At the beginning of 2024, new EV manufacturers and new energy brands under traditional car companies have successively handed over their 2023 report cards, and the 2023 new energy vehicle market ranking has undergone new changes after the baptism of price war.
In the new energy vehicle market in 2023, the new car-making forces represented by Wei Xiaoli and the new energy vehicle brands launched by traditional car companies will form a situation of "hegemony" between the two forces.
In the echelon of new car-making forces, the ranking has changed greatly, and the sales volume has been further differentiated, and the ideal is to win the annual sales championship of the new forces, and Nezha has fallen behind. In the echelon of new energy vehicle brands of traditional car companies, GAC Aion ranks first in terms of sales. Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, said that in terms of sales, new energy vehicle companies have formed several obvious echelons, and in the absence of new business models and new technological breakthroughs, this ranking pattern is expected to continue in the short term.
In terms of the completion of sales targets, among the new EV brands of new car manufacturers and traditional car companies, only Li Auto and VOYAH Auto have achieved their annual sales targets. Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that the failure of car companies to complete the sales target is related to the increasingly fierce market competition.
Compete for the first echelon of new forces: Ideal wins the championship, Nezha falls behind
In December 2023, Li Auto delivered 50,353 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 137.1%, becoming the first car company among the new EV manufacturers to achieve monthly sales of more than 50,000 vehicles, and in 2023, Li Auto delivered a total of 376,030 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 182.2%.
Zhang Xiang believes that in the large SUV track, Li Auto is compared with BBA and other car companies, but the products of these car companies are mainly fuel models, which also leaves a blue ocean for Li Auto, so that it can get the opportunity for rapid development;
In 2023, NIO ranked second among new EV manufacturers in terms of sales, with annual sales of 160038 units, up 30.7% year-on-year, and a target completion rate of about 65.3%. Leapmotor's sales volume in 2023 ranked third among new automakers, with annual sales of 144155 units, a year-on-year increase of 29%, and a target completion rate of about 72.1%.
After delivering more than 20,000 units in October 2023, Xpeng Motors achieved three consecutive months of delivery growth, with 20,115 units delivered in December 2023 and 141601 units delivered in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 17%, with a target completion rate of 70.8%.
"The market segment in which NIO and XPeng's products are located is very competitive, and many joint venture brands are deploying, which also leads to a squeeze on their market share. Zhang Xiang said.
In 2023, Nezha Automobile won the sales championship of new car-making forces, but fell to the bottom in 2023. In 2023, Nezha Automobile will deliver a total of 127,500 vehicles, only half of the annual target. In addition, according to the sales of the first 11 months, the sales volume in December was only 5,135 units, a year-on-year decrease of more than 34% and a month-on-month decrease of more than 58%.
In this regard, Daniel Zhang, CEO of Nezha Automobile, said that there are many reasons, mainly because the new and old products are not well connected and the rhythm is chaotic; the price of new products on the market is too high, although it is adjusted in the second half of the year but loses the opportunity; the loss-making product line has greatly reduced production; the communication method is old, and the marketing headquarters is centralized and the management is weak.
Therefore, at the end of 2023, Nezha Automobile has made personnel adjustments in the marketing company, Daniel Zhang is also the president of the marketing company, Zhou Jiang, vice president of Nezha Automobile, is also the executive vice president of the marketing company, assisting Daniel Zhang in managing the Shanhai Division, and Hu Enping, executive vice president of Nezha Automobile Marketing Company, is the executive vice president of the marketing company and director of the creative and new media department, responsible for coordinating the marketing of Yunhe product line, etc., at the same time, Nezha Automobile has removed the executive vice president of Jiangfeng Marketing Company and Li Changhe Marketing Company from the position of executive vice president.
"Creation of the second generation" accelerated the offensive: the collective was red, and GAC Aion won the championship
Although the new energy brands incubated by traditional car companies are known as the "second generation" in the industry, although they are all incubated by traditional car companies, in the face of fierce market competition, the development gap between the brands has gradually become prominent.
