In 2021, in the face of a series of negative factors such as the epidemic, chip shortages, and rising raw material prices, The Chinese auto market stabilized the overall situation, and the overall automobile sales increased by 3.8% year-on-year, close to the 4% increase predicted by the China Automobile Association at the end of 2020.
From the perspective of car companies/brands, under the limited overall increment, the completion rate of sales targets in 2021 is different. Among the 20 car companies/brands counted by Gaz Auto, the highest completion rate exceeded 139%, and the lowest was only about 60%. It is also worth noting that although most car companies/brands have failed to achieve their 2021 sales targets, they are still "brave" in the planning of 2022 sales targets.
7 car companies exceeded their sales targets in 2021, with the highest completion rate exceeding 139%
Among the car companies/brands in this statistics, the highest completion rate of sales targets in 2021 is Nezha Automobile. The sales target of Nezha automobiles this year is 40,000-50,000 units, and even according to the highest 50,000 vehicles, the completion rate of Nezha automobile sales targets is still as high as 139.35%.
Among the new car-making forces, the sales performance of Nezha Automobile is not the most prominent, and it delivers a total of 69,674 new cars in 2021, which is still a certain gap with the "Wei Xiaoli" with annual sales of more than 90,000 units in the first echelon. However, from the perspective of increase, Nezha Automobile can be regarded as a "dark horse" in the new forces of car manufacturing. You know, compared with 2020, Nezha Automobile's sales in 2021 have increased by nearly 4 times. And from the perspective of single-month sales, Nezha Automobile has sold more than 10,000 for two consecutive months, and has distanced itself from WM Motors and Zero-Run Cars, which are in the second echelon.
The unexpected growth of Nezha Automobile is inseparable from the support of explosive models. Different from the "Wei Xiaoli" that has impacted the high-end electric vehicle market, Nezha Automobile aims at the low-end new energy vehicle market, and has a corresponding explosive model. For example, Nezha V, which is positioned at the 70,000 level, has delivered more than 50,000 vehicles since its listing. Another example is the 150,000-level Nezha U Pro, which has not been weak since its launch, with a single monthly delivery of 4,847 units in December 2021.
GAC Aean's momentum is also fierce. 2021 is the first full year after GAC Aeon announced its brand independence. In this year, GAC Aeon successfully broke through the red line of 100,000 vehicles sold annually, delivering more than 120,000 vehicles, doubling its sales in 2020 and achieving a sales target completion rate of 120.16%.
Gac Aeon already has three models in 2021, AION Y, AION S PLUS, and AION V PLUS, and all of them have good sales performance. It is reported that not long ago, the 2022 AION Y was officially launched, and up to now, the order volume has exceeded 10,000 for two consecutive months, which shows the popularity of Aion's models. It is also worth mentioning that in January this year, Egypt's new medium-sized SUV model AION LX PLUS was listed, and with the addition of this model, GAC Aeon's product matrix is more abundant, covering small cars, compact cars, medium-sized SUVs and other market segments, further opening up the upside.
Jianghuai Automobile, Changan Automobile, SAIC Maxus, Dongfeng Fengshen and Dongfeng Dongfeng Automobile also exceeded their sales targets in 2021, with completion rates of 104.84%, 104.57%, 103.03%, 101.31% and 100.57% respectively. The performance of Dongfeng Fengshen and DPCA was even more unexpected.
The data shows that after reaching a high point of 150,000 vehicles in 2016, Dongfeng Fengshen entered a continuous downward channel, and from 2017 to 2020, Dongfeng Fengshen's sales were 125,000 vehicles, 74,000 vehicles, 75,000 vehicles and 70,000 vehicles, respectively, showing an overall downward trend. In 2021, the total sales of Dongfeng Fengshen reached 121,570 units, an increase of 73% year-on-year.
DPCA has ended its positive growth trend since 2016, and the situation has not improved in the following years. In 2020, due to the severe impact of the epidemic in Wuhan, the sales volume of DPCA automobiles fell to less than 50,000 units. In 2021, the cumulative sales volume of DPCA reached 100,567 units, an increase of 100.07% year-on-year, and the single monthly sales exceeded 10,000 for three consecutive months, achieving positive year-on-year sales growth for 13 consecutive months.
