On April 28, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jianghuai Automobile") released the "Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. 2022 First Quarter Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The "Report" shows that due to the impact of the epidemic and chip shortage, the sales volume of Jianghuai Automobile in the first quarter declined; the price of raw materials such as chips and batteries increased, resulting in an increase in costs and a decrease in the gross profit of the main business. Jianghuai Automobile's operating income in the first quarter of 2022 was 9.761 billion yuan, and the net cash flow from operating activities was 1.165 billion yuan, an increase of 236.16% year-on-year.
In addition to Jianghuai Automobile, Great Wall Motors, Jiangling Motors and other car companies have disclosed the first quarter report of 2022. According to relevant reports, Great Wall Motor sold 283,500 vehicles in the first quarter, down 16.32% year-on-year, and operating income was 33.619 billion yuan, an increase of 8.04% year-on-year, but the net profit attributable to the mother fell by 0.34% year-on-year; Jiangling Motors achieved a total operating income of 7.23 billion yuan in the first quarter, down 10.1% year-on-year, and achieved a net profit attributable to the mother of 190 million yuan, down 30.1% year-on-year.
On April 11, when the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (hereinafter referred to as the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) released the characteristics of the economic operation of the automotive industry in March this year, the China Automobile Association used four consecutive declines, including: automobile production and sales fell year-on-year, passenger car production and sales fell slightly year-on-year, commercial vehicle production and sales fell significantly year-on-year, and pickup truck production and sales fell slightly year-on-year.
Figure Note: Analysis of the economic operation of the automobile industry in the first quarter of 2022 of the China Automobile Association
According to the statistical analysis of the China Automobile Association, in March 2022, due to the frequent outbreak of the epidemic, the tight supply of chips, the price increase of raw materials and other factors, the overall performance of passenger car sales was lower than expected, and the production and sales of commercial vehicles decreased significantly year-on-year. Specifically, passenger car production in the first quarter was 5.499 million units and 5.545 million units, up 11.0% and 9.0% year-on-year, while commercial vehicle production and sales were 985,000 units and 965,000 units, down 29.7% and 31.7% year-on-year.
According to the report, in the first quarter of 2022, the R&D expenses of Jianghuai Automobile were 295 million yuan, an increase of 3.99% year-on-year. According to the statistics of the "Global Automotive Patent Big Data Platform", in recent years, the mainland national automobile brands have implemented an innovation-driven development strategy, continued to increase R&D investment in the field of new energy vehicles and intelligent and connected vehicles, and the amount of patent disclosure has repeatedly reached a new high. In 2021, the number and quality of patents disclosed by mainland national automobile brands have increased significantly. Among them, in 2021, the number of patents disclosed by Jianghuai Automobile was 1099, accounting for 78.9% of the inventions, ranking second in the top 20 patents of the national automobile brand vehicle group in 2021.
The huge investment in research and development expenses has also continuously empowered Jachuai Automobile's technological breakthroughs and new product launches. In the first quarter of this year, the new pure electric passenger car - Sihao Aipao opened pre-sale, equipped with the latest J-Pilot Plus intelligent auxiliary driving system and the world's first Huawei 77G front-mounted millimeter wave radar, horizontal viewing angle of 120 °, can be fully covered by the curb, road conditions, no blind spots, effectively avoid potential dangers, and bring users a safer car experience. In the field of new energy commercial vehicles, Jianghuai Automobile is driven by the dual technical route of pure electric + plug-in hybrid, and is developing vehicle-electric split pure electric light trucks, pre-researching new exclusive platforms for new energy, smart cockpits, automatic driving, and laying out hydrogen fuel cells.
Picture note: Sihao New Energy provides work vehicles for epidemic prevention and control in Hefei
According to industry analysts, the relatively sufficient cash flow has also greatly enhanced the anti-risk ability of Jianghuai Automobile, providing a strong guarantee for its development in the next stage. With the implementation of the policy on promoting the development of the automobile market in the "Opinions on Further Releasing Consumption Potential and Promoting the Sustained Recovery of Consumption", it is bound to bring great impetus to domestic automobile consumption, and it will also bring major benefits to the high-quality development of new energy vehicles, and undoubtedly inject new momentum into the future development of Jianghuai Automobile!