At the beginning of each month, some institutions and associations will share the market operation status, manufacturer production and sales data, model sales rankings, etc., which can provide reference for relevant practitioners and consumers through the diffusion of the media. However, due to the problem of statistical caliber and time difference, these institutions may not be able to get accurate data in time, resulting in some manufacturers not entering the ranking. For example, in the top 10 manufacturers' production and sales announced by the Association on March 8, Changan Automobile and Great Wall Motors were not seen, and many self-media seized this information point to make a big fuss, and in the view of "Auto Industry Miscellaneous Talk", this kind of eyeball-catching dissemination is meaningless.
01
From January to February, more than 410,000 units were sold, and Changan Automobile was still the head
On March 10, Changan Automobile announced its latest monthly examination report card: in February this year, Changan Automobile sold 138145 vehicles as a whole, and its sales in January and February reached 415389 vehicles. Among them, Changan's Chinese brand passenger cars sold 69,917 units in February, and 228542 units sold in January and February. Looking at the February data alone, it seems to be somewhat unsatisfactory, but from the overall point of view of January and February, Changan Automobile has still made a good start, and its head status is unshakable. For the gap in February, Changan Automobile came up with a very frank explanation: due to factors such as chip shortages and the Spring Festival holiday, many hot-selling new cars have not yet had time to be delivered, affecting the release of new product potential.
Even so, we can still find bright spots in Changan Automobile's sales performance in February. For example, the main high-end UNI product series sold more than 10,000 in February, an increase of 11.6% year-on-year; the cumulative sales of more than 22,000 vehicles in January and February, an increase of 5.3% year-on-year - Changan Automobile's upward climbing pace is becoming more and more stable.
In addition, the cumulative sales of the Changan CS75 series from January to February were 47,205 units; the cumulative sales of the Changan CS55 series from January to February reached 35,499 units, an increase of 53.6% year-on-year; and the Yidong series also stabilized the average monthly level of 16,000 units.
Since the beginning of the year, Changan Automobile has launched a "new plan". In February, the second-generation Changan CS75PLUS was officially launched, and Changan UNI-V opened pre-sale; in March, Changan UNI-K iDD was officially launched - these new cars failed to be reflected in the February report card, but they are already paving the way for the next round of growth.
02
A variety of new cars are poised to take off, bringing more than just quantitative change
Judging from the recent visit to the store in "Auto Industry Miscellaneous", the second generation of Changan CS75PLUS has arrived in the store and begun to be delivered. Previously, the pre-sale orders for the second-generation CS75PLUS have exceeded 15,000 units.
UNI-V has also arrived in the store, and it is reported that its cumulative orders have exceeded 16,000 units, and new cars are expected to be available within March. Changan UNI-K iDD has just been listed a few days ago, and there are already existing cars available for tasting and test driving in the store. It is foreseeable that once these new cars start batch delivery, Changan Automobile will usher in a new round of sales climbing in March and April.
A whole bunch of new hot models lined up for delivery, just to bring about sales growth? Xiaobian believes that this year's Changan Automobile may not be here. Take the three models that have recently been launched, each of which has a different mission.
The first generation of CS75PLUS was listed in 2019, creating a new atmosphere of "excellent volume and price" of domestic cars, allowing Changan Automobile to regain the benchmark position in compact SUVs, how can the second-generation CS75PLUS continue this glory? Equipped with a new generation of Blue Whale 1.5T engine, the whole series is equipped with a standard 8AT gearbox, and the technical auxiliary functions are delegated to the entry configuration... Through a series of hard-core upgrades, the new car allows consumers to intuitively feel the ultra-high quality-price ratio of the product. It can be said that with a budget of about 120,000-150,000 to buy SUVs, the second-generation CS75PLUS is enough to make many joint venture brand fans change their minds in terms of space and power, not to mention the advantages of its intelligent configuration.
The birth of UNI-V has refreshed the cognition of the younger generation of consumers on domestic cars. Previously, many people thought that domestic brands are good at making SUVs, but they are not good at cars; or that domestic cars like to learn from overseas mature models to engage in reverse development, and then open the market through cost-effective advantages - but UNI-V is obviously not such a model.
Since its exposure appearance last year, it has aroused the impulse of many young people and triggered price speculations, and the potential of the explosion has been revealed. At present, UNI-V has announced that the pre-sale price of 1.5T is 10.89-13.19 million yuan. At a price of more than 100,000 yuan, buy a sporty sedan with power and a cool appearance, which is still a great temptation for Z generation consumers.
