The sales data released by the Passenger Association show that the wholesale sales of domestic passenger car manufacturers in March hit a record high in the same period, with a total of 2.189 million cars sold, an increase of 68% month-on-month.
Judging from the specific situation of the sedan market, the overall trend of positive momentum is also obvious. In March, the domestic sedan market sold a total of 949,000 new cars, compared with 545,000 units in February, a month-on-month increase of 74% and a year-on-year increase of 4.7%.
On the best-selling list of domestic sedans in March, BYD re-established its absolute leading position, and the monthly sales champion and runner-up are all BYD's products, in fact, in the top 4 monthly sales, 3 are BYD's models. BYD's return to the "hegemon" position, in the domestic car market in March, the collective outbreak of joint venture oil vehicles is also a major attraction. In the top 20 car sales list in March, foreign-funded models occupied 11 seats, of which 10 models other than Tesla's Model 3 were all joint venture fuel vehicles.
A0 market: the position of autonomy is becoming more and more solid
The domestic small car market has fully entered the era of electric vehicles, and as the leader of the current global electric vehicle market, it is logical for BYD to "dominate" the domestic small car market.
BYD's Ocean Net series currently has two models in the small car market - Seagull and Dolphin, and these two cars have been the sales champion and runner-up in the domestic small car market for several months, and have opened a considerable gap with other products of the same level.
Image source: BYD
In March, the monthly sales of both seagulls and dolphins exceeded 20,000 units, of which the monthly sales of seagulls exceeded 30,000 units. If there is such a top-notch product in the market segment, does it prove that the domestic small car segment has been revived?
The answer is not so, because in the domestic small car market, the current really best-selling models are actually very limited, in addition to Seagull and Dolphin, there is another small car that sold more than 10,000 in March, which is MG3, but the monthly sales of this car are only more than 10,000 units. After that, Wuling Binguo, which was able to form a staggered trend with seagulls and dolphins in the market competition, can be said to have plummeted in recent months, and its sales have not exceeded 10,000 for 3 consecutive months (if you add the new Binguo PLUS launched in March, the monthly sales of Binguo series in March were more than 10,000 units, of which Binguo sold 8336 units, and Binguo PLUS sales were 4598). In contrast, Wuling Binguo sold nearly 50,000 units a month at the end of last year.
The ups and downs in market performance in a short period of time have been experienced many times by many models of SAIC-GM-Wuling. On the one hand, the continuous intensification of market competition is also an important reason for the lack of obvious progress in SAIC-GM-Wuling's transformation towards electrification and intelligence, as well as the attempt to break through the market. I have to say that SAIC-GM-Wuling's transformation road still has a long way to go.
In addition, the small cars that sold more than 5,000 units in March include the Ora Good Cat and the BAIC New Energy EU series. According to the data, there were only 6 small cars with sales of more than 5,000 units in March, which shows that the volume of the entire small car segment is relatively limited. And a very significant feature is that the current domestic small car market, has been completely independent electric cars in the support of the situation, 6 monthly sales of more than 5000 models are all independent cars, and 5 of them are electric vehicles.
A-segment car market: BYD is also the frontrunner
In March, the sales volume of the compact car market was the first and second place, which also belonged to BYD. I have to say that relying on the obvious advantages of economies of scale and supply chain layout, BYD has started a price war, which is indeed fierce. As soon as the Glory Edition of the main models was launched, it quickly came out of the so-called market trough. In March, BYD regained the monthly sales championship of domestic car companies with a monthly sales figure of more than 10 thousand units that surpassed the second place.
The Qin PLUS is the only model in the domestic sedan market with monthly sales of more than 40,000 units in March, and is the undisputed king of sales in the compact car market. Qin PLUS is followed by BYD's product - destroyer 05, and after Qin PLUS is listed, it can basically occupy a seat on the best-selling list every month, and the market "offensive" of destroyer 05 Before March this year, the destroyer 05, which has been on the market for two years, has only sold more than 10,000 units, and the monthly sales in March can soar directly to close to 30,000 units, the most important reason is that the glory version of the model has been launched, and the price has dropped significantly, and the market competitiveness of the car series has quickly ushered in an all-round surge.
Image source: BYD
In the final analysis, it is because of the market scale and strong vertical integration ability that BYD has more confidence in fighting the price war. In addition, the full coverage of the industrial chain and continuous innovation in technology research and development can significantly improve BYD's cost control capabilities, so that BYD can reduce costs and increase efficiency more calmly. The above advantages are the key reasons for BYD and other competitors to widen the gap.
Among the top 20 compact models in the sales of sedans in March, there is also a new energy product, the MG4 EV. Although the model is not loud in the domestic market, it has won the praise of electric small steel guns in overseas markets, especially in the European market, and MG4 can often break into the top 10 monthly sales of new energy vehicles in Europe.
