Text | Front Travel
On the last day of March, china automobile dealers association released a bad forecast: the car market was lower than expected in March, and the terminal sales of passenger cars were around 1.65 million.
At the end of the quarter, in order to sprint the target, all car companies started a new round of price wars, and the passenger flow increased. However, consumers were in a strong mood to hold money for purchase, and the order conversion was insufficient, which led to the weak growth of the auto market in March.
Of course, there are also relatively optimistic news. Due to the price drop, a large number of potential customers started to use new energy vehicles. The Association predicted that the new energy penetration rate in March could reach 45.5%. This level is already at the historical high level of full-month permeability, but is it really the case? We may know a thing or two from the car companies that have announced the results of new energy.
AITO, the ideal fault leads, and the zero run surpasses Weilai and Tucki.
The new forces have always been the "vanguard" to announce sales results. As of press time, AITO, Ideality, Krypton, Weilai and Tucki have all announced their deliveries in March.
Among them, AITO delivered a total of 31,727 new cars in March, surpassing the ideal and becoming the first monthly sales of new power brands. Specific to the vehicle types, the new M7 and the new M9 delivered 24,598 and 6,243 vehicles respectively, with the former being the "No.1 in the sales volume of new power vehicles" and the latter being the "No.1 in the sales volume of new power vehicles above 500,000 yuan", which strongly seized the ideal share in the high-end new energy family car market. For reference, the new M7 sold 18,479 vehicles in February, up 24.88% year-on-year. It must be said that its market performance is really eye-catching.
However, it may be that the performance of the new M7 in the field of inquiry is too strong, but it makes the introductory M5 look a bit "redundant". You know, the threshold for buying a car for the M5 is 249,800 yuan, which is completely consistent with the new M7 with higher positioning. Consumers are definitely more willing to choose the new M7 with more space. At present, Xiaotong hasn’t found the news about the change of the M5, but in order to gain a wider audience, it will be the focus to ask how much the M5′ s future price can drop.
LI delivered only 28,984 vehicles in March, and the sales volume of the new power was surpassed by AITO. However, LI made great progress, with vehicles delivered in March increasing by 39.2% year-on-year and 52.9% year-on-year in the first quarter. Moreover, as of March 31st, LI has delivered 713,764 vehicles, becoming the first brand of new forces in China to complete the milestone of delivering 700,000 vehicles.
In March, 2024 L-series SUVs and a new pure electric MPV ideal MEGA were ideally launched. Even though the ideal MEGA didn’t get the official expected response after it went on the market, it did contribute some sales at present. The 2024 L series has indeed been fully upgraded, and the price has hardly changed, and it is still the backbone of the brand.
In addition, LI’s next focus will be the upcoming ideal L6. As a reference, the car purchase threshold of the ideal L7 is 301,800 yuan, and the ideal L6 with more entry-level positioning will undoubtedly have a lower starting price. In this way, the ideal L series will at least no longer have no price advantage when competing with M7.
In addition to AITO and LI, Zero Run, Weilai and Tucki also announced their deliveries in March, with 14,567 vehicles, 11,866 vehicles and 9,026 vehicles respectively.
Zero run can surpass Weilai and Tucki, and the official said that C10 is the main reason. A medium-sized SUV only needs 128,800 yuan, and many configurations are ahead of the same level. Zero-run C10 has become the "flat replacement" of the ideal L series with its obvious cost-performance advantage. In addition, the newly released Zero Run C11, Zero Run C01 and Zero Run T03 have applied a brand-new electronic and electrical architecture, which has been upgraded in appearance, interior, intelligent driving, cockpit and other dimensions.
Xiaotong believes that the improvement of product strength is undoubtedly the main reason why zero-run cars can surpass Weilai and Tucki under the premise of ensuring cost performance. It is worth noting that the zero-run car has signed a contract with Huawei, and the HarmonyOS native application will be mass-produced in the future. The high-end and smooth smart cockpit has become a car purchase factor for more and more consumers. The cooperation between Zero Run and Huawei will not only provide users with a smarter car experience, but also make the brand quickly enter the first echelon in the intelligent field.
