In 2021, the epidemic is raging, the chip shortage, the wave of electrification has entered a white-hot, although there have been many problems in the past year, but the overall automotive industry has achieved slow growth, and various joint venture brands have achieved good results in 2021.
Plus electric, soared 128%
Volkswagen Group, one of the world's giants, has slowed down in 2021. According to the data, the cumulative sales volume of Volkswagen Group in China in 2021 was about 330 vehicles, down 14.1% year-on-year. Among them, the cumulative sales of the Volkswagen brand and its sub-brand Jetta exceeded 2.4 million units, down 14.8% year-on-year; the cumulative sales of the Skoda brand in 2021 were 7.12 units; the cumulative sales of the Audi brand at home were 701,300 units, and the sales of imported models increased by 53.9%.
In the past year, the SUV market has remained the home of Volkswagen, with cumulative sales of SUV models in the whole year of about 718,000 units, accounting for 31.8% of the brand's total sales. In addition, Volkswagen has also improved in the new energy vehicle market, with cumulative sales of new energy models exceeding 119,000 units, an increase of 128% year-on-year, of which the Volkswagen ID. family delivered 70,000 units in the whole year.
In 2021, Volkswagen's cumulative sales in China have declined, especially in terms of fuel vehicles, but this is a normal phenomenon, Volkswagen has been focusing on the transformation of electrification last year, and successfully launched 10 new energy vehicles, including 7 pure electric models, and this year Volkswagen's performance in the new energy vehicle market has soared, and the Volkswagen ID. family is gaining momentum, bringing a lot of surprises to the automotive industry. In the new energy vehicle market, Volkswagen can look forward to the future.
The main hybrid, stable growth
As Volkswagen's biggest competitor, Toyota motor has been working hard to improve its product matrix and increase market coverage in 2021. According to the data, Toyota's cumulative sales in China in 2021 were 1.944 million units, an increase of 8.2% year-on-year, which is also a new high for Toyota's sales in China for 9 consecutive years; among them, FAW Toyota's cumulative sales in the whole year were about 860,000 units, an increase of 8% year-on-year; GAC Toyota's cumulative sales in the whole year were about 840,000 units, an increase of 8.23% year-on-year.
Like Volkswagen, Toyota Motor also carried out a north-south layout in China, although last year Toyota's annual sales were still much worse than Volkswagen, but Toyota Motor's momentum last year was very strong, and achieved a new high in domestic sales for 9 consecutive years, of which FAW Toyota's performance last year was remarkable, launching Models such as Lingfang, Crown Land Release and Xena, further improving Toyota's product matrix in China, while also filling the gap in multiple market segments, it is expected that 9 years of sales growth can be achieved.
Last year, Toyota motor in the pure electric vehicle market did not have much movement, but in terms of transformation electrification, Toyota motor is more aggressive than other Japanese brands, after Toyota said at the press conference, before 2030 a total of 30 pure electric new cars, while by 2030 Toyota new energy vehicle sales will account for 75% of total sales, and strive to annual sales of 3.5 million, and Lexus will also evolve into a pure electric brand. In the face of the wave of electrification, Toyota Motor was still undecided, and last year it made up its mind to actively transform, and it seems that Toyota Motor will do a big job this year.
Accelerate electrification and continue to grow
As one of the "big three" Japanese brands, Honda's sales performance last year was worse than that in 2020, in large part due to the lack of cores. According to the data, the cumulative sales of Honda Automobile in 2021 were 1.5615 million units, down 4% year-on-year, of which the cumulative sales of Guangqi Honda in the whole year were 768,200 units, and the cumulative sales of Dongfeng Honda in the whole year were 793,300 vehicles, and the results of the two were not much different.
Last year, Honda's best-selling model was the "veteran" Honda CR-V, with cumulative sales of more than 200,000 units in the whole year; Accord, Civic, Binzhi, Haoying and XR-V also performed very well, and the annual sales of these five models exceeded 150,000 units. In addition, the cumulative sales of models equipped with the SPORT HYBRID hybrid system for the whole year were 233801 units, an increase of 16.0% year-on-year, which is one of the few outstanding performances of Honda Motor in 2021.
Unlike Toyota Motor, Honda Motor is not so anxious to transform electrification, after the launch of a new pure electric brand "e: N" and a new intelligent and efficient pure electric architecture "e: N Architecture", Honda Motor said that in the next five years will be launched in the domestic market 10 pure electric models, from 2030 in the country only sell pure electric and hybrid models. This year, Honda Motor is still focusing on the fuel vehicle market, and gradually replacing fuel models while developing electrification.
Cohesion and regroupment
Compared with Toyota Motor and Honda Motor, Nissan Motor's performance last year was somewhat worse, but this did not affect Nissan's layout this year. According to the data, the cumulative sales of Nissan Vehicles in China in 2021 were 1.3815 million units, down 5.2% year-on-year; including two modules: passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
As the main force of passenger car modules, Dongfeng Nissan (including Venucia) in 2021 was 1.1349 million units, down 6.4% year-on-year, and the main force is still Evergreen Nissan Xuanyi, which sold 513,000 vehicles last year, accounting for 45% of Dongfeng Nissan's total sales.
At the end of 2021, Nissan Motor has launched a number of new energy models, including the first e-Power Xuanyi, Venucia Big V, D60EV, T60EV and other models. At the beginning of January this year, Dongfeng Nissan also incorporated Dongfeng Infiniti under its command. This year, Nissan will regroup and start again.
Layout electric, decisive entry
Although today's American cars do not have the absolute strength to compete with Japanese and German, american cars represent SAIC-GM have been working hard to surpass German and Nissan. According to the data, SAIC-GM's cumulative sales in 2021 were 1.322 million vehicles, almost catching up with Nissan. Among them, Buick Automobile's cumulative sales for the whole year were 828,600 units, Chevrolet's cumulative sales for the whole year were 269,800 units, and Cadillac's cumulative sales for the whole year were 233,000 units.
SAIC-GM can achieve such results in China, and the large discount of model terminals is one of the main reasons. Last year, SAIC-GM announced that it will invest more than 50 billion yuan in electrification and intelligent networking planning, with the Aoteneng electric vehicle platform as the fulcrum, and also launch the platform's first model Cadillac LYRIQ to explore the market and prepare for the subsequent electrification product layout.
This year, SAIC-GM will launch more new products based on the Aoteneng electric vehicle platform, and the new new energy models of Buick Automobile and Chevrolet Automobile will gradually debut and be listed this year, and many of its models will be equipped with SAIC-GM's new generation of VCS intelligent cockpit system to increase the competitiveness of its products in the market.
The people evaluate the car
Compared with 2020, the development of these joint venture brands in the domestic market in 2021 is still relatively stable, the general increase is not large, and the slightly worse brands have also fallen very small, mainly because the epidemic plus chips have affected the overall performance. In 2022, in the face of the wave of electrification, coupled with the continued lack of core pressure in the global car market, the pace may go slower. Thankfully, several joint venture brands are well prepared.