Of course, unexpected, but it may make sense. Behind the sales performance, an obvious phenomenon is that Dongfeng Fengshen and Dongfeng Dongfeng Automobile have accelerated the pace of new product launch and developed new explosive models. Taking DPCA as an example, in 2021, it has successively launched a number of new cars such as the 2021 C6 Comfort Edition, the 2021 Tianyi, the new 4008, the Versailles C5 X, the 2008 THE ONE and the Tianyi Riding Adaptation Edition, of which the Versailles C5 X delivered more than 5,000 units in November and December, and plans to deliver more than 5,000 units in January this year, which is the most successful model launched by DPCA in the past 7 years.
13 car companies failed to meet their 2021 sales targets, reaching a minimum of only about 60%
Among the car companies/brands in this statistics, 13 failed to complete the sales target in 2021. Among them, there are 5 companies with a completion rate of more than 90%, namely: BYD, FAW-Volkswagen Jetta brand, FAW Toyota, Chery Group, and GUANGZHOU AUTOMOBILE Group.
BYD's performance in 2021 is actually very eye-catching. In this year, BYD sold 740,131 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 73.34%, although it has not yet completed the sales target of 750,000 vehicles on the Internet, but the completion rate has reached 98.68%, close to full score. And according to bydir's previously disclosed information, BYD's cumulative sales in 2021 can reach 900,000 vehicles, but only 700,000-750,000 vehicles can be delivered. That is to say, if it is not subject to production capacity, BYD will most likely exceed the annual sales target.
The annual sales target of the FAW-Volkswagen Jetta brand is close to that of BYD. However, the data shows that the original target of the Jetta in 2021 was actually 200,000 vehicles, and then the target was lowered to 172,000 vehicles due to the impact of the environment. Judging from the results, jetta sales in 2021 are 169,000, and it has still not been able to complete the adjusted annual sales target. It is reported that this is the second consecutive failure of the Jetta brand to achieve the goal since independence.
Faw Toyota, Chery Group and GAC Group also achieved an annual sales target of more than 95%, of which Chery Group did not achieve the annual sales target, but the sales volume in 2021 increased by 31.7% year-on-year, which was high among these 13 car companies/brands.
The "multi-brand, multi-product" play is one of the reasons for Chery Group's sales growth in 2021. In 2021, with the announcement of Jietu becoming an independent brand, Chery Holding Group formed four major brands: Xingtu, Chery, Jietu and Chery New Energy. And this year, these four major brands launched more than 20 products such as Xingtu Lanyue, Tiggo 8 PLUS Kunpeng Edition, Jietu X70 Zhuge Ge, Chery New Energy Small Ant Sweet Powder, QQ Ice Cream and so on.
Chery Group's new model in 2021 - Xingtu Lanyue; Image source: Chery Group
Saic Motor, FAW-Volkswagen Audi brand, Geely Automobile, Great Wall Motor and Dongfeng Motor Group have achieved annual sales targets between 80% and 90%. Among them, although the completion rate of Great Wall Motors is not the highest, the sales growth is the most obvious, with an increase of 15.24%.
This is very much related to its Haval SUVs and brands such as Euler and Tank, which have a good sales growth trend. It is worth noting that the annual sales of the Great Wall Wei brand were only 58,000 vehicles, which was relatively poor. It should be known that the first batch of chinese high-end brands, the same level of competitors Lynk & Co has climbed the peak of 200,000 +. From this point of view, Great Wall Motors failed to achieve the annual sales target, and Wei Pai may have a certain responsibility.
FawC Hongqi, FAW-Volkswagen brand and Beijing Hyundai all have an annual sales target completion rate of less than 80%. Among them, the completion rate of Beijing Hyundai is relatively low. It is reported that in 2021, Beijing Hyundai has not even disclosed its annual cumulative sales. Judging from the previous data, the cumulative sales of Beijing Hyundai in the first 11 months were only 320,000 vehicles, down 33.95% year-on-year. Beijing Hyundai originally planned to achieve an annual sales target of 560,000 vehicles in 2021, but only 57.18% in the first 11 months. Faw Hongqi's annual sales target is also less than 80%, but this seems to be because its target is high. According to the data, in 2021, Hongqi's annual sales volume was 300,600 vehicles, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 10 times higher than the industry average.