The monthly sales of Weilai and Tucki are growing steadily. Weilai did not push new moves in the first quarter, but Xiaotong learned that the switching of 2024 models under Weilai brand has been basically completed, and the intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving field will usher in a major upgrade in April.
Tucki launched the brand-new MPV Tucki X9 this year, and has delivered nearly 8,000 vehicles in three months, which is a brand-new sales pillar. However, for Xpeng Motors, there is still much room for improvement. To this end, Tucki will release a brand-new sub-brand at the Beijing Auto Show, and the product price will drop to the range of 100,000-150,000 yuan, competing with traditional brands such as Ai ‘an and BAIC to grab a special car and enter the A-class car market.
Generally speaking, the head market structure of the new energy auto market has not changed in March, and it is still asking the world, ideal zero run, and a number of new forces are eyeing. What is worrying is that the new power camp has begun to show obvious differentiation, especially the sales achievements of brands such as Weilai and Tucki have been delayed, which will make people wonder whether they have touched the ceiling.
BYD and Geely "blossomed more", while GAC Ai ‘an and SAIC Volkswagen have hidden concerns.
Traditional brands release sales data slowly, but there are also brands such as BYD, GAC Ai ‘an, Geely, Wuling and SAIC Volkswagen that quickly follow up. Among them, BYD is still the "leader" in new energy sales. In March, it sold a total of 301,631 new energy passenger cars, an increase of 147.8% from the previous month.
Specifically, Dynasty Family and Ocean Net are the absolute sales force of the Group, with a total of 286,712 vehicles sold in March, up 151.4% from the previous month. Tengshi’s chain-on-chain growth also exceeded 100%. Looking up to Auto and Equation Leopard, they positioned the mid-to high-end market, but thanks to the steady growth of market demand, they increased by 39.7% and 53.7% respectively.
?
After entering March, the products of Dynasty Family and Ocean Net quickly followed the "Glory Edition" model, and the cost performance was significantly improved, which further stimulated the sales of the already best-selling cars. The newly listed BYD Yuan UP has pulled the car purchase threshold of small pure electric SUV to less than 100,000 yuan, and the cost performance is also very high, but the vitality of the small SUV market is not high, and the role of Yuan UP has not been highlighted yet.
GAC Ai ‘an sold a total of 32,530 vehicles in March, an increase of 95.1% from the previous month. Although this figure is compared with the monthly sales level of about 40,000 vehicles in the second half of last year, it is still in a steady growth state.
In order to stimulate the sales growth, GAC Ai ‘an launched the corresponding preferential policies in March, and the official said that it won the order volume of nearly 1,600 vehicles on March 11th. At that time, some media even predicted that the sales volume of GAC Ai ‘an in March was expected to exceed 50,000 vehicles.
Obviously, the temporary surge in sales does not mean that it can be maintained, and it is worth noting that its high-end brand Haobo has no obvious effect on promoting brand sales.
Haobo currently has two products with high quality and cost performance. Consumers can buy a medium-sized and large-sized pure electric product for more than 200,000 yuan. However, the image of "network car" left by Ai ‘an to users is too profound. Although Haobo does not take the B-end market, the binding between Haobo and Ai ‘an is too deep, which affects the speed of Haobo’s market expansion. How to change the stereotype of users on the brand is a problem that GAC Ai ‘an needs to face.
Geely Automobile Group sold 150,835 vehicles in March, of which the penetration rate of new energy was about 30%, and a total of 44,791 new energy vehicles were sold. Among them, Galaxy series and Geometry series sold 10,185 vehicles and 12,882 vehicles respectively, up by 12% and 23% respectively. The Krypton brand delivered 13,012 vehicles in March, with a year-on-year increase of over 95%. The brand-new Krypton 001 and Krypton 007 both played a key role.
Wuling did not announce the sales volume of all models, but only announced the sales data of Wuling Binguo and Wuling Binguo PLUS in March: 12,694 vehicles.
At present, in the small pure electric vehicle market, BYD Seagull, BYD Dolphin and Wuling Bingo are at the leading level of faults, but Wuling Bingo is still at the level of being "suppressed" by dolphins by about 1000 vehicles. Wuling Bingo PLUS, which has been on the market for more than a month, has really helped Wuling Bingo alleviate a lot of competitive pressure.
