It is reported on March 10 by CARLuli that with the recent release of various car sales ranking lists, new energy has rapidly penetrated into various market segments of the Chinese auto market.
Relatively speaking, the high-end car market segment is still relatively stable, which may indicate that consumers in this market segment have high brand loyalty.
However, small changes do not mean no changes. It can be seen from the sales data in February that the market space of second-tier luxury brands has been further squeezed. Lexus has fallen out of the top ten, while NIO ET5 has quietly entered the list.
February 2023 High-end Car Sales Ranking List |
| Unit: vehicle Note: Model starting price – more than 300,000 yuan |
| No. | High-end car | 2023.2 | 2022.2 | YoY |
| 1 | Audi A6L | 12,167 | 8,153 | 49.2% |
| 2 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 12,153 | 9,378 | 29.6% |
| 3 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 11,869 | 5,298 | 124.0% |
| 4 | BMW 5 series | 9,609 | 9,352 | 2.7% |
| 5 | BMW 3 Series | 8,868 | 10,185 | -12.9% |
| 6 | Audi A4L | 6,935 | 9,460 | -26.7% |
| 7 | NIO ET5 | 6,471 | – | – |
| 8 | BMW 3 Series BEV | 2,976 | – | – |
| 9 | Volvo S90 | 2,893 | 1,666 | 73.6% |
| 10 | Hongqi H9 | 1,159 | 1,477 | -21.5% |
Judging from the top ten sales of high-end cars in February, BBA still occupies the top position. Among them, the sales volume of Audi A6L was 12,167 units, a year-on-year increase of 49.2%, the sales volume of Mercedes-Benz E-Class was 12,153 units, a year-on-year increase of 29.6%, and the sales volume of BMW 5 Series was 9,609 units, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%.
In fact, in the top ten sales list, we can still see that the tentacles of new energy are already penetrating into the high-end car market. For example, NIO ET5 ranked seventh on the list with sales of 6,471 units, which shows that NIO’s luxury car design is gradually being recognized. If this achievement is stabilized or even expanded, it will be a strategic victory for NIO.
As for the second-tier luxury brands, they were squeezed terribly. Lexus and Cadillac were directly squeezed out of the top ten. Only Volvo was still struggling, and its sales in February were only 2,893.
Regarding this result, one of the industry’s more accepted sayings is that in the face of competition from Tesla, NIO, Li Auto, Xpeng and other similarly priced EV models, the brand value and product technology of second-tier luxury brands have already disappeared..