AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/06 Report--

According to the July retail sales data released by the Federation of passengers, it is estimated that it will achieve a year-on-year increase of 6%. In such a market environment, SAIC, the largest domestic automobile group, has been underperforming the market for several months in a row, achieving a year-on-year growth of only 4% in July, which is lower than the average level of the domestic passenger car market, while SAIC-Volkswagen continues to expand.

SAIC sold 457600 vehicles in July, up 4 per cent from a year earlier and down 5 per cent from a month earlier, while cumulative sales for the whole year were 2.5067 million, down 25.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to group data.

SAIC-Volkswagen has been in a state of decline since 2020, even if the car market picks up and most car companies achieve year-on-year sales growth, but SAIC-Volkswagen still fell slightly. SAIC-Volkswagen accumulated sales of 134000 vehicles in July, down 7.7% from the same period last year. Although monthly sales and cumulative sales in the first half of the year are still the highest in the group, they are also the brands in the group with the largest decline in monthly and annual sales.

Throughout the SAIC Volkswagen downward trend this year has become the norm, but because June as the first half of the "performance" of the last month, coupled with the traditional off-season in July, SAIC Volkswagen sales in July expanded.

For this situation, the main reason is that SAIC-Volkswagen Passat has not yet come out of the shadow of the "crash door" at the end of last year. From monthly sales of more than 20,000 units, it can only rank outside the 20th place in the domestic passenger car market, with monthly sales of about 10,000 units. Perhaps it is a chain reaction, SAIC-Volkswagen products are not only Passat, but also SAIC-Volkswagen Lanya, Tuguan and other models have also lost their dominant position in market segments in the past, are no longer the best-selling compact cars, joint venture SUV, and are strongly suppressed by competitors. Volkswagen's majestic performance of the newly launched MPV model is only mediocre, with sales of 3289 vehicles in June, less than a fraction of the GL8 model, and even less than Honda Ericsson and Odyssey.

SAIC GM, once the "boss" of SAIC, finally stopped falling in July. Cumulative sales in July were 113000, up 1 per cent from a year earlier, while sales in the first half were 945600, down 29.36 per cent from a year earlier. Although the decline in sales is similar to that of SAIC-Volkswagen, the group's leadership in the Buick brand has helped the brand narrow the decline in sales.

According to sales figures disclosed by Buick only under its brand, Buick sold 76926 vehicles wholesale in July, an increase of 36.6% in the same proportion, and could once again become the largest brand under GM. This is also due to the rapid launch of a number of new models in order to achieve a rise in sales under the epidemic.

By contrast, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands are relatively pessimistic, with sales still in the doldrums. In this regard, some industry insiders analyzed that the main reason for the decline in SAIC GM sales is that it may appear in the Chevrolet brand and Cadillac brand.

SAIC GM Wuling has undoubtedly become the biggest "winner" of the group, with sales of new energy surging 70 per cent after the brand accelerated its transformation into new energy and launched Hongguang MINI and New Baojun E300. It also helped the brand to sell 130000 vehicles in July, up 20% from a year earlier, making it the fastest-growing brand in the group next July. However, full-year sales are still showing signs of decline, with cumulative sales of 661000 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 22.52 per cent.

It has to be mentioned that the Hongguang MINI EV, which just went on sale on July 24, has sold 7348 vehicles in July, which is undoubtedly a bit of a surprise. After all, under the current poor performance of the overall car market and the new energy market, the best-selling model can indeed be regarded as a potential model of Wuling, but it is known that the car has a range of only 120km.

In terms of independent brands, SAIC passenger car sales were 51001 in July, down 2% from a year earlier, down 2% from January to June, down 19.58% from a year earlier, and the decline narrowed, which means the trend is improving. However, compared with the first-line independent brands, the market competitiveness of Roewe and Mingjue brands is still weak.

In terms of monthly sales in July, the commercial vehicle sector of SAIC Group has picked up obviously, among which SAIC GM Wuling and SAIC Chase have both achieved significant growth. The three major passenger car subsidiaries are still in a downward trend compared with the same period last year, but the monthly sales decline has narrowed to less than 10%.

However, the time scale up to the first half of the year, SAIC still showed a 30% decline, and the sales of most subsidiaries showed a downward trend. Only 34.2% of the annual sales target of 6 million vehicles, which is in the lower-middle level of the performance of domestic listed car companies, in this regard, how to recover the "falling" sales in the first half of the year may become a question for many car companies, including SAIC, to consider.

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