In 2022, the collective launch of the electric counter-offensive.
Text | Zuo Maoxuan
On January 17, the In-depth Analysis Report of the 2021 National Passenger Car Market released by the All-China Federation of Passenger Vehicles showed that in 2021, the cumulative sales volume of the mainland passenger car market was 20.1459 million units, an increase of 4.4% year-on-year.
Among them, the sales volume of luxury brands increased by 4.9%, and the market share increased slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 13.2%; the sales volume of independent brands increased by 20.5%, and the market share increased from 35.8% to 41.2%; the sales volume of mainstream joint venture brands fell by 6.9%, and the market share fell from 51.1% to 45.6%.
Specifically, the market share of German, Japanese and Korean brands has declined significantly, with sales falling by 8.9%, 1.8% and 25.9% respectively, while sales of American and French cars have increased by 6.6% and 63.6% respectively.
"German and Japanese cars are mainly affected by the shortage of chips, and the situation should improve this year." Ford's growth benefited from the Lincoln brand, and the growth of the Dragon was due to new cars. On January 17, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the All-China Passenger Transport Association, told the think tank Jun.
In 2021, the decline in the market share of joint venture brands is also related to their lack of competitiveness in China's new energy vehicle market, many joint venture brands only have oil to electric models, and some brands have not even launched pure electric vehicles in China. However, in 2022, the joint venture car companies will make full efforts in the field of electrification.
The north-south masses are accelerating their differentiation
In 2021, the main reason for the decline in sales of German and Japanese cars is due to the shortage of chips, resulting in production capacity not being able to keep up with sales. As the sales champion of the domestic passenger car market, Volkswagen will be most obviously affected by the chip shortage in 2021.
According to the data, in 2021, Volkswagen Group China and its joint ventures delivered a total of 3.3 million vehicles in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, down 14.1% year-on-year. Among them, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini and other ultra-luxury brands have achieved certain growth, but Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda and other brands have been significantly affected by the global chip supply shortage, and volkswagen brands and their sub-brands Jetta delivered more than 2.4 million vehicles in the whole year, down 14.8% year-on-year. Although Volkswagen is still the brand with the highest market share in China, the gap with the Toyota brand has narrowed.
"2021 is one of the most challenging years since we entered the Chinese market. We have a considerable order volume, but the shortage of chips has prevented our capacity from meeting customer demand. The closure of our OEMs and suppliers' factories due to the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the lack of capacity and caused us to lose some market share. Volkswagen Group China CEO Feng Sihan said.
However, it should be pointed out that the differentiation of Volkswagen's two joint ventures in China is becoming more and more obvious.
According to data released by FAW-Volkswagen, it will sell 1.8578 million new cars (including Audi imported cars) in 2021, winning the sales championship of domestic passenger car companies for the third consecutive year. Among them, the Jetta brand achieved sales growth, and the sales of audi brands and Volkswagen brands declined.
However, FAW-Volkswagen also has hidden concerns. In 2021, the Annual Sales of the Audi brand was 700,100 vehicles, down 3.6% from 2020, and the gap between Mercedes-Benz and BMW further widened. In addition, with SAIC Audi entering the market in 2022, although Audi emphasizes that the north and south Audis are complementary, competition between them is inevitable.
SAIC Volkswagen's sales continued to decline, with cumulative sales of 1.242 million units last year, down 17.50% year-on-year. From 2016 to 2019, SAIC Volkswagen sold more than 2 million vehicles for four consecutive years, and now sales are only 60% of the peak period, and the situation of north-south Volkswagen domination no longer exists. In 2021, SAIC-Volkswagen's wholesale sales ranked only 4th, not only far lower than FAW-Volkswagen, but also surpassed by SAIC-GM and Geely Automobile.
The main reason for SAIC Volkswagen's poor sales is the sharp decline in sales of the Skoda brand, which sold only 71,200 vehicles in 2021. However, as SAIC Audi opens delivery, SAIC Volkswagen will also form a three-brand situation. Especially with the liberalization of the joint venture share ratio, German Volkswagen does not want the gap between the two joint ventures in the north and the south to be too large, and it needs to be balanced as much as possible.
In terms of new energy vehicles, Volkswagen's sales in China exceeded 119,000 units in 2021, an increase of 128% year-on-year. Among them, the ID. series achieved 70,000 units of delivery, although this sales performance was better than other joint venture brands, but this did not meet Volkswagen's previous expectation of 100,000 units. Volkswagen will continue to make efforts in electrification, launching about 12 new models this year, half of which are pure electric models.