In the field of oil vehicles, in the compact car market, it is necessary to change the joint venture products to play the leading role. A total of 10 compact cars entered the top 20 sedan sales list in March, of which 7 were gasoline vehicles, 4 were joint ventures, and 3 were independent.
In terms of the number of best-selling models, the gap is not large, but when compared with monthly sales, the gap is more obvious. Among the four joint venture compact gasoline vehicles on the list, three (Sylphy, Sutar and Lavida) have monthly sales of more than 20,000 units. In terms of independent compact fuel vehicles, the best performer is the MG 5, with monthly sales of 16,600 units, and the other two independent products, Yidong and Xingrui, have monthly sales of around 15,000 units.
B-segment car market: Joint ventures remain strong
In the past two years, taking advantage of the tide of electrification consumption, mainstream car companies have opened a breakthrough road to the market. Among them, there are very bright parts, such as the mid-to-high-end SUV market, independent products have begun to win the right to speak. However, in the high-end car market, the process is obviously slower, especially in the B-class car market, the performance is particularly obvious, although the joint venture B-class car is facing increasing market competition pressure, but as a segment of the market main body of the position, there has not been much loosening.
Tesla's Model 3 once again won the sales championship in the domestic B-segment car market, and there are basically no "players" behind it that can threaten its market position. However, it should be pointed out that although the popularity in the domestic market is still guaranteed, Tesla's recent operating pressure is not small, global price cuts, global layoffs and other negative news followed, which is enough to prove that Tesla is experiencing a lot of turmoil, in a short period of time, under the premise that there will still be no new cars to stimulate the market, how to get out of the predicament, for Tesla, is a problem to be solved.
In addition to Tesla's Model 3, the mid-size cars that entered the top 20 sedan sales list in March are all joint venture gasoline vehicles.
After the previous two months of market hibernation, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class reappeared in March to show a strong side in the market, once again handing over monthly sales of more than 20,000 units. BMW and Audi's B-segment sedans also performed well in March, with the BMW 3 Series selling nearly 14,000 units per month, also ranking among the top 20 sedan sales, while the Audi A4L failed to make the list, but the sales gap was not large, with sales of more than 13,000 units in March.
Among the mainstream joint venture products, the best-selling list is also "familiar faces", the German Magotan and Passat, and the Japanese Accord are all best-selling products in the domestic market for decades, and after many product changes, they still have good competitiveness, especially in the current competitive environment of more and more "volume", the once strong pricing strategy of the mainstream joint venture B-class car has been unable to continue, and now tens of thousands of terminal discounts have become the norm, and the cost performance has been improved.
The Camry's recent performance has been relatively poor, with a clear trend of falling behind (less than 10,000 units sold in March). However, it should be noted that the Camry is undergoing a replacement of new and old models, and the ninth-generation Camry has just been put on the market not long ago, and on the basis of further downward exploration of official pricing, the performance of intelligence has been improved. The sincerity shown by the new Camry, how many users can still be impressed?
Image source: Gasgoo
The C-segment car market: the battle horn has been sounded
In the high-end sedan market, which was once dominated by luxury cars, more and more independent products have indeed begun to appear, and the trend of independent products to reverse the inherent pattern of market segments is becoming more and more obvious. Not only has BYD Han performed well recently, but a new batch of independent new energy C-class cars have also been sharpened.
The Audi A6L is the only product in the traditional C-segment sedan camp that can still maintain a good competitiveness in March. Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series both sold less than 10,000 units in March.
BYD Han once again led the domestic medium and large sedan market. After the launch of the glory version of the model, the starting price of the BYD Han family has dropped to less than 170,000 yuan, on the basis of last year's glory version of the model, the starting price has been directly reduced by 20,000 yuan, and it has also been upgraded in terms of model design, comfort configuration, intelligent configuration, etc., the goal is very clear, that is, to rely on the product positioning of the C-class car and the price of the B-class car, to comprehensively "encircle and suppress" the joint venture fuel vehicle in the price range of 150,000 yuan-250,000 yuan. At present, it seems that the effect is very obvious, and many joint venture oil vehicles are coerced by the independent new energy products represented by the new Han family, and are forced to start a price war.
In addition to the Han family, the domestic medium and large sedan market at the end of March, also ushered in a more topical and market impact of the product - Xiaomi SU7, if the production capacity of this car can keep up, and the previously announced large orders (24 hours on the market Dading 88898 units) can be quickly converted into real delivery data, Xiaomi SU7 can completely rely on its own strength, to reshape the overall pattern of the domestic medium and large car market.
Image source: Xiaomi Auto
In addition, there are many independent C-class sedans that have continued to heat up in the market recently, such as Zhijie S7 and Zhiji L6, which may become important chess pieces to accelerate the breakthrough of the market segment. The horn of the battle in the domestic medium and large sedan market has been sounded, and it will be interesting to see who will finally stand on the C position.