On July 21, the topic “#Many BMW 4S stores in many places refuse to deliver the cars#” rushed to the top of the Weibo hot search list, causing a heated discussion.
According to media reports, many consumers have encountered BMW’s overbearing terms, and many BMW 4S stores in many places refuse to deliver new cars, and the sales require a price increase to pick up the cars. Judging from the content disclosed by consumers comprehensively, this time there is a large-scale situation of non-delivery in BMW 4S stores across the country. The models are mainly concentrated in several models such as the i3, ix3, and 3 Series. Most consumers ordered the cars at the end of May and the beginning of June, and when picking up the cars in July, they were required to temporarily increase the price by 30,000 yuan. In addition, although some consumers have picked up the cars, the process is very difficult. Even when the formalities are complete, they can only complete the pick-up after many urgings.
It is understood that the reasons why 4S stores refuse to deliver are different. For some consumers who have already signed the contract and paid the deposit, the response given by the store is that the car has stopped production or the output has decreased. For those consumers who have only paid the deposit and not signed the contract, the store responded with reasons such as “the headquarters approval has not passed”. However, in the eyes of consumers, the reason why BMW 4S stores refuse to deliver is very simple, that is, BMW withdraws from the price war, and many models of its subsidiaries temporarily increase the price. 4S stores are no longer willing to sell at the low price when ordering the cars, and require consumers who have previously ordered the cars to increase the price to pick up the cars. For this kind of behavior, many consumers said they cannot accept it. In the case of signing the contract and paying the deposit, they refuse to deliver or are required to increase the price temporarily. This kind of practice is no different from an overbearing term.
Since this year, the price war in the automotive industry has spread to the luxury car field, and luxury brands including BMW have had to be forced to join the price war. The terminal market prices of many models of the brand have dropped significantly, resulting in a situation where many 4S stores have suffered losses in selling cars.
At the end of May this year, BMW sent a letter to all dealer stores stating that in view of the general background of the market and the huge impact brought by domestic brands, it decided to issue a number of substantial subsidy reduction policies to BMW 4S stores, aiming to help dealers deal with short-term difficulties and relieve business pressure. After the policy was introduced, the prices of many BMW models plummeted significantly, mainly the pure electric series such as the i3 and ix3, and now it can be purchased at a price of less than 200,000 yuan.
However, traditional luxury brands sell cars at reduced prices and fail to stimulate the growth of terminal market sales. Take BMW as an example. In the first half of this year, the sales of the BMW Group in the Chinese market was 375,947 units (including BMW and MINI brands), a year-on-year decrease of 4%.
Since the end of June, BMW has gradually withdrawn from the price war. BMW China said that in the second half of this year, BMW will focus on business quality in the Chinese market and support dealers to take steady steps. Affected by this, BMW dealers have all reduced the terminal price promotion efforts and raised the unit price. Up to now, the average unit price has risen by about 13,000 yuan.
It is undeniable that the price war has indeed brought a lot of pressure to the dealers, and the 4S store has almost fallen into a vicious circle of selling cars at a loss. Not only that, but the price reduction in sales also damages the brand value. The once-representative luxury BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi have now gradually weakened, and the market share has begun to be eroded by independent new energy brands.
At present, the entire luxury car market is facing challenges of declining sales and electrification transformation. Especially for luxury brands, the brand premium in the past many years is difficult to be transmitted to electric vehicle products, and the electric vehicle products currently launched by BBA all show a situation of a significant drop in terminal prices. According to the plan, in 2025, the new generation models of BMW will be launched in the global market, and at least six models will be put into production in the following two years. The new cars will be equipped with a new electrical and electronic architecture, a new user interface and human-computer interaction concept, and a new high-performance electric drive battery system.
The change in BMW’s strategic layout makes consumers pay the bill. The contract signed at the beginning has now become a waste paper, and the unilateral breach of contract by the 4S store has brought great harm to consumers. For this reason, some lawyers said that the 4S store’s refusal to deliver the cars and the adoption of a temporary price increase to pick up the cars violated the contract agreement. Consumers’ purchase of cars from 4S stores is a kind of sales contract relationship. Consumers have already signed a contract with the 4S store and paid the deposit, and the sales contract is established and takes effect.
Lawyers said that in the face of unreasonable behaviors such as price increase to pick up the cars, consumers have the right to refuse and try to resolve them through negotiation as much as possible. If negotiation fails, they can complain to the brand manufacturer’s customer service phone or 12345 and 12315. If the complaint fails, they can file a lawsuit to require the 4S store to fulfill the obligation to deliver the cars according to the contract and bear the liability for breach of contract for overdue delivery as stipulated in the contract; or file a lawsuit to terminate the contract on the grounds of unilateral breach of contract by the 4S store and require double compensation for the deposit; or file a lawsuit to require the 4S store to bear the liability for breach of contract as stipulated in the contract; for consumers who have already completed the pick-up by increasing the price due to the situation, they can still file a lawsuit to require the refund of the increased price part through a lawsuit
