The first battle is a decisive battle, and the sales pattern of the new forces at the beginning of the year is of significant significance, and it is expected to last until the end of the year.
On February 1, 2024, the new EV manufacturers released their sales data for January this year, which is also the only full sales month before the Spring Festival in recent years. As a result, all sales results did not reach the expected heights, and most of them even declined month-on-month.
It can only be said that at the end of last year, in order to hit the sales target, every company was overdrawn too much. Taking Ideal as an example, sales in January fell from 50,000 units last year to more than 30,000 units. Xpeng Motors has also returned from 20,000 to the real level of more than 8,000 vehicles, and NIO and Leap have both declined by more than 30% month-on-month.
Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that most of the peak demand for cars before the Spring Festival actually came from consumers in lower-tier cities and rural areas, who are more inclined to choose traditional fuel vehicles. This will cause the penetration rate of new energy vehicles to drop briefly in January, and relevant new energy vehicle companies will feel certain pressure.
Judging from the details, the new force sales crown in January this year was replaced by AITO. According to the data, AITO delivered 32,973 new cars in January, an increase of 34.76% month-on-month and 637% year-on-year, of which more than 1,000 vehicles were delivered in a single day in 24 days.
Last year, Yu Chengdong said that the production capacity of the new M7 will climb rapidly, and the monthly delivery capacity will exceed 30,000 units starting in 2024.
After the sales in January were released, Yu Chengdong posted an article to show off, saying, "Our estimate of the popularity of smart cars is not conservative enough, and Yu Dazui has become Yu Xiaozui." The next priority is to work with partners to ensure high-quality deliveries and get more new cars into the hands of consumers. ”
Coincidentally, the sales volume of AITO Wenjie was announced only a little later than the ideal, giving people a feeling of deliberate arrangement, and the sales volume of AITO Wenjie also surpassed the ideal by a slight advantage and successfully won the sales championship.
I have never been convinced of anyone's ideals for a long time, and in front of "Huawei", I always look like I am bullying the weak, afraid of the hard, and has no temper. Quarrel with Huawei, if you lose, you lose, and if you win or lose. Some dumb losses, they have to eat and have to eat. There is no shame in being surpassed by "Huawei".
In January 2024, Li Auto delivered a total of 31,165 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 105.8%. It is understood that in 2024, Li Auto will usher in an unprecedented product year, and there will be four extended-range models and four pure electric models sold on the same stage. In March this year, Li Li's MPV model MEGA will be launched and delivered, while Li L7, Li L8 and Li L9 will also usher in the 2024 model.
Previously, some media revealed through suppliers that Ideal will rely on these models to challenge the annual delivery target of 800,000 units this year. Although the year-on-year growth was doubled in January, if the target was 800,000 in January, the ideal still failed to reach the target monthly average figure, and the pressure will increase after that.
Complete the incremental plan with a new car, and the ideal abacus is so loud that the next door can hear it. But NIO can only say that it is helpless. In January this year, NIO delivered 10,055 new vehicles, up 18.2% year-on-year, but down 44% month-on-month.
Unlike Ideal's product year this year, NIO will usher in a product window period throughout 2024. Prior to this, Chairman Li Bin released the first internal letter of 2024, saying that NIO will focus on three "high priorities" in the new year.
Ensure the long-term investment in core and key technologies, ensure the leading edge of technology and products and deliver on time and quality, ensure that sales and service capabilities can cope with fierce market competition, and convert sales into sales as soon as possible, and ensure that the research and development of 9 core products of 3 brands is carried out on schedule.
At present, NIO has planned a total of three brands, of which the NIO brand has launched 8 products, and no new products will be launched this year, the second brand is codenamed "Alps", and plans to launch the first SUV model in the second half of this year, and the third brand is codenamed "Firefly", which plans to debut a small car similar to BMW MINI in the European market in 2025.
There is no doubt that this start of NIO has probably set the tone for a whole year, with insufficient growth momentum and upward pressure.
The same problem is also evident in Xpeng, which delivered 8,250 new vehicles in January, up 58% year-on-year. On January 1, a total of 2,478 Xpeng X9 units were delivered, of which nearly 70% were purchased for the Max version. Xpeng Motors said that the backlog of orders in January exceeded 10,000 units, and it will also work overtime to accelerate delivery during the Spring Festival.
In terms of sales composition, the new car X9 accounts for 30%, which looks quite good, but it also means that the sales of Xpeng G9, P7i, P5, G3i and other models add up to less than 6,000 units. You must know that on January 23, Xiaopeng Motors officially announced that the maximum discount for Xiaopeng P7i Pengyi Edition is 50,000 yuan, the comprehensive preferential price is 289,900 yuan, and the price of all models starts at 208,900 yuan.
To some extent, the more outstanding the new car X9 is, the more it represents Xpeng's previous failure. Some analysts believe that perhaps this is also the intention of the new president Wang Fengying, after all, the X9 project that is fully led is Wang Fengying's negation of Xiaopeng's past, and it is also the capital of his own life.
With the strong discount of Xpeng P7i, other new car-making forces are also ready for relevant policies. On February 1, Leapmotor released sales data, delivering 12,277 new vehicles in January, surpassing NIO Xpeng and increasing by 977.8% year-on-year, despite a 34% month-on-month decline.
At the same time, Leapmotor also released the whole range of preferential information, and some models were comprehensively discounted to up to 40,680 yuan, and officially entered the price war before the Spring Festival.
In addition to the first echelon, the new power sector of traditional car companies will also begin to improve in 2024. In January this year, Dongfeng VOYAH delivered a total of 7,041 new vehicles, up 355% year-on-year, and basically the same as the delivery volume in November last year.
Since the second half of last year, VOYAH has continued to increase its sales by about 1,000 units, from 3,007 units in June, to 3,412 units in July, 4,009 units in August, 5,010 units in September, 6,067 units in October, and 7,006 units in November. At this level of sales, VOYAH can be regarded as gaining a firm foothold.
With the delivery of AVATR 12, AVATAR, a subsidiary of Changan, is also gradually improving. In January, AVATR delivered a total of 7,059 new vehicles, of which 5,021 were the new AVATR 12. According to the plan, in 2024, AVATR will challenge the annual sales delivery target of 90,000 units. In terms of new cars, in 2024, AVATR will launch four extended-range models, including the 200,000-level new AVATR 15.
Unlike VOYAH AVATAR, SAIC Zhiji is still doing its own sales crown. In January, Zhiji Automobile delivered 5,305 new vehicles, of which the Zhiji LS6 continued to play a major role, accounting for 4,766 units delivered. It is worth noting that, in their opinion, this is the third consecutive month that the Zhiji LS6 has won the sales championship in the medium and large electric SUV market.
I have to say that as long as the sentence is long enough, everyone is the champion of their own market segment, but the practice of "self-deception" like Zhiji is rare in the industry.
In 2024, everyone is rushing towards the set goal, and putting it in your own sleeve may also be a way to escape reality and report to the leader.