This year's car market started with difficulties, lack of cores, shortage of parts and components and other factors affected by the epidemic, the automotive industry is under great pressure, and the market performance of many car companies is not up to expectations. However, some car companies benefited from the forward-looking layout and strong system strength, and the results in the first quarter still made a good start, achieving a double increase in profits, such as Changan Automobile, GAC Group, BYD Automobile, etc.
BYD Cars
First quarter revenue: 66.83 billion yuan, an increase of 63.02% year-on-year
BYD's new energy vehicle sales continue to soar, the financial report data is of course bright enough, in the first quarter of 2022 to achieve operating income of 66.83 billion yuan, an increase of 63.02% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 808 million yuan, an increase of 240.59%; deduction of non-net profit of 514 million yuan, an increase of 729.44% year-on-year.
However, while the revenue increased, BYD's expenditure was also rising, with R&D expenditure of 2.361 billion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 93.94% year-on-year. Management expenses were 1.702 billion yuan, an increase of 46.38% year-on-year. After-sales service fees and employee salaries have also increased. In addition, in the first quarter, BYD continued to invest in capacity expansion, investing about 7.7 billion yuan in additional construction projects, mainly in battery and vehicle business.
It should be known that ATD's models are basically in short supply at present, and the cumulative number of undelivered orders has reached 400,000 units, and it has shown a trend of increasing month by month. The only way to release orders is to increase production capacity. ATD's current monthly production capacity is 140,000 units, and it is expected to expand to 200,000 units per month by June this year. It is reported that if BYD's production capacity is guaranteed, it can achieve the sales target of 1.5 million vehicles this year.
Changan Automobile
First quarter revenue: 34.576 billion yuan, an increase of 7.96% year-on-year
The pace of development of Changan Automobile in the first quarter was seriously affected by external factors, and the sales growth rate was very low, with the overall sales volume of 650,000 vehicles, an increase of 1.6% year-on-year, of which the sales volume of Changan Chinese brand cars in the first quarter was 529,000 units, an increase of 1.3% year-on-year. However, Changan Automobile still achieved a good profit, not only the revenue increased by 7.96% year-on-year to 34.576 billion yuan, but its net profit also exceeded the whole of last year, up 431.45% year-on-year, reaching 4.536 billion yuan.
Changan Automobile's revenue can achieve substantial growth, on the one hand, thanks to Changan Automobile's continuous promotion of global cost reduction and efficiency improvement work to reduce the adverse impact of rising raw material prices on operating results. At the same time, Changan Automobile will focus its resources on high-value models to stabilize corporate earnings. On the other hand, it is thanks to Changan Automobile's sale of Avita's equity and a net profit of 2.13 billion yuan.
The future market environment is still grim, but Changan Automobile has launched a response strategy, such as rapidly carrying out chip replacement research and development work, and arranging on-site office supply for the leadership. It is worth mentioning that Changan Automobile released a new brand of Changan Deep Blue in April, and said that the UNI product sequence will also be independent, coupled with the previously unveiled Avita, it is not difficult to guess that the product coverage of Changan Automobile in the future is more extensive. Then with the arrival of more new models and an excellent management system, it is not difficult for Changan Automobile to achieve better market results in the future.
Great Wall Motors
First quarter revenue: 33.619 billion yuan, an increase of 8.04% year-on-year
Due to the inability of parts manufacturers to supply products normally, Great Wall Motor's production capacity was also limited, which in turn affected market performance, with cumulative production and sales of 285,900 units and 283,500 units in the first quarter, down 14.16% and 16.32% year-on-year. Revenue also fell, net profit of 1.634 billion yuan, down 0.34% year-on-year, deducting non-net profit of 1.303 billion yuan, down 2.41% year-on-year, while revenue was 33.619 billion yuan, an increase of 8.04% year-on-year.
However, Great Wall Motor's brand premium ability is constantly improving, and the average price of Great Wall Motors' bicycles in the first quarter of this year was 119,000 yuan, an increase of 29.12% year-on-year; its average bicycle profit was 0.46 million yuan, an increase of 16.62% year-on-year. This means that the market recognition of Great Wall Motors' high-end models is getting higher and higher. It is reported that among the models sold in the first quarter, the models based on the three major technology brands of lemon, tank and coffee intelligence have accounted for 70.4%.
The popularity of high-end cars is in good contrast to Great Wall Motor's long-term continuous high-level R&D investment. According to the financial report, Great Wall Motor's expenditure on research and development in the first quarter was 1.324 billion yuan, an increase of 45.8% year-on-year, and it is planned that the cumulative investment in research and development of vehicles in the next five years will reach 100 billion yuan.
As for this year, Great Wall Motors will continue to make efforts in high-end models and new energy products, including Weipai Dream, Euler Ballet Cat, Euler Lightning Cat, Tank 700 and other new cars will also enter the market this year and expand the product lineup.
GAC Group
First quarter revenue: 23.145 billion yuan, an increase of 45.67% year-on-year
In the first quarter, GAC Group bucked the trend, producing and selling 598,000 vehicles and 608,000 units, up 24.96% and 22.48% year-on-year, respectively. The operating income was 23.145 billion yuan, an increase of 45.67% year-on-year, while the net profit attributable to the mother was 3.009 billion yuan, an increase of 27.17% year-on-year, showing strong market competitiveness.
