The new year is to look forward to the future and also to look back at the past. As the pace of 2021 gradually leaves us, while looking forward to 2022, we may as well look back at the past. Of course, on the occasion of the arrival of the New Year, it is also the time when major car companies have announced the sales results of the past year, and it can be said that this is the last contest before the arrival of the Lunar New Year.
As the "evergreen tree" in the joint venture market, the Japanese "top three" led by Honda, Toyota and Nissan certainly cannot miss this opportunity, and after New Year's Day, they have announced sales in 2021. Just as the so-called "some people are happy and some people are sad", although the sales volume of the three major brands looks good overall, there will be a gap in comparison, which is more or less, and it depends on the market to prove.
With annual sales of 1.7 million, Toyota's annual sales continued to rise
In 2021, for the Japanese "top three", it is still a familiar plot, and Toyota once again leads the Japanese brand with an absolute advantage. Although Toyota officially did not announce the total sales of the year, from the known results of GAC Toyota and FAW Toyota, excluding imported models, Toyota's total sales in the past year were as high as 1.7 million units.
Specifically, FAW Toyota became one of the best-selling joint venture brands in the past year with annual sales of 860,019 units, an increase of 108% year-on-year, of which the annual sales volume of the SUV family was as high as 2,835.23 million units, and the sales performance of the dual engine series products was 201,597 units.
In terms of models, Crown Land has sold 25,173 units since its launch in August, and sold 7,029 units in December alone. The Corolla family, which also sold 3,302.8 million units in the year and 39,565 units in December, has been one of the most popular joint venture cars for many consecutive years since entering China in 2007, and has contributed most of FAW Toyota's sales performance in the past year.
In addition, GAC Toyota ranked behind FAW Toyota with a total of 840,396 units in 2021, an increase of 11% year-on-year. However, thanks to the advantages of platforming, in the past year, the sales of models from the TNGA platform have reached 665,345 units, accounting for 79% of total sales, while the sales of hybrid models directly exceeded 180,000 units, an increase of 98% year-on-year, and the overall performance is very strong.
Looking back at the situation in the past year, it has to be said that GAC Toyota has made two very correct decisions, that is, to introduce Senna into localization and launch a new generation of Highlander.
As we all know, in the middle of 2021, the state officially introduced the "three-child policy" to regulate the future Chinese pattern from a macro perspective through open birth, and the new generation of Highlander and Xena just caught up with the implementation of this policy. It can be said that these two cars give the "daddy" a more comprehensive choice.
At the same time, in terms of sales, GAC Toyota Syna has exceeded 10,000 units in one month since its launch on October 30, and has also received sales of 2,791 units in December; and Highlander has also achieved sales of more than 10,000 units for three consecutive months, and the cumulative order volume of the fourth-generation new Highlander has reached 57,988 units, a record high.
Under the chip crisis, Honda's trend slowed down
Compared to Toyota's brilliance, Honda, as an old rival, has obviously seen its overall sales decline over the past year. In 2021, Honda's terminal sales in China were 1,561,540 units, down 4.0% year-on-year, of which the cumulative sales of sharp hybrid models were 233,801 units, an increase of 116.0% year-on-year.
Of course, under the dual pressure of the global epidemic and the chip shortage crisis, Honda Motor has made production cut plans from August to September last year, and its real production volume is also 60% lower than the original plan, and the production reduction in early October is 40%. It can be seen that Honda, which was originally strong in strength, also appeared to have some "more than enough heart and insufficient strength" in the face of the "lack of core" crisis.
Fortunately, the impact of the global production cut plan on the Chinese market is not obvious. The CR-V, the main model, has sold more than 200,000 units in 2021 and remains dominant in the SUV market. In order to expand the product audience rate, Honda also launched a green card CR-V sharp hybrid e+ model in early 2021, and a larger lithium-ion power battery can provide a pure electric range of 85 kilometers for the vehicle, further meeting the needs of daily urban commuting.
In addition, in the face of the young market, Civic has always been a major killer of Honda, and at the Chengdu Auto Show in September 2021, the eleventh generation of Civic officially ushered in the listing. As a continuation of Honda's combat genes, the new Civic has returned to maturity and rationality in addition to being radical, just like the rebellious teenager who became a successful home warm man.
