2024 is poised to be an extraordinary year in the automotive industry.

New energy vehicles are experiencing robust growth, with market penetration surpassing 50%.

The price war intensifies, prompting a significant market reshuffle.

Automakers employ diverse marketing strategies, fostering a "fandom" culture within the automotive community.

Rapid advancements in intelligence have emerged as a pivotal market trend.

Autonomous brands are on the rise, while traditional joint venture brands face unprecedented challenges.

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It is undeniable that the automotive market in 2024 is a year marked by the coexistence of change and development, with competition reaching fever pitch. Intense competition remains the overarching theme.

01 The Unyielding "Price War"

Since 2023, the price war has become a crucial survival tactic for automakers. In 2024, this remains an inevitable buzzword in the automotive sector.

At the dawn of the new year, BYD proclaimed "electricity cheaper than oil" and slashed the starting price of the Qin PLUS to an astonishing 79,800 yuan, firing the opening shot in the 2024 automotive price war. This move also struck a chord with traditional luxury and joint venture brands.

However, having weathered the 2023 price war, industry players understand that failing to follow suit will only accelerate their decline.

Consequently, traditional luxury brands such as BBA have also embarked on price-cutting strategies, with the BMW 3 Series dipping to 150,000 yuan and select models in the Mercedes-Benz EQ series offering discounts of 50-60%. Joint venture brands are not spared either. The iconic 2024 Camry, upon launch, initiated price reductions, with the starting price plummeting from 179,800 yuan to 126,800 yuan. When SAIC Volkswagen unveiled the 2025 Passat model, it even introduced a limited-time "fixed price" offer. These substantial discounts garnered considerable consumer attention, prompting more automakers to join the "fixed price" trend.

It is evident that under the fierce price war, many joint venture brands have abandoned price maintenance. However, despite these efforts, the sales boost is ephemeral, with sales primarily propped up by long-established products. For instance, models like the Nissan Sylphy, Volkswagen Lavida, and Toyota Corolla have already amortized their R&D expenses, leaving only raw material and manufacturing costs.

Perhaps realizing that blindly engaging in the price war may backfire on the brand, the luxury giants BBA chose to retreat from the fray to alleviate dealership operational pressures.

In fact, indiscriminate price reductions force manufacturers to compress costs blindly, which inevitably leads to a decline in vehicle quality, ultimately impacting consumers. However, the price war will persist as the fiercely competitive environment compels automakers to remain vigilant, coupled with the "consumption downgrade" trend, which has become the norm in the automotive industry.

In 2025, the price war will continue, potentially claiming more casualties among automakers. Notably, to seize sales opportunities, BYD announced that until January 26 next year, two models—the second-generation Song Pro DM-i and Qin PLUS EV Honor Edition—will offer promotional activities with starting prices as low as 99,800 yuan.

02 All-Encompassing "Intense Competition"

In fact, starting from the price war, it becomes apparent that the automotive industry in 2024 is deeply intertwined with "intense competition".

Whether it's intelligent cabins, high-level autonomous driving, or even refrigerators, TVs, and large sofas, they have all become standard features. BYD's fifth-generation DM technology, the "king of intense competition," has even driven fuel consumption into the "2" range.

With the entry of new player Xiaomi and the new energy vehicle penetration rate exceeding 50%, the battle for market share in the 2024 automotive market has entered a white-hot phase.

However, compared to pricing, configuration, and market competition, automakers in 2024 are focusing more on marketing strategies.

At the Xiaomi SU7 delivery ceremony, Lei Jun personally handed over the car to the owner, bent down to open the car door, and posed for a photo, orchestrating an annual heartwarming narrative of "a multibillion-dollar president personally opening the car door for me," directly maximizing emotional value and eliciting widespread praise from netizens.

It is Lei Jun's approach that has awakened automaker executives to the importance of personally engaging in marketing. Executives have embarked on various live streams, cultivated personal IPs, and gradually become more visible to consumers.

Therefore, at this year's Beijing Auto Show, the spotlight was no longer on new cars but on "Red Shirt Brother" Zhou Hongyi sitting atop a car and Lei Jun's high-profile exhibition visit. On social platforms, we witnessed the usually low-key Great Wall Chairman Wei Jianjun live-streaming Great Wall intelligent driving tests and NIO Chairman Li Bin's 10-hour live-stream of battery swapping in Europe.

It is evident that everyone has invested significant effort in marketing. However, this has gradually led to a "fandom" trend within the automotive community.

Admittedly, in the new automotive era, innovative marketing methods can breathe new life into the market, and the "celebrity effect" can temporarily drive brand traffic. However, in the era of "product supremacy," traffic is merely an auxiliary tool. If misused, it can backfire.

For instance, at the IM L6 technology conference, IM benchmarked Xiaomi SU7 and mislabeled its key parameters, prompting Xiaomi to issue three consecutive Weibo posts demanding IM to publicly clarify and apologize. This shows that attempting to ride the trend can backfire, highlighting the need for automaker executives to learn how to navigate this delicate balance.