Many car companies increased their sales forecasts in 2022, up to 64.5%
As can be seen from the foregoing, only a few car companies will achieve the annual sales target in 2021, but this does not seem to have lowered the expectations of car companies for sales growth in 2022. It is reported that BYD, FAW, GAC and many other car companies/brands have increased their sales targets in 2022 on the basis of sales in 2021.
This does not seem to be difficult to understand, after all, in 2021, in the face of multiple challenges such as chip shortages and continuous high raw material prices, the overall automobile production and sales in the mainland have still achieved positive year-on-year growth, and from the situation in recent months, the momentum of improvement has become more and more obvious. Not only that, the industry generally believes that the chip shortage will continue to ease in 2022, and such positive factors also make car companies more confident about the next sales growth.
However, it is worth noting that according to the latest forecast of the China Automobile Association, the overall sales volume of mainland automobiles will increase steadily in 2022, reaching 27.5 million units, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year. Compared with this forecast, the sales target of car companies/brands is somewhat aggressive. According to the statistics of Gaz Automobile, dongfeng Fengshen, BYD Automobile, Chery Group and FAW Hongqi have increased their sales targets in 2022 by more than 50% compared with the total sales in 2021.
As far as Dongfeng Fengshen is concerned, Zhu Yanfeng, chairman of the board of directors and secretary of the party committee of Dongfeng Company, has set a target of sprinting 200,000 vehicles in the new year, an increase of 64.51% over the actual sales in 2021, which is the most "adventurous" of the car companies/brands included in the statistics this time.
Dongfeng Fengshen 2021 new model - Yixuan MAX; image source: Dongfeng Fengshen
It is true that with the sharp increase in sales of models such as Yixuan MAX, Dongfeng Fengshen has shown an excellent growth momentum in 2021, but it is still under pressure to achieve annual sales of 200,000 vehicles. Zhu Yanfeng recently admitted that Dongfeng Passenger Car Company has not completely got out of the predicament, but only in 2022 to achieve 200,000 sales, 2023 to straighten the waist bar. Industry insiders pointed out that the biggest task of Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle Company this year is to enrich the product lineup, support the sales target of 200,000 vehicles with more explosive models, and also establish the system capability to complete the production and sales of 200,000 vehicles.
BYD locked its target sales in 2022 at 1.2 million units, up 62.13% year-on-year. It can be seen that BYD's steps are also very large. However, if it is true that as BYD previously revealed, under the condition of production capacity permitting, BYD's cumulative sales in 2021 can reach 900,000 vehicles, then with the landing and production of qinghai, Xi'an and Chongqing phase II factories, BYD's vehicle production capacity is expected to be alleviated, so its annual sales target of 1.2 million will also be expected to be achieved.
It is also worth mentioning that according to BYD's plan, among the target of 1.2 million vehicles, the sales volume of pure electric models is 600,000 units, and the expected target of plug-in hybrid models is 500,000-600,000 units. It can be seen that fuel vehicles have almost no sense of existence in BYD's planning. With the continuous outbreak of new energy vehicle sales, BYD's "ban on combustion" is not far away.
Although Chery Group, FAW Hongqi and Dongfeng Motor Group have not completed their sales targets in 2021, they still set an annual sales target of more than 40% year-on-year growth in 2022. In the case of Chery Group, for example, it announced a sales target of 1.5 million vehicles for the whole year of 2022 in early 2022, striving for a sales target of 2 million vehicles, which means that Chery Group will achieve more than 50% growth. It is worth noting that Chery Group has focused part of its target on the overseas export sector. Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Automobile, recently said that overseas exports will achieve a sales target of 500,000 units in 2022, compared with 269,154 units in 2021.
Compared with the above-mentioned car companies/brands, the sales targets of CAR companies/brands such as GAC Honda, Geely Automobile, and GAC Toyota are relatively conservative in 2022, but even faw-Volkswagen, the most conservative of them, has set its sales target for 2 million vehicles in 2022, an increase of 7.66% over the actual sales in 2021, higher than the china automobile association's expectations for the growth of the overall automobile market.
On the whole, in 2022, in the case of a limited increase in the overall car market forecast, the sales target of car companies is still higher than one. This means that the battle between car companies will become more and more fierce this year, and from the existing facts in 2021, in this battle, who can win in the end depends on the product to speak.