(Text/Zhang Jiadong Editor/Lou Bing) A few days ago, the Association officially released the production and sales data of the domestic passenger car market in January, and overall, the total sales of domestic narrow passenger cars were 2.078 million units, down 5% year-on-year. However, in view of the early suspension of work during the Spring Festival holiday this year and the repeated impact of the domestic epidemic before the holiday, the overall market performance in January, after conversion, can still be seen as a continuation of the good recovery momentum that began in the fourth quarter of last year.
Among the three categories, the performance of the sedan market was stable, with a total of 1.001 million units sold in January, down 6.2% year-on-year. However, due to the fact that various car companies are still in a state of adjustment to combat chip problems in production and sales, and some car companies have backlogged inventory in the second half of last year for wholesale data, so in the ranking of the market, January has changed compared with the sales ranking of last year.
Overall, the decline in the car market is mainly due to the tailing phenomenon of the last product, with monthly sales of 10,000 vehicles as a watershed, and the number of products with sales above this value is only 12 models, with an average decline of 26.5%. For models with monthly sales of less than 10,000 units, the number of products declined to 53, with an average decline of 48.7%. Under the role of the market elimination mechanism, the number of models with monthly sales of less than 1,000 units is 39 models, accounting for nearly 1/3 of the overall sedan market.
The head group is becoming more and more solid
From the top of the list, the strong performance of Xuanyi and Langyi is still strongly announcing the unshakable status of the head group in the car market.
In January, Xuanyi achieved a sales record of more than 60,000 vehicles, and opened a gap of nearly 16,000 vehicles with the second-ranked Langyi. However, the sales volume of the e-POWER model is only about 5,000 units, which has not brought too much improvement to Xuanyi, and Nissan's subsequent electrification process may be embarrassed because of the mediocre performance of the main model.
Langyi, which entered the alternating period of new and old models, ranked second with a score of 45,000 vehicles, because SAIC Volkswagen was seriously affected by chip supply, Langyi's market sales may not be enough to maintain a high sales level for a long time, but at present, SAIC Volkswagen has revealed the official map of the new Langyi, which will also become its killer weapon for competing with the new Xuanyi for the first place in the market. As the replacement approaches, saic-volkswagen's allocation of production capacity to Langyi may be boosting morale for the release of new cars.
It is worth noting that last year's top three car regulars, yinglang, which ranked fourth at the end of the year, ushered in Waterloo in January, with wholesale sales of only 6435 units, but the retail sales of 21,000 units proved Buick's backlog of inventory last year.
The rising sales of Camry indicates a trend of consumption upgrading in China's car market, and at present, among fuel products, B-class car sales are showing a serious polarization. Camry, BMW 3 Series, Audi A4L, Accord, Tianlai, Maiten, Passat, Hongqi H5 and other products have not only maintained a rapid climb in sales since last year, but also their sales volume has stabilized at more than 15,000 vehicles, and the good feedback of the market has prompted these B-class cars with outstanding comprehensive product performance to become the first choice for consumers to buy cars in one step at this stage.
In addition to the rise of B-class products, the rapid increase in luxury models has also brought new competition to the market, from the ranking point of view, BMW 5 Series, 3 Series, Audi A4L and Mercedes-Benz E-Class and other products have long climbed to the forefront of the sedan list, and the overall increase in the luxury car market is obvious.
At the same time, the performance of Regal, Mureyborg XL, Mercedes-Benz C-Class is not satisfactory, in addition to the general-purpose products that Buick and Maribal rely on are slow in technological iteration, Mercedes-Benz C-Class as a whole has been affected by the imminent replacement.
The waist group is still in the period of development
Although in the top 15 of traditional fuel cars, only Yidong and Emgrand are still on the list, the ranking of the two has risen from 11 and 9 last year to 5 and 6 in January, respectively. Its sales are also stable at an average of more than 20,000 vehicles per month, and the steady progress of Geely and Changan in the car market means that independent brands have also killed a bloody road in the car market surrounded by joint ventures in addition to new energy products.
