22/03/09
Lead
Judging from the group's current situation and the goals to be achieved in the future, from the joint venture plate to the independent plate and investment, GAC will enter a new stage of accelerated development in 2022.
Author 丨 Cao Jiadong
Responsible editor 丨 Du Yuxin
Edit 丨 Chic
February is the traditionally low season for sales. Judging from the data released by mainstream joint venture brands to new car-making forces in recent days, this is indeed the case. However, given that the entire Chinese auto market is still in a steady upward trend, it is indeed inappropriate to say that this year is just a continuation of the development of the past year. With the increasingly eye-catching sales growth of Japanese brands, 2022 has become a key year for those car companies that rely on this.
With the help of Toyota and Honda, GAC Group achieved annual sales of more than 2.14 million units in 2021. According to the official February production and sales report, GAC's cumulative sales in the month reached 143,500 units, an increase of 36.47% year-on-year; this year's cumulative sales were 380,700 units, an increase of 18.06% year-on-year. It can be said that the "two fields" continue to export wildly, or undertake the heavy responsibility of maintaining the stability of GAC.
However, in the case of a good situation, what kind of image GAC will face the next market pattern seems to be a clear direction, but it also brings invisible pressure. In addition to the slow electrification process of "Two Fields", E-An, which has entered the small year of products, will face more fierce market competition, and GAC Mitsubishi and GAC FCA, which are difficult to find, are also laying a lot of hidden dangers for it.
1
The pressure of the "two fields" is still there
Undoubtedly, the brand siege established by GAC Honda and GAC Toyota will still maintain the existing sales volume for GAC for a long time. Judging from the sales trend at the beginning of this year, this view can stand.
Among them, Guangqi Honda's sales in February reached 57,102 units, up 39.06% year-on-year. And in the high premium models, such as Accord, Haoying, Odyssey and so on have achieved good results.
The former two sold 16,588 units per month, up 79.5% year-on-year and 11,715 units per month, an increase of 14.1% year-on-year for Guangqi Honda in cars and SUVs, which has become the norm, and Odyssey has not fallen into the downwind when it is in the mid-term overhaul. Monthly sales of 3,892 units are basically the same as in the past.
If the original model is said to use excellent product reputation, it supports the sales base plate for Guangqi Honda. Then, the new models that have joined the car system camp such as the model are bringing new sales output to it with the product itself with enough strength.
Throughout February, the terminal market was inevitably affected by the Spring Festival holiday, but consumers still had a strong interest in the emergence of new models. Presumably, 5,014 new cars were sold that month, and this is just the beginning.
Judging from the popularity of sports cars in the market at present, not to mention whether the type can become the vane of the entire market segment like the Civic, at least under the marketing means of Guangqi Honda, the type will inevitably pose a great threat to the latter. In addition, the type of hybrid and hatchback models are frequently reported, and this trend may be verified in advance, and it is not impossible.
Since the Japanese car is the guarantee for the growth of the entire GAC against the wind, similar to GAC Honda, GAC Toyota will obviously not slacken off.
In terms of wholesale sales disclosed by GAC Group, GAC Toyota sold 50,100 vehicles per month, an increase of 20.72% year-on-year, which is a relatively good result. According to the terminal sales announced by GAC Toyota recently, due to the three high-priced models of Camry, Highlander and Xena, which sold 14,228 units, 7,115 units and 4,120 vehicles respectively, their performance in the market did not deviate too much.
But then again, isn't there anything to worry about in "Two Fields"? In China's new energy market has entered an unprecedented hot stage, whether it is GAC Honda, which wants to open the market with the VE-1, or GAC Toyota, which has deeply tapped the potential of the hybrid market, it has not been able to come up with a plan that can be in line with the Chinese auto market.
At this year's Beijing Auto Show, GAC Honda e: NP1 and GAC Toyota version of the bZ4X will be officially unveiled, but if you want to take the current market environment as the premise, what kind of development method can "Liangtian" respond to, it is difficult to see the clues from these two models.
For the entire GAC, the "two fields" trapped by electrification cannot break through in time. As another puzzle in the joint venture sector, GAC Mitsubishi and GAC FCA cannot bring more help to the group.
In particular, GAC FCA, after the official announcement of Stellantis Group and GAC reached a consensus that, with the permission of the Chinese government, officially increased its shareholding ratio in the joint venture from 50% to 75%, the value that the Jeep brand can create for GAC will become very small.
2
"Electrification" transformation, unswerving
To be sure, the uncertainty of the joint venture companies under the GAC Group in the electrification process is the key to hindering its continued upward movement. But we must also admit that compared with most state-owned enterprises, the role of their autonomous sectors in the entire market has a very different side.
According to official data, the Group's sales of new energy vehicles throughout February were 10,478 units, almost doubling year-on-year; the cumulative sales volume this year was 29,599 units, an increase of 130.99% year-on-year. Among them, the sales volume of self-owned brand new energy was 8,526 units, an increase of 163.23% year-on-year, accounting for more than 60% of the Group's sales of such models.
In other words, as with the development of the past year, the mission undertaken by GAC Aeon for the Group has not only not weakened in the industry's general trend, but has also become more and more important under the impetus of the entire industry.
Even based on GAC Aeon's February sales, it seems that it will be difficult for AEAN to achieve its stated goal of 200,000 vehicles per year this year. From the two months since the beginning of the year, in the share and ranking of the entire pure electric vehicle market, in fact, we can still see the improved side of Aeon.
At the same time, due to the fact that E-An will carry out mixed reform this year and gradually transform its positioning from a traditional new energy vehicle company to a technology company, whether 2022 is a small year for Aeon's products, or whether the fierce competition in the industry will exert great pressure on E-An and achieve greater improvement in sales, it must achieve its next purpose.
In fact, due to the extremely firm decision of GAC Group for electrification transformation, not only E-An, but also in the planning of all its brands, transformation is the most important thing to do at present. The future direction of the joint venture plate has constraints from foreign decision-making, but only in the case of Trumpchi, the autonomous sector of GAC Group, this kind of appeal can be clearly seen.
GAC Trumpchi sold 23,793 vehicles, an increase of 73.53% year-on-year in February, which is due to the development of Trumpchi's adherence to the existing development strategy, but also released a new signal. With the new generation of GS8 as the anchor point, the full involvement of the hybrid system is also a decision that Trumpchi will stick to from this year onwards.
It is reported that the new generation of M8 will be equipped with the same source as the new GS8 Toyota THS hybrid system, and the Shadow Leopard hybrid version unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show last year is also planned. In fact, this also means that from Trumpchi, it is enough to reflect that GAC Group has made sufficient preparations for corporate transformation.
When GAC Mitsubishi gladly accepted the technical support of GAC Aeon and built a new pure electric SUV Atuka on the basis of AION V, this was undoubtedly very clear.
In short, from the group's current situation and the goals to be achieved in the future, from the joint venture plate to the independent plate of the pinch and investment, GAC will enter a new stage of accelerated development in 2022. At present, the stability of sales volume is the performance of GAC Group in maintaining its voice in the market, and it will become the basis for the Group's future advancement.
Cao Jiadong
Gasoline running in the blood,
Only fast is not broken!