For 2022, the public is still full of confidence. "Looking forward to 2022, the chip supply situation will still fluctuate in the first half of the year, but it is expected to gradually improve, and our production will also stabilize during the year." Feng Sihan said.
Toyota is running wild, and the Japanese system is starting to power electric
Although in the global market, Toyota and Volkswagen have come and gone, there has always been a large sales gap between Toyota and Volkswagen in the Chinese market. However, in 2021, Toyota is one of the most eye-catching multinational car companies in China.
Toyota Motor Corporation released data showing that Toyota's new car sales in China in 2021 were 1.944 million units, an increase of 8.2% over 2020, a 9-year increase, and a record high. Toyota also overtook GM (excluding SAIC-GM-Wuling) to become the second-largest selling multinational automotive group in China.
Although also hit by chip shortages, Toyota's two joint ventures have seen some growth. In 2021, FAW Toyota sold more than 860,000 new vehicles, up 8% year-on-year. GAC Toyota sold a total of 840,400 units in 2021, up 11% year-on-year. The gap between the two joint ventures has narrowed further, and both are challenging their target of 1 million vehicles.
It is worth noting that the sales growth of Toyota's hybrid vehicles in China has driven overall sales. In 2021, Toyota will sell a total of 475,900 hybrid models in China, accounting for nearly 25% of overall sales.
The other two head Japanese brands, Honda and Nissan, have declined to a certain extent.
In 2021, Honda's cumulative terminal sales in China were 1.5615 million units, down 4% year-on-year. Among them, Guangqi Honda's annual terminal sales were 780,300 units, and Dongfeng Honda's was 793,300 units. Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan and Venucia) sold 1,134,900 units during the year, down 6.4% year-on-year, of which the sales of passenger cars under the Japanese product brand were 1,047,100 units, and the cumulative sales of venucia brands were 87,800 units.
Looking forward to 2022, Japanese car companies will begin to make efforts in the field of electrification. Toyota will bring new models created by the new pure electric platform bZ, and new cars will be unveiled in cooperation with BYD; Honda will launch two pure electric vehicles in China, namely e:NP1 and e:NS1; Nissan plans to introduce pure electric vehicle Aria into China in addition to launching more e-Power models.
Ford Dpillaum rebounded, hyundai is looking forward to a turnaround
In terms of American cars, thanks to Lincoln's domestic production, Ford's market share has rebounded slightly, and SAIC-GM has declined by a certain extent, but it is still second only to FAW-Volkswagen in China's passenger car market.
In 2021, SAIC-GM's buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands sold a total of 1.3316 million vehicles in the whole year, down about 9% from 2020. Among them, the sales volume of the Cadrak brand reached 233117 vehicles, an increase of 1.4% year-on-year, while the Buick and Chevrolet brands declined to varying degrees.
This year, SAIC-GM will make efforts in the field of new energy vehicles. Cadillac luxury pure electric medium and large SUV LYRIQ will begin to be delivered this year, Buick, Chevrolet brand based on the Aoteneng pure electric platform new products, will also be unveiled in 2022.
In 2021, Ford sold a total of 624,800 vehicles (including commercial vehicles) in China, an increase of 3.7% year-on-year. Among them, the Annual Sales of the Lincoln Brand reached 91,600 units, an increase of 48.3% year-on-year, and most of the sales came from domestic models; the delivery of Ford brand passenger cars was 237,700 units, which was basically the same as the previous year. In the field of electrification, the domestic Ford Mustang Mach-E has been delivered in December 2021.
On the basis of the previous lower sales, DPCA bottomed out in 2021, and the cumulative wholesale sales of the year returned to the level of 100,000 units, an increase of 100.07% year-on-year. Among them, Dongfeng Citroen Versailles C5X is the best-selling model of Dongfeng Citroen Automobile at present, with a cumulative sales volume of 12,100 units in the whole year, and another model of Dongfeng Citroen, Tianyi, has also exceeded the sales volume of 10,000 units, but the sales of other models are less than 10,000 units.
In addition, as a joint venture brand that once sold more than one million vehicles a year, Beijing Hyundai is still in a low ebb. In 2021, Beijing Hyundai terminal sales will be 385,000 units. However, Du Junbao, permanent deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai, said in an interview with the think tank Junjun on January 5 that last year, the profitability of Beijing Hyundai's dealers improved, and 80% of dealers achieved profitability. Starting in 2022, Beijing Hyundai hopes to further improve its operating conditions.