Domestic automobile production and sales fell year-on-year in March The growth rate of new energy vehicles remained high

On April 11, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced monthly figures showing that vehicle production and sales in March reached 2.241 million units and 2.234 million units, up 23.4% and 28.4% month-on-month, and down 9.1% and 11.7% year-on-year. The first quarter data was also released at the same time, and the production and sales of automobiles in January and March were 6.484 million units and 6.509 million units, respectively, an increase of 2.0% and 0.2% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 6.8 percentage points and 7.3 percentage points lower than that of January and February. Despite the overall slight slowdown, the growth rate of new energy vehicles remained high, with domestic new energy vehicle production and sales reaching 465,000 units and 484,000 units in March, respectively, an increase of more than 110% year-on-year.

The China Automobile Association pointed out that in March 2022, the epidemic situation in many parts of the country, coupled with the increase in international geopolitical instability, the production and operation activities of enterprises were affected to a certain extent. In addition, the phenomenon of chip shortage has not improved significantly, especially the rapid rise in the price of raw materials for power batteries has promoted the rise in production costs of enterprises, so most companies have raised the sales price of products, and ultimately affected sales in the terminal market.

■ Independent brands strive to maintain positive growth

In terms of veteran independent car companies, BYD still maintains rapid growth, especially new energy models, Geely and Changan are also trying to maintain positive growth, but Great Wall Motors has experienced a decline in sales due to the impact of the suspension of some models.

In March, BYD's new energy passenger car sales reached 104338 units, up 160.9% year-on-year, a record high. At the same time, BYD announced in March that it would stop producing traditional fuel vehicles and focus on EV pure electric and DM plug-in hybrid products, becoming the first traditional car company in the world to truly stop the production of fuel vehicles.

Chery Automobile sold 60,273 units in March, up 14.4% year-on-year, and total sales in the first quarter 172155 units, up 25.9% year-on-year. At the same time, in the first quarter, Chery Group's new energy passenger cars were driven by the two star models of Chery Ant and QQ Ice Cream, and the total sales volume reached 53,054 units, an increase of 2.12 times year-on-year, becoming a new growth point for the Chery brand.

Geely Automobile's sales reached 101166 units in March, up 1.14% year-on-year. Among them, the sales volume of new energy models in March was 15,557 units, an increase of 332% year-on-year, and the single-month terminal delivery volume of geometric brands exceeded 10,000 in March, becoming the absolute main force, but the delivery volume of the Extreme Krypton brand was only 1,795 vehicles, which was more general than that of new power rivals.

In March, Great Wall Motor sold 100,930 new vehicles, down 8.86% year-on-year. In the first quarter, Great Wall Motor sold 283,500 vehicles, down 16.32% year-on-year. In February, due to the sharp rise in raw material costs, Euler announced the suspension of orders for black cats, white cats and other models, which have accumulated sales of more than 88,000 units in 2021, so the suspension can be said to have a greater impact on the overall performance of Great Wall Motors.

In addition, Changan Automobile, according to its production and sales express report, Chongqing Changan sold 108192 units in March, an increase of 36.7% year-on-year, and the cumulative sales volume from January to March was 283277 units, an increase of 6.43% year-on-year.

■ "New forces" continue to grow at a high rate

In terms of new forces, "Wei Xiaoli" still maintains rapid growth, the growth of Xiaopeng Automobile and Ideal Automobile remains in the triple digits, while the growth momentum of Weilai Automobile is slightly weakened. Zero run and Nezha sales are not lost to "Wei Xiaoli", and maintain a high growth rate of more than 200%, and there is a momentum of catching up in sales.

Xiaopeng Automobile delivered a total of 15,414 new vehicles in March, an increase of 148% month-on-month and 202% year-on-year; the cumulative delivery volume in the first quarter reached 34,561 units, 2.6 times that of the same period last year. In order to speed up the delivery, Xiaopeng completed the technical transformation of the Zhaoqing factory during the Spring Festival. Entering the second quarter, Xiaopeng's many hot-selling models are expected to usher in a full force.

In March, ideal car deliveries were 11,034 units, an increase of 125.2% year-on-year; in the first quarter of 2022, ideal cars delivered a total of 31,716 units, an increase of 152.1% year-on-year. Since delivery, the cumulative delivery volume of Ideal ONE has reached 155804 units.

NIO delivered 9,985 units in March, up 37.6% year-on-year, while in the first quarter of 2022, the brand delivered 25,768 new vehicles, up 28.5% year-on-year. As of March, NIO has delivered 192838 new cars. Nio's first mass-produced pure electric sedan, the ET7, also began deliveries on March 28, with 163 units delivered as of March 31.

A total of 10,059 zero-run vehicles were delivered in March, breaking through the 10,000-unit mark for the first time. Monthly delivery growth rate of more than 200% for 12 consecutive months. The brand delivered a total of 21,579 units in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 410% year-on-year.

Nezha Automobile delivered 12,026 new vehicles in March, an increase of 270% year-on-year. In addition, the cumulative delivery volume of Nezha Automobile in the first quarter of this year reached 30,152 units, compared with 7,443 units in the first quarter of last year, an increase of 305% year-on-year.

■ Joint venture car companies are generally not very good

Corresponding to the strong rise of independent brands and the rapid development of new forces, the performance of joint venture brands is relatively sluggish, especially saic's three joint venture car companies, which have been seriously affected by the epidemic, and it is expected that the April data will not be able to turn red. Thanks to the high growth of the hybrid market, Japanese joint venture car companies are in a relatively good position.

Faw-Volkswagen sales reached 132,000 units in March, but fell by more than 40% year-on-year, according to the Association. Due to the impact of the epidemic, some FAW-Volkswagen plants have reduced production or even stopped production, of which the output of the Changchun base in March fell by more than 60% year-on-year, and the production capacity of the Chengdu, Tianjin and Qingdao bases has also been reduced to varying degrees.

SAIC Volkswagen's situation is also not ideal, and according to the association data, wholesale sales in March were 110,000 units, down 2.2% year-on-year. SAIC-GM, which also belongs to SAIC Motor, sold 89,000 units, down 31.4% year-on-year.

Compared with German and American rivals, GAC Toyota sold 97,006 units in March, up 41% year-on-year, and accumulated sales of 247006 units in the first quarter, up 23.4% year-on-year. Guangqi Honda sold 76,833 units in March, up 21.5% year-on-year, and sales in the first quarter were 212424 units, up 16.7% year-on-year – among the joint venture car companies, only Japanese car companies still maintained a high positive growth trend. Text/Liu Bin

(Beijing Evening News)