GAC Aion's sales picked up at the end of 2023, with monthly sales of 45,947 units in December, a year-on-year increase of 53.12%, and annual sales in 2023 exceeding 480,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 77.02%. However, GAC Aion is still 20,000 units short of the target of 500,000 units, and failed to achieve the annual target, with a target completion rate of 96%.
In 2023, the cumulative sales volume of Wenjie will be 94,380 units, of which the monthly sales of the Wenjie brand will exceed 20,000 units for the first time in December, and finally achieve 94.3% of the annual sales target of 100,000 units.
Zhiji Auto's total sales in 2023 will be 38,253 units, a year-on-year increase of 665%, but it has not yet achieved its annual sales target of 45,000 units, with a target completion rate of 85%. Deep Blue Automobile's annual sales in 2023 will be 136912 units, which is still far from the previous annual sales target of 400,000 units, and the current completion rate is only 34.2%;A few days ago, Deep Blue Automobile CEO Deng Chenghao said on his social platform that the global sales target of Deep Blue Automobile in 2024 is 450,000 units.
In addition, AVATR will sell 27,589 vehicles in 2023, achieving 27.6% of its annual sales target of 100,000 units. In December 2023, VOYAH achieved monthly sales of more than 10,000 units for the first time, up 479% year-on-year to 10,017 units, and delivered 50,552 vehicles for the whole year of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 160%, achieving its annual sales target of 50,000 units.
According to Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, the new energy brands of traditional car companies have the background support of automobile groups, and the essence of pure electric vehicles is also automotive products, and intelligence and high-end are their differentiated development attributes.
Competition will intensify in 2024, and the industry reshuffle may intensify
Regarding the fact that most new energy brands have not achieved their sales targets in 2023, Yan Jinghui believes that in addition to fierce market competition, it is also related to the excessively high sales targets set by car companies.
For 2024, Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, said that in 2024, he will challenge higher goals: 800,000 (annual delivery), 100,000 (monthly delivery), 30,000 (L7 delivery), and 2,000 (super charging stations), which means that Li Auto will challenge the annual sales of 800,000 vehicles and the monthly delivery target of 100,000 vehicles in 2024.
At present, except for Li Auto and Deep Blue Auto, which have clearly stated their sales targets for 2024, other car companies have not mentioned it. However, in the view of the industry, the competition in the new energy vehicle market will be more fierce in 2024.
Only one week into 2024, many car companies have once again started a "price war". On January 1, Tesla officially announced a Model 3 rear-drive car insurance subsidy of 6,000 yuan, and at the same time launched a low-interest financial policy, which can save up to 23,000 yuan by buying Model 3/Y for a limited time;
Zhang Junyi, managing partner of Oliver Wyman, believes that the new energy market is currently going through a period of combing, in which some companies will be eliminated by the market, and after this stage, the market will enter a state of local stability and achieve improvement. Huatai Securities Research Report believes that the new energy vehicle market has shifted from win-win to differentiation, due to the new energy policy orientation, the entire car market has enjoyed industry dividends, and the sales of new energy vehicles of various car companies will continue to grow from 2020 to 2022, and since 2023, the entire market has seen a certain degree of sales differentiation.
According to Zhang Yongwei, vice chairman and secretary general of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association, while the new energy vehicle market is intensively released, the iterative cycle of new models is also accelerating and shortening, and 2024 will be a critical period for the big waves, the industry reshuffle will accelerate, some companies will get growth opportunities, and some companies will have a more difficult time.
In view of the forecast of the new energy vehicle market in 2024, Cui Dongshu believes that the growth of the new energy market in 2024 is relatively optimistic, and the wholesale volume of new energy passenger vehicles is expected to reach 11 million, a year-on-year increase of 22%, and the penetration rate will reach 40%.
Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Wang Linlin
Edited by Xu Chao
Proofreading by Yang Xuli