22/04/29
Lead
No matter what the future of the automotive industry will develop, the success or failure of the Chinese market will determine how far Volvo can go.
Author 丨 Cao Jiadong
Responsible editor 丨 Luo Chao
Edit 丨 Chic
How to evaluate the current luxury car market, is the arrogance of BMW and Mercedes-Benz to cover up the dissatisfaction of all the weak? Or are emerging car companies such as Tesla and Weilai beginning to seize the traditional powerful territory, which makes people feel deeply anxious and feel the fierceness of the times?
Maybe both, but can't stand it, in this era of intensified scuffle, Lexus, Volvo and other luxury brands in the same camp can still have to come up with the game of confrontation.
Among them, Volvo did end its sales offensive of several months of continuous growth in the first month after entering 2022, but who would have thought that after a quarter of consolidation, Volvo would retain the gap between itself and other opponents in the profitability level.
According to Volvo Cars' first quarter 2022 results, the company's revenue in the first quarter reached SEK 74.3 billion, an increase of 8% year-on-year, and the operating profit in the first quarter was SEK 6 billion, with an operating margin of 8.1%.
It can be said that when the global automotive supply chain is still tense, and the epidemic is touching everyone's nerves all the time, Volvo can also put aside the embarrassment of the luxury car market gradually converging to the head camp, and enjoy its own spring, which really makes the outside world read a little uninhibited from it.
Although, purely based on sales data, in the first quarter of this year, Volvo sold 131889 cars worldwide, down 18.2% year-on-year. Among them, Volvo sold 20,780 vehicles in China in the first quarter, down 30.5% year-on-year. It is intended to show that due to the influence of the general environment, the confidence of automobile consumption in the terminal market is slightly weak. The luxury car market is positioned, and the decline in sales is more predictable.
However, the real situation is that the long-term instability of the supply chain has led to the trend of the entire auto market shifting from a "buyer's market" to a "seller's market". Volvo is not a first-line brand, and it is true that true fans of brands such as the BBA have difficulty shifting their attention to Volvo. However, there are always some users who do not care about the brand will hesitate.
Once Volvo can take on this part of the consumer, coupled with the original loyal brand users choose to continue to support Volvo, with the change of supply and demand, sales decline at the same time, but can raise profits to a new height, it is not impossible.
Therefore, it is natural to say that the first quarter of 2022 financial report fully shows the steady growth of Volvo Cars' performance. Again, under the rapid sweep of the global electric wave, Volvo, which chooses to bet on electrification in an all-round way and actively act, actually has a certain chip compared to other opponents.
According to the financial report, Volvo Cars' Recharge model sales accounted for 34% of the total sales in the first quarter, of which the sales of pure electric models accounted for 8%, a record high. At the same time, Volvo's carbon emissions in the first quarter have decreased by 13.4% compared with 2018, which also shows that Volvo is one step closer to achieving the goal of reducing carbon emissions by an average of 40% per car throughout its life cycle by 2025.
All along, from Europe, China to the global market, for electrification, focusing on Tesla is what many people subconsciously do. Among them, the role played by traditional car companies has always been an image of a "follower". Whether it is the planning of the product lineup or the expansion of emerging channels, the latter will appear inadequate.
Volkswagen, Toyota and other groups are still like this, and I believe that Volvo will not be an exception. But then again, since years ago, with the goal of "becoming the industry's fastest-transforming, consumer-friendly pure electric luxury car", Volvo's determination to electrification is unparalleled.
Previously, Volvo was cautious about relying on the 48V light hybrid system to complete the early preparation of the electrification transformation, which seemed to be less aggressive. Today, when volvo XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge pure electric models enter the market one after another and release the next generation of XC90 will be electrified, the potential energy it can show is indeed different.
Presumably, as Volvo Cars increases the annual production capacity of pure electric models to 150,000 units after the summer, and the proportion of pure electric models in total sales continues to increase, Volvo's electrification transformation will continue to accelerate in 2022.
Of course, in addition to Volvo, we can also see that 2022 is almost a key year for other traditional auto giants to devote themselves to the EV era. From the BBA to Toyota, Honda, etc., each one has come up with his own eighteen martial arts. For Volvo, there are opportunities, but there is no shortage of challenges.
On the one hand, the entry of a large number of similar brands is bound to expand the margin of the new energy vehicle market outward again. The luxury pure electric market dominated by Tesla will naturally not be as screwed up as it is at present. As one of them, Volvo can do is to build its own fortifications with the advantages it has accumulated.
As for the challenge!
Still that old problem, Volvo has always been in the BBA's inferior brand positioning, in the context of the full stationing in the electric era, it is bound to accumulate base disk customers in the early stage, so that it will not get benefits. At present, XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge can win the recognition of certain consumers by entering the market early and the low price, so it is difficult to say in the future.
Since the beginning of the year, we will not deny some of the achievements of Volvo. In the luxury car market is under siege, the polarization is so fierce today, Volvo has shown a different confidence. However, given that its existence has even made the Chinese luxury car market a little more different, I believe that no matter what the future of the automotive industry will develop, the success or failure of the Chinese market will determine how far Volvo can go.
Cao Jiadong
Gasoline running in the blood,
Only fast is not broken!