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

Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, domestic car companies experienced a "bleak and dark" moment in the first few months of 2020, when sales plummeted and their performance suffered a sharp setback. with the improvement of the epidemic situation and the gradual recovery of the automobile market, a number of car companies have also ushered in a recovery in sales. Judging from the July sales figures released by mainstream joint venture car companies, most of them have achieved positive monthly growth, with only SAIC and Volkswagen continuing to decline. SAIC-Volkswagen also became the car company with the biggest decline in sales among the leading joint venture car companies.

SAIC-Volkswagen has been in a state of decline since 2020, even if the car market picks up, most car companies achieve year-on-year sales rise, SAIC-Volkswagen still declined, SAIC-Volkswagen has not yet achieved monthly sales.

SAIC reported that SAIC-Volkswagen sold 134000 vehicles in July, down 7.65% from a year earlier, the only decline among mainstream joint ventures. From January to July this year, SAIC-Volkswagen sold a total of 711385 vehicles, a drop of 33.15%, which is also the biggest decline among mainstream joint venture car companies. It is worth noting that there is a growing gap between SAIC-Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen. In the first half of the year, FAW-Volkswagen sold 893158 new cars and ranked first among car companies, while FAW-Volkswagen failed to make the list because of its unannounced sales in July.

SAIC Volkswagen sales did not improve significantly, which is closely related to the decline in the competitiveness of its products. First of all, the "reduction door" incident affects the reputation of enterprises. The collision evaluation results of the main products Passat and Tuguan L in the C-IASI of China Insurance Research Institute have a large deviation from the impression of consumers, and there is an obvious gap between them and other brands of the same level. On the other hand, the lack of competitiveness of SAIC-Volkswagen new products and the sluggish sales of some products have also led to a large decline in sales, including the Polo Plus and Toujia new cars, while the newly listed MPV accounts for relatively low sales. In addition, the market performance of Skoda brand made SAIC-Volkswagen very embarrassed. Due to market pressure, SAIC-Volkswagen took the lead in initiating the official price reduction of Skoda models in 2020, with the highest official reduction of 24500 yuan, thus lowering Skoda's market positioning.

Another SAIC joint venture also performed poorly. Although SAIC GM achieved 1 per cent sales growth in July, it fell 29.26 per cent in July, making it the worst performer among mainstream joint ventures. It is pointed out that SAIC GM has paid a price for the "price for volume" market strategy in recent years, which has led to internal friction among Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac, while the three-cylinder engine strategy has also led to greater losses.

Japanese car companies continued to grow against the market, with three to seven occupied by Japanese joint ventures, all of which achieved sales growth in July, with the cumulative sales of Toyota's two joint ventures returning to positive growth.

Dongfeng Nissan sold 99540 vehicles in July, up 9.3% from a year earlier. Among them, the Xuanyi series sold 46851 cars in July, up 65% from the same period last year; Teana sold 10161 vehicles, up 20.5% from the same period last year; and Qijun sold 14530 cars, while Xiaoke sold 13047. Dongfeng Nissan sold a total of 580000 vehicles from January to July, still down 14.7% from a year earlier.

Toyota's two joint ventures have seen high growth, with FAW Toyota's sales growth of 40% in July and Guangzhou Auto Toyota's 20.26% growth. Both companies achieved regular sales in the previous July. Toyota launched new products in China with good market feedback, including Corolla, Leiling, RAV4 Rongfang, Asian Dragon, Weilanda and other models, and the introduction of corresponding hybrid products at all levels also further enrich consumers' choices. From the sales point of view, it seems that the "gas valve" incident in the first half of the year, the impact on Toyota has been greatly reduced.

Honda also achieved sales growth, of which Guangzhou Auto Honda sold 69187 vehicles in July, up 24.5% from a year earlier, and Dongfeng Honda sold 67459 vehicles, up 11.7% from the same period last year. However, affected by the epidemic in the first half of the year, the two Honda joint ventures still experienced double-digit cumulative declines. After launching the hybrid version of Haoying, Ling Pai and Civic hatchback, Honda will also bring a new flying degree this year.

After the adjustment of the management team and product line, Changan Ford also ushered in a drop in sales. Changan Ford sold 21726 vehicles in July, up 20.22% from a year earlier, with cumulative sales of 119174 vehicles from January to July, an increase of 27.82%. According to officials, Ruiji has become the main sales model of Changan Ford. Other new products, the first half of the new Mondeo, Ruiji two-wheel drive version, domestic explorers and domestic Lincoln adventurers on the market. With the acceleration of product upgrading and the introduction of models by the two major brands Ford and Lincoln, and slight adjustments in positioning, Ford's sales recovery in China has achieved some results, but it has been very difficult to restore sales to nearly one million vehicles in 2016.

For the rest of the joint ventures, Dongfeng Yueda Kia sold 20, 000 vehicles in July, up 17.5% from a year earlier, with a cumulative sales of 133000 in the previous July. Officials say the new generation of K5 Kaiku will go on sale in September. Mazda's two joint ventures in China also grew, with Changan Mazda selling 10946 vehicles in July, up 4.12 per cent from a year earlier, while FAW Mazda rose 4 per cent to 6804.

Judging from the mainstream joint venture car companies that have announced sales at present, most of them are also recovering monthly growth as the car market picks up. Japanese car companies are growing strongly. Only SAIC-Volkswagen continues to decline, with a cumulative decline of more than 33%. The decline is also the largest among the head car companies. In the market environment of stock competition, the lost market share will be occupied by other car companies, which will further aggravate the differentiation of the car market. SAIC-Volkswagen may need more remedial measures in the second half of the year to recover its declining performance.

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