Recently, the 2023 performance report released by SAIC Motor Group shows that SAIC Volkswagen's operating income in 2023 will be 140.27 billion yuan and net profit will be 3.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.5 billion yuan, a decrease of 64.12%.
SAIC Volkswagen is clearly not having a good time in 2023. Why did SAIC Volkswagen's net profit plummet?
Let's look at the sales performance of SAIC Volkswagen in 2023, in 2023, SAIC Volkswagen will sell 1.215 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.01%.
Although the official propaganda rhetoric stated that the sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 130,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 32%, it could not hide the reality of its overall sales decline year-on-year.
If sales decline, performance will be under pressure. It is clear that SAIC Volkswagen's sales have declined, which has led to a sharp drop in net profit. Especially compared with FAW-Volkswagen's sales in the same period, the gap between the two has become wider and wider.
According to the data of the Passenger Association, the wholesale volume of FAW-Volkswagen in the same period of 2023 will be more than 1.847 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 2.6%, and the gap between SAIC-Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen is also more obvious.
The 2023 wholesale sales ranking of the Passenger Association shows that SAIC Volkswagen has fallen out of the top five in 2023 and ranks sixth, while FAW-Volkswagen is still in second place, and the gap between the two is obvious.
In the past few decades, SAIC Volkswagen, as the first joint venture brand launched by Volkswagen in China, can be said to have enjoyed the "right time, place and people".
In particular, the existence of several meritorious models such as the old Santana, Passat, and Tiguan has allowed SAIC Volkswagen to obtain a very obvious increase in sales and other aspects.
It wasn't until FAW-Volkswagen began to fully introduce SUV models and the sales of the Audi brand were supported that the seats of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen began to be exchanged.
After the peak in 2018, SAIC Volkswagen's sales have been declining year by year, and since 2019, SAIC Volkswagen's annual retail sales have also declined for five consecutive years.
The essence of the decline in sales is SAIC Volkswagen's own problems. The Passat incident at the end of 2019 directly put SAIC Volkswagen into the cold palace, and SAIC Volkswagen has not yet come out of the haze.
In fact, the reason why the Passat set the worst crash test record in the China Insurance Research Institute was the result of SAIC Volkswagen cutting corners. In addition to the Passat, many of SAIC Volkswagen's star models have also been reduced.
The comments of some netizens may better reflect the voices of car owners, "How did you fool consumers at the beginning, how consumers will abandon you today."
Although SAIC Volkswagen has introduced the ID series of new energy models, the initial sales volume is low, and the current terminal has increased the preferential measures, and the sales volume has increased, but the net profit has been greatly affected.
In the face of the white-knuckle battle in the domestic new energy vehicle market, SAIC Volkswagen seems to have no other tricks except to cut prices. But price reduction is a double-edged sword, and if you are not careful, you will hurt yourself.
Although the ID.3 has sold more than 10,000 units in many months, the more it sells, the more it loses.
Jia Jianxu, general manager of SAIC Volkswagen, once revealed that the Volkswagen ID.3 is still in a loss-making state, and before the price cut, each car sold will lose 27,000 yuan, and after the price reduction, the loss of each car will exceed 40,000 yuan.
In 2023, in order to maintain scale, SAIC Volkswagen adopted the strategy of "exchanging price for volume", resulting in a decrease in the price of a single vehicle from 124,700 yuan in 2022 to 115,500 yuan in 2023.
A few more words
In recent years, the decline in the reputation of the SAIC Volkswagen brand and the endless quality problems have led consumers to "vote with their feet" to a certain extent.
Especially with the rapid rise of independent brands, SAIC Volkswagen has been completely surpassed in terms of cost performance, and because of the questionable reputation and quality, SAIC Volkswagen's brand belief has gradually collapsed in the hearts of consumers.