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July is the first month of the second half of the year. For automobile companies, they all strive to record good sales in July to "get a first prize" in the second half of the year. From this perspective, among the new forces that have been released since July 1, who got the "first prize"?

Titanium Media App counted the sales of new forces in July that had been released as of July 2. Among the 16 new forces that have been released, 5 showed a month-on-month decline compared with June, which is 3 more than the 2 in June.

Two new forces experienced a year-on-year decline, and the number was the same as in June, which reflects that in the intense and exciting competition environment, most people still keep up. However, there are still two new forces whose cumulative sales since the beginning of the year are still declining, which should be enough to make them nervous.

So, in the first month of the second half of 2024, who is still surging and who is beginning to show signs of fatigue?

Monthly sales of over 20,000 vehicles are missing one "player"

Among the 16 new forces that announced their sales in July, the month-on-month growth rates were all below 10%, with the top three being Leapmotor with 9.83%, Lantu with 9.22%, and Nezha with 7.93%. Ideal grew 6.75% month-on-month, ranking fourth.

The number of new players with negative month-on-month growth has expanded to five, including Hongmeng Zhixing's -4.45%, NIO's -3.35%, Zeekr's -22.14%, Denza's -15.76%, and Avita's -22.58%. Aion and iCAR, which had negative month-on-month growth in June, turned positive this month, recording month-on-month growth of 0.6% and 2.67% respectively.

The year-on-year growth rates of the 16 new forces vary, ranging from 0.18% to 339.05%. Although everyone has made progress, the speed of progress is different. The top three in year-on-year growth are Arcfox, Zhiji, and Avita, with growth rates of 339.05%, 249.42%, and 102.97%, respectively. Although the year-on-year growth rate ranks at the top, the sales of these three new forces are still ranked at the bottom. Their super high growth rate is based on the super low base of the same period last year.

There are two new forces with negative year-on-year growth, the same number as in June, namely Aion and Denza. Among them, Aion's year-on-year decline was 21.74%. Based on last year's high-scale sales, Aion has not found a way to surpass last year this year.

It is worth mentioning that Nezha Auto, which had a year-on-year decline in June, turned positive in July, achieving a year-on-year growth of 9.72%, with monthly sales increasing to 11,015 vehicles. Relying on the continuous "shouting" of Zhou Hongyi, the founder of 360 Group, and its own timely adjustments, Nezha has finally temporarily escaped from the unfavorable situation of continuous decline.

However, the new forces with negative cumulative sales from the beginning of the year to date are still Aion and Nezha, among which Aion has decreased by 15.3% to 177,000 units; Nezha's sales from the beginning of the year to date are 65,000 units, a cumulative decrease of 10.59%. One of these two new forces achieved positive month-on-month sales in July, and the other achieved positive sales both year-on-year and month-on-month. But to reverse the downward trend since the beginning of the year, they must continue to grow.

Another indicator worth noting in July is that there is one less competitor with monthly sales of more than 20,000 vehicles. In June, there were as many as six new forces with monthly sales of more than 20,000 vehicles, including Ideal and Hongmeng Zhixing with more than 40,000 vehicles, Aion with more than 30,000 vehicles, and NIO, Leapmotor and Zeekr with more than 20,000 vehicles.

But in July, this situation changed. Ideal went one step further and returned to its peak monthly sales of 50,000 vehicles. In July, it increased by 49.41% year-on-year to 51,000 vehicles, making it the only new force with monthly sales exceeding 50,000 vehicles. Hongmeng Zhixing still maintained more than 40,000 vehicles, but fell by 4.45% month-on-month in July; Aion remained at around 35,000 vehicles, a slight increase of 0.6% year-on-year; Weilai also maintained a momentum of more than 20,000 monthly sales, but fell by 3.35% month-on-month; Leapmotor not only maintained a continuous monthly sales of more than 20,000 vehicles, but also achieved an increase of 9.83%.

Only Zeekr has fallen out of the camp of monthly sales of more than 20,000 vehicles. Compared with June, Zeekr's sales in July fell 22.14% to 15,700 vehicles. Considering that the sales target for 2024 is as high as 230,000 vehicles, Zeekr's pressure at this time is undoubtedly increasing sharply.

Ideal "one against three"

Although Ideal's month-on-month and year-on-year growth rates were not the highest in July, Ideal was undoubtedly the biggest winner in July. Its sales in July returned to 50,000 units after a lapse of 7 months, a month-on-month increase of 6.75%, ranking fourth among new forces in month-on-month growth, and a year-on-year increase of 49.41%, ranking fifth among new forces in year-on-year growth. Hongmeng Zhixing, the only one that can compete with Ideal, failed to achieve further growth in July, with a month-on-month decrease of 4.45%.

This time, Ideal finally stood out from the crowd again.

It is worth mentioning that Ideal Auto has been questioned by many of its peers because it publishes its weekly sales rankings every Tuesday. Recently, NIO, Xpeng and Geely have publicly complained about the weekly rankings.

First, on July 27, at the "NIO IN 2024 Weilai Innovation Technology Day", Weilai co-founder and president Qin Lihong publicly criticized the weekly ranking. Qin Lihong said that only third-party agencies such as national statistical agencies have the right to publish sales rankings. If it is another car company, why would they use our brand for promotion? Can we be excluded? The relevant departments can still take care of this matter.

Then, taking advantage of the country's latest directive to "prevent 'involution' type of vicious competition," NIO's public relations director Ma Lin publicly @Li Xiang, founder, chairman and CEO of Ideal Auto, within 2 hours of Ideal releasing its weekly rankings on July 30, and said that the weekly rankings were more or less a bit of low-level involution, and that Brother Xiang should stop.

Xiaopeng and Geely also subsequently joined the team opposing the weekly list.

At the Xpeng Motors AI Intelligent Driving Technology Conference held on the evening of July 30, He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors, publicly criticized: "American counterparts are working hard to do end-to-end well. When I returned to foreign countries and saw people arguing online today, I realized what everyone was doing. They were all working on the weekly sales charts. I think it's really...what are our technology companies doing?"

Yang Xueliang, senior vice president of Geely Holding Group, said on his personal Weibo that "I agree with He Xiaopeng's opinion." Yang Xueliang also reposted NIO's Ma Lin's remarks on the afternoon of July 30 and commented that "I also oppose the weekly list."

Li Xiang himself posted a circle of friends on the evening of July 30, which seemed to be a response to the doubts. He posted a cartoon picture of "covering one's ears and stealing a bell" and added a "hush" expression. But as the July sales volume was released, the "crusade" against Ideal's weekly chart was much reduced. The reason is that Ideal has "blocked" the voice of public opinion with its greatly increased sales.

Interestingly, NIO, Xpeng and Geely's Zeekr, which openly opposed the weekly list, had a combined sales of 47,298 vehicles in July, while Ideal alone sold as many as 51,000 vehicles, 3,702 more than the combined sales of the three.

In response to this, some netizens joked, "Ideal has successfully fought one against three." Other netizens said, "After looking at the sales volume, I understand why NIO, Zeekr and Xpeng stood up to oppose the weekly ranking."(This article was first published on Titanium Media App, author: Wang Ruihao, editor: Zhang Min)