The surging sales at the end of last year were like a double-edged sword, with 2023 "perfect ending" and 2024 "low-key opening". On February 1, various car companies successively handed over the first sales report card of this year, among which the head player of the new car-making force "Wei Xiaoli" achieved year-on-year sales growth, but the month-on-month decline declined to varying degrees, and the "sequelae" of the impulse at the end of the year began to appear.
Early overdrafts pull down sales.
Wei Xiaoli", Li Auto was the first to hand over the papers. The data shows that in January this year, Li Auto new car 3120,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 1058%, still ranking first in "Wei Xiaoli". NIO and Xpeng sold more than 10,000 and 8,000 units respectively, and although they were pulled away by Li Auto, they also increased by 18 year-on-year respectively2% vs. 58%.
Judging from the book data, the sales volume of "Wei Xiaoli" in January this year still maintained a year-on-year increase, but from the perspective of month-on-month sales, the starting pressure of the "three brothers" is not small. In October last year, Li Auto's monthly sales exceeded 40,000 units for the first time, and its sales in December soared to a sales record of more than 50,000 units. Although Li Auto's sales still exceeded 30,000 units in January this year, it fell by 38 month-on-month11%。At the same time, NIO's sales fell by 44% month-on-month in January this year18%, and the sales volume of Xpeng Motors was "halved" month-on-month. In response to the sales report card at the beginning of the year, the CEO of Li Auto, who is often "full fire", did not comment on the sales data in January, and was considered by the outside world to be dissatisfied with the sales volume in the first month of this year.
In fact, car companies have long been prepared for the "sequelae" that will arise from the impulse of the auto market at the end of last year. "The year-end sprint of car companies and the promotion of local consumption jointly promote the hot market. In December, the strength and breadth have been enhanced, involving almost all manufacturers and all models, showing the characteristics of a historically rare year-end afterburner, and the year-end impulse of car companies has also overdrawn part of the sales in January this year in advance, so it has fallen month-on-month. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Passenger Car Market Information Association (hereinafter referred to as the "Passenger Association"), said.
The impact of "rare" strength on the start of this year's auto market is also intuitively reflected in the overall sales data of the auto market. The Federation of Passenger Cars expects that the retail market of passenger cars in January this year will be about 2.2 million units, down 6% month-on-month5%。Among them, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles were about 800,000, down 15 from the previous month3%。"The 'good start' in January every year is the direction that local ** and car companies need to work together, but due to the fierce sprint in December last year, the pressure on the auto market this year is greater. Cui Dongshu said.
Competition intensifies, and the fighting heats up.
From the perspective of the overall trend of the auto market, the low sales of "Wei Xiaoli" in January this year are in line with the law of the market, but the "three brothers" are also ready to be suppressed first and then raised.
According to the terminal survey, the overall market discount rate of passenger cars was about 20 at the beginning of January this year4%。The passenger association said that there is still no sign of the overall market discount. This means that the involution of the car market has not cooled down. In the face of the escalation of the car market, "Wei Xiaoli" is looking for a breakthrough in the market. Among them, last year, Li Auto exceeded 50,000 units with its L7, L8 and L9 models, but with the entry of M7, M9 and many competitors into the market, Li Auto will face a more fierce competitive environment this year. In this regard, Li Xiang said: "This year will be an unprecedented product year for Li Auto, with four extended-range models and four pure electric models. In March this year, the Ideal MEGA will be launched and delivered, and the Ideal L7, Ideal L8 and Ideal L9 will also usher in the 2024 model. At the same time, we will significantly increase our investment in R&D and continue to improve our technical capabilities in the fields of intelligent driving, smart space and smart electric vehicles. In addition, in terms of sales and service network, Li Xiang revealed that by the end of this year, the number of retail centers is planned to increase to 800, and the number of after-sales service centers and authorized sheet metal spraying centers is expected to exceed 500. "We will challenge to deliver 800,000 units a year and achieve the goal of being the No. 1 luxury car brand in the Chinese market. He said.
Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that Li Auto has accumulated a certain brand power and reputation in the new energy vehicle market, but after entering the pure electric market, Li Auto will also face the challenge of its competitors. It is worth mentioning that as a competitor, Xpeng Motors launched its first MPV model, the X9, on January 1 this year. Although there is a certain dislocation in the **, but both pure electric MPV models, Xpeng X9 and Ideal MEGA are also believed to start the competition for the position, and Xpeng X9 is the first to be listed in the eyes of the outside world or has seized the opportunity, and the two sides will start the pure electric MPV competition this year. According to the data, Xpeng X9 has delivered a total of 2,478 vehicles, of which nearly 70% of the MAX version has been purchased. At present, Xpeng Motors' sales ranking has always been at the bottom of the "Wei Xiaoli", and after a comprehensive adjustment last year, Xpeng X9 is very important for Xpeng Motors to increase sales. In order to meet the order volume as soon as possible, He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, is once again ready to "screw the screws" in person. He Xiaopeng said: "Recently, the core stuck point of X9 has been solved, and we will work overtime during the Spring Festival to quickly increase production capacity." The factory classmates said that during this Spring Festival holiday, I will also be ready to go to the factory to screw the screws. ”
While product competition is taking place, intelligent iteration has also become the focus. "Recently, NIO models have ushered in a full range of experience iterations. A person related to NIO said that Banyan Rong 24.Version 0 brings more than 50 new features and optimizations. In terms of global navigation assistance, it covers 606 cities. In addition, Xpeng Motors said that Xpeng XNGP has been fully opened to users in 243 cities across the country, and the urban road network coverage of the mass-produced version of the software ranks first in the industry.
In addition, NIO is also focusing on profits. Since November last year, NIO has successively announced that it has signed battery swap business cooperation agreements with Changan Automobile, Geely Automobile, JAC, and Chery Automobile to open the battery swap platform. In Yan Jinghui's view: "As more and more car companies join NIO's battery swap system, the utilization rate of battery swap stations will be further improved, so that battery swap stations can be better and faster profitable, so as to reduce the pressure on enterprises to balance costs and maintain their strength in the competition." ”
Beijing Business Daily reporter Liu Yang Liu Xiaomeng.