In February, the delivery data of a number of new energy vehicle companies showed signs of fatigue, and the whole was like ushering in a "cold spring."。

Federation: February sales are expected to be at the absolute bottom of the year

On March 4, the Federation of Passengers issued a document saying that it is estimated that the wholesale sales of 450,000 new energy passenger car manufacturers nationwide in February will be down 9% year-on-year and 34% month-on-month.。

The Federation also expects car sales to be at the bottom of the year in February.。The reasons for this situation are the following factors。

One is that February itself is relatively "short."。There are 18 working days in February this year, two days less than the 20 working days in February 2023.。Coupled with the impact of lighter car consumption before and after the Spring Festival holiday, most car companies will take a few more days of annual leave before and after the Spring Festival, so the effective production and sales time in February this year is very short.。

The second is related to consumer confidence factors.。Around the Spring Festival this year, a wide range of rain, snow and freezing weather occurred in the Yangtze River Basin, and many new energy car owners were trapped on the high speed and exhausted their electricity.。For a time, the replenishment and endurance of electric vehicles have once again become a topic of discussion.。The Federation believes that consumer buying confidence has also been temporarily affected as a result。

The third is related to market prices.。The Federation believes that due to the obvious fluctuations in market prices in February, the wait-and-see atmosphere of manufacturers and dealers in the middle of the month is strong, resulting in relatively stable sales of manufacturers in February is not strong.。

However, the Federation of Passengers still believes that the passenger car market is currently operating generally well.。At the end of November 2023, the total inventory of pure new energy vehicle companies was 400,000 units, which fell to 390,000 units in December and further to 370,000 units in January, of which the inventory of new energy dealer channels decreased significantly and the industry inventory was generally healthy.。

The top three remain stable.

"Far ahead" BYD

BYD sold 122,311 new energy vehicles in February, down 36.8%, down 39.3%。Among them, sales of new energy passenger cars were 121,748, down 36.5%; sales of new energy commercial vehicles were 563, down 71.7%。BYD's cumulative sales in January-February were 323,804 vehicles, down 6.14%。

Specifically, BYD's sales of various series and brands in February。The mid-to-low-end series, Dynasty and Ocean, sold 114,060 vehicles in February; Dengshi, a joint venture between BYD and Mercedes-Benz, sold 4,598 vehicles in February.。High-end series, 2,310 units sold by Formula Leopard, 780 units sold by Lookup。In February, only the Leopard 5 model was delivered, and only the U8 was delivered.。BYD said that it looks forward to the U8's cumulative sales of 4,433 vehicles in more than three months of delivery, maintaining the first monthly sales of million-class new energy SUVs and ranking among the top million-class luxury cars in the world for three consecutive months.。

In terms of overseas exports, BYD exported a total of 23,291 passenger cars in January, up 55% year-on-year..3%。

Despite the year-on-year decline, BYD is still firmly in first place and has formed an absolute crushing lead over its rivals.

"Ten Thousand Years" Tesla

According to the Federation of Passenger Cars, Tesla China's wholesale passenger car sales in February were 60,365, down 19% year-on-year and down 15% month-on-month..5%, the lowest level since December 2022。In January-February this year, Tesla China sold a total of 131.812 million vehicles, down about 6% year-on-year, close to BYD's year-on-year decline.。

Geely cars that may be overtaken at any time

After BYD and Tesla is Geely Automobile。According to official data, Geely's total sales in February were 111,398 vehicles, up 3% year-on-year.。Among them, the sales volume of new energy passenger cars was 33,508。Its mid-to-high-end brand Extreme Krypton delivered 7,510 vehicles in February, up 37.6%, down 40% month-on-month..1%。

It is worth noting that the gap between Tesla and BYD in February is narrowing, and at the same time, it has also opened the distance with Geely.。Among the top three, Tesla's sales volatility is the smallest。

New forces are facing a new round of reshuffle

Putting aside the top three, the subsequent changes in new energy vehicle companies are relatively large.。

First, SAIC-GM-Wuling went straight from 11th to fourth in the ranking.。According to Wuling's official data, Wuling sold 36,446 passenger cars in February, of which new energy accounted for 92%。Its main sales models are Wuling Bingo, Wuling Hongguang MINI EV and the newly listed Wuling Xingguang。

However, SAIC's high-end smart brand Zhiji Auto officially disclosed that it sold less than 1,000 vehicles in February, with only 866 vehicles.。On March 1, Zhiji Auto announced that it had received over $8 billion in Series B equity financing.。Participating in the investment include BOC Assets, Agricultural Bank Investment, ICBC Investment, Bank of Communications Investment, Lingang Group, Ningde Times, Momenta, Qingtao Energy, etc.。Zhiji Automobile said that the round of financing funds will be used for the development of a new generation of intelligent models, high-end intelligent driving and future intelligent cabin technology research and development, market channel expansion.。

Behind SAIC-GM-Wuling is Sailis.。The performance of Selix in February was very bright, with sales of new energy vehicles reaching 30,257 in February, a year-on-year increase of 360.04%。In the first two months of this year, the sales volume of new energy vehicles of Sailis totaled 67,095, with a year-on-year increase of 485..37%。

