In recent years, what I have most intuitively felt as a consumer is the sudden change in the domestic automobile market. From the former German and Japanese monopoly markets, to today's domestic independent brands competing with foreign car companies, I am sure that this is something that every Chinese consumer is willing to see.
This change is particularly obvious in the field of new energy vehicles, if 2015 is the first year of the new car-making forces, then 2021 is the year when the new forces reshuffle. On New Year's Day of 2022, major new power car companies rushed to release their 2021 sales report cards. Interestingly, the pattern of "Wei Xiaoli", which has lasted for a long time, has also changed.
Weilai, the most senior among many new forces, does not seem to have a good time in 2021, but it still achieved more eye-catching results. It is reported that NIO delivered 10,489 vehicles in December 2021 and 25,034 units in the fourth quarter, achieving positive growth for seven consecutive quarters. Throughout 2021, WEI's total sales reached 91,429 units, a year-on-year surge of 109.1%, setting a record for the highest annual sales since its inception.
Although it is excellent enough, but such achievements still can not make Weilai become the king of new forces in 2021, perhaps Weilai did not expect that Xiaopeng, the "millennium old second" who had been suppressed by himself for a long time, suddenly exerted force and surpassed Weilai in sales.
It should be known that in 2020, the annual sales volume of Xiaopeng Automobile is only 27041 vehicles, but in 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile has ushered in an unprecedented explosion, and the delivery volume of Xiaopeng Automobile in December was 16,000 vehicles, an increase of 181% year-on-year, of which the delivery of Xiaopeng P7 was 7459 and the delivery of Xiaopeng P5 was 5030 units. In 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile sold 98,155 vehicles for the whole year, a violent increase of 263% over 2020, allowing Xiaopeng to surpass Weilai and crown the king of new forces in one fell swoop, and as of December 31, 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile's historical cumulative delivery volume exceeded 130,000 vehicles.
At the beginning of the release, almost no one would be optimistic about the ideal ONE to prove its strength with sales. Ideal cars delivered 14,087 units in December 2021, up 130% from December 2020. Throughout 2021, Ideal Cars delivered 90,491 new cars, a 177% increase in sales compared to 2020. As of December 31, 2021, the historical cumulative sales of Ideal Cars reached 14,088 units, and the Ideal ONE became the best-selling model of the new power.
In general, compared with the high-end Weilai and the ideal of a trick to eat everywhere, Xiaopeng Automobile, which takes the pro-people route, has won the crown of new forces by relying on the mid-end market, but the war situation in 2022 will obviously be more intense.
At the Guangzhou Auto Show two months ago, Xiaopeng officially released the flagship SUV - Xiaopeng G9, as a medium and large SUV exploring the high-end market, although Xiaopeng officially did not disclose the specific price of Xiaopeng G9, but from the size and configuration we can predict that Xiaopeng G9 will compete directly with Weilai and ideal ONE.
Nio Also released its cheapest model last month, the NIO ET5, which starts at just 328,000 yuan and will undoubtedly drive more sales for NIO. However, it should be noted that its direct opponents will be Star models such as Xiaopeng P7 and Tesla Model 3, and whether it can get a piece of the pie remains to be seen.
In 2022, Ideal will launch its second model, the Ideal X01, which still uses a range extender power combination, but will be larger than the Ideal ONE in terms of size, positioned as a large SUV, which will also mean that it will have a higher price than the ideal ONE, as for how much it can go, Xiaobian is not optimistic, after all, large SUVs are really too inconvenient for urban commuting.
Write at the end
From these three new cars, we can see that Xiaopeng and Ideal are moving closer to the more high-end market, and Weilai, which is positioned as a luxury brand, has instead launched ET5 to take the so-called people-friendly route. To put it bluntly, in 2022, there will be direct competition between Wei Xiaoli, rather than joining forces to seize the traditional fuel vehicle market. That is to say, the battlefield of new forces in 2022 will be more exciting than 2021.