According to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, domestic automobile sales (wholesale) in 2021 increased by 3.8% year-on-year, reversing three consecutive declines in one fell swoop. However, it should also be noted that the growth of automobile sales in 2021 is mainly caused by the surge in new energy vehicles.
In 2021, sales of new energy vehicles increased by 1.6 times year-on-year, increasing by 2.154 million units. Total car sales increased by only 960,000 units that year. The negative growth of traditional energy vehicle sales has led to negative growth in 2021 for automotive conglomerates with a small proportion of new energy vehicles.
According to the statistics of the China Automobile Association, among the top ten automobile enterprise groups with sales in 2021, 4 have negative growth and 6 have positive growth. The top three SAIC, FAW and Dongfeng all had negative growth.
Statistics show that SAIC Motor's vehicle sales (wholesale) in 2021 were 5.365 million units, down 169,000 units from the previous year's 5.534 million units, down 3.17% year-on-year. FAW Group's sales (wholesale) last year were 3.501 million units, down 205,000 units from 3.706 million units in the previous year, down 5.85% year-on-year. Dongfeng Group's sales (wholesale) last year were 3.275 million units, down 183,000 units from 3.458 million units in the previous year, down 5.59% year-on-year.
Judging from the production and sales express reports released by the three major auto giants, the decline in sales in 2021 is mainly due to the shortage of chips. Among multinational auto groups, Volkswagen was the most affected in 2021, resulting in a double-digit decline in Volkswagen's sales in China, as well as a double-digit decline in FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen. Dongfeng Honda was expected to hit the million mark in 2021, but due to the shortage of chips, not only failed to grow sales, but also experienced double-digit declines. In addition, in 2021, commercial vehicle sales as a whole showed negative growth, and all three major automobile groups had commercial vehicles, which was also an important factor in the negative growth of total sales.
Overall, the market performance of the three major auto groups in 2021 is mixed with joys and worries, and there are bright spots and shortcomings.
The two joint ventures dragged down SAIC's annual sales
ACCORDING TOC Released by SAIC Motor, saic vehicle wholesale sales reached 5.464 million units in 2021, maintaining the first place in the country for 16 consecutive years, and independent brands, new energy vehicles and overseas exports achieved double-digit high-speed growth.
This sales figure is 99,000 more units than the statistics of the China Automobile Association, mainly 99,000 units produced and sold by SAIC's overseas bases. These vehicles are manufactured and sold abroad and are not included in the statistical scope of the China Automobile Association.
Among saic's three joint venture OEMs, in addition to the positive growth of SAIC-GM-Wuling, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM are both negative growth, dragging down the negative growth of SAIC's annual sales.
Statistics show that in 2021, SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 1.66 million vehicles, an increase of 3.76% year-on-year. SAIC-GM-Wuling was able to achieve positive growth, mainly because shenche wuling hongguang mini EV sold 426,000 units in the whole year, doubling its growth and becoming the champion of single model sales of new energy vehicles and electric vehicles in China.
SAIC Volkswagen was greatly affected by the shortage of chips, with sales of 1.242 million units in 2021, down 17.5% year-on-year. SAIC-GM sold 1.331 million units in the full year, down 9.26% year-on-year. The sales of the two joint venture car companies will decrease by 400,000 units in 2021, and it is difficult for other sectors to become successful.
In terms of independent brands, new energy vehicles and automobile exports, SAIC Motor has achieved outstanding results in 2021.
In 2021, SAIC's own brand cars (including Wuling, Baojun, Chase, Roewe, MG, R brands, etc.) sold 2.857 million vehicles, accounting for 52.3% of the group's total sales, far exceeding the national average. Among them, Roewe and MG brands sold about 800,000 vehicles.
In 2021, SAIC's new energy vehicles sold 733,000 units (including independent brands and joint venture brands), an increase of 128.9% year-on-year, and was in a leading position in China.
In 2021, SAIC motor exported 598,000 vehicles, ranking first among domestic car companies for six consecutive years, accounting for about 30% of the country's total automobile exports that year.
Xu Liuping, chairman and secretary of the party committee of FAW, and Qiu Xiandong, director, general manager and deputy secretary of the party committee of CHINA FAW, pointed out in their 2022 New Year's message to all employees that in the face of severe difficulties and challenges such as serious shortage of chips, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, and the rise in raw material energy prices, FAW people acted quickly, faced difficulties, sought stability in difficulties, sought excellence in stability, insisted on keeping the market, striving to minimize losses, insisting on turning the blade inward, and digging deep into internal potential. Achieve excellent growth in the prevention of chemical risks, and pursue high-quality development in transformation and upgrading.
In the past year, FAW has grabbed chips and markets, reduced costs and expenses internally, and achieved positive growth in operating income and profit. The annual sales of 3.5 million vehicles, operating income of 705 billion yuan, profit of 48 billion yuan, economic benefits hit a new high since the "13th Five-Year Plan".
In 2021, FAW's various segments will lose the most sales to FAW-Volkswagen. Due to chip shortages, FAW-Volkswagen's annual wholesale sales decreased by about 200,000 units (more than 150,000 terminals decreased). Coupled with factors such as the decline in commercial vehicle sales and the restructuring of FAW Mazda, although the sales of the Hongqi brand increased by 100,000 units and faw Toyota sales increased by more than 60,000 units, it still failed to make up for the total sales.
Although sales have declined, FAW's overall operating income and total profit still achieved positive growth in 2021.
In 2021, FAW's own brand sector will continue to maintain an overall good growth trend. The Hongqi brand achieved sales of more than 300,000 vehicles, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year, ranking first in the second camp of luxury brands in the Chinese market. Jiefang brand achieved sales of more than 440,000 vehicles, the growth rate is better than the medium and heavy truck market by 3.3 percentage points, of which the global sales of medium and heavy trucks are "five consecutive championships" and the global sales of heavy trucks are "six consecutive championships".
In 2021, FAW Group invested 21.2 billion yuan in research and development, an increase of 2.6% year-on-year, accounting for 3% of revenue. It has broken through more than 70 key core technologies, achieved a number of high-gold content technical achievements, and completed 4757 patents, laying a technical foundation for further accelerated development.
Dongfeng fell slightly by 3.25% year-on-year
According to the production and sales express report released by Dongfeng Motor Group, sales in 2021 were 2.7751 million units, a slight decrease of 3.25% year-on-year. Among them, passenger car sales were 2.252 million units, down 2.64% year-on-year, and commercial vehicle sales were 522,500 units, down 5.81% year-on-year. Dongfeng's two joint venture OEMs, Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Honda, were greatly affected by chip shortages, and both double-digit declines. Dongfeng Nissan sold 1.067 million units in the whole year, down 11% year-on-year. Dongfeng Honda sold 761,800 units in the whole year, down 10.4% year-on-year.
In 2021, Dongfeng Motor achieved sales of 1.6 million new energy vehicles, an increase of 163% year-on-year. Dongfeng Motor's high-end electric vehicle brand, Landu, has seen its sales increase month by month since its launch in June last year, reaching 3,330 units in December last year.
Dongfeng's DPCA and Dongfeng Passenger Vehicles both went out of the bottom in 2021 and rebounded against the trend. The annual sales volume of DPCA exceeded 100,000 units, an increase of 100% year-on-year, curbing the decline in consecutive years. Dongfeng passenger car sales in the whole year were 120,000 units, an increase of 71.44% year-on-year, and sales rebounded sharply.
In the new year, it is expected that the impact of chip shortage on automobile production and sales will be greatly reduced, and the three major auto giants are expected to achieve positive growth in 2022. I wish the three major automobile companies good results in the new year. (End)