AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/10 Report--

According to data released by the Federation of passengers on April 9, retail sales in the passenger car market in March 2024 were 1.687 million, up 6.0% from a year earlier and 52.8% from a month earlier, while cumulative retail sales from January to March in 2024 were 4.829 million, an increase of 13.1% over the same period last year. Among them, sales in March increased year-on-year and month-on-month, mainly due to the recovery of post-holiday consumption brought about by the Spring Festival.

According to the ranking of retail sales, the top 10 car companies in March were BYD Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen, Geely Motor, Changan Automobile, SAIC Volkswagen, Chery Automobile, Tesla China, Beijing Mercedes-Benz, FAW Toyota and SAIC GM. Compared with the February ranking, the biggest change in March was the entry of Tesla China, Beijing Mercedes-Benz and FAW Toyota. Among them, Tesla China entered the seventh place on the list, but dropped by 18.6% compared with the same period last year.

Tesla sold 62000 vehicles in China in March, according to the data. It is worth mentioning that on April 2, US Eastern time, Tesla released production and sales data for the first quarter of 2024. Data show that during the reporting period, Tesla delivered a total of 386810 cars, down 8.5 percent from the same period last year, and this is the first time that Tesla has dropped below 400000 vehicles since the third quarter of 2022.

At present, Tesla's global sales models include Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X. among them, Model Y is Tesla's first domestic SUV model and an important source of Tesla's sales in China. In February's retail sales data, for example, Model Y sold 22537 vehicles, accounting for 74.77% of total retail sales (30141), while Model 3 sales were 7604, well below Model Y.

Tesla China announced on April 1 that the price of domestic Model Y will be raised by 5000 yuan. After the price adjustment, the price of Model Y is 263900 yuan, the long-lasting version of Model Y is 304900 yuan, and the high-performance version of Model Y is 368900 yuan. At the same time, the previous existing car insurance subsidy policy of 8000 yuan and the car paint deduction policy of up to 10000 yuan will also expire on March 31. According to this calculation, including insurance subsidies, the actual price increase of Model Y is as high as 23000 yuan. Industry insiders pointed out that after entering 2024, Tesla high-frequency price adjustment may mean that it is facing greater growth pressure. Tesla had previously warned that car growth in 2024 would "probably be significantly lower" than in 2023.

Looking back at the list of manufacturers, BYD is still the top seller of passenger cars in China, leading a group of independent joint venture brands with sales of 260000 vehicles in March, up 35.4% from a year earlier, but lagging behind Chery. In March, Chery's car sales rose 62.6 per cent from a year earlier to 75000 vehicles, ranking sixth on the list. In addition, among independent brands, Geely Motor and Changan Automobile ranked third and fourth on the list, with sales of 114000 and 104000 respectively, up 28.9% and 11.2% respectively over the same period last year.

Among the joint venture brands, German brands FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen ranked second and fifth respectively, with FAW-Volkswagen down 4.2 per cent year-on-year to 141000 vehicles and SAIC-Volkswagen up 3.9 per cent to 87000 vehicles.

Among Japanese car companies, only FAW Toyota entered the top 10 in March, with sales of 58000 vehicles in March, down 7.2% from a year earlier, ranking ninth on the list. Guangzhou Auto Toyota, Guangzhou Automobile Honda, Dongfeng Honda and Dongfeng Nissan all missed the top 10. Honda's terminal car sales in China fell 26.32 per cent year-on-year to 60449 in March, according to the data. Among them, Guangzhou Auto Honda was 30118, down 27.98% from the same period last year; Dongfeng Honda was 30331, down 24.60% from the same period last year. As for Dongfeng Nissan, it sold 56486 vehicles in March.

If Japanese joint venture brands want to stay in the Chinese market, they must make a difference in the electric car market, especially at a time when new energy vehicles are extremely inward. Japanese joint venture brands will retreat if they are not aggressive. It should be noted that the decline in sales of Japanese car companies in China is only a microcosm of joint venture brands. For example, American brand SAIC GM sold 58000 vehicles in March, down 11.5% from the same period last year. SAIC GM is also in the gap to survive.

In addition to the above-mentioned car companies, Beijing Mercedes-Benz rarely entered the eighth place on the list in March, up 22.2% from a year earlier to 61000 vehicles. Beijing Mercedes-Benz is an established brand. On March 7, Mercedes-Benz officially announced that the cumulative production of Beijing Mercedes-Benz has exceeded the 5 million-vehicle mark. At present, Beijing Mercedes-Benz has three major vehicle factories, of which Shunyi factory is mainly engaged in the production of GLB-class, EQA, EQB, EQC, EQE and other models, while the other two major factories are in Daxing.

The above is the list of the top 10 domestic automakers. Taken together, March is still a happy and sad situation for domestic manufacturers.

Self-branded retail sales of 930000 vehicles were sold in March, up 19 per cent from a year earlier, up 51 per cent from a month earlier, and a market share of 54.8 per cent, up 6 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Federation. With the increase in the market share of domestic car companies such as BYD, Geely, Changan and Chery, the market share of independent brands has further expanded, with a cumulative share of 55% from January to March 2024, an increase of 5.4% over the same period last year.

On the other hand, the market share of joint venture brands has declined. Retail sales of mainstream joint venture brands were 500000 vehicles in March, down 8 per cent from a year earlier and up 49 per cent from a month earlier. Among them, the retail share of German brands was 20.4%, down 1.5% from the same period last year; the retail share of Japanese brands was 13.8%, down 2.2% from the same period last year; and the retail share of American brands was 8.2%, down 1.8% from the same period last year.

At present, the competition pattern of China's automobile market has changed obviously. The competition between independent brands and joint venture brands, and the competition between new energy vehicles and traditional fuel workshops are confirming the switch between new and old car markets. For the joint venture car enterprises that used to rely on the production of fuel vehicles to make profits, the rapid rise of new energy vehicles has become a heavy pressure that can not be ignored. the next market competition will only be more fierce. "how to maintain competitiveness in the new energy vehicle market" is an urgent problem to be solved.

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