Salis's data "take-off" is mainly due to its cooperation with Huawei brand - ask the world。According to official data, the monthly delivery volume of the new M7 exceeded 18,479 units, with a cumulative delivery of more than 100,000 units, and the cumulative total of the M7 exceeded 150,000 units, leading the new forces in the Chinese market by absolute advantage.。The luxury technology flagship SUV M9, which just went on sale at the end of last year, has a total of 50,000 vehicles in 62 days.。

The ideal car was surpassed by Sailis, but overall it performed well。Official figures show Ideal delivered a total of 20,251 new cars in February, up 21.8%, down 35.0%。Cumulative Ideal Car deliveries since delivery reached 684,780。

Behind the ideal is GAC Ean。GAC Aean's official data was limited to 166.76 million units sold in February, down 33% from the previous month..2%。January-February cumulative sales of 41,623 vehicles at home and abroad, up 8.7%, firmly in the mainstream of pure electricity top three。

On the Weilai side, although sales fell in February, both from the same month and month-on-month, the ranking rose five places and is now 11th.。Weilai delivered a total of 8,132 new cars in February, down 33 from a year earlier..1%, down 19.1%。As of February 29, 2024, the cumulative delivery volume of NIO reached 467,781 vehicles.。It is worth noting that Weilai said last year that it will not launch a new model in 2024, only a modified model.。It's hard to say whether the facelift will help Weilai gain a foothold in the new reshuffle.。

Compared with January, the ranking of Zero Run cars in February did not change much, only down one place, at the same time, Zero Run is also a rare year-on-year increase in the brand.。Official figures show that 6,566 vehicles were delivered in February at Zero Run, up 105 from a year earlier..3%, but recorded a decline of 46.5%。Official data show that zero run C10 orders have exceeded 4.50,000。

In February, 6,085 vehicles were delivered, down 39 from a year earlier..6%, down 39.3%, after regaining the 10,000-vehicle mark in January, Nezha slipped again。

Xiaopeng Motors continued to perform poorly in February, delivering only 4,545 vehicles, down 24 from a year earlier..4%, down 44.9%。This delivery data makes Xiaopeng still hovering at the end of the new forces.。

More brutal price war

According to incomplete statistics, since the Spring Festival, more than a dozen car companies have announced price cuts or limited-time discounts.。

BYD from February 19, has played the "electricity is lower than oil glory attack" slogan, its dynasty and ocean series of a number of models have launched the glory version, price cuts of about 20,000 yuan。Tesla, for its part, said it would take the Model 3 / Y by the end of March, with up to 3 discounts under multiple benefits..460,000。This includes a limited-time insurance subsidy of $8,000, up to $10,000 for limited-time designated car paint and a limited-time low-interest financial policy.。

Geely announced the opening of the 2024 Spring Car Buying Festival at the end of February and offered 2.Preferential activities such as limited-time promotion starting from 990,000 yuan, limited-time cash gift up to 47,000 yuan, replacement gift up to 10,000 yuan, etc.。

In terms of new forces, Xiaopeng officials said that Xiaopeng G6 full-line models will be reduced by 20,000 yuan before March 31.。Nezha announced a $22,000 price cut for all of Nezha X, $8,000 for all of Nezha AYA, and $5,000 for all of Nezha S.。

Just today (March 5), GAC Aean also officially announced a price cut, its AION S MAX Star Ham version of the price cut by 2.30,000 yuan。After the price reduction is 15.690,000 yuan, after the price reduction of the Star Han version of the price is only 7,000 yuan more expensive than the entry-level version of the Star Yao version.。

In addition, Shanghai Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen, Changan, Chery, Feifan, Zhiji, Hyundai and other brands participated in the price reduction.。

Previously, Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the Federation of passengers, mentioned that 2024 is a key year for new energy vehicle companies to gain a firm foothold, and the competition is destined to be very fierce.。There are also many car company executives have expressed similar views。It's just that probably many people didn't expect such a fierce price war just two months into the new year and before the first month of the Spring Festival was over.。

For this round of car companies intensive price cuts, Minsheng Securities believes that the current overall discount is higher, the joint venture price reduction space has been significantly reduced, the price of new cars is competitive, and the attitude of car companies is clear, the "price war" pace faster than 2023, a smaller probability of price cuts caused by consumers long-term wait-and-see。In other words, in the case of intensive price cuts by car companies, there may be more "wait parties" choosing to join the car buying team.。

For the occurrence of price war, in fact, the market is the inevitable trend of incremental slowdown。According to public data, the year-on-year growth rate of China's new energy vehicle sales will be 160% in 2021, slowing to 93% by 2022..4%, slowing further to 37 in 2023.9%。When the incremental slowdown, the stock battle is bound to get more intense。What's more, there are some new forces such as Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. joining the track, and the competition extends from products to more cutting-edge technologies and after-sales services.。

Whether it's this round of price wars or any previous round, many car companies are forced to follow up。In order to maintain their market share, when head brands such as BYD and Tesla cut prices, other brands in the same price range will need to follow suit.。However, for many of the new forces that are still losing money, the company's profit margins will be further squeezed, while also taking into account research and development, it is still unknown whether this year can survive such fierce competition.。

Last month, it was revealed that Kaohe was in trouble and was at risk of closing its doors.。As the competition becomes more intense, the "elimination match" will also accelerate.。How to avoid becoming the next high-end car may require more housekeeping skills from the new car builders。