In the past 2021, the problem of "lack of core" has always been there, not only that, car companies have to deal with the rise in raw material prices... This year, the automotive industry can be described as "too difficult". As a result, people began to hope that the automotive market in 2022 would have a good start.
So, the first quarter of 2022 has quietly ended, can the domestic car market let us get what we want?
In fact, this year's situation is still not optimistic, the epidemic situation, the international situation is turbulent, raw material prices and other factors are still affecting the automotive industry.
For the first quarter of the car market, we summarized three keywords, namely price increase, suspension of production, and separation.
The sound of new energy "rising"
With the rise in oil prices, in recent times, new energy vehicles have also ushered in a wave of price increases, although the two are not directly related, but have become high-frequency words that are tied together.
According to CCTV financial reports, since entering March, nearly 20 new energy vehicle companies have announced price increases, involving nearly 40 models, with price increases ranging from as little as 1,000 yuan to more than 10,000 yuan.
As of now, the number of car companies that have announced price increases is still rising. Just as March was coming to an end, a number of car companies announced price increases.
On March 30, the new power brand AIWAYS Auto released the "Explanation of Price Adjustment of AIWAYS U5 Products and Configurations". The note pointed out that due to the continuous sharp rise in raw material prices and the progress of suppliers' supply, AIWAYS Automobile will adjust the official guidance price of its on-sale AIWAYS U5 and related configurations, of which the PURE version will be raised by 10,000 yuan, the LIFE version will be raised by 12,000 yuan, and the smart driving bag configuration will be raised by 5,000 yuan. In addition, the price adjustment will take effect from 00:00 on April 6 and is only for the Chinese market.
On March 31, Dongfeng Xiaokang issued an announcement that due to comprehensive factors such as the continuous rise in upstream raw material prices, Dongfeng Fengguang adjusted the official guidance price of the Fengguang MINIEV model, with an adjustment range of 3,000-4,000 yuan.
On the same day, SAIC Roewe also issued a price increase announcement, which will adjust the official guidance price of some models of its Roewe i6 MAX EV and Roewe Ei5 models, with an increase of 3,000-5,000 yuan. In addition, the price adjustment will take effect from 00:00 on May 1. Previously, SAIC Roewe announced a price increase on March 1, and its RX5 eMAX PHEV Fearless Premium Edition, Ei5, i6 MAX EV three models have increased by 2,000 yuan on the basis of the original price, and the new round of price increases has been significantly enlarged compared with before.
According to the incomplete statistics of the mara car market, gac aviation e-an, BYD, Tesla, Weilai, Xiaopeng Automobile, Nezha Automobile, Feifan Automobile, Euler, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Volkswagen, zero-run car, Krypton, Geometric Automobile, Ford Motor, WM Motor, Roewe and other brands of new energy models have announced price increases, including most of the mainstream models in the market.
The reason is that nine out of ten new energy vehicle companies have taken the sharp rise in raw material prices as the main reason. Coupled with the shortage of chips, subsidies and other factors, so no car brand can escape this wave of price increases.
A number of car companies have suspended work and production for a short time
Recently, I often see a sentence on the Internet: "Youth is only a few years, and the epidemic accounts for three years." "No matter how many times you see this sentence, it always touches the heart. Since the beginning of this year, we have ushered in the third year of the epidemic, although the domestic situation is relatively good, but the epidemic has recurred from time to time, and it still has a far-reaching impact on the automotive industry.
Since January this year, several rounds of the epidemic have caused several automobile cities in Tianjin, Jilin and Shanghai to stop production.
Recently, according to a number of media reports, a Volkswagen Group spokesman said on Thursday that due to the difficulty of purchasing parts during the epidemic, the company's Joint Venture with SAIC Motor's Shanghai plant will be partially closed from Thursday, but did not provide more details, including when production can be resumed, or which parts and models have been particularly affected.
In fact, since entering March, three car companies, including FAW Group, BMW Brilliance and Tesla, have announced a short suspension of work and production.
