In March this year, the domestic auto market can be described as a difficult month. According to the latest data from the Association of Passenger Vehicles, in the first four weeks of March 2022 (March 1-27), the retail sales of passenger cars of major domestic manufacturers fell by 18% year-on-year, and fell by 10% compared with February in the traditional sales off-season. Behind this, it is undoubtedly affected by the repeated epidemics in many parts of the country, the shortage of semiconductors, and the price increases in the new energy vehicle market.
But even so, the enthusiasm of car companies to announce sales is still undiminished, there are still a few car companies ushered in the "good news", so let's take a look at the first wave of sales reports in March.
Extreme Krypton Automobile: Less than 2,000 units were delivered in March
According to the official news of Extreme Kr Automobile, in March this year, ZEEKR 001 delivered 1795 units in a single month, and the cumulative delivery volume of new cars reached 14248 units.
As Geely's high-end performance electric brand, Extreme Kr Automobile has maintained considerable market attention since the launch of its first model, ZEEKR 001. However, high attention does not seem to translate into high sales, and the monthly delivery of 1795 units is not outstanding in today's new energy vehicle market. This is also affected by the epidemic and chip supply, and officials also said that with the arrival of a new batch of core components at the end of March, it is expected that production and delivery in April will be significantly improved.
But on the other hand, ZEEKR 001 has been in constant trouble since its delivery, consuming the favorability of many consumers of the Kryptonian brand. On March 23, the official release of ZEEKR OS 2.0 was officially pushed to all users, and 59 functions were improved and optimized for the user feedback of ZEEKR OS 1.1.1, and a number of intelligent and safe driving assistance functions were released. Extreme Kr, Extreme Kr is also actively salvaging the situation, I believe that with the good hardware quality of ZEEKR 001 itself, the future will regain consumer confidence.
GAC AE: It exceeded 20,000 units in March, doubling its production capacity
In March this year, GAC Aeon's sales reached 20,317 units, an increase of 189% year-on-year, and the growth momentum was obvious. Just now, GAC Aeon announced that the price of some models will be raised, with an increase of 4,000-10,000 yuan.
It is worth mentioning that GAC Aeon will focus on platform upgrades and overcharge layouts to build a sustainable energy ecology. Through the launch of AEP3.0's new electric vehicle platform, it realizes technology that can be overcharged, upgraded and quickly exchanged.
In February this year, GAC motor has completed the upgrading of its plant's production capacity, and the scale of production capacity has doubled. Moreover, GAC Group has completed the mixed reform some time ago and will complete the A round of financing in September and October this year.
Dongfeng Fengshen: The Yixuan family accounts for up to half
On the last day of March, Dongfeng Fengshen announced the sales data for the first quarter of 2022: its car sales reached 15,711 units in March, an increase of 123% year-on-year; the total sales of cars in the first quarter reached 45,889 units, an increase of 165% year-on-year, while setting a record for the best monthly sales and quarterly sales in history. According to the official statistics of Dongfeng Fengshen, the sales volume of the Yixuan family in the first quarter accounted for 51.3%.
The reason why Dongfeng Fengshen has shown excellent sales performance is due to the increasingly clear brand positioning. More importantly, the strength of self-research has increased by leaps and bounds. Equipped with a Mach-powered 1.5T engine, the Yixuan MAX has a maximum power of 140kW and a maximum torque of 300N·m, which is still quite advantageous overall.
New force brand camp: Xiaopeng is in the first place, and Weilai has fallen out of the top three
In addition to the above-mentioned traditional car brands and new energy vehicle brands, the new power brands also had a bright performance in March.
Among them, zero-run cars ushered in a historic moment in March this year, with single-month deliveries exceeding the 10,000-unit mark for the first time, and delivering data of 10,059 units in March. This is also a new car-making brand that has delivered more than 10,000 units in another month after Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal and Nezha Automobile. At the same time, the cumulative delivery volume in the first quarter of 2022 reached 21,579 units, an increase of 410% year-on-year. Next, the zero-run C11 performance version is also about to start delivery. The first pure electric medium and large sedan built on the C platform - zero-run C01. 3 seconds zero hundred acceleration, 5050mm body length, 700km ultra-long endurance, etc., the overall competitiveness is not bad.
Nezha Automobile delivered 12,026 units in March, an increase of 270% year-on-year, and Nezha also achieved a monthly sales of more than 10,000 for four consecutive months. Up to now, Nezha Automobile has delivered a total of 30,152 units in the first quarter of 2022. In the next second quarter, Nezha S is about to open pre-sale, the new car will provide pure electric and extended range two power options, the extended range nedC range of 1100km, pure electric version NEDC cruising range of 710km.
Ideal Auto continued to achieve deliveries of more than 10,000 units in March with the Ideal ONE, reaching 11,034 units, an increase of 125.2% year-on-year, and in the first quarter of 2022, Ideal Automobile delivered a total of 31,716 units, an increase of 152.1% year-on-year. Since delivery, ideal ONE has delivered 155804 units. Ideal will usher in the debut of the second model, the Ideal L9, on April 16, priced at 450,000-500,000 yuan, and adopts leading technologies such as a fully developed flagship extended range electric system, chassis control system and central domain controller.
Nio delivered a total of 9,985 units in March, although less than 10,000 units, but still reached a year-on-year increase of 37.6%. In the first quarter of 2022, WEILAI delivered a total of 25,768 units, an increase of 28.5% year-on-year, which has lagged behind Nezha Automobile. In terms of new cars, NIO ET7 has started delivery on March 28, and 163 units have been delivered by the end of March. It is expected that in late May, NIO will release the 2022 ES8, ES6 and EC6 models equipped with the latest smart cockpit hardware, and the ES7 based on the NT2 platform will also be released at the same time.
Finally, Xiaopeng Motors, with a total delivery volume of 15,414 units in March 2022, an increase of 202% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2022, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered a total of 34,561 units, ranking first in the camp of new forces. Among them, the delivery of Xiaopeng P7 exceeded 9,000 units for the first time in a single month, and with the 100,000th Xiaopeng P7 off the production line, this car has also become the first pure electric new force model to exceed 100,000 mass production. According to He Xiaopeng revealed in the recent earnings conference call, the current G9 is progressing smoothly, and the PT production sample car has been rolled off the production line of the factory and is expected to be officially listed in the third quarter of this year.
Judging from the sales and deliveries of the above brands in March, the price increase of new energy vehicles did not have much impact on the car market in March, but ushered in the carnival before the price increase tide, and mainstream new energy vehicle brands generally ushered in sales growth. Therefore, the overall downturn in the auto market in March is directly related to the epidemic and the shortage of spare parts supply. However, since late March, more and more new energy vehicle companies have announced model price increases, and the impact on sales is expected to be shown in April, but on the other hand, as supply chain shipments pick up, it is expected that the sales of fuel vehicles will bring certain complementarities, and the overall car market is expected to pick up.