot do so. Imagine a car worth 80,000 yuan. To change a fender to 1,200 yuan, who wouldn't feel bad?
As the main terminal for sales of accessories, major auto repair shops seem to be the initiators of the profits from accessories. However, in the interview, the repair shop only shouted. On the scale of the repair center directly from the car manufacturers getting goods, each matching parts have a stable rebate point, the price controlled by the manufacturer; general repair shop to get goods from the accessories dealer, the price is more depends on the dealer. When the cornerstone of the accessory market - the price of the entire vehicle market falls short, every link in the sales of accessories will be dumped like a domino.
Perhaps the buzz of the domestic automobile production that had been swept up in the past was doomed to the fierceness of today's price war. Even in the "golden nine silver ten" car sales season, stimulated by the fourth quarter of this year's car sales are also hard to be optimistic. As the fire burned through the gates of the city, the accessories market that has been profitably fed has been unavoidable.