With the continuous hot sales of the domestic new energy vehicle market, the market share of the traditional brand new energy sector increased by 1.2 percentage points in February, which still occupies a significant advantage compared with the new car-making brand; From January to February, although there were some changes in the ranking of some brands, the overall competitive landscape remained basically unchanged. Among them, BYD further consolidated its position as a "bellwether" and promoted its passenger car sales to achieve breakthroughs in multiple market segments, winning the monthly sales championship of its own brands in one fell swoop.
However, in the face of the increasingly fierce price increase, how will the new energy vehicle market change in March? The association said that the price of new energy vehicles will inhibit demand to a certain extent, and if the price of raw materials continues to rise in the future, it will consider adjusting the annual sales forecast of new energy vehicles accordingly.
Affected by the continuous sharp rise in raw material prices, the domestic new energy vehicle market set off the second round of price increases this year last week. According to incomplete statistics, since the beginning of this year, more than 20 car companies have raised the price of nearly 50 models.
Compared with Tesla's three consecutive price increases in the past 10 days, bydir, the domestic new energy "one brother" BYD also announced an increase in the official guidance price of Dynasty Network and Ocean Network related models late at night on March 15, ranging from 3,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan, and its last price increase was on January 21.
From the current situation, the first round of price increases at the beginning of the year has not had too much impact on the market, highlighting that the market acceptance of new energy models is constantly improving. According to the data of the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, although affected by the Spring Festival holiday, the wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China fell by 24.1% month-on-month in February, but still increased by 189.1% year-on-year to 317,000 units; From January to February, the cumulative wholesale volume of new energy passenger vehicles reached 734,000 units, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year.
Among the top 15 (TOP15) car companies in february wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars released by the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, the number of places occupied by traditional brands increased by 1 seat from the previous month to 10 seats; Total sales exceeded 180,000 units, up 213.6% year-on-year; The market share reached 57%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous quarter. From January to February, traditional brands also occupied 10 seats, with a total sales of 421,000 vehicles, an increase of 155.7% year-on-year, and a market share of 57.3%.
Among them, BYD further consolidated its "bellwether" position under the two-wheel drive of pure electric and plug-in hybrid models, and its market share rose to 27.6%, close to 30%. In February, BYD's new energy vehicle sales were 87,473 units, an increase of 753.8% year-on-year, not only the highest sales, but also the largest increase. Driven by this, BYD passenger cars have achieved breakthroughs in multiple market segments such as SUVs, winning the monthly sales championship of their own brands in one fell swoop, becoming the largest "dark horse" in the car market in February.
A BYD 4S store in Beijing China Economic Network Data Chart Zhang Yi/Photo
In the first two months of this year, BYD New Energy's cumulative sales exceeded 180,000 vehicles, 110,000 vehicles ahead of SAIC-GM-Wuling, and more than 60,000 vehicles compared with Tesla. In addition, this year is a big year for BYD's products, and with the continuous enrichment of the product lineup, its market performance this year is worth looking forward to.
In addition to BYD, the market pattern of the traditional brand new energy sector remains relatively stable. SAIC-GM-Wuling, Geely, Chery and other vehicles sold more than 10,000 vehicles in February. Geely, in particular, followed BYD in February in sales growth, also more than 7 times. Geely's data also shows that its penetration rate of new energy products rose to 18.5% in February, a record high.
Some analysts believe that geely has grown sharply for two consecutive months after entering 2022, highlighting its gradual strength in the field of new energy. Under the technical support of Haohan Architecture, its brands such as Geometry, Extreme Krypton, and Ruilan are fully covering various market segments of the new energy vehicle market.
It is worth noting that the Great Wall became the only brand in the traditional new energy sector to decline in February. Among them, in addition to the shortage factor of the supply chain, its Euler brand stopped accepting new orders for black and white cats, which directly led to a sharp decline in sales of new energy vehicles on the Great Wall. At present, Euler only relies on good cats to maintain sales, and in February the brand sold 6261 vehicles, and good cats accounted for 4066 vehicles. It is reported that Euler will usher in the launch of new products such as ballet cats, lightning cats, punk cats and so on this year, and as the product lineup is supplemented, it remains to be seen whether the sales volume of Great Wall New Energy can be rebounded.
In addition, SAIC-GM-Wuling and SAIC Passenger Vehicles, two SAIC-related brands, although the sales growth rate in February rose from single digits in January to double digits, compared with the overall traditional brand new energy sector, it is only better than the negative growth of the Great Wall. At present, SAIC-GM-Wuling New Energy sales mainly rely on Hongguang MINIEV, and its sales in February account for more than 60%. However, as the price of raw materials continues to rise, the profit margin of micro-electric vehicles with cost-effective advantages is bound to cause a large squeeze, which also requires SAIC-GM-Wuling to find more new growth points.
A SAIC Volkswagen 4S store in Beijing China Economic Network data chart Guo Tao /photo
In contrast, SAIC Volkswagen, which is also a SAIC company, still maintained a high sales growth rate in February and continued to lead the joint venture brand. In addition to the small sales base in the same period last year, Volkswagen's ID. series models are gradually opening up in the Chinese market. This also allowed Volkswagen Group CEO Diess to reiterate the Volkswagen brand's sales target of doubling pure electric vehicle models in China this year at the Volkswagen Group's 2021 financial report press conference held recently.
In February, the joint venture brand was expanded, and EasyJet ranked among the top 15 new energy companies. As a joint venture company between Dongfeng and Renault-Nissan Alliance, the brand mainly produces and sells new energy passenger cars such as Renault, Venucia, Fengguang, Fengshen and Fengxing. At present, easyJet sales are mainly from the export of Dacia Spring, a subsidiary of Renault.
Overall, with the continuous hot sales of the new energy vehicle market, the traditional brand new energy sector still occupies a significant advantage over the new power brand of car manufacturing in February; From January to February, although there were some changes in the ranking of some brands, the overall competitive landscape remained basically unchanged. However, in the face of the increasingly fierce price increase, it is still unknown how the new energy vehicle market will change in March.
In this regard, the Association said that the price of new energy vehicles will inhibit demand to a certain extent, and if the price of raw materials continues to rise in the future, it will consider adjusting the annual sales forecast of new energy vehicles accordingly. It is reported that in order to do a good job in ensuring the supply and price stability of lithium resource products, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has organized and held a lithium industry operation symposium and a symposium on the price increase of upstream materials for power batteries on March 16 and 17 to explore the current situation of the industry. It is expected to bring immediate results to the industry. (China Economic Network reporter Guo Tao)