When GAC Group offered its sales in March, the heart of the joint venture brand finally died.
According to the data, GAC Group's vehicle sales in March 2024 were 179,327 units, down 22.62% year-on-year, and this year, GAC Group's cumulative wholesale sales of automobiles were 409,698 units, down 24.11% year-on-year.
GAC's sales decline has not stopped since 2024.
In terms of brands, the joint venture brands Guangben and Guangfeng have fallen very steadily, while the self-owned brand GAC Aion has cooled down most of the time due to the saturation of the online car-hailing market and the lack of attractiveness of its products:
- Guangqi Honda: 52,587 units in March, -24.99% year-on-year, and 116976 units this year, -21.74% year-on-year.
- GAC Toyota: 65,000 units in March, -20.05% year-on-year, and 156054 units this year, -29.07% year-on-year.
- GAC Passenger Vehicle: 33,213 units in March, -5.59% year-on-year, and 85,484 units this year, 2.25% year-on-year.
- GAC Aion: 27,856 units in March, -30.4% year-on-year, and 48,867 units this year, -37.6% year-on-year.
Despite the "ups and downs", GAC Group Chairman Zeng Qinghong still reiterated the goal of achieving 10% sales growth in 2024.
But for GAC, the decline in sales is expected, and what is even more uncomfortable is the decline in profits - according to GAC's 2023 annual report, GAC's revenue hit a record high last year, but net profit fell year-on-year, the largest decline in the past decade.
Because electrification and intelligence have not kept up, the profitability of this huge auto group has suddenly returned to ten years ago, and there is no fact that can show the cruelty of China's auto market so bluntly.
#01 The hometown of the joint venture brand was still stolen
There's an old saying in the automotive world: whoever wins the B-segment car market wins the world.
The so-called B-class car, which is what we often call a mid-to-high-end car, has basically dominated the B-class car market for a long time by joint venture car companies such as Germany, Japan, and the United States.
However, at the moment of the decline of the fuel vehicle market and the rise of new energy vehicles, the basic market of joint venture brands in the B-class car market has begun to crack.
On March 30, the ninth-generation Camry finally entered the dealership store after 90 days of pre-sales.
However, the ninth-generation Camry has not been treated like its predecessor, and since the pre-sale on January 1, the ninth-generation Camry has received about 15,000 orders in three months, while the eighth-generation Camry six years ago sold 30,000 units in a month and a half.
As a typical improved model, the main consumer groups in the mid-class car market are middle-aged people with certain economic strength, who attach importance to brand and reputation, and have conservative consumption habits.
Because of this, new forces often do not immediately challenge this market, which is also the largest and most stable plate of joint venture brands in China, and it is also the last "line of defense" for joint venture brands against independent brands.
And in this largest plate, the Camry sold 220,000 units in China last year, and has been the top seller in the mid-class car market for three consecutive years.
Camry alone, last year's sales accounted for 1/4 of GAC Toyota, supporting the entire GAC Toyota.
At the same time, because it is too important, Guangfeng cannot afford the consequences of Camry's failure.
In the face of the market's declining enthusiasm for Camry, Guangfeng first lowered the price, and specially launched a "deposit expansion gift" of up to 10,000 yuan, consumers only need to pay 2,000 yuan as a deposit, and if the order is canceled, it can be fully refunded.
For the Chinese market, the ninth-generation Camry has not undergone major changes in the body structure, power system, and chassis, but has made a number of changes to meet the needs of domestic consumers:
In terms of power, the ninth-generation Camry includes two hybrid (2.0 HEV, 2.5 HEV) and one fuel (2.0L), while there are only two overseas versions.
Secondly, Guangfeng also cooperated with Huawei to make a smart cockpit, which added 8155 car machine chip, Huawei intelligent voice system, voiceprint face recognition, fragrance atmosphere light, AR HUD display and other configurations compared with overseas versions.
The B-segment car market is not only the main position of the joint venture brand, but also the surest "testing ground" for it to survive the wave of electrification - let go of arrogance and make changes, and it is no wonder that GAC Toyota shouted the slogan "the best Camry in the world".
It's just that even the "best Camry in the world" may still be "almost meaningless" in the eyes of Chinese consumers today, and the people who actually buy the Camry may just want a Camry, not because it is "the best in the world".
#02 See you for a long time, Toyota wants to cooperate with Huawei?
There is a more interesting fact behind the launch of the ninth-generation Camry - GAC has always cooperated with Huawei.
In 2020, GAC and Huawei discussed the possibility of establishing a joint venture smart car company, with Huawei providing software and hardware technical support and GAC being responsible for vehicle production and sales.
However, this cooperation has not been implemented in real time.
At the beginning of 2023, GAC and Huawei decided to terminate the joint development project for the AH8 model, and Huawei has become an important supplier from a partner.
Just a year later, not only did Guangfeng Camry use Huawei's voice system, GAC Trumpchi joined the HarmonyOS ecosystem, and it was also reported that Toyota plans to cooperate with Huawei and autonomous driving company Momenta to adopt joint intelligent driving solutions in global models.
According to Tencent Frontline, Huawei will provide Toyota with intelligent driving hardware, while Momenta will be responsible for providing the software algorithm part. However, Huawei has not yet made an official response to this.
From our point of view, Toyota may be really anxious, Chinese car companies are still afraid of being seized by Huawei's "soul", Toyota, like Volkswagen, can not find any other way except to cooperate with Huawei and Xiaopeng.
Although the chairman of Toyota Motor has repeatedly expressed doubts about electric and intelligent technology, and Toyota is not worried about selling in the global market, the decline in sales in the Chinese market is real, and the decline in profits is also real.
In addition to the Camry, it is rumored that FAW Toyota Prado will also be equipped with Huawei's intelligent cockpit, and at the upcoming Beijing Auto Show, Toyota will also release two pure electric concept cars, of which the model produced and sold by GAC Toyota is based on the cooperation between the two parties.
#03 Epilogue
The cooperation between GAC and Toyota has gone through 20 years.
In the past 20 years, China has been the world's largest automobile producer and sales country for 14 consecutive years, ranked first in the world's new energy vehicle production and sales for 8 consecutive years, and became the world's largest automobile exporter in the first quarter of this year.
Chinese consumers are also looking at automobiles as a mass consumer product with a growth perspective, and Hiroki Nakajima, vice president and chief technology officer of Toyota Motor Corporation, once said in an interview with the media, "Only by making local R&D decisions can we develop products that satisfy Chinese consumers." 」
However, compared to 20 years ago, China's auto market is in "hell mode".
If the Camry was the offensive general of Guangfeng in the past, now the offense and defense are exchanged, if the ninth-generation Camry can't keep up with consumer demand, it only means that Guangfeng is one step closer to the edge of elimination.
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