April Sales Express： Is it difficult for car companies to fill the pit？

　　[car home industry]　　In the movie "shaolin soccer", A Xing, omega supreme’s leg, played by Stephen Chow, looked up and muttered "I feel that they are all back" when he saw your other disciples find their state and kill the quartet. At the beginning of this month, when some car companies announced the sales volume in April first, the reaction of the outside world was the same as A Xing’s. They thought that all car companies had recovered their status and the China auto market had returned to that era full of growth.

　　However, contrary to expectations, the beauty of the past is only suitable for recollection, and it is difficult to find it back.

　　According to car home’s incomplete statistics, 24 car companies have released April sales data, of which 11 companies still cannot achieve positive sales growth year-on-year; From the perspective of cumulative sales in 2020, only one company, FAW Hongqi, can achieve positive year-on-year sales growth from January to April, and the cumulative sales of "head car companies" such as SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling have dropped by as much as 50.4%, 47.7% and 46.7% respectively.

　　Next, let’s comment on the sales performance of car companies in April.

Joint venture car companies: What about good retaliatory consumption?

　　Looking at the sales performance of joint venture car companies in April, it is not difficult to find that the legendary "retaliatory consumption" has not arrived. Among the 11 joint venture car companies, only 5 can achieve positive growth in April. Unfortunately, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM, the former sales overlords, are not among them.

　　As a resident player of Top 3 in China passenger car market, SAIC-GM achieved 110,002 vehicles in April, down 12.4% year-on-year, and its sales volume was lower than that of SAIC-Volkswagen, SAIC-GM Wuling and Changan Automobile. Before FAW-Volkswagen announced its sales volume, SAIC-GM had already lost the top three.

"Pioneer"

　　According to Shi Hong, deputy general manager of SAIC-GM and general manager of SAIC-GM Sales Company, from February to March in 2020, SAIC-GM devoted all its energy to supporting dealers, and began to officially rush sales in April. Like other car companies, SAIC-GM also regards product offensive as the biggest magic weapon to rush sales. According to statistics, in April alone, the company launched seven new cars through "cloud listing", including many heavy models such as Pioneer and Cadillac CT4.

　　In fact, for SAIC-GM, the biggest change in 2020 is not the product offensive or the organizational structure, but that this enterprise has finally abandoned the radical "all-in-one three-cylinder strategy". In April, the new Yinglang, the new Ke Lu Ze and other previous "all-in-one three-cylinder" models all launched four-cylinder engine versions. Giving up "persuasion" and catering to China consumers is the hope of SAIC-GM in 2020.

　　For Changan Ford, which has been trying to revive, it is not easy to sell 20,465 new cars in April and achieve a positive growth of 38.3% year-on-year. We should know that according to the statistical caliber of Changan Automobile, Changan Ford achieved positive sales growth in only one month (December) in 2019, but after entering 2020, the company has achieved positive growth twice in January and April, which has given Changan Ford a shot in the arm.

　　Since October 2018, in order to reverse the unfavorable situation in China, Ford Motor Co., Ltd. has not started to improve its position in the China market, and has listed the China market and the North American market as the company’s two core markets. Ford China directly reports to the global headquarters; Since then, Chen Anning, a veteran, has been appointed as Vice President of Ford Motor Company Group and President and CEO of Ford Motor Company China.

『(|)』

　　In September, 2019, Ford Motor Company set up a research institute for Changan Ford to enhance its R&D capability, accelerate product upgrading and intelligent manufacturing level, and launch a revival offensive with products that are more in line with China consumers’ aesthetic and usage preferences. In the "acceleration plan" announced at that time, Changan Ford will launch more than 18 new products in the middle of 2019 -2021, including 5 new energy vehicles.

　　From the perspective of sales in April 2020, Changan Ford’s self-help did work. Ruiji, which was just launched by this company at the end of 2019, surpassed Fox and Forex in April and became the "new thigh" of Changan Ford’s sales. The first model launched in the "acceleration plan" has achieved such results. After the sixth generation of explorers went on the market in June and the product offensive was officially rolled out, Changan Ford is very hopeful to turn around the crisis in 2020.

Mazda CX-30

　　Changan Mazda sold 11,761 vehicles in April, a year-on-year increase of 36.8%. Unlike Mazda’s overseas painting style of "not pushing a new car for two years", Changan Mazda’s heavy product Mazda CX-30 has now started pre-sale and will be listed on May 28th. For Changan Mazda, whose product line is relatively thin and new products are launched slowly, the sales performance of Mazda CX-30 will directly determine the future development pattern of this enterprise.

China car companies: the red flag won glory this time.

　　As of press time, a total of nine China auto companies announced their sales results in April, among which five companies’ sales increased year-on-year, and the overall situation was still optimistic.

　　In April, SAIC-GM-Wuling won the second place in China passenger car market, only selling 200 cars less than SAIC-Volkswagen. Strangely enough, while other companies were growing month-on-month, the sales volume of SAIC-GM-Wuling declined month-on-month. From this point of view, this company may have got rid of the impact of the epidemic.

