China's auto export market performed strongly, with sales reaching 2.138 million units last year, up 102% year-on-year, and exports of 688,000 units in the first quarter of 2022, up 57% year-on-year. New energy vehicles have become the core growth point, exporting 588,000 vehicles last year, and this number reached 200,000 units from January to March this year, accounting for more than 30%.
Due to the existence of established car companies such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Renault, Peugeot, etc., coupled with the high entry threshold, the European market has always been the most closed and difficult to occupy role, and the market share of local brands is as high as 80%. However, in the era of new energy vehicles, China's independent brands have made great breakthroughs in exporting to the markets of developed countries in Europe, and more than ten have or will soon launch new energy vehicle products.
According to data from market research agency EU-EVS, last year, the sales of electric vehicles in 11 European countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark in northern Europe, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and the Netherlands in Western Europe, Germany and Switzerland in Central Europe, and Spain in Southern Europe) reached 853075 units, an increase of 30.4% year-on-year. The market penetration rate of pure electric vehicles is close to 20%, far exceeding the Chinese market (13.77%). The top three are Volkswagen (124389), Tesla (115731) and Renault (67,552).
The seventh place in sales of Chinese brand electric vehicles in Europe is Jianghuai Automobile (100 units), which began to lay out the European market two years ago, and the first product launched was the compact SUV Jianghuai iEV7S, with a cruising range of 420km. The company's senior management said very early: "Although the total market is not large, it is not easy to enter this market itself, and the most important thing is to open a window."
We also saw the figure of three new car-making forces. Nio Motors (200 units), which ranked sixth, unveiled its Norwegian strategy on May 6 last year, and its first service and delivery center opened in Oslo in September of the same year. The ES8 is the first model to be delivered, and the subsequent INTRODUCTION of ET7 to the German market will be launched. They insisted on direct operation, and they wanted to move the whole system at home to Europe.
Xiaopeng Motors, ranked fifth, sold 486 units. In December 2020, 300 G3i were exported to Norway, officially opening the European market journey. In February this year, it announced the opening of the first European brand retail store in Stockholm, Sweden, and signed a sales agreement with The local large car dealer Billia, which is deployed through the "direct operation + authorization" model.
Aiways Automobile (555 vehicles), ranked fourth, although its reputation in China is not high, it is the representative of the "new force of export car manufacturing". At present, it has landed in fifteen countries around the world, and last year, it exported a total of 1676 new energy vehicles, an increase of 62.9% year-on-year. As early as 2020, it entered the European market, establishing cooperation with companies such as electronics retail giant Euronics. In addition, they also adopted a B-end sales model, and invested 500 Aichi U5s to the French market for car rental.
The third largest sales volume of Chinese brand electric vehicles in Europe is BYD (1247 units). On May 6 last year, while ushering in the 1 millionth new energy vehicle off the production line, Chairman Wang Chuanfu announced that the brand "went to sea" in Europe, and the first stop was Selected norway. On August 12, Tang EV began delivery, and the delivery volume reached 1,000 vehicles by December 21.
There are two Chinese brands that rank among the top 20 in the European market. MG sold 14,228 units last year, representing a market share of 1.7%. It is a car brand originating in the United Kingdom and has a history of nearly 100 years. In 2005, Nanjing Automobile Group created a precedent for Chinese companies to acquire well-known foreign automobile companies and pocketed the MG brand. Two years later, it was incorporated into SAIC.
In September 2019, the first pure electric vehicle model, the ZS EV, landed in Norway for the first time, and so far it has achieved sales of more than 28,000 units in the European market. In October last year, the flagship pure electric model MG Marvel R Electric was officially launched, priced at 39,990-47,990 euros (equivalent to about 300,000-360,000 yuan), benchmarking Volkswagen ID.4 and Skoda Enyaq.
This year, SAIC Motor will fully focus on the European market and launch blockbuster products including MG EH32. Sales of its own brands MG and MAXUS are expected to reach 120,000 units. Europe is expected to become SAIC's first "100,000-car- class" overseas regional market.
The "bellwether" of Chinese electric vehicles in the European market: Polestar, with sales reaching 14,720 units. This is an electric vehicle brand built by Geely Group and Volvo Group, which has two mass production models, Polar Star 1 and Pole Star 2, with global sales reaching 29,000 units last year, an increase of 185% year-on-year; the market expanded to 19, and the number of global retail outlets more than doubled to exceed 100. The first pure electric SUV Polar star 3 will be launched this year, and next year a mid-size high-performance pure electric Coupe SUV model Polar Star 4 will be released.
Some people may say that the success of PoleStar and MG is largely due to their inherited "European blood", and the market acceptance is relatively high. It's true, but no matter how you look at it, it's a good start. As for Xiaopeng and Weilai, who have high hopes, they have just entered the European market and are still in the growth stage, and the follow-up performance remains to be seen.