GAC Group achieved high growth in the first quarter, mainly due to the simultaneous efforts of the two camps of independent and joint ventures, and the cumulative sales volume of GAC Aean from January to March was 44,874 units, an increase of more than 150% year-on-year. GAC Trumpchi sold 90,448 units, up 21.8% year-on-year. Gac Honda's cumulative sales were 212,424 units, up 16.75% year-on-year, and GAC Toyota also exceeded 240,000 units.
At present, GAC Group's electrification products are being launched at an accelerated pace, especially the electrified models of joint venture brands, such as Guangqi Honda, which released a new electric vehicle brand e:NP polar turbulence in March, and announced that from 2022 onwards, it will continue to launch e:NP brand series electric models at the pace of one new car per year. The first model of GAC Toyota's bZ pure electric exclusive series, the bZ4X, was also officially unveiled on April 28 and is scheduled to be launched in 2022. In terms of the independent camp, EMKOO Shadow Cool has been officially released on April 26, and there are follow-up models such as Shadow Leopard Hybrid Edition and M8 Hybrid Edition.
Undoubtedly, with the arrival of more new energy vehicles in the two camps of joint venture and autonomy, it will not only be able to further improve the layout of GAC Group's new energy vehicle products, but also hope to further enhance its production and sales, dilute costs, and thus enhance profitability.
Ford Cars
First Quarter Revenue: $34.5 billion, down 4.7% year-over-year
Looking at overseas brands, Ford Motor's revenue in the first quarter of this year reached $34.5 billion, down 4.7% year-on-year, while profit was a loss of $3.1 billion. In this regard, Ford Motor said that the main reasons are the increase in raw material prices, the decline in overall product shipments, and the reduction in the proportion of pickup trucks and large SUV combinations. Not only that, but ford-held Rivian shares fell by about 52% in the first quarter, thus affecting earnings.
Although the overall revenue is not ideal, Ford Motor's performance in the first quarter also has a bright spot, its high-end brand Lincoln Automobile set another first-quarter sales record in China, reaching 19471 units, and achieved continuous positive quarter-on-quarter growth. Among them, in February, Lincoln brand sales increased by 34% year-on-year, the best performance since entering China. In addition, the new Lincoln Z, the new generation of Ford Mondeo, and ford Lingrui and other models have received more than expected orders since their launch in March.
For the future, Ford will upgrade its customer experience and dealer network in the mainland market to help the brand achieve full electrification. At the same time, Ford motor also said that the semiconductor supply situation will improve in the second half of the year, and the annual wholesale sales of automobiles can increase by 10% to 15% year-on-year, while the adjusted EBIT profit in 2022 is expected to reach $1.1 billion to $12.5 billion.
It is reported that at present, Ford Motor is steadily promoting the target of 600,000 pure electric vehicle production capacity by the end of 2023, and will further increase battery production capacity for this purpose, hoping to achieve an annual output of more than 2 million electric vehicles by the end of 2026. In addition, Ford Motor is also accelerating the ford+ plan in an all-round way, establishing an independent electric vehicle business unit Ford Model e, a fuel vehicle business unit, Ford Blue, and a business unit serving commercial customers, Ford Pro.
General Motors
First Quarter Revenue: $36 billion, up 11% year-over-year
Also a U.S.-based brand, General Motors reported better earnings than Ford, with revenue up 11 percent year-over-year to nearly $36 billion and net profit of $2.9 billion, down 2.7 percent year-over-year. This achievement is mainly due to the contribution of the North American market, where GM's adjusted EBIT in the first quarter of this year was $3.141 billion, basically unchanged from the same period last year. But in the Chinese market, GM's revenue in the first quarter was only $234 million, compared with more than $300 million in the same period last year. The reason for the decline is due to the impact of the epidemic in Shanghai.
As of now, the epidemic is still raging in Shanghai, the overall environment is very grim, but even so, GM is still full of confidence in the future, and said that it will accelerate the launch of electrification products, this year to mid-2023, GM plans to launch six products based on the Aoteneng platform in the North American market, including the now unveiled Cadillac LYRIQ luxury pure electric smart SUV, GMC electric Hummer and Chevrolet Silverado EV pure electric pickup.
As for the Chinese market, GM adheres to the strategy of synergistic development of the Aoteneng platform and the global small electric vehicle (GSEV) platform to meet the diversified needs of Chinese consumers. The Cadillac LRYIQ, the first Aoteneng model in the Chinese market, will be officially delivered in the middle of the year.
GM is also optimistic about this year's revenue as a number of new products enter the market, expecting full-year net profit to be between $9.6 billion and $11.2 billion, and adjusted EBITda expected to be between $13 billion and $15 billion.
In the first quarter of this year, the domestic automobile market was affected by unfavorable factors such as the frequent occurrence of the epidemic and the rise in raw material prices, and the profitability of car companies was greatly inhibited, and losses were a common phenomenon. To change this situation, only the epidemic situation gradually improved, and the automotive industry chain returned to the right track of development. In the next quarter, the overall automobile market and the performance of car companies are still full of unknowns, but for BYD, Changan Automobile, GAC Group and other car companies with strong institutional strength, it will not be difficult to go against the trend.