Generally speaking, due to the Spring Festival holiday, February is the traditional off-season for car sales.
According to data released by the Association of Passenger Vehicles on March 8, the retail sales of the domestic passenger car market reached 1.246 million units in February 2022, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year and a decrease of 40% month-on-month.
However, although there was a slight loss of production due to the impact of holidays, the production and sales growth of the automobile market in February was relatively good. The Association said that under the unfavorable circumstances of this year's Spring Festival 12 days earlier than last year, the cumulative retail sales from January to February were 3.324 million vehicles, 60,000 fewer than in 2021, and the overall trend was better.
In the manufacturer sales ranking, BYD's performance in February is the most eye-catching, and its sales volume has been "crazy" against the market under the influence of the off-season effect and chip shortage in the industry as a whole.
BYD off-season "crazy long"
Compared with the previous ranking, the top ten car companies in the narrow passenger car manufacturers in retail sales in February have seen a big change.
According to the narrow passenger car data released by the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, BYD's retail sales in February were 89,000 units, second only to FAW-Volkswagen's 105,000 units, and surpassing SAIC-Volkswagen's 80,000 units, ranking second in the top 10 domestic retail sales. SAIC-GM, which had previously been in the top three, fell to fourth place with 73,000 vehicles.
In February, due to the differences in the industry supply chain, production, inventory and other aspects, most car companies will have a certain degree of sales decline due to the Spring Festival holiday. As a result, BYD's reverse growth made it the biggest "dark horse" in February.
Official data show that BYD passenger cars sold a total of 90,268 units in February, an increase of 336.2% year-on-year, a slight decrease from the previous month. In terms of new energy passenger vehicles, sales in February were 87,473 units, up 764.1% year-on-year.
It can be seen that what makes BYD achieve "crazy growth" is the sales of new energy vehicles that have risen by more than 7 times year-on-year.
With the launch of BYD's third-generation DM-i system last year, BYD's hybrid model sales began to rise continuously, forming a two-legged walking model with its pure electric model.
Specifically, BYD sold 44,300 DM series plug-in models and 43,173 EV (pure electric) models in February. According to the official specific model data, bydie Tang sold 10,426 vehicles in February, Song sold 24,534 vehicles, Qin sold 24,503 vehicles, and Han, Yuan and Dolphin sold 9,290, 8,983 and 8,565 vehicles, respectively.
Judging from the sales of independent first-line brands that have released data, BYD's 90,000 vehicles in February have left Geely, Great Wall, Changan, etc. behind, and it is very likely to jump to the first place in February's independent brand sales.
Why stand out?
Judging from the ranking of the top 10 retail sales, in terms of autonomy, in addition to BYD, Geely Automobile and SAIC-GM-Wuling were shortlisted, while Great Wall and Changan fell outside the top ten.
Although Changan Automobile has not yet announced sales, its narrow wholesale sales in February are estimated to be 61,000 units. In contrast, it may be down from 15.9 units in January to 106,000 units in February last year.
Geely and the Great Wall both said that sales were affected by supply chain factors.
According to data released by Geely Holdings, its overall sales in February were 78,478 units, up 2% year-on-year and down 46% month-on-month. Geely mentioned in the announcement that vehicle sales in February were mainly affected by the shortage of body electronic stability system (ESP) chips and the Spring Festival holiday.
At the beginning of this year, Bosch's ESP chip shortage affected by the epidemic had a great impact on automobile production and stockpiling. Some insiders in the industry said that Geely's use of Bosch ESP accounted for more than 90%, the highest proportion among independent brands, and the greatest impact.
Also affected is Great Wall Motors. In the statistics of the Association of Automobile Associations, the specific sales volume of the Great Wall is not disclosed, but according to the sales report released by the Great Wall, it sold a total of 70,792 new cars in February, down 36.6% month-on-month and 20% year-on-year.
"This is mainly due to insufficient supply of body electronic stability systems (ESP) produced by Bosch Automotive Components (Suzhou) Co., Ltd." In particular, Great Wall mentioned in the announcement that Bosch is the exclusive supplier of ESP configuration for Great Wall Motors' main models, and at present, Great Wall Motors is actively promoting bosch group headquarters and chip suppliers to jointly formulate production increase plans and strive to quickly solve the problem of parts supply.
Considering the impact of the off-season sales in February, the month-on-month decline of various car companies is actually in the normal range. However, it is worth mentioning that many of BYD's models are actually equipped with ESP systems produced by Bosch, such as BYD Qin and e2.
In this regard, some insiders revealed that this is due to the customer priority of Bosch's supply, resulting in a shortage of ESP for some car companies. In addition, among its own brands, BYD is relatively more advanced in the research and development of new energy electronic and electrical architecture, while the Great Wall has not yet formed its own standards in this regard. Therefore, BYD is less affected in this predicament.
Is it just a "Dark Horse in February"?
Did BYD's success in February just benefit from not being affected by ESP? The answer is obviously not all.
On the one hand, BYD actually asked for some "coincidences". Previously, BYD's two popular models, BYD Qin PLUS DM-i and Song PLUS DM-i, accumulated a large number of undigested orders, which were successively produced and delivered around the Spring Festival. This may be a big reason for BYD's higher sales in February.
On the other hand, compared with other companies' "lack of core and less electricity", BYD's industrial chain layout does have some advantages. Including battery, IGBT chip production capacity, electric drive self-upgrade ability and so on. At the same time, according to the official sales report, BYD's production in February was 91,406 units, which was basically balanced with sales, compared with the production of 94,101 vehicles in January, which was only 2,695 units. This means that even under the influence of the Spring Festival holiday shutdown, BYD is maintaining the rhythm of full production.
However, for BYD's quiet ascension to the throne in February, some people believe that this is only a temporary transfer of the independent champion throne. Because in terms of sales from January to February this year, Geely Automobile has accumulated sales of 224858 units, Changan Passenger Vehicle is expected to sell a total of 225,000 units, BYD has sold 186,500 vehicles, and Great Wall Motors has sold 182,570 units. BYD's monthly sales crown, or indeed greater, may be just a "flash in the pan".
It is undeniable that from 2021 to February this year, BYD's sales have shown a gradual upward trend, especially the rise in new energy vehicles. But overall, the monthly production and sales line is very close, and there is almost no margin.
In order to solve the capacity problem, BYD has begun to plan a "crazy" expansion. In addition to the Changzhou base that has already been put into operation, in 2022, BYD's factories invested and built in Fuzhou, Hefei, Jinan and other cities will enter the production stage.
However, in addition to the problem of production capacity, this year, the national new energy vehicle subsidy will be reduced by 30% on the basis of last year, and the subsidy will be completely terminated at the end of the year. This means that as subsidies recede, the price advantage of domestic car brands will gradually disappear, including BYD. And according to the financial report, BYD's net profit last year was not generally good, in order to step up profitability, the next or have to join the price war.
For BYD, the start of 2022 is perfect, and the next more important thing will be to maintain speed, release production capacity, and play a high-end model with more profit premium space.