The tide continues: BYD leads Changan in decline, and the differentiation of traditional new energy vehicles intensifies
2024-08-19
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Although Chinese brands have made new breakthroughs in market share, the market structure built by traditional new energy vehicle companies has undergone subtle changes. In July, Leapmotor, which entered the top ten for the first time, squeezed out Great Wall Motors, causing the number of traditional brands in the top 10 to drop from 8 to 7. Although the number of traditional car companies on the list has decreased, the combined sales of the seven companies have increased compared with the previous month.
Among several traditional new energy vehicle companies, BYD further expanded its leading advantage with the DM-i model. Geely and Changan followed closely behind, perhaps due to the traditional off-season of the auto market, and their retail sales and growth rates slowed down in July. Changan New Energy's overall sales fell sharply by 17.86% to 170,600 vehicles. Chery, as it said, is becoming more and more "impolite" in the new energy field.
With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, Chinese auto brands have further expanded their market share.
According to data released by the China Passenger Car Association, in July, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles exceeded 50% for the first time, and the retail share of Chinese brand passenger vehicles also further increased to 61.8%.
Although Chinese brands have achieved new breakthroughs in market share, the market structure constructed by traditional new energy vehicle companies has undergone subtle changes.
In the July new energy manufacturer retail rankings released by the China Passenger Car Association, Leapmotor, which entered the top ten for the first time, squeezed out Great Wall Motors, causing the number of traditional brands in the top 10 to drop from 8 to 7.
Although the number of traditional automakers on the list has decreased, the combined sales of the seven companies increased by 9,000 vehicles from last month to 560,402 vehicles.
In this regard, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, analyzed that Chinese brands have achieved significant growth in the new energy and export markets, and leading traditional automakers have performed well in transformation and upgrading.
Judging from the cumulative sales in the first seven months, traditional new energy vehicle companies have maintained their original pattern. The total sales of the eight brands shortlisted in the top ten list exceeded 3.33 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 39.7%, accounting for nearly 70% of the total sales of new energy passenger vehicles.
At the corporate level, with the deepening of the layout of DM-i models, BYD's leading advantage in the new energy field has been further expanded. In July, BYD's retail sales exceeded 300,000 vehicles for the first time this year. From the wholesale data, BYD's sales in July exceeded 340,000 vehicles, exceeding 300,000 vehicles for the fifth consecutive month, and monthly sales continued to hit a record high. In the first seven months, BYD's cumulative wholesale sales reached 1,955,366 vehicles, completing 54.3% of the annual sales target of 3.6 million vehicles.
At the same time, BYD has continued to accelerate its overseas expansion this year. As of July, BYD's overseas sales have exceeded 233,000 vehicles, close to last year's overseas sales for the whole year. On July 4, BYD's 8 millionth new energy vehicle officially rolled off the production line at its Thai factory.
Compared with BYD's rapid growth, Geely and Changan, which followed closely behind, may have been affected by the traditional off-season of the auto market, and their retail sales and growth rate in July slowed down compared with the previous month.
Since the beginning of this year, Geely has gradually secured the second place in traditional new energy with the good performance of its brands such as Zeekr and Galaxy. In particular, the Zeekr brand not only successfully rang the bell on the New York Stock Exchange in May, setting a new record for the fastest IPO of a new car company; but also became an important force in promoting the growth of Geely's new energy with the hot sales of Zeekr 001. Data shows that in July, Zeekr's new car sales were 15,700 units, a year-on-year increase of 30%; in the first seven months, Zeekr delivered 103,500 new cars, and the cumulative delivery volume in the past 33 months has exceeded 300,000 units.
However, "the 2025 Zeekr 001 and 007, which were recently launched, have triggered a joint rights protection campaign by some old Zeekr owners," some media reported. It is understood that the Zeekr 001 model has been remodeled twice in less than half a year, and the Zeekr 007 has only been remodeled for 8 months, and the price has been reduced with increased configuration, which has caused great dissatisfaction among many old car owners. To appease old car owners, Zeekr will provide a 10,000 yuan car purchase voucher, and users who have not been scheduled for production can upgrade to the corresponding 2025 model for free.
Some analysts believe that the current new energy vehicle market is extremely competitive, and the speed and ability of new product replacement has become an important aspect of the competition. How to balance the interests of new and old car owners will become a big test for car companies.
In contrast, Changan seems to be more affected by the off-season, with its overall sales in July falling sharply by 17.86% to 170,600 vehicles. In terms of independent new energy vehicles, despite the efforts of multiple brands such as Avita, Qiyuan, and Deep Blue, their contribution to overall sales is only 26.1%. For reference, Geely's new energy products account for nearly 40% of sales.
In the second half of the year, Changan will have a number of new products in the new energy sector, including Changan Qiyuan E07, Deep Blue L07 and Deep Blue S05. In addition, Avita will fully enter the extended range field, forming a matrix of "EV+REEV two wings flying together, 4 models and 8 products". Avita 07 and a new sedan product will be launched this year. With the gradual launch of new products, it is worth looking forward to what kind of performance Changan's independent new energy will bring.
In addition to the top three traditional new energy vehicles, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Seres, Chery, and GAC Aion all saw changes in their sales rankings in July. Seres continued its high growth trend in recent months, with a year-on-year increase of more than 8 times in July, an increase of 193.4 percentage points compared to June; however, its sales fell by 3.1% month-on-month, causing its ranking to drop to sixth place in July.
With the hot sales of the "Wenjie" model, Seres has maintained a fierce growth of several times year-on-year in recent months. However, some analysts pointed out that with the launch of brands such as Zhijie and Xiangjie jointly launched by Huawei, Chery and BAIC, Seres will "no longer be the only one for Huawei", and whether "Wenjie" can maintain its current momentum in the future remains to be seen.
Chery also doubled its sales. This year, Chery has become more and more aggressive in the new energy sector. Its brands have continued to make efforts, and Chery Fengyun, Jetour Shanhai, Xingtu Xingjiyuan and iCAR have launched new products one after another. Especially the iCAR brand, the first product was launched for 5 months, and its cumulative sales have reached 31,651 units.
Overall, Chinese brands continue to make efforts to take advantage of the new energy vehicle market, driving the monthly sales of traditional new energy vehicles to continue to increase, but at the same time, the differentiation between brands is also deepening. With the further release of product offensives, the overall pattern of traditional new energy vehicles may continue to change in the second half of this year. (China Economic Net reporter Guo Tao)
Source: China Economic Net