03 From Luobo Kuaipao to Universal Intelligent Driving

In 2024, Wuhan's self-driving taxi "Luobo Kuaipao" captured public attention, beloved for its ultra-low fares and clean, odorless interior. The topic of "Luobo Kuaipao stealing drivers' jobs" also went viral on social platforms, sparking heated discussions on autonomous driving.

It is clear that in the era of intelligence, autonomous driving has entered the public consciousness, and vehicle intelligent driving features have become a key consideration for many consumers when purchasing cars.

In fact, throughout 2024, intelligent driving was in a state of "fierce competition" in the domestic market. Perhaps in 2023, when discussing intelligent driving, one could only think of Huawei and XPeng. However, in 2024, more automakers began showcasing their intelligent driving capabilities, even BYD, traditionally weak in this area, demonstrated its prowess in intelligent driving.

L2-level assisted driving has become the norm for automakers, with major players pushing for intelligent iterations and upgrades, accelerating the implementation of urban NOA.

The significant transformation in our local intelligent driving market is largely attributed to learning from Tesla's end-to-end technical route, eschewing lidar, and accelerating the popularization of high-level intelligent driving by reducing hardware costs. Consequently, many automakers have extended intelligent driving to lower-priced models. For example, XPeng employs a pure vision solution on the MONA M03, and NIO on the Ledao L60.

Regardless of the perspective, intelligent driving is now a crucial path for automakers. Those unable to stabilize their intelligent driving levels above the average in 2025 risk elimination.

As for autonomous driving, let the bullets fly for a while longer.

04 Survival of the Fittest

In an intensely competitive market environment, a phenomenon inevitably arises: survival of the fittest.

At the beginning of 2024, rumors of HiPhi's explosion circulated, and on the first workday after the Lunar New Year, HiPhi Automobile announced a six-month production suspension, effectively marking its demise. HiPhi's collapse served as a wake-up call for the automotive industry, indicating that the competition ahead would be even more brutal.

Similarly, Jiyue Automobile was also plagued by rumors of an explosion, with negative news of "layoffs," "arrears to suppliers," and "disbanding on the spot" spreading towards the year's end, eliciting widespread lament.

From WM Motor to HiPhi and then to Jiyue, we have witnessed the brutal nature of market competition. Therefore, throughout the year, automakers successively reduced salaries, laid off employees, and even closed factories. Cost reduction and efficiency enhancement have become vital survival tactics for automakers.

This harsh living environment impacts not only weaker new-force automakers but also traditional automakers struggling to make progress.

At the end of 2024, Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi signed a memorandum of understanding on business integration, planning to jointly establish a holding company. Perhaps this is their way of regaining confidence.

Thus, entering 2025, more automakers will undoubtedly fall. For automakers, long-term reliance on financing and bailouts is unsustainable. Finding ways to turn losses into profits can ensure the healthy development of enterprises.

It is worth mentioning that a few days ago, Nezha Automobile faced issues with an inaccessible official website. In 2024, Nezha also grappled with the CEO's resignation, declining sales, and financial constraints. So, will Nezha be the next to fall?

05 Brand Rebirth, "Going Out" as a New Strategy

Despite the fiercely competitive market environment, automakers have not given up but have been committed to开辟新路径.

In 2024, XPeng Automobile launched its second brand MONA, while NIO Automobile introduced its second brand Ledao and third brand Firefly. Even traditional luxury brand Audi unveiled a new luxury electric brand AUDI.

For automakers, new brands represent new hope and, consequently, more survival opportunities.

In addition to launching second brands, many automakers have chosen to expand overseas to seize more opportunities. However, going overseas has long been a strategic layout; it simply became a focal point of competition in 2024.

Due to China's first-mover advantage in the new energy vehicle field, Chinese automakers have firmly established themselves overseas and possess significant global competitiveness. Many foreign companies have opted to collaborate with Chinese automakers. For instance, in April 2024, Chery signed an agreement with EV MOTORS, the parent company of EBRO, to establish a joint venture in Barcelona, Spain, leveraging their respective strengths. In May, the joint venture "Leapmotor International" between Leapmotor and the Stellantis Group was officially established, marking the formal establishment of a sales business system focusing on the overseas market for both parties.

However, due to its obvious advantages, since 2023, the European Union has announced plans to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. In October 2024, the European Union finally decided to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. These tariffs have increased costs, significantly weakening the advantages of Chinese electric vehicles in Europe and the United States.

Due to the impact of various trade policies in Europe and the United States, the export growth rate has plummeted. In July of this year, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles surpassed 50% for the first time, but the primary growth driver was not pure electric vehicles but plug-in hybrids. It is evident that there has been a notable structural shift, with plug-in hybrids experiencing rapid growth and pure electric vehicles showing sluggish growth.

Therefore, it is undeniable that in the coming period, the "going out" strategy of Chinese automakers will be somewhat impacted.

Final Thoughts

The phrase "intense competition" has characterized the entire year of 2024 and will likely continue into 2025. The competition has not yet concluded. Who will endure and who will be eliminated? In 2025, we will wait and see.