Text/Wen Chong
When people have just become accustomed to the continuous changes in the new power pattern of car-making, and are no longer surprised that the "Wei Xiaoli" formation has been repeatedly broken, traditional car companies have "made a comeback" under the leadership of BYD. In the new energy vehicle market in May, while the new forces are fighting, BYD tells people with their general market performance: feng shui takes turns, and bookmakers take turns to do it.
According to the sales data currently released, in May, the ideal returned to the "first list" of the new forces list, followed by Nezha, Xiaopeng and Zero Run, and Weilai failed to return to the first echelon. The monthly sales of the top 4 all exceeded 10,000 vehicles, but the gap between them was not large, and the "qualifying" was still anxious.
In fact, as the new energy vehicle market base becomes larger and larger, the scope of the so-called "new forces" should also be expanded from the above-mentioned new car-making forces to a wider range of new energy automobile enterprises. BYD, which has stopped selling fuel vehicles, has sold more than 100,000 vehicles a month for three consecutive months, and GAC Aeon, which has been operating independently for more than a year, has sold 20,000 vehicles in May, and they are all cutting the cake of the new energy vehicle market. When everyone compares on the same plane, the pressure on the new car-making forces is even greater.
■ New forces qualifying reshuffle: the ideal returns to the first table, and Nezha and Xiaopeng are relatively stable
Compared with the group decline in April, the sales data of new energy vehicles in May returned to the right track and ushered in a recovery. According to the Association of Passenger Vehicles, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 360,000 units in May, up 91.2% year-on-year and 26.9% month-on-month.
In the case of the overall recovery, the new car-making forces also gave the performance of four companies selling more than 10,000 vehicles a month. Among them, the ideal delivery volume of 11,496 new cars in May, an increase of 165.9% year-on-year, an increase of 175.9% month-on-month, becoming the fastest growing enterprise. In this way, the ideal swept away the decline in April and became the "thunder lord" of the new round of "xenophobia".
It was followed by Nezha in second place, with 11,009 vehicles delivered in May, up 144% year-on-year. As a brand that has sold more than 10,000 vehicles a month and entered the first echelon, Nezha has gained a firm foothold at this stage. Looking back at the performance of the past 5 months, it will be found that Nezha's ranking has been stable in the 2nd and 3rd places, and has not fallen out of the top three.
In third place this time, XiaoPeng, who also performed relatively steadily. In May, Xiaopeng delivered 10,125 units, up 78% year-on-year and 12.5% month-on-month. As the only brand in the "Wei Xiaoli" that has been stable in the top three, Xiaopeng's performance in the past 5 months has been remarkable, winning the first place twice and the second place once.
These 3 top-ranked companies are also the top three in the cumulative delivery of new car-making forces in the first 5 months of this year, but the ranking is from the back to the front. Among them, Xiaopeng delivered a total of 53,688 vehicles in the first five months, ranking first; Nezha and Ideal delivered 49,974 and 47,379 vehicles respectively, ranking second and third.
Last month's "sales champion" ran zero, dropping to fourth place in this time's rankings. The data shows that 10,069 units were delivered at zero in May, an increase of 215.1% year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that this is the 14th consecutive month of zero running year-on-year growth of more than 200%.
Weilai, the former leader, has recently performed relatively weakly, ranking between the fourth and fifth places, and is the only brand in the top 5 of the new car-making forces that has not sold more than 10,000 in the month. In May, NIO delivered 7,024 units, up 4.7% year-on-year and 38.4% month-on-month; From January to May, a total of 37,866 units were delivered, an increase of 11.8% year-on-year. In the end, whether it is single-month sales or cumulative sales, WEILAI has fallen to the fifth place in the list of new car-making forces.
It is worth mentioning that as of the end of May 2022, NIO's cumulative delivery volume exceeded 200,000 vehicles, reaching 204936 vehicles. Weilai said that as supply chain enterprises resume work and production, production is expected to further resume in June, and the delivery of models including ET7 will accelerate.
■ Traditional new energy vehicle companies are threatening: BYD "stormed" first, and GAC Aean broke through 20,000
In addition to the new forces of car manufacturing in the usual sense, traditional new energy vehicle companies have shown stronger vitality and more ferocious offensives, becoming "new forces" in another sense.
Among the traditional car companies, BYD has stopped selling fuel vehicles and become a pure new energy vehicle brand; GAC Ae-An, which has completed brand independence and continuously promoted mixed reform, has sold new energy vehicles from the beginning and maintained a stable output, bringing huge pressure to the new car-making forces that have not yet been "finalized".
Official data showed that BYD's sales in May were 114183 units, up 152.8% year-on-year and 8.25% month-on-month. This is the third consecutive month of BYD's monthly sales of more than 100,000 vehicles, more than the combined monthly sales of new car-making forces.
Driven by the continuous increase in monthly sales, BYD's cumulative sales in the first five months have exceeded 500,000 vehicles, reaching 507314 vehicles, an increase of 348.11% year-on-year. It is a step closer to the goal set by BYD at the beginning of the year to sell 1.2 million vehicles for the whole year.
On June 8, Lian Yubo, executive vice president of BYD Group and president of the Automotive Engineering Research Institute, revealed to the media that "BYD will provide battery products for Tesla." As soon as the news came out, BYD's stock price directly "opened high" and went a wave. As of the close, BYD's stock price increased by 3.98% to 327.41 yuan per share.
Compared with BYD, which "stormed", gagac Aeon's growth is as "stable" as ever. In May, GAC Aeon's sales reached 21,056 units, up 150% year-on-year and 106% month-on-month, a record high for the brand. This is also the second time that GAC Aean has exceeded 20,000 vehicles after its monthly sales exceeded 20,000 vehicles in March this year, far exceeding the brands of new car-making forces.
At present, the new energy vehicle market is still in a stage of rapid growth, and the outbreak of traditional new energy vehicle companies has not yet had an obvious impact on the new forces of car manufacturing. Just like at this stage, when we are counting the sales rankings, we will also divide the new forces and the traditional new energy vehicle companies, leaving room for the growth of the new car-making forces.
However, when more and more traditional car companies complete the transformation and join the competition of new energy vehicles, the new car-making forces will have to share the limited new energy market share with the larger "new forces". At that time, the situation of new car-making forces will be completely shattered, and the ranking of internal small groups will lose its meaning.
Therefore, at this stage, the top priority of the new car-making forces is to enhance their competitiveness in technology and products, enhance the comprehensive strength of the upstream and downstream supply chains and funds, and seize more "hills" before the traditional car companies have attacked on a large scale.