From the data point of view, the combination of Wuling Bingo+Wuling Bingo PLUS is still inferior to the combination of dolphins and seagulls, but Wuling has gradually shifted the position of strategic products from mini-cars to small cars. At present, the market share of mini-cars continues to shrink, and the sales volume is directly halved compared with the peak period. Except for Hongguang MINIEV, the sales volume of models such as Panda mini and Chery Ice Cream is only 10,000.
The positioning of a small car is similar to that of a mini-car, and it is also used for daily commuting, but it pursues space and comfort more, and its configuration is relatively higher. According to the latest purchase tax policy, pure electric vehicles with a battery life of less than 200km and a battery life of not less than 120km at low temperature can not enjoy the purchase tax exemption, which gives small new energy vehicles a competitive advantage.
Considering that both dolphins and seagulls have launched glory versions, consumers might as well start positioning smaller cars with higher budgets. It is almost certain that the relevant policy requirements will only get higher and higher, and the shrinking of the mini-car market is irreversible. It is the best choice for car companies to transfer the battlefield in time.
Compared with domestic brands, the achievements of joint venture brands in the new energy market are not mainstream, but several car companies have gradually gained a foothold, and SAIC Volkswagen is one of them.
According to official data, the sales volume of SAIC Volkswagen ID. Family once again exceeded 10,000 vehicles in March, among which Volkswagen ID.3 became the main sales force of Volkswagen ID. Family without any surprise. However, the official has not released the detailed sales data of its specific models. It is not difficult to guess how bleak the sales performance of other models except Volkswagen ID.3 is.
This product front that needs "one enemy against a hundred" seems to be helpful to the sales data, but it may gradually become synonymous with "cheap big bowl", and the more the brand goes up, the more difficult it is. After all, "waiting for the party" may be waiting for the opportunity to cut prices.
However, SAIC Volkswagen does not seem to intend to change the status quo. According to the latest news, the government also uses a number of financial policies and hedging rates to market Volkswagen ID.3, further emphasizing the cost-effective nature of products. In addition to SAIC-Volkswagen, pure electric products such as SAIC-GM Buick and BMW Brilliance are also powerful terminal promotions.
Obviously, the joint venture brand has long recognized its limitations in the field of new energy, but if it wants to change the status quo, it can’t just rely on actions such as enriching the product line, but needs to start changing from the starting point of the product. Facing the increasingly fierce competition in the new energy market, Volkswagen chose to join hands with Tucki; Audi and Zhiji platform reached a cooperation; Dongfeng Honda has developed Lingxi brand for the new energy market …
They realize that this is ahead of most joint venture brands, but it is not so easy to change consumer stereotypes. According to the practice that almost all car companies choose "price for quantity", in the future, joint venture brands will present a multi-brand front in the new energy market, with at least one responsible for volume and one responsible for high-end.
Write it at the end
Although there are still many car companies that have not released the sales data in March at the time of writing, judging from the published results, the new energy brands in March basically got rid of the impact of the off-season in February, and their development is returning to the right track. Especially the automobile brands that have been in the leading position in sales volume have almost reached the peak at the end of last year, but it will take longer for Weilai and Tucki, which only launch pure electric products, to recover.
However, the fun is yet to come. The first quarter has passed, and car companies need to focus on the future in time.
At the end of April, Beijing Auto Show, the first large-scale international auto show in China this year, will officially open. In the face of the upcoming "splash of wealth", various manufacturers will launch the most advanced products, technologies and even brand-new sub-brands at that time. In addition to the new brand to be released by Tucki, Xiaotong learned that Cadillac Aoge, Zero Run brand new model, Geely Galaxy E5, Extreme Yue 07 and other products will all be unveiled.
These brands have made some achievements in the field of new energy, and will make in-depth adjustments in the positioning, experience and market competitiveness of new products, so as to adapt to the increasingly fierce competition in the new energy market. It is foreseeable that the growth potential of the new energy auto market will be deeply explored in April due to the Beijing Auto Show, and the results will only be better than that in March.
