In 2021, busy surviving, in 2022, seizing status.
The first of every month is the "ranking day" of the new car-making forces. Entering April, last month's "record" was also released as scheduled, and on April Fool's Day, the results of the runners were not mixed with any "jokes": among them, the zero-run car achieved delivery of more than 10,000 for the first time; while Weilai Automobile unexpectedly bottomed out.
The loss of the first echelon: who is "left behind"?
Xiaopeng Motors has fulfilled its promise.
Before the release of deliveries, Xiaopeng Automobile founder He Xiaopeng had revealed in the earnings meeting that in late February and early March this year, Xiaopeng's new orders quickly returned to the peak season level in December last year, although the epidemic affected the delivery rhythm in some regions, but the March delivery volume was still close to last year's peak level.
Not surprisingly, in March, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 15,414 new cars, an increase of 202% year-on-year, and regained the first place in the monthly delivery list of new car-making forces. In addition, the cumulative delivery volume of Xiaopeng Motors in the first quarter of 2022 reached 34,561 units, 2.6 times that of the same period last year, once again exceeding the upper limit of the financial guidance.
Xiaopeng Automobile was able to win the monthly sales championship again, mainly due to the sales growth of the P7. It is said that the lithium iron phosphate battery model with a starting price of 20,000 yuan has driven the growth of P7 sales to a certain extent.
In addition, another reason for the increase in Xiaopeng's delivery is the expansion of the model product line. Last year, Xiaopeng released three new cars, the G3i, P5 and G9, of which the G3i and P5 were delivered last year. The arrival of new products has brought Xiaopeng another part of the growth beyond P7.
However, now subject to the increase in production costs, Xiaopeng Automobile has officially announced a price increase, and the price before subsidies has generally increased by 10,000-20,000 yuan. And whether this will shake the status of Xiaopeng Motors, the answer will soon be revealed.
Ideal car, ranked third, sales exceeded 10,000 and did not fall behind.
According to the data, ideal cars delivered a total of 11,034 units in March, an increase of 125.2% year-on-year; in the first quarter of this year, a total of 31,716 units were delivered, an increase of 152.1% year-on-year.
In the face of the increasing model matrix of the players in the same period, the ideal car has only one ideal 0NE. Although the car underwent a mid-term makeover in May last year, it boosted its sales performance to some extent. However, considering that this is more than half a year ago, its overall sales trend has also begun to stabilize, so it is not enough to offset the cyclical changes in the market.
According to the plan, Ideal Auto will release the new car Ideal L9 on April 16, ending the situation of a car hitting the world, but the new car is still a large SUV + range increase, so the converging positioning, will eventually help the overall sales of Ideal Car, or take away part of the market of Ideal ONE, it is not known at present.
The delivery of 9985 vehicles is one step away from the single month sales exceeding 10,000.
At present, Weilai Automobile has been squeezed out of the top three, and has even been surpassed by Nezha and Zero Run, retreating to fifth place. Less than 10,000 vehicles were delivered for 3 consecutive months, so that the former "first brother" Weilai fell into the whirlpool of public opinion that fell behind.
The price is not close to the people, and the production capacity cannot keep up, which may be a major reason for the slowdown in Weilai's sales. According to the data, in the middle of 2021, the average selling price of Weilai Automobile was 433,000 yuan, second only to Mercedes-Benz, and even higher than well-known brands such as Lexus, BMW, and Audi.
The high-end price has somewhat limited the growth rate of NIO's sales, and market acceptance still needs time. In addition, in the past year, Weilai has not delivered new models, or relying on the ES8, ES6, EC6 these three cars, in the new energy market, there is no advantage.
However, this year, Weilai will usher in the big year of products, in addition to the NIO ET7 that has just opened for delivery, the medium-sized intelligent electric coupe ET5 will also open for delivery in September, and the ES7, which is positioned as a medium-sized high-end five-seat SUV, will also be released in the second quarter and started delivery in the third quarter. It is expected that these three new products will become an important driver of NIO's delivery results in 2022.
In fact, since walking out of the ICU, WEILAI has already targeted the BBA. Perhaps, the decline in sales is "not important" to him.
The counterattack of the second echelon: only the "surface scenery"?
"In 2022, it's time for us to take the initiative to rush out and join the top team."
In March, zero-run cars became the first to shoot the new power. From the final result, there was no disappointment: a total of 10,059 new vehicles were delivered, an increase of 9 times year-on-year and an increase of 192.84% month-on-month. After "Wei XiaoLi", the sales volume of Zero Run in March also exceeded 10,000, and the single-month sales volume has exceeded the sum of the sales in the first five months of last year.
Due to the back of the world's second largest security Dahua shares, Zero Run firmly chose "global self-research" from the beginning, from chips to three-electric systems to vehicle networking solutions and other core technologies, always adhere to independent research and development. And this may be the killer skill of "leading" the new forces with zero desire to run.
However, the financial pressure behind the "global self-research" is also huge, and the zero-run car is still in the situation of "selling cars and losing money". Some media have calculated an account: in 2021, Zero Run sold 43,748 vehicles, and the company's cost was 4.52 billion yuan, much higher than the revenue of 3.13 billion yuan. This means that for every extra car sold, it will lose an additional 30,000 yuan. Therefore, selling more cars is not a good deal.
On March 17, Zero Run Auto officially submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for listing on the Main Board. Once successfully listed, zero-run cars will become the fourth new car-making force to go public in Hong Kong after "Wei Xiaoli". However, in the case of the first three gross profit margins have turned positive, the gross profit margin of zero-run cars in 2021 is still -44.3%, and there is still a big gap between the performance and the head camp.
According to the prospectus, in the third quarter of 2022, a new car zero-run C01 will be listed and delivered, which may have a positive impact on sales, but the expected performance will continue to lose money.
The counterattack of Nezha's car is still being staged.
Although Nezha has been regarded as the "second echelon" of new forces for a long time, in fact, Nezha's delivery volume has more than once rushed into the top three. This month it came in second place. According to the data, in March, Nezha Automobile delivered a total of 12,026 new cars, an increase of 270% year-on-year; in the first quarter, a total of 30,152 new cars were delivered, an increase of 305% year-on-year.
The secret of Nezha's car counterattack lies in the sinking market. Daniel Zhang, CEO of Nezha Automobile, once mentioned in an interview: "Wei Xiaoli contains the golden key, starting in the central market, we are grassroots, starting from the sinking market, the main cost performance." "Fortunately, the sinking market is big enough that there aren't so many players to have the opportunity to change wheels while playing."
But in fact, the battlefield of Nezha Automobile has long been targeted: after completing the coverage of first- and second-tier cities, traditional car companies and "Wei Xiaoli" and other head new forces have aimed at the direction of user expansion to third- and fourth-tier cities, in an attempt to compete for more incremental users in a sinking market. And Nezha, who is trying to go to the high end, wants to tear off the label of "low end", which is more difficult. In the already competitive market, Nezha Automobile is in a dilemma.
"Just the growth of the numbers is far from being truly anti-superior."
In fact, the pattern in the new energy market will not change due to the fluctuation of delivery in a few months. Don't be complacent when you run to the front temporarily, and don't be discouraged if you temporarily fall behind. Behind the sales, the game continues.