In May, the national passenger vehicle market sold 1.71 million vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 1.9% and a month-on-month increase of 11.4%. Sales of traditional fuel vehicles that month were 910,000, a year-on-year decrease of 23%. A reporter from Cailian Press compiled statistics on the performance of 14 A/H-listed car companies in May, of which 5 companies experienced a year-on-year decline in sales that month.
According to China Passenger Car Association, the May national retail sales of passenger vehicles was 1.71 million units, a 1.9% year-on-year decrease and an 11.4% increase from the previous month. The accumulated retail sales for the year so far was 8.073 million units, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%.
In the May auto market, traditional fuel vehicles sold 910,000 units, a 23% decrease year-on-year, while new energy vehicles sold 804,000 units, a 38.5% increase year-on-year, forming a sharp contrast between the two markets.
Caifeng News calculated the performance of 14 A/H-share-listed automakers in May, and five of them had year-on-year declines in sales. Of these five automakers, except for Haima which did not disclose its new energy vehicle sales, the other four automakers, including SAIC Motor Corporation, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Dongfeng Motor Group and Great Wall Motor, still rely on fuel vehicles as their main sales models, with new energy vehicle sales accounting for less than 30%.
As the leading domestic automaker, BYD's auto sales reached 332,000 units in May, a year-on-year increase of 38.13%, setting a new year-high sales record. At the same time, BYD's cumulative sales of new energy vehicles reached 7.6 million units, and given the current sales trend, it is expected to reach the milestone of 8 million sales in July.
At the end of May, BYD released its fifth-generation DM technology, and the Qin L DM-i and Haima 06 DM-i models were officially launched on May 28, with prices ranging from ¥99,800 to ¥139,800. With these two new vehicles, BYD is expected to further tap into the plug-in hybrid market. According to Weibo user 'Sun Shaojun09' on June 11, BYD Qin L+Haima 06 cumulative new orders have exceeded 80,000 units. BYD's PR department general manager Li Yunfei also said in a live stream recently, 'The order volume for the Qin L and Haima 06 is very high. We are still thinking about whether or not to publish the data because we are concerned it might cause an industry shock.'
Changan Automobile's May sales volume was 207,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 3.92%. Among them, the sales volume of new energy vehicles of its indigenous brand was 55,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 87.76%. As a high-end brand for Changan Automobile in the new energy field, Avita's delivery volume was 4,569 units in May, with a cumulative delivery of 24,348 units this year. Although this data is significantly higher than the same period last year, it still performs poorly compared to competitors in the industry.
In order to further expand its sales, Avita has decided to enter the extender field. Chen Zhuo, the president of Avita Technology, revealed at the 2024 China Automotive Chongqing Forum: 'In the third quarter of this year, the Avita 07 will be officially launched, providing two power options: pure electric and extender. By the end of this year, three models will be released, all of which include pure electric and extender models. By then, Avita will have formed a matrix of four models, two power options, and eight products.'
Geely Auto sold 161,000 units in May, a year-on-year increase of 38.5%, with new energy vehicle sales reaching 59,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 145.87%. Among them, the Lynk & Co brand sold 21,778 units in May, with new energy vehicle sales accounting for about 57%, setting a historical record. The Jihe Auto brand delivered 18,616 units in May, a year-on-year increase of 115%.
In addition, other new energy vehicle companies also had a good performance in May. Among them, Chongqing Sokon Industry Group Stock sold 34,000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 298.62%; Li Auto Inc. delivered 35,000 new vehicles in May, a year-on-year increase of 23.8%; NIO Inc. delivered 20,500 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 233.78%.
In order to further promote the upgrade of automobile consumption and green development, the Ministry of Finance recently allocated a total of ¥6.44 billion in financial subsidies and rewards for the 'old-for-new' policy for automobiles in 2024, which is specifically used to support the central government's subsidy funds for the 'old-for-new' automobile central finance. This measure aims to encourage consumers to eliminate old vehicles and purchase more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly new vehicles. New energy vehicles benefit most from this 'old-for-new' policy.
Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of China Passenger Car Association said: 'With the implementation details of the policy released at the end of April, the accumulated purchasing power was released in May, driving the new energy vehicle market in May, the trend was better than expected.'
In contrast, automakers that rely on traditional fuel vehicles as their main sales models, despite being involuntarily involved in a 'price war', are still unable to resist the full force of new energy vehicles. For example, the Guangzhou Automobile Group had sales of 156,000 units in May, a year-on-year decrease of 25.33%; accumulated sales for the first five months of this year were 700,000 units, a decrease of 24.51% year-on-year. Among them, Guangzhou Honda and Guangzhou Toyota both had double-digit declines in sales, with decreases of 24.3% and 27.26%, respectively.
At the 2024 China Auto Chongqing Forum, Guangzhou Automobile Group Chairman Qinhong Zeng expressed his views on the continuous "price war" and "rolling volume" in the car market. Zeng said that there is no problem with the "rolling price". This is determined by the supply and demand relationship and market laws. Guangzhou Automobile is not against the "price war" and is not afraid of it, but it should be rational and have a bottom line, and not be excessive. Zeng Qinhong called on the relevant government departments to study the "oil-electricity equivalence" when the pure electric vehicle proportion reaches 50%.
"Due to the rapid shrinking of the market for fuel vehicles, although they are still profitable; the high growth of new energy vehicles is accompanied by large losses, resulting in greater contradictions between the two, which has increased the pressure on corporate operations." Dongshu Cui believes that policies such as "trade-in for new cars" also reasonablly guarantee the purchasing needs of the consumer groups of fuel vehicles, which is of great significance for the smooth development of the automobile market. "The consumption potential of the market's 'phasing out and upgrading' and 'trade-in upgrading' will gradually be unleashed, which is beneficial to the gradual strengthening of the car market over the next few months."