However, to meet the needs of contemporary young people, the New Civic is also equipped with a unique sporty kit, which includes a pure black ducktail and 17-inch sports wheels. Under the "two generations in the same house" sales strategy, the Sales of the Civic Series in the past year reached 166,127 units.
In addition to making efforts in traditional fuel vehicles, Honda is also actively promoting the process of pure electricity reform in 2021. In November 2021, Honda officially announced its strategic goal for electrification in China, and plans to sell 40% of its pure electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles before the arrival of 2030, and this figure will increase to 80% by 2035 and reach 100% by 2040; and honda will no longer release fuel vehicles to the Chinese market after 2030.
To achieve this goal, Honda has also launched the pure electric family e:N series and five new models. Among them, in addition to the three concept cars, there are two upcoming mass production e: NS1 and e: NP1, which will be produced by two joint ventures of Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda, respectively, and are expected to be launched in the spring of 2022, which is also Honda's first pure electric vehicle model under the electrification transformation.
Single-handed, Nissan regrets "bottom"
Before seeing the final result, many people, like the author, expected Nissan to finish in third place. It is understood that in 2021, Nissan's terminal sales in China will be 1,134,889 vehicles, of which the annual cumulative terminal sales of Japanese product brands will be 1,047,073 vehicles, and the sales volume has exceeded one million units for seven consecutive years.
However, despite this, Nissan is still far from the two major competitors of Toyota and Honda. However, from the perspective of the market, it is not difficult to find that the Japanese "two fields" basically open the Chinese civilian car market with the strategic route of "double vehicles", and it is reasonable to say that more sales are normal, while Nissan is only relying on a joint venture manufacturer of Dongfeng Nissan to fight alone, and it is not easy to get the annual sales of more than one million.
From a product point of view, Xuanyi is still an "evergreen tree" in the car market, and has also contributed a lot of sales results to Dongfeng Nissan in the past year. According to the data released by the official, Xuanyi's cumulative sales exceeded 510,000 units in January and December, and the terminal turnover in December alone was as high as 50,492 vehicles, and the overall strength was still strong.
And in order to compete with the Honda i-MMD sharp hybrid and Toyota dual engine technology, at the scene of the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show, Dongfeng Nissan Xuanyi e-POWER version officially ushered in the listing. The new vehicle uses Nissan's proud second-generation e-POWER hybrid technology, which uses the fuel engine as an efficient power generation system to further reduce fuel consumption by means of 100% electric drive. According to actual measurements, the comprehensive fuel consumption of Xuanyi e-POWER in urban road conditions can be reduced to 3.7 liters/100 km, which is far lower than the two major competitors of Sharp Hybrid and Dual Engine.
In addition to Dongfeng Nissan's own sales, Venucia's performance is also worth noting. It is understood that since the end of 2020, Venucia has been completely classified as the management system of Dongfeng Nissan, and sales have gone all the way up. Terminal sales in 2021 reached 87,816 units, up 11.6% year-on-year, and total sales in December were 16,776 units, up 47.1% year-on-year, and this is also the third consecutive month that Venucia's sales achieved year-on-year growth.
As the main product, Dongfeng Venucia Big V delivered a perfect "answer sheet" for 2021 with a sales volume of 7,008 units in December. However, overall, although Nissan cannot compete with the "two fields" in terms of sales, it is achieving steady growth, and its product strength is not inferior to the level of "two fields".
Auto Network Review: Successful industrial transformation is the key to success
2021 is a challenging year. The global pandemic combined with the chip shortage has cast a shadow over the automotive market. However, looking at the situation of the joint venture market, the performance of the Japanese "Three Musketeers" is still stable, and under the influence of the electrification and intelligent reform of the automotive industry, Honda, Toyota and Nissan have begun an orderly industrial transformation. Of course, as the competition in the civilian vehicle market gradually becomes white-hot, it is believed that the open and dark struggle between the Japanese "three musketeers" will also become more intense.