AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/11 Report--

According to the latest retail sales data of the Federation of passengers, retail sales in the domestic narrow passenger car market in March were 2.192 million, down 10.9 percent from the same period last year, up 71.9 percent from the previous month, of which 709000 new energy vehicles were sold, up 29.5 percent from the same period last year and 89.5 percent from the previous year. In addition, a total of 5.452 million vehicles were sold from January to March, up 7.0 percent from the same period last year, of which 1.769 million new energy vehicles were sold, up 34.3 percent from the same period last year.

According to the statistics of the Tramway report, the top three brands of new energy vehicles in March 2024 are BYD, Tesla and Changan Automobile, with sales of 260300, 62400 and 47000 respectively. According to statistics, a total of 15 car brands sold more than 10,000 new energy vehicles in March.

As the largest new energy car manufacturer in China, BYD does not have much to say. Since the Spring Festival of the year of the Dragon began a new round of price cuts, especially since the price of Qin PLUS and destroyer 05 was as low as 79800 yuan, it has brought market increment to BYD to a certain extent. In March, the BYD brand retailed 245400 vehicles, including 50400 for Qin PLUS, 35200 for Song PLUS, 27900 for Haiou and 27400 for Song Pro.

It is understood that BYD will sell 3.024 million cars in 2023, with a target of more than 20 per cent year-on-year growth in 2024, so that BYD aims to sell at least 3.6288 million vehicles in 2024. Wholesale sales show that BYD sold a total of 626300 vehicles in the first quarter, an increase of 13.44% over the same period last year and has not yet reached the target growth rate.

Second only to BYD, Tesla's performance is not ideal. Tesla sold 62400 vehicles in China in March, down 18.6 per cent from a year earlier. Tesla China announced on April 1 that the price of domestic Model Y will be increased by 5000 yuan, and the latest price of Model Y will be 26.39-368900 yuan. The market believes that Tesla raised prices unexpectedly in the context of collective price cuts by many Chinese manufacturers, which may be a disguised measure to force orders, intended to boost sales at the end of the quarter. There is no doubt that at present, Tesla's product competitiveness has been obviously insufficient, Tesla's model upgrading speed is too slow, but also slowly began to be abandoned.

The ideal car and the question line are the old rivals, and the ideal car sales were higher than the question line in March, the former was 29000, the latter was 24300, and the sales gap between the two car companies was 4631. The data show that the sales of L7, L8 and L9 are 10768, 8595 and 6392 respectively, with only more than 10,000 of L7, while 18512 of M7 and 5446 of M9.

Sales of ideal cars that completed the launch of new products and revamped old models fell short of expectations in March, the only new force that has not returned to pre-Lunar New year holiday levels against the backdrop of a pick-up in overall sales. Li Xiang admitted in his internal letter that he had misoperated the ideal MEGA rhythm and caused the sales team to significantly reduce the time and effort of serving L-series users. Li wants to reflect that he will focus on user value, focus on business efficiency, solve problems in a down-to-earth manner and serve users for long-term health. It is understood that the ideal car has adjusted its annual sales target of 800000 vehicles to 560000 to 640000 vehicles, and the ideal MEGA sales guidance has been lowered from 8000 vehicles per month to 2000 vehicles.

On April 8, ideal Automobile official Xuan, its fifth model, the fourth add-on hybrid model, the ideal L6, will be officially launched on April 18. According to previous reports, the ideal L6 positioning five-seat medium-sized SUV, which is located under the ideal L7 and focuses on the market of 25-300000 yuan, is the first model of the ideal car that is less than 300000 yuan. It will shoulder the market increment of the ideal car in 2024. According to the plan of the ideal car, the monthly sales target of the ideal L6 is 20, 000 vehicles, but there is also great competitive pressure on the ideal L6. The new M7 model has just been reduced. The starting price of the rear drive version is reduced to 229800 yuan.

Great Wall also performed as expected in the new energy vehicle market, with sales of 19700 new energy vehicles in March, an increase of 132.2% over the same period last year, including 4611 for pure electric brand Euler and 3312 for Wei brand. At present, Great Wall's brands have new energy products, especially the Harvard brand, which announced full new energy as early as August 2022 and plans to stop production of fuel vehicles in 2030.

Xiaopeng and Weilai did not perform very well in March, especially Xiaopeng, which sold less than 10,000 cars in March, delivering only 9026 vehicles, of which the X9 delivered 3946. Although Xiaopeng is selling a large number of products, including P7, P5, G6, G9, X9, there are actually no popular models, the highest sales are pure electricity medium and large MPV--X9, while the G6, which was previously expected, has only been popular for half a year, and the newly rejuvenated G9 also failed to meet market expectations. On April 1, Xiaopeng announced a reduction in the price of the G9, up to 20, 000 yuan for the current car and 243900 yuan for the existing car after the subsidy.

As for Weilai, although it delivered more than ten thousand, but the name "Wei ten thousand" still did not get rid of. In March, Xilai delivered 11866 new cars, an increase of 14.3 percent over the same period last year and 45.9 percent month-on-month. 30053 vehicles were delivered in the first quarter, down 3.18 percent from the same period last year. Due to unwillingness to lower the positioning of luxury brands and reduce official prices to participate in the price war, Weilai chose to lower the threshold for consumers to buy cars in disguise by means of replacement subsidies and BaaS battery rental service program adjustment. On April 1st, Weilai launched a subsidy of up to 1 billion yuan for fuel truck replacement.

Zero running Automobile is the fourth new power company to be listed in Hong Kong after ideal Automobile, Xiaopeng Automobile and Lulai, delivering 14567 new cars in March and 33410 in the first quarter. It is understood that the zero-running car went on sale on March 2, the C10, with a starting price of 128800 yuan. This medium-sized SUV provides more space and higher configuration, but the price is comparable to that of the compact SUV Song PLUS DM-i. Zhu Jiangming, chairman of Zero Auto, then said that Zero car sales this year can be ranked among the new car-building forces, at least one more.

Nezha lagged behind, delivering only 8317 vehicles in March, down 17.55 per cent from a year earlier, and 24434 in the first quarter, down 6.65 per cent from a year earlier. Officials say the Tongxiang plant in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, is being rebuilt and expanded, which has a big impact on output in March and April. According to the plan, Naxi L will go on sale in April, and it is also stepping up its marketing campaign in the face of recent sluggish sales. Not long ago, Zhou Hongyi, founder of the Group, and Zhang Yong, CEO of Naha Automobile, jointly broadcast live and put forward suggestions and opinions on Naha Automobile. Later, Zhang Yong responded on the social platform, "accept the criticism of Lao Zhou, marketing to learn from Lei Jun, not ashamed."

Admittedly, the market competition in 2024 will only be fiercer. The competition between brands is not only reflected in the price, but also in the competition of product power, technological innovation and service experience. Of course, for consumers, price reduction can still stimulate the acceptance of new energy vehicles, more choices and better experience is undoubtedly the biggest dividend brought by this competition, the new energy vehicle market will continue to grow.

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