AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/07 Report--

On July 5, Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dongfeng Group") released mid-year sales figures. Data show that from January to June in 2024, Dongfeng Group sold 966100 vehicles, an increase of 2.2% over the same period last year, of which June sales were 154200, down 13.90% from a year earlier.

In terms of specific brands, in the joint venture brands, the cumulative sales of Dongfeng Nissan (including Dongfeng Infiniti and Qichen) from January to June in 2024 were 330500, down 1.41% from the same period last year, and 48100 in June, down 30.74% from the same period last year. Dongfeng Honda, another Japanese joint venture, sold 237900 vehicles from January to June, up 4.79 per cent from a year earlier, of which June sales were 35400, down 16.41 per cent from a year earlier.

From the analysis of Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Honda sales, the performance of both in the first half of the year is very mediocre. In fact, under the wave of intelligence and electrification, Japanese joint venture brands are facing the challenge of new energy transformation and development. Japanese brands' market share in China fell to 15.0% from January to May in 2024, compared with 17.0% in 2023, and market share continued to decline, according to FIFA data.

In addition to the above two major brands, the decline of DPCA is also obvious. Data show that the number of DPCA vehicles in the first six months of this year was 37700, down 14.77% from the same period last year, of which 6145 were in June, down 19.75% from the same period last year. It is understood that DPCA, jointly funded by Dongfeng Automobile Group and Peugeot Citroen, is the first joint venture to enter the Chinese market. As one of the representatives of French cars, Citroen also ranked at the forefront of joint venture brands. In 2015, it reached an all-time high with annual sales of 705000 vehicles, but then sales declined year after year. From 2016 to 2020, sales were 600200, 378000, 253000, 113600 and 50300 respectively. By 2023, DPCA sold only 80300 vehicles, down 35.81% from the same period last year.

In February last year, DPCA announced the full promotion of electrification. According to the plan, in the next five years, DPCA will launch 9 new models and a number of modified models, 8 of which are new energy models. It is worth mentioning that at present, there are no pure electric models under DPCA, and it is obviously not easy for DPCA, which lags behind in the new energy era, to return to the peak of sales. According to Automotive Industry concern, the reason for the decline in sales of DPCA is that French cars do not have a strong sense of existence in the domestic market, and on the other hand, traditional joint venture brands are facing competition for internal volume. coupled with the slow iteration of the update of Shenlong Automobile products. At present, the competition in the automobile market is obviously accelerating, which also means that there is not much time left for DPCA, and DPCA urgently needs to make changes.

In addition to joint venture brands, Dongfeng Group has laid out Dongfeng Lantu, Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng New Energy, Dongfeng Fashion and other brands in the field of independent brands, but the sales performance is also relatively general. Data show that in the first half of the year, Dongfeng Liuqi sold 62100 vehicles, up 6.87% from the same period last year; Dongfeng passenger car sales in the independent sector were 41600, up 5.32% from the same period last year; and Dongfeng Lantu sold 30400 vehicles, up 102.09% from the same period last year.

From the perspective of sales in the first half of the year, Dongfeng Lantu's sales growth is very obvious, but compared with the current mainstream car-building new forces in the car market, it is still a long way off. According to the plan, Lantu Automobile's brand new pure electric medium-sized SUV-- Lantu bosom friend will be listed this year. The car is positioned lower than Lantu FREE, becoming a new entry-level product of Lantu Automobile, and will also become the only model under Lantu Automobile that provides pure electric drive. The car is built by Lantu in cooperation with Huawei and is equipped with Huawei's intelligent cockpit and smart driving system. After listing, it will help Lantu achieve its annual sales target of 100000 vehicles.

Generally speaking, the joint venture brand is still the main source of sales of Dongfeng Motor. According to statistics, Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Honda accounted for 58.83% of the group's total sales (966100 vehicles) in the first half of the year, while Dongfeng Liuqi and Dongfeng passenger cars accounted for only 10.72%. However, with the rise of independent brands and the transformation of new energy, Dongfeng Group still has to rely on its own brands and new energy vehicles to achieve rapid growth.

According to the plan, Dongfeng Group will achieve its annual sales target of 3.2 million vehicles this year and launch 14 new energy passenger car models within two years. It should be noted that Dongfeng Group is still in the bottleneck period of new energy transformation, and the transformation plan of Dongfeng Group still needs to be accelerated.

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