Looking back at last year, the sales of Xiaopeng, Weilai and Ideal, which are known as the "new forces of car-making", were 98155 vehicles, 91429 vehicles and 90491 vehicles respectively, which is still a little bit away from the "threshold" of 100,000 vehicles. In contrast, Tesla, which is regarded as an opponent by many car companies, delivered 472,000 new cars in China last year.
Obviously, the market sales data intuitively reflects the needs of consumers. To be sure, the advent of the new energy inflection point will make more and more people start to consider buying electric vehicles. With the release of the data, Tesla's domestic sales performance in March this year has also surfaced. In March this year, Tesla basically left the capacity of its domestic production plant in the domestic market, selling a total of 65,184 new cars, while exporting only 60, an increase of 85% year-on-year.
According to the latest data from the Association of Passenger Vehicles, in March this year, the monthly penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the mainland hit a record high, reaching 28.2%. In addition, according to the statistics of the China Automobile Association, in the first quarter of this year, the penetration rate of the domestic new energy vehicle market reached 19.3%, once again refreshing the historical record. Throughout the first quarter of this year, Tesla's cumulative sales in China (including exports) were 181544.
What is even more surprising is that Tesla's global production and sales report card in the first quarter delivered 310048 new cars, and the Chinese market accounted for more than half of its overall sales share. As a reference, the other three new forces that have achieved large-scale deliveries at present, Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng, compared with 25768 vehicles, 31716 vehicles and 34561 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, which obviously adds up to the sales of these three companies.
In addition, since September last year, Tesla's monthly sales have reached 56,006, 54,391, 52,859, and 70,847, respectively, as well as 59,845 and 56,515 in January and February this year, from which we can also see the existence of many hidden worries. It is worth mentioning that in the context of chip shortage and energy-saving subsidies, the new energy vehicle market has also ushered in more brutal competition.
With the background of the environment and the continued ravages of the epidemic, Tesla's Shanghai factory has long entered a state of suspension. And because the overall control of the epidemic has not improved, the situation of factory shutdown will continue. As of now, we have not received any news of when to resume production. According to the current trend, it seems that it will continue to extend for some time.
Factory shutdown, when to resume work is still unclear, then will usher in more new problems, as our title said: Tesla sales in April will be "cut off"? Previously, on April 9, WEILAI Automobile said on its official app that since March, due to the epidemic, the company's supply chain partners in Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places have stopped production one after another, and have not yet recovered. Affected by this, WEILAI's vehicle production has been suspended. In other words, under the epidemic, no one is alone.
On the evening of April 14, He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, posted on Weibo that if supply chain companies in Shanghai and the surrounding areas cannot find a way to dynamically resume work and production, all Chinese automakers may have to stop work and production in May. It is foreseeable that due to the long automotive industry chain and high coordination requirements, the core production and logistics base of the production and logistics base of the production and radiation range is wider, not only in April, the next second quarter or even the next period of time the pressure on the production and sales of the automobile market may gradually increase.
Another network news, Huawei consumer business CEO, smart car BU CEO Yu Chengdong recently posted in the circle of friends: "Indeed, if Shanghai continues to fail to resume work and production, after May, all technology/industrial industries involved in the Shanghai supply chain, will be fully suspended, especially the automobile industry!" The economic loss/cost of the industry will be very large! Since mid-April, some companies have begun to cut off supply and production due to closures such as Shanghai. ”
As for when Tesla will resume work? When will capacity return to normal? What is the final impact on sales in China throughout the year? Question after question after question awaits answers.
Now, we can see from the official website of Tesla China that if we order the model 3 rear-wheel drive version of the model to pick up the car cycle takes 20 to 24 weeks, while the Model 3 high-performance dual-motor all-wheel drive version of the model takes 16 to 20 weeks to pick up the car cycle. At the same time, the model Y rear-wheel drive version of the model has a slightly shorter pick-up cycle of 10-14 weeks, while the long endurance and performance version of the Model Y have a pick-up cycle of 16-20 weeks and 12-16 weeks, respectively.
In other words, the current fluctuations in the price of raw materials in the automotive industry chain of the Shanghai factory are also affecting the sharp rise in car prices. From the perspective of market demand, it is still in a state of short supply, and the price increase has not greatly blocked the purchase choice of end consumers. On the contrary, for Tesla, there has been a wave of consumer enthusiasm for purchase, and it has become more and more intense.
As for whether Tesla's sales in China will affect its long-term plans in April and the next, we will look further ahead, even if the epidemic situation begins to improve in the second quarter, with the current market for new energy long-term or tesla, the short-term sales of this part of the sales will still be pulled back. In the Chinese market this year, Tesla's final sales are still likely to exceed the 700,000 mark, and it is also a milestone of 1.5 million new cars sold.
Electric EV: There are still many uncertainties in the development of the new energy market
The Association expects that in 2022, the sales volume of new energy vehicles will be 6 million units, with a penetration rate of 22%, and the sales of new energy passenger cars will be 5.5 million units, with a penetration rate of 25%. Nowadays, in the context of the new four modernizations, the growth rate of new energy vehicle sales is certain. On the other hand, as a bystander, we can see that in the context of chip shortage and energy-saving subsidies, the new energy vehicle market has also ushered in more brutal competition. We will wait and see how the auto market will perform in the coming year and what changes and challenges will be ushered in in 2022.