In January this year, affected by the continuous high growth of the new energy vehicle market, the domestic passenger car market welcomed the "opening". According to the statistics of the Association of Passenger Vehicles, the wholesale sales of narrow passenger cars in January were 2.172 million units, an increase of 6.8% year-on-year. At the same time, wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 412,000 units in January, a 141.4% increase year-on-year. Industry analysts pointed out that due to the strong demand for first purchase and exchange before the Spring Festival, new energy vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles in January showed a growth trend.
With the recovery of the passenger car market in January, the overall change trend of the top ten car companies in the narrow sense of passenger car wholesale sales is not large compared with last year, and it still shows a scene of independent strengthening and weak joint ventures. In January, the top ten wholesale sales of passenger car manufacturers in the narrow sense were as follows:
The joint venture car company SAIC Volkswagen has recovered strongly, and the Japanese system still needs to make efforts
Among the joint venture car companies, the sales performance of North and South Volkswagen in January was more prominent, among them, FAW-Volkswagen sold 183,000 units in January, although it fell by 15% year-on-year, but it still ranked first in the wholesale sales of narrow passenger car manufacturers in terms of volume. SAIC Volkswagen sold 131,000 units in January, up 51.7% year-on-year, an increase that clearly kicked off its sales this year, and the key products driving SAIC-Volkswagen's sales growth will remain focused on the ID. series. Industry analysts pointed out that this year's new energy vehicle market to maintain a high growth trend will not change, in this context, after a year of market warm-up, ID. series sales are expected to climb again on the existing basis.
SAIC-GM sold 110,000 units in January, down 15.4% year-on-year. In 2021, SAIC-GM sold 1.332 million vehicles, which is still relatively eye-catching in the context of lack of cores and the epidemic. This year, the continuous transformation to the new energy field will become one of the key tasks of SAIC-GM. As Cadillac LYRIQ enters the delivery phase, SAIC-GM's electrified models based on the Aoteneng platform will also be tested by the market.
Last year, affected by the lack of cores, the overall performance of Japanese car companies was not good, and this state still did not improve significantly in January this year. Judging from the top ten car companies in the narrow sense of passenger car manufacturers' wholesale sales in January, the only Japanese car companies shortlisted are Dongfeng Nissan and GAC Toyota. Among them, Dongfeng Nissan sold 126,000 units in January, an increase of 3.6% year-on-year. At present, the sales pillar of Dongfeng Nissan is still Xuanyi, according to the official statistics of Dongfeng Nissan, Xuanyi's cumulative terminal sales in 2021 exceeded 510,000 vehicles, which undoubtedly makes Xuanyi the absolute main force of Dongfeng Nissan.
14th generation Xuanyi, image source: Dongfeng Nissan
In the field of SUVs, the new generation of X-Trail, which was listed last year, has not been able to get rid of the fate of being disliked by consumers because of the use of three-cylinder engines in the whole series. According to the data, X-Trail sold only 3,250 vehicles in January, which is far from the previous scale of more than 10,000 units. This year, after the loss of Qijun, it is more difficult for Dongfeng Nissan to maintain growth.
GAC Toyota sold 100,000 units in January, up 11.2% year-on-year. Since the second quarter of last year, due to the shortage of chips, GAC Toyota's sales have been suppressed, and its sales have shown an upward trend as the lack of cores in the fourth quarter has been alleviated. At this stage, in addition to hot models such as Camry, Leiling and Highlander, GAC Toyota has one more main model - Xena. In January this year, Xena sold 5,399 units, successfully squeezing into the top of the MPV market sales, and this is still under the condition of insufficient production capacity. Next, with the lack of core problem alleviated and the continuous release of production capacity, there is more room for the market performance of Xena to rise.
Independent car companies continue to strengthen, and Changan became the leader of Chinese brands in January
In January's list of the top ten wholesale sales of passenger car manufacturers, autonomous car companies occupied five seats, which is roughly equivalent to the monthly trend in 2021. In the past two years, in the context of the epidemic and the continuous shortage of chips, the independent siege of joint ventures has become the new normal of the domestic passenger car market.
In terms of the sales ranking of independent car companies in January, Changan Automobile surpassed Geely with a score of 159,000 units and jumped to become the "bellwether" of its own brand. Changan Automobile's sales in January achieved a good start, which is inseparable from the super performance of its main models CS75 and CS55 series. According to the official data provided by Changan Automobile, the sales of Changan CS75 and CS55 series exceeded 30,000 units in January, ranking first in the sales list of Chinese brand SUVs. In addition, the sales of the Yidong series and the Changan UNI series exceeded 10,000 units in January, becoming the backbone of Changan's passenger car system.
Changan UNI-K, image source: Changan Automobile
In the last two months of last year, Changan failed to enter the top 10 ranks of monthly sales of narrow passenger car manufacturers, which shows that it is preparing for the "opening of the door" in the coming year.
Geely Automobile's January sales were 146,000 units, down 6% year-on-year, but new energy vehicles showed a sharp growth trend. According to official data provided by Geely Automobile, its new energy vehicle sales in January were 18,000 units, of which 15,000 were pure electric models, an increase of 641% year-on-year. The surge in sales of Geely pure electric vehicles is inseparable from the contributions of the three brands of Extreme Kr, Geometry and Ruilan Automobile. Among them, the sales of geometric brands exceeded the 10,000 mark in January, an increase of 391% year-on-year. The pure electric brand that focuses on cost performance under Geely will become the main force in the growth of Geely's new energy products in the future. In addition, Geely's flagship model "China Star" series continues to sell well, with sales of 25,000 units in January. This year, Geely will launch Hoshikoshi L Thor Hi· X oil-electric hybrid version, with the growth of China's star series models, its proportion in the total sales of Geely automobiles will become higher and higher.
In January's narrow list of passenger car wholesale sales, Changan and Geely ranked first among independent car companies, followed by other car companies such as Great Wall, BYD and Chery. Among the last three car companies, only Great Wall Motor's January sales fell by 15.3% year-on-year, and the other two car companies achieved different degrees of growth, of which BYD Automobile's January sales were 95,000 units, a year-on-year surge of 124.1%, which is also the largest year-on-year increase in the list.
BYD Dolphin, Image source: BYD
BYD's January sales continued the strong trend in 2021, which is inseparable from the hot performance of its new energy products. According to the data, in January, BYD's new energy passenger car sales reached 93,000 units, an increase of 361.37% year-on-year, of which pure electric and plug-in hybrid models achieved multiple growth. It seems that at the moment when new energy vehicles continue to grow at a high speed, BYD, which holds the two aces of pure electricity and plug and mix, is expected to reach a new high in sales this year.
Chery Automobile sold 81,000 units in January, up 17% year-on-year. Last year, Chery Automobile was repeatedly shortlisted in the list of the top ten wholesale sales of narrow passenger car manufacturers, and chery continued the good trend of last year at the beginning of this year, which also laid the foundation for its next market performance.
At present, Chery's hot models are still mature models such as Tiggo 7, Tiggo 8, and Arrizo 5, and at the same time, its new energy models are also rapidly increasing. Next, in addition to the eQ series, Chery QQ ice cream listed at the end of last year will become the main force driving the growth of Chery's new energy products.