Five suggestions for buying a car in 2024

There are 33 days left in 2023, and in the coming year of 2024, many friends should have the demand of buying a car for the first time, changing it and increasing it. The picture shows that the car has summed up five suggestions for buying a car in 2024 based on the current development trend of the automobile industry and personal judgment.

First, new energy sources are preferred, and pure fuel vehicles are not recommended.

Many people may be reluctant to accept the fact that pure fuel vehicles are declining, but the fact is that fuel vehicles are accelerating to withdraw from the historical stage, at least in China. According to the monthly report of the Association, the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles has reached 38% in October 2023, and in January this year, the market penetration rate of new energy was still 25.7%. Compared with the same period of last year, the penetration rate of new energy market increased by 7.8% in October.

In terms of sales volume, of the 2.03 million new cars sold in October 2023, 770,000 were new energy vehicles, and the remaining 1.26 million were pure fuel vehicles. This comparison really shows that fuel vehicles are still difficult to hide the king’s demeanor, but if we compare the growth rate in the same period, it means that pure fuel vehicles are showing signs of decline-in November, the sales of new energy vehicles increased by 38% year-on-year, while the sales of pure fuel vehicles increased by -2.1%. In January, which was hit hardest by new energy, the sales of pure fuel vehicles increased by an astonishing -44.5% year-on-year.

It is not difficult to see that the pure fuel vehicle is going downhill as a whole, and there is no possibility of any return to life. In 2024, pure fuel vehicles, especially those below 200,000, will disappear faster. The newly listed consumer-grade vehicles are basically plug-in, extended-range or pure electric vehicles, and new pure fuel vehicles will be limited to joint venture brands and a few performance vehicles. For most consumers, accepting new energy sources may become the norm, because there are really not many pure fuel new cars to choose from.

In addition, it is still about wallets. 2024 is the penultimate year of new energy purchase tax exemption, and by 2026, new energy purchase tax will not be completely exempted. So, get on the bus when you get on, don’t hesitate, the later the fuel car changes, the greater the loss. You may not believe me, but the second-hand car association will give you lessons.

Second, program extension and multi-gear plug-in hybrid priority program extension

It is not yet clear who can laugh at the end between the extended program and the plug-in hybrid, but in the coming and foreseeable year of 2024, the extended program is undoubtedly the better solution.

Extended programs are often ridiculed as backward technology, but the answer given by the market is not the case. The sales volume of new energy terminals in October 2023 showed that the sales volume of plug-in hybrid vehicles in October was 159,000, and the sales volume of extended-range vehicles in the same period was 72,200, with a year-on-year increase of 211%. No matter what industry it is, "joining if you can’t beat it" is an eternal road. At first, you only wanted to extend your journey. Now Deep Blue, Wenjie, Zero Run, Lantu and even BYD have all joined the ranks of extending your journey. Only Tucki and Weilai are the independent new energy brands that firmly adhere to the pure circuit line, and the sales of the latter have reached the "not very good" range.

At the same time, the self-owned brands that adhere to the multi-gear plug-in hybrid technology route are also uncomfortable. How many of the 159,000 plug-in new cars are BYD’s single-gear plug-in, I think you have a good idea.

Undoubtedly, in the coming year of 2024, with the continuous decline in the price of raw materials for batteries, there will be more and more extended-range models for large batteries. A very simple question, when the extended pure electric mileage comes to about 350 kilometers, what are the advantages of plug-in hybrid models with 55 kilometers and 120 kilometers of pure electric battery life? Not to mention the multi-speed plug-in hybrid vehicle with complex technology and easy failure.

Third, the conditions allow priority to choose the smart driving version.

Nowadays, the development speed of new cars is really fast, and electrification is accompanied by intelligence. Of course, the intelligence here is not a disappearing gear handle and an increasingly large central control screen, but an increasingly advanced auxiliary driving function. When quite a few people are not used to giving the throttle to the adaptive cruise system, the tram has entered the stage of giving the steering wheel to the auxiliary driving system.

Then the two-day video of Smart World S7 and Ideal Unmanned parking service shows us to some extent the normal state of parking in the basements of first-and second-tier cities after two or three years-the basements of big shopping malls are full of cars with drivers who have no one to find their own parking spaces, and in most cases, they may be better and more courteous than human drivers.

Intelligent driving is not limited to unmanned parking service, but also point-to-point navigation assistance. At present, most car companies’ intelligent driving schemes are still in semi-closed road environment such as expressway/urban expressway, which is only the initial stage of pilot assistance. The higher level is the navigation assistance of complex urban roads, and the foreseeable ultimate goal is the point-to-point navigation assistance. At present, the intelligent driving technology of some car companies has actually reached the point-to-point level of navigation assistance, but the policies, regulations and road environmental conditions have not yet reached the practical level. In the future, with the improvement of regulations and urban infrastructure, point-to-point navigation assistance will no longer be a scene unique to science fiction films.

In the coming year of 2024, most trams with a price of more than 150,000 yuan should provide a smart driving version, which usually uses the suffix of MAX or I, and the price is usually about 20,000 yuan more expensive than the ordinary version. At the same time, there may be a new trend that all new cars have the redundancy of intelligent driving hardware. If you want to open the intelligent driving function in the future, you only need to purchase the service and push the intelligent driving function through OTA.

Therefore, considering the change cycle of 5-6 years, if you buy a tram next year, it is recommended to give priority to the intelligent driving version. If conditions do not permit, try to choose a model with intelligent driving hardware redundancy that can be upgraded through OTA, so that you can upgrade to the intelligent driving version at any time when future conditions permit. The intelligent driving era will not be too far away.

Fourth, independent brand new energy gives priority to big manufacturers and their sub-brands.

Needless to say, in recent years, new energy sources of independent brands have emerged in an endless stream, and many of them are short-lived. The latter are basically "new forces" without endorsement from big manufacturers. Other things aside, just by fighting the price war, the big manufacturers will persist longer than the new forces, and the after-sales and supply chain of the big manufacturers will be more complete, at least there will be no crisis in the car machine.

At the same time, the self-owned brand new energy sub-brands are actually doing very well, and the level of adjustment is inevitable, but at least the hardware is full, and more than 200,000 double wishbone air suspensions are arranged for you. The same price can be given priority.

Fifth, buy early and enjoy the discount for buying late.

This is applicable at any time, because the development of science and technology is a process of continuous innovation and progress, and everyone may be backstab. For example, when you are still immersed in the expectation and joy of waiting for your car to be transported to the delivery center, the APP highlights the push of the smart driving version of the same model.

At this time, you should learn to comfort yourself that "buy early and enjoy the discount when you buy late". In the new energy era, new cars come out faster than mobile phones. No matter when you buy a car, there are always better and more advanced models on the market, and the models that can afford and meet your needs are the most suitable. In short, the best scenery is always in the distance, and it is wonderful to learn to enjoy the present.