In June 2021, Changan Automobile released its newly developed Blue Whale iDD hybrid system. In March 2022, Changan UNI-K iDD was officially listed, in addition to the space is large enough, the configuration is rich enough, Changan UNI-K iDD is more playful than the fuel version of UNI-K, and there is no mileage anxiety. Changan UNI-K iDD comes standard with a 3.3kW external discharge function, which can meet the needs of consumers for lighting and cooking when traveling by car. Through technical means, Changan Automobile has put "double insurance" on the battery cell, so that UNI-K iDD can withstand extremely cold and extremely hot climatic conditions, fundamentally dispelling everyone's concerns about hybrid models.
UNI-K iDD is priced at 17.69-19.29 million, still in the mainstream consumption range of less than 200,000. Nowadays, oil prices remain high, and buying one of these hybrid models will be the choice of more and more consumers. According to the "Energy Saving and New Energy Technology Roadmap 2.0" organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China in 2020, by 2035, new fuel vehicles will achieve full hybridization. You know, the existence of such energy-saving vehicles is not a transition, but a long-term sustainable growth market.
03
Carrying the banner of "domestic goods", Changan Automobile responds to changes with no change
In 2018, the auto market ended its high growth trend and entered a period of adjustment, when Changan Automobile was also in the trough of transformation, and since the second half of 2019, Changan Automobile has shown strong rebound growth potential. From a phenomenological point of view, this is due to the successful launch of Changan CS75 PLUS; but in retrospect, it is the beginning of Changan Automobile's accumulation. Since then, we can feel through the popularity of Yidong PLUS, Auchan X5, Auchan X7, the second-generation CS55PLUS and UNI models that Changan Automobile's strong return is a strategic success, not a tactical accidental breakthrough - the contribution of the Blue Whale family is obvious to all, it is it that carries the banner of domestic goods.
As we all know, the environment in the past two years has not been friendly to the automotive industry, and the epidemic has repeatedly erupted, followed by a global shortage of chips and rising raw material prices. In this case, Changan Automobile still launched a number of new cars in an orderly manner, exceeding the target in 2020 and 2021, exceeding 2 million units. It is proud that the sales volume of Chang'an's independent passenger brands has maintained double-digit growth for two consecutive years, and in 2021, it has exceeded the 1.2 million unit mark - to achieve growth in a contrarian trend, not only testing product competitiveness, but also requiring strong supply chain guarantee, which is an important embodiment of Chang'an's system capabilities.
In addition to the immediate difficulties, the bigger challenge lies in the century-old changes facing the automotive industry. Under the impact of new energy targets and the wave of the Internet, cars will no longer be vehicles, and more value lies in mobile terminals. In the face of the "intrusion" of various new technologies, traditional car companies have rethinked their positioning. As early as 2018, Changan Automobile had already made it clear that it wanted to transform into a modern technology service enterprise when it released its third entrepreneurship-innovation and entrepreneurship strategy – these changes will become a reality in 2022.
It is reported that the first strategic model of Changan Automobile's new dedicated electric vehicle platform, the C385, is expected to be listed in the second quarter of this year; it is expected that in the third quarter of this year, Avita 11 will also be delivered, which is from the CHN platform jointly created by Changan Automobile, Huawei and NINGDE Times. In addition to the promotion of innovation at the product level, Changan Automobile is also constantly breaking through the traditional thinking of buying and selling in terms of marketing services, reconstructing user relationships through digital means, and building a new pattern through a new ecology. For Changan Automobile, what has changed is technological innovation and operational thinking, and what has not changed is the original intention of being user-oriented.
Write at the end
Judging from the cumulative sales volume in January and February, Changan Automobile has made a good start. It is foreseeable that the new product potential energy of the second generation of Changan CS75PLUS will be released in March, while UNI-V and UNI-K iDD will drive the growth in the second quarter, and they will be pointed to the sports car market, hybrid market and high-end electric market respectively, together with the C385 and Avita 11 respectively. In this way, Changan Automobile still has at least three good hands of cards in its hands that have not been played! Undoubtedly, the research and development and promotion of a variety of new hot models will be a big test for car companies in transition, and it is expected that Changan Automobile can go through this experience and become a more powerful Chinese brand.