SAIC, whose market performance has been declining continuously since the end of the year, finally took off the mask of pain in March.
According to the official production and sales data, SAIC's vehicle sales in March reached 381,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%. Compared with the cumulative decline of 16.1% year-on-year in January-February, and the year-on-year decline of 30.0% in February, it is not easy.
However, if you zoom in to the first quarter, SAIC Motor sold 834,000 vehicles, down 6.4% from the same period last year.
Hot-selling models ensure the growth of Volkswagen and Wuling
From the perspective of its major sub-brands, the joint venture segment and the independent segment showed different sales performance.
Among them, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM-Wuling sales showed a significant growth situation, while SAIC-GM and SAIC passenger cars showed a downward trend, especially SAIC-GM, the cumulative sales in the first quarter of this year fell by more than 4% year-on-year, and the situation was critical.
Specifically, SAIC Volkswagen's sales performance has been relatively stable since the second half of last year. In March this year, SAIC Volkswagen's sales reached 90,000 units, compared with 81,000 units in the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 11.1%. Judging from the data of the first quarter, SAIC Volkswagen sold 248,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%.
In terms of sales of major products, in the first quarter, the cumulative sales of the Passat exceeded 53,000, a year-on-year increase of 74.6%, the cumulative sales of the Tiguan family increased by 51.6% year-on-year to 37,000 units, and the "national sedan" Lavida family also maintained hot sales, with a cumulative sales of 68,000 units in the first quarter.
In fact, among the above-mentioned models, from Passat to Tiguan to Lavida, they are all hot-selling models in related market segments, and they are also one of the few models that continue to maintain hot sales from fuel models to new energy tracks.
In terms of new energy, SAIC Volkswagen continued to show resilience, driven by the ID.3, the monthly sales of the ID. family exceeded 10,000 again, a year-on-year increase of 30%. Driven by the ID. family, SAIC Volkswagen's new energy products sold 28,000 units in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 171.3%, which is absolutely rare among joint venture new energy enterprises.
According to the plan, in terms of new energy products, SAIC Volkswagen will also accelerate the launch of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and extended range (EREV) models, and further meet the diversified car purchase needs of consumers through a richer new energy product layout. In the future, with the investment of more new energy models and the strong defense of fuel vehicles, SAIC Volkswagen is expected to continue to hit high sales.
Also showing year-on-year growth was SAIC-GM-Wuling.
According to the data, in March, SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 114,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 26.0%, and in the first quarter of this year, SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 224,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 16.4%.
In terms of hot-selling models, there are 11,000 units of Wuling Xingguang, 13,000 units of Wuling Binguo family, and 16,000 units of Hongguang MINIEV family.
In fact, since the same period last year, the micro electric vehicle market began to decline, many micro electric vehicles have fallen into a downturn, Hongguang MINIEV is no exception, sales from the peak of 35,000 monthly sales to 20,000 below, although Hongguang MINIEV is still the top player in the market, but SAIC-GM-Wuling down sales are real.
Fortunately, Wuling launched models such as Wuling Binguo and Wuling Xingguang in a timely manner, filling the sales gap of Hongguang MINIEV.
Since the listing of Wuling Binguo and Wuling Starlight, the sales volume has performed well for most of the time, and it can be said that it is Wuling's continuous exploration of market segments and marketing methods that has lifted Wuling's sales growth after the year, and stabilized the market performance of Wuling's follow-up market performance.
SAIC-GM needs to rebound
However, SAIC-GM is different from the growth of SAIC-Volkswagen and SAIC-GM-Wuling, and has experienced a sudden decline, and even became the subsidiary of SAIC Motor with the most serious decline in sales.
According to the data, in March, SAIC-GM's wholesale sales were 62,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 1.3%, but in the first quarter of this year, SAIC-GM sold 112,000 units, compared with 186,000 units sold in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 40.0%.
On the bright side, SAIC-GM's sales in February were 13,500 units, and sales plummeted by 59.81% from January to February this year, with a total of only 49,500 new cars sold, which is the largest decline in SAIC's sector. However, by March, sales began to improve, and although they were still declining, the range had narrowed, and the wholesale of 62,000 units was gradually back on track.
It's just that the topic of Cadillac, Buick, and Chevrolet squeezing each other has always existed, and the strategic mistake of the three-cylinder engine a few years ago also ignited the contradiction of transitional internal friction in advance, so that SAIC-GM's annual sales from 2018 to 2023 have declined for 6 consecutive years, from 1.97 million to 1 million respectively, losing half of the sales.
And this sudden loss of "territory" has also made SAIC-GM's basic plate unstable, and indirectly made SAIC-GM's transformation in the new energy track more and more difficult.
Yesterday afternoon, Buick officially issued a document saying that the new GL8 Luzun PHEV will be released on April 24, which is the biggest move made by SAIC-GM after the year.
Last year, the MPV market "changed", and the Denza D9 beat the Buick GL8 with nearly 120,000 units to win the annual MPV sales championship, adding additional growth momentum to the MPV. Now, Buick officially announced that the new GL8 Luzun PHEV, a new luxury business class with long range plug-in hybrid, will be released on April 24 on the "Buick Brand Day"!
With the arrival of the all-new GL8 Luzun PHEV, the MPV market will also be lively again. Whether it is the increase it brings to the Buick GL8, or the topic of its confrontation with the Denza D9 in the future, it will be very interesting, and this is also a major opportunity for SAIC-GM.
In addition, SAIC Motor's performance was also tepid.
In March, SAIC Motor sold 79,000 passenger vehicles, down 4.0% year-on-year, and from January to March this year, SAIC sold 163,000 vehicles, down 17.3% year-on-year.
SAIC MAXUS sold 20,000 units in March, up 4.7% year-on-year, and in the first quarter, SAIC MAXUS sold 48,243 units, down 7.02% year-on-year from 51,883 units sold in the same period last year.
In addition, Zhiji Auto sold 3,000 units in March, a year-on-year increase of 49.5%, and in the first quarter of this year, it sold 10,001 units, a year-on-year increase of 165.6%. Although Zhiji Auto saw year-on-year growth, it was mainly due to a low sales base in the same period last year.
A week ago, Zhiji's third new car, Zhiji L6, ushered in pre-sale, as a medium-sized pure electric car, the starting price of 230,000 yuan has a good competitiveness under good technical support and configuration stacking. However, considering that there are many competitors in this market, including the Xiaomi SU7 that has just been launched, it will be difficult for the Zhiji L6 to break through.