FAW Group's Changchun plant will stop production for four days from March 13, involving its own brands such as Hongqi, Besturn and Jiefang, as well as joint venture brands such as Volkswagen, Audi and Toyota. Based on the sales volume of 400,000 vehicles in March 2021, it is expected that FAW will lose about 50,000 units in the four days from the 13th to the 16th.
BMW Brilliance's Dadong plant in Shenyang will stop production from March 22, and the resumption time is to be determined. BMW Brilliance Shenyang production base is the world's largest production base of BMW Group, with two major vehicle factories, Dadong Plant and Tiexi Plant, with an existing production capacity of 760,000 vehicles per year, and the models produced include BMW 5 Series (long shaft version), BMW 3 Series (including standard shaft and long shaft), BMW 2 Series Station wagon, BMW 1 Series, BMW X3, BMW X2, BMW X1 and other seven major product series. The temporary suspension of production will affect the production capacity and terminal sales of the above seven series models.
Tesla announced that it will suspend production activities at its Shanghai plant on March 28, which will last for four days. According to market news, the suspension date of Tesla's Shanghai factory was extended by one day to April 1. It is understood that Tesla Shanghai Factory is Tesla's first overseas vehicle manufacturing plant, located in Shanghai Lingang Area, covering an area of more than 1,200 acres, including four areas such as vehicle production area, test area, parts production area and joint plant (maintenance workshop), which is China's first wholly foreign-owned vehicle manufacturing project, and shoulders the production responsibility of Tesla in the two major new energy vehicle markets in China and Europe. According to the official website, the current Tesla in china to pick up the car time of 16-20 weeks, and the temporary suspension of production may lead to the extension of the delivery time of the new car, which will also have a certain impact on the delivery volume.
It is not difficult to predict that this year's epidemic will continue to have an impact on each manufacturer, and what kind of mentality to deal with the challenge will divide them into different shapes.
Joint venture staged "break away"
Looking back over the past 20 years, the joint venture brand is undoubtedly the reaper of the dividend of China's auto market. But today, China's auto market has quietly changed. Following the official withdrawal of "Dongfeng Renault" from the historical stage in April last year, after a year and a half, the Dongfeng joint venture plate once again staged a scene of "breaking away". The protagonist of this time has become Dongfeng Yueda Kia.
According to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, on March 22, Dongfeng Yueda Kia changed its name to Kia Automobile Co., Ltd., the legal representative: Zhang Naiwen, and the registration authority: Yancheng Market Supervision and Administration Bureau.
In fact, since the end of 2021, Dongfeng Yueda Kia has undergone several equity changes. First, Dongfeng Group listed its 25% stake in for 297 million yuan, and Yueda Automobile became the only bidder. Dongfeng Group has since withdrawn from Dongfeng Yueda Kia.
Sales volume is a direct embodiment of the brand power of car companies. Under the background of Dongfeng Yueda Kia's sales volume declining year by year and serious losses, in order to reduce the impact of the joint venture brand on the performance of the main company, it is also reasonable for Dongfeng Company to choose to transfer shares.
It is worth noting that while the performance of Dongfeng Yueda Kia market is not good, the joint venture brands under Dongfeng Motor have successively experienced sales declines. Dongfeng Renault, Dongfeng Yulon and Dongfeng Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Are facing different degrees of difficulties.
At present, Dongfeng Renault, a subsidiary of Dongfeng, has been dissolved, and Dongfeng Yulong has also been in a state of suspension for a long time.
Looking at the entire automobile market, as the Chinese auto market enters the stage of declining sales and consumption upgrading, not only the joint venture brands under Dongfeng Motor, but also the days of other joint venture brands are not good.
With the opening of the joint venture share ratio, since the beginning of this year, the joint venture brand may usher in more changes. Whether it is "breaking away" or continuing to rely on each other for their lives, it is foreseeable that the good days of making money by lying on joint ventures may come to an end.
Ma Yue:
The problems faced by the auto market last year, since entering 2022, seem to still exist. When will the price increase of new energy vehicles subside? Will the epidemic "accidentally" end this year? These questions may only be left to time. No matter how the first quarter of the car market has quietly ended, since the difficulties cannot be avoided, it is better to move forward bravely.