On September 8, the National Joint Conference on passenger car Market Information (hereinafter referred to as "Joint passenger car Association") released national passenger car production and sales data in August. According to the data, retail sales in the passenger car market reached 1.871 million in August, up 28.9% from a year earlier, the highest growth rate in the past decade, and 2.9% month-on-month growth, the second-lowest level in the history of the same period in nearly a decade.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Federation of passengers, said that retail sales in the passenger car market in August last year were lower than in July, a rare out-of-season phenomenon in history, and the core was still affected by a shortage of chips. In August this year, although the hot weather in some areas affected the passenger flow of dealers, the continuous improvement of logistics and supply chain still effectively stabilized the growth of the car market.

Retail sales of new energy passenger cars continued to grow at a high rate of 529000 in August, up 111.2% from a year earlier and 8.8% from a month earlier. It is reported that the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China reached 28.3% in August, an increase of 11 percentage points over the same period last year.

Recently, benefiting from the heating up of the new energy vehicle market, upstream material enterprises have made a lot of money, while downstream vehicle enterprises are somewhat tight, and profit margins have declined as a whole. In this regard, Cui Dongshu said that in the future, vehicle enterprises will still become the "chain length (the core of the industry chain)" of the new energy vehicle industry chain, and the pricing power of parts and components enterprises will not last for a long time. However, for new energy car companies, if they want to make a profit, it is very important for the industrial chain to control the ability, especially the battery and other core technologies in their own hands.

There is an obvious differentiation in the sales volume of car companies in August.

Recently, a number of listed car companies disclosed production and marketing KuaiBao. In August, Great Wall Motor (601633) sold 88200 vehicles, an increase of 18.81% over the same period last year, of which 12000 new energy vehicles were sold. JAC Motor (600418) sold 45000 vehicles in August, an increase of 48.17% over the same period last year. Of this total, sales of pure electric passenger cars were 18900, an increase of 133.5 per cent over the same period last year.

The top 10 passenger car companies by wholesale sales in August were BYD, FAW-Volkswagen, Chery Automobile, SAIC-Volkswagen, Geely Automobile, SAIC-GM, SAIC-GM Wuling, Dongfeng Nissan, Guangzhou Auto Toyota and SAIC passenger cars, according to data released by the FIAC.

Combing the production and marketing of the above-mentioned car companies in August, KuaiBao will find that the amount of "electricity" determines the current sales performance of the car companies to some extent. Cui Dongshu told the Securities Times that in August, driven by the new energy market, the performance of some car companies was obviously divided.

Data show that passenger car manufacturers sold 2.097 million vehicles wholesale in August, up 38.3 per cent from a year earlier and down 1.7 per cent from a month earlier. Among them, wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 632000 in August, an increase of 103.9% over the same period last year and 12.0% month-on-month growth. This means that under the policy of halving the car purchase tax, new energy vehicles have not only not been affected, but the improvement in the month-on-month ratio has exceeded market expectations.

Specifically, the wholesale penetration rate of new energy vehicle manufacturers in August was 30.1%, up 9.7 percentage points from 20.4% in August 2021. Among them, the penetration rate of independent brand new energy vehicles is the highest, accounting for almost half of the new energy vehicle market, reaching 49.8%.

Sixteen new energy car companies have sold more than 10,000 cars.

Cui Dongshu analysis said that in August, oil prices rose and electricity prices were locked, making the new energy vehicle market more popular. At the same time, the strengthening of local policies to encourage consumption has also led to a continuous increase in the production of mainstream car companies, changing the law of the off-season and further boosting the car market in August.

Data show that from January to August, 3.662 million new energy passenger vehicles were wholesale, an increase of 119.4% over the same period last year, showing a "W-shaped" trend as a whole.

Specifically, in August, there were more than 16 new energy vehicle companies with wholesale sales of more than 10,000 vehicles, accounting for 84% of the total new energy passenger vehicles. Among them: BYD sold 174000 vehicles, Tesla, Inc. China sold 77000 vehicles, up 172.8% from the previous month, SAIC GM Wuling sold 52600 vehicles, Geely Automobile sold 37500 vehicles, Chery sold 28800 vehicles, and GAC sold 27000 vehicles.

In terms of new forces, Nashi cars and zero-running cars surpassed "Wei Xiaoli" with sales of 16000 and 12500 respectively, realizing the counterattack of the second echelon of new car-building forces.

In addition, the export of new energy vehicles in August was also eye-catching, with a total of 77000 vehicles exported, accounting for 30.56% of the total export volume of passenger vehicles.

Looking forward to September, Cui Dongshu believes that "the current high oil prices are conducive to the growth of new energy vehicles." Cui Dongshu believes that looking forward to September, the new energy vehicle market will still accelerate in an all-round way, especially the A00 and A0 electric cars built by independent brands will continue to be sold. The temporary charging inconvenience caused by power shortage in some areas has been effectively alleviated with the drop of temperature. In the long run, with the completion of infrastructure such as energy storage, the trend of market-oriented promotion of new energy vehicles will not be shaken.

The trend of "the whole car is king" will return.

With the release of automobile production and sales data in August, a number of listed companies in the automobile industry chain also disclosed their first-half results. Combing through these "transcripts", we will find that the performance of lithium mining enterprises and battery enterprises is more eye-catching. The net interest rate of lithium mining business of leading enterprises can reach 70%, and the profit margin of battery enterprises is also maintained at about 8%. The profits of vehicle enterprises have been obviously eroded, with an average profit margin of 5%, which is already at the middle and low end of the manufacturing industry.

Cui Dongshu analysis said that the sharp rise in the price of lithium materials is mainly due to the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry and the expected mismatch of resources. But in the long run, the whole vehicle enterprises still have a strong pricing power on the industrial chain, and "the whole vehicle is the king" is an inevitable trend.

In his view, in the new energy vehicle industry chain, parts and components enterprises do not have continuous industrial chain pricing power, battery enterprises are bound to face a variety of constraints from vehicle enterprises.

"batteries are as important to new energy vehicles as engines are to fuel vehicles." Cui Dongshu believes that batteries account for a large proportion of the cost of new energy vehicles, and are related to a series of industries such as after-sale, recycling, reuse, and so on. For new energy vehicle companies, if they want to make a profit, they must improve their ability to control the industrial chain, especially to control the battery industry in their own hands.