BYD's sales soared by 321% in April, but Wei Xiaoli collectively fell below 10,000 vehicles: Why is the gap so big?

Under the background of the great negative impact of the epidemic on the automotive industry, the market performance of new energy vehicle companies in April can be called "ice and fire".

On May 3, BYD Co., Ltd. announced that the company's wholesale sales of automobiles in April were 106,000 units, an increase of 134.4% year-on-year and 1.1% month-on-month; of which new energy passenger cars sold a total of 105,500 units, an increase of 321% year-on-year and 1.1% month-on-month.

In stark contrast, the April deliveries of Xiaopeng Automobile, Nezha Automobile, Weilai Automobile and Ideal Automobile collectively fell below 10,000 units, showing negative growth from the previous month, and GAC Eian, which ranked second, also just exceeded 10,000.

The question is, since the new crown epidemic in March, the automotive industry chain has been tested, how has BYD achieved growth against the trend?

Zhang Xiang, a special analyst at China Bo Lian Think Tank, told Time Finance that BYD's sales in April have several factors, one is that Shenzhen is affected by the epidemic, BYD's factory has not stopped, and the second BYD's batteries and chips are self-supplied, which are less affected by industry fluctuations, and the third is that BYD has done several major things this year, stopped production of fuel vehicles, annual report release and other favorable news, which has aroused great concern in the market, which is equivalent to advertising to BYD, and it is also a kind of help for its car sales.

Monthly sales of 100,000 units

The HKA expects narrow passenger car retail sales to fall 31.9% year-on-year in April. The sales data of "Wei Xiaoli" in April was only achieved by Xiaopeng, and none of the new car-making forces delivered more than 10,000 vehicles. NIO delivered a total of 5,074 smart electric vehicles in April, down 28.5% from 7,102 in April 2021; Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 9,002 units in April, an increase of 75% year-on-year; ideal automobile delivered 4,167 units in April, down 24.7% year-on-year.

Among them, the epidemic counterattack led to the suspension of suppliers, the price increase of upstream raw materials, chip shortages and other issues, which are all troublesome factors for various car companies.

In this context, BYD achieved a total of 105,500 new energy passenger cars sold in April, which attracted market attention.

BYD has stopped production of fuel vehicles since March 2022. As a result, BYD became the first car company in the world to truly stop producing pure fuel vehicles. From January to April this year, BYD's cumulative sales of pure electric passenger cars were 201,000 units, an increase of 266.7% year-on-year, and the cumulative sales of plug-in and mixed passenger cars were 190,000 units, an increase of 699.9% year-on-year.

Among the main models in April, Han sold 13,000 units, up 64.1% year-on-year; Tang sold 10,000 units, of which Tang EV sales increased by 263.7% year-on-year; Song sales were 25,000 units, up 49.0% year-on-year; Qin sales were 24,000 units, up 238.8% year-on-year; and Yuan sales were 15,000 units, up 659.5% year-on-year.

In addition, BYD is also intensively launching new models, the destroyer was launched in March this year, and sales in April have reached 2,040 units, climbing rapidly. Dolphin, the first model of platform E-platform 3.0, sold 12,000 units in April, up 14.7% month-on-month. Seals are about to go public, priced at 220,000-280,000 yuan, which will enrich BYD's new energy high-end product matrix. Huaxi Securities Research Report also said that the frigate 07 is expected to further make up for the lack of the company's product lineage in medium and large SUV products, and the launch of Han DM-i/DM-p is expected to increase the overall monthly sales center of the Han family by 10,000 vehicles.

Compared with the mainstream domestic independent brands, BYD's sales are not weak. Because Changan Automobile, Geely Automobile and Great Wall have not yet disclosed April data, compared with the March data, Changan Automobile won the championship with 134741 vehicles in March, BYD ranked second with 104338 vehicles, Geely Automobile ranked third with 101166 vehicles, Great Wall Motors ranked fourth with 100,930 vehicles, and SAIC ranked fifth with 62,212 passenger car sales.

Back in 2019, BYD's total model sales are less than one-fifth of SAIC Volkswagen's, and the sales volume of domestic brands such as Geely Automobile, Changan Automobile and Great Wall Motors is also far from that of Domestic Brands.

Behind the big sale

For BYD's outstanding sales data, the market generally believes that the supply chain of the new car-making force has been greatly affected by the epidemic, and BYD's vertical integration supply chain advantages have been verified.

Since the end of March, the epidemic in the Yangtze River Delta has rebounded, disrupting the supply chain, logistics and production of the entire industry. Changzhou, Jiangsu, the main production place of ideal automobiles, and Hefei, Anhui, the main production place of Weilai Automobile, are both in the core and surrounding areas of the Yangtze River Delta region, and the degree of impact is relatively large. The main production areas of Xiaopeng Automobile are the self-built factory in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, and the Haima Automobile Foundry in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, where the epidemic situation is relatively stable, resulting in a year-on-year increase in sales in April. The situation in the market in April is not that cars cannot be sold, but that there are no cars to sell at all.

In terms of production capacity, BYD has new production capacity in many factories this year, including Changsha plant and Changzhou plant, and it is expected that the monthly production and sales climb in the second half of the year will be more obvious. In addition, BYD's core components are highly self-made, the core technology that distinguishes new energy vehicles from traditional cars is "three electricity", including batteries, electric drives and electronic control systems, BYD automobiles have independent and mature industrial chains in batteries, motors and electronic controls, and its blade batteries, DM-i super hybrid technology, DM-p super hybrid technology, e-platform 3.0 architecture and IGBT self-supply and other advantages can improve bystander's industrial chain self-control and stabilize supply chain security.

It has to be mentioned that the current price of BYD's main sales vehicles is lower than that of the new car-making forces, in the first quarter of 2022, BYD ASP (average sales price) was 158,000 yuan, the average price of Weilai was about 400,000 yuan, and the average price of Xiaopeng after tax and subsidies delivered reached 250,000 yuan, and the ideal also rose to 350,000 yuan.

In the sales market, according to the insurance data, 56.7% of the sales of BYD's new energy models in the first quarter of 2022 were distributed in second- to fifth-tier cities (only 34.9% in the first quarter of 2021), and the product force continued to drive the replacement of fuel vehicles in non-restricted cities, which may also be one of the reasons for BYD's sharp sales.

From January to April this year, BYD's cumulative sales of pure electric passenger cars were 201,000 units, an increase of 266.7% year-on-year, and the cumulative sales of plug-in and mixed passenger cars were 190,000 units, an increase of 699.9% year-on-year. It can be seen that its hybrid vehicles are quite popular, in the context of rising oil prices, the cost advantages of hybrid models compared with fuel models are further highlighted, and the problem of mileage anxiety can be solved, which is a problem that the new forces of car manufacturing cannot solve at present. (Beijing Time Finance Chen Shiai)