In the independent camp, Roewe i5, MG 5, Hongqi H5, Xingrui and other models are at the top of the list, which also brings more confidence to the independent brands to improve their voice in the car market since last year. In fact, at the time of electrification, in addition to the products that are fully promoted in new energy technology such as Wuling Hongguang MINI EV and BYD Qin PLUS DM-i, many independent brands have not given up the temptation of the car market.
The launch of geely Xingrui, GAC Shadow Leopard and other products shows the vision of independent brands to lay a good foundation in the car market. Although the two models have not yet broken through the fight of independent brands in the field of A-class cars, and from the perspective of sales in January, their sales in the market have also declined to a certain extent, but the improvement of product strength still shows the ability of Geely, GAC and other car companies to grasp the consumption upgrade trend and create their own unique product selling points.
Similarly, the new models launched by joint venture brands such as Honda Gege and Citroen Versailles last year also have similar product ideas, with a total of 9215 units sold in January and 4512 units sold in Versailles. Such results seem to be mediocre in the overall market, but in the guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Citroen systems, the sales of both products are a comprehensive breakthrough under its sedan system.
The last group is in dire need of change
If product strength is the core of maintaining the stability of the head group and the strength of the waist group, then it is also the key word that the last group is currently difficult to break through.
Due to the encroachment of the new energy market, the position of traditional cars in some market segments is suffering from extremely severe challenges. Honda LIFE represents the small car market, is now the world of new energy pure electric products, for car companies, this part of the product has long been unable to adapt to changes in the market environment, the only one in the market to maintain high sales of Fit, it has a long-term precipitated modification and track attributes, in order to maintain their own product label in an increasingly fierce competitive environment.
On the other hand, from the sales volume in January, the products that are at the bottom of the 100,000-yuan compact car market have gradually withdrawn from the market competition under the original trend of survival of the fittest. Models such as Kia K3, Vios, Zhixiang and other models, in the case of long-term product strength is difficult to meet market demand, the emergence of new energy products of the same level and high-value new products is destined to give priority to encroaching on its market share.
As for the difficulties faced by Skoda, Ford, Chevrolet and other car companies in the car market, it is mainly due to the decline in its own brand influence or the fault in technical iteration, taking the Mondeo with sales of 2227 vehicles as an example, the suspension of production in the North American market and the slow iteration rate make it difficult for the product to compete with the mainstream market in terms of design and configuration. Compared with Volkswagen and other car companies that continue to iterate on their own technology and market rejuvenation changes, Ford not only lifted a stone on the 3-cylinder machine and dropped its own foot, but also rarely changed in product positioning. The same is true of high-end products in the market, with monthly sales of only more than 500 Vehicles for Infiniti Q50L and Jaguar XFL, which has long been on the verge of being eliminated by the market, but the technical system of its own products has not been updated for a long time.
However, the long-term exposure of insufficient product strength means that car companies should adjust their strategies in time to find breakthroughs in other market segments. Led by BYD, car companies that turned to electrification technology earlier are accelerating their full withdrawal from the traditional fuel vehicle market competition. At present, BYD's fuel vehicles on sale are only BYD F3 and Song fuel versions, both of which fell by more than 80% year-on-year in January. But in the new energy market, BYD has been at the forefront of the market in multiple market segments.
Geely, which is at the head of its own car, has made concessions on Bo Rui's products, thus better making room for the "China Star" series. GAC Trumpchi chose to move its attention to the more product-oriented Shadow Leopard as soon as possible under the condition that the GA series is difficult to obtain market recognition.
Perhaps for the joint venture brands that have been precipitated in the market for a long time, it is not easy to break away, but the withdrawal of brands such as Renault and Fiat in the Chinese market has long demonstrated the market cruelty brought about by the continuous improvement of consumer demand for products. For the car products at the end, it is even more urgent when they can achieve a turnaround in the strategy of car companies, or be abandoned early so that the brand can devote more energy to transformation and strategic planning.
Attached: January 2022 car sales rankings
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