　　Although the sales volume has achieved continuous positive year-on-year growth, SAIC-GM-Wuling has also made a lot of "blood" for this. It is reported that in order to stimulate automobile consumption, SAIC-GM-Wuling launched a total of 2 billion yuan in car purchase subsidies twice in February-April, covering all its models such as commercial vehicles, special vehicles, passenger cars and new energy vehicles; During the "May 1" period, this enterprise issued another 1.5 billion yuan travel coupons. When many enterprises reduced their costs by means of "salary reduction and layoffs", SAIC-GM-Wuling’s "retrograde" was full of enthusiasm.

　　In order to further increase sales, SAIC-GM-Wuling also planned a product offensive. It is understood that the company will launch 10 new cars in 2020, of which 6 are brand-new models and 4 are new models; Wuling brand will also launch a brand-new brand strategic plan during the year. Perhaps the end of 2020 is the most fair and objective time to evaluate the sales performance of SAIC-GM-Wuling.

　　BYD achieved sales of 31,809 vehicles in April, a year-on-year decrease of 15.9%; From January to April, the cumulative sales volume was 93,082 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 40.1%. Although the sales target for 2020 has not yet been announced, it is not easy for BYD to maintain the year-on-year sales even in terms of current sales results.

"Han"

　　In terms of sales structure, BYD sold 18,814 fuel vehicles in April, a year-on-year increase of 36%; 12,995 new energy vehicles were sold, down 45.9% compared with the same period last year. For BYD, the biggest attraction in 2020 is the upcoming listing in June, equipped with self-developed Ferrous lithium phosphate blade battery technology, BYD DiPilot intelligent driver assistance system and DiLink 3.0 intelligent network connection system.

　　For this car, BYD executives are very confident. Zhao Changjiang, general manager of BYD Auto Sales Co., Ltd. even publicly published on social media such remarks as "Tesla’s card is finished, it’s our turn to play" and "Han has surpassed Tesla in acceleration, battery life and charging speed, and in addition, the assisted driving is at the same level". However, under the introduction of the new subsidy policy and the price drop of Model 3, Han, who has not yet been listed, is indeed facing no small challenge. Whether this car can finally break through the interception of Model 3 and lead BYD to find its state remains to be tested by the market.

　　For an old brand with a new face, FAW Hongqi’s recent sales performance is excellent. In April, the company’s sales reached 14,500 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 168%; From January to April, the cumulative sales volume exceeded 39,500 vehicles, and it was the only company (as of press time) that achieved positive growth in cumulative sales volume from January to April. In this regard, Hongqi did win glory for China brand.

Red Flag H9

　　However, it must be admitted that the reason why the cumulative sales volume increased year-on-year was also caused by the low sales base of FAW Hongqi. In addition, despite the rapid sales growth of this company, it has only completed one-fifth of its sales target of 200,000 vehicles so far, and 2020 is still full of pressure for FAW Hongqi.

　　In terms of products, the main action of FAW Hongqi in 2020 is to bring the medium and large-sized red flag H9 designed by former Rolls-Royce design director Giles Taylor and China designer Ding Yangfeng to the market, and release the pure electric SUV red flag E115. However, considering the positioning of these two products, their prices will certainly not be too close to the people, and it is not known how much they can contribute to Hongqi’s sales target.

Luxury brand: "overlord" translocation

　　Before 2019, Cadillac was the most detached existence among second-tier luxury brands, but when Lexus continued to heat up, Cadillac’s dominance of second-tier luxury brands was constantly threatened. After entering 2020, the competition in the second-tier luxury brand market suddenly escalated. Lexus officially defeated Cadillac with a total of 51,167 vehicles and became the new "overlord" in this field.

Cadillac CT4』

　　Since the second half of 2019, Cadillac began to switch between new and old products. The original sales models Cadillac ATS-L and Cadillac XTS were discontinued one after another. The brand once faced the dilemma of no car to sell. However, with the launch of Cadillac CT5 and Cadillac CT4, the company’s "3+3" product layout has been formed, officially bidding farewell to the most difficult period.

　　Compared with Cadillac, which is about to switch products, Lexus, which is currently on the "throne", is not easy. In terms of production capacity, Toyota has decided to cut the production capacity of Japanese factories by 50% in May and 40% in June. As a result, Lexus, which has not achieved domestic production, will encounter a bottleneck in production capacity supply, and this is also the best time for Cadillac to overtake.

"lexus es"

　　Although it is impossible to compete with Cadillac and Lexus for the time being, compared with itself, Volvo’s report card in April is quite excellent, with a sales volume of 14,698 vehicles and a year-on-year increase of 21%, setting a new record for the company’s sales in China in April. The monthly sales of its main model Volvo XC60 increased by 22% year-on-year, which also set the highest monthly sales record of Volvo Cars in China market.

　　Editor’s summary:More than half of the 24 car companies achieved positive sales growth in April. Although this report card is not bad, it obviously falls short of the expectation of "retaliatory consumption" from the outside world. Although compared with the first quarter, the sales performance of car companies rebounded significantly in April, it was still not enough to make up for the trauma caused by the previous decline in sales.

　　However, compared with before the epidemic, the "skills" of car companies are obviously richer. They have learned how to better market and sell cars online, and also learned how to achieve win-win results and mutual benefit with dealers. As long as the car companies can continue to carry forward these "skills", it is only a matter of time before they can find their normal state and achieve further sales growth. (Text/car home Chen Can)