Under the combined influence of the implementation of the "trade-in" policy, high promotion in the terminal market and the continuous listing of explosive new cars, the domestic auto market continued to move forward steadily in May, and the production and sales volume increased slightly year-on-year and month-on-month. According to data released by the China Passenger Car Association, the wholesale sales of passenger car manufacturers nationwide in May were 2.031 million units, a year-on-year increase of 1.2% and a month-on-month increase of 3.9%.
However, in May, the domestic sedan market failed to keep up with the overall upward trend of the auto market, and sales declined. In May, the domestic sedan market sold a total of 847,000 new cars, a year-on-year decline of 6.3% compared with the monthly sales of more than 900,000 units in the same period last year.
Specifically, in the car market in May, the strong position of independent new energy is still obvious, the top three car sales in May, all of which are BYD's products, in addition, BYD Han, seal and AION S, ZEEKR 001 and other independent new energy vehicles, have also entered the top 20 list of car sales. In the fuel car market, although the share of independent car companies is also increasing, foreign brands led by Volkswagen are still in a surpassing position. In May, in the domestic fuel car market, the north and south Volkswagen are in an absolute leading position, with monthly sales of more than 40,000 units, Dongfeng Nissan relies on Sylphy and other products, and also has the power to fight in the oil car market, selling nearly 37,000 fuel cars in May.
A0 market: the emergence of absolute dominance
Facts have proved that in the end of the small car market, the main fight is still cost-effective, and electric cars are no exception. Although only one small car was on the list of the top 20 domestic car sales in May, monthly sales exceeded 35,000 units. It fully illustrates a truth, small cars are not without an audience, and the fundamental reason for the continuous shrinkage of the market before is that the product is not attractive enough.
On the whole, after an upward growth trend in 2023, the overall performance of the domestic small car market has recently declined. In March this year, the total sales of the domestic small car market were still above 100,000 units, but in May this year, the total sales of the segment have fallen to less than 90,000 units. In contrast, at the end of last year, the monthly sales of the domestic small car market were close to 180,000 units, and once everyone saw the hope that the small car market would return to the moment of disruption with the help of electrification. At the moment, this expectation seems to be a bit overly optimistic.
But it has to be said that although the overall trend of the segment is slightly sluggish, it does not prevent the real star cars from continuing to shine. BYD's small electric car Seagull delivered monthly sales of 35,400 units in May, ranking third in the entire domestic sedan market.
In the middle of last year, the BYD Seagull model was officially put on the market, and the 70,000-yuan pure electric model directly subverted the competitive pattern of the small car market.
Image source: BYD
After entering 2024, the fierce competition in the domestic new energy market has increased geometrically, and many models have experienced market fluctuations, but after the Seagull model launched the Glory version in March, it still quickly stabilized the market position and adapted to the new competitive environment. The Seagull Glory Edition has further lowered the price, although compared with the Han, Tang, Song and other car series when the Glory Edition models are updated, the price is often reduced by tens of thousands of yuan, but the drop of 4000 yuan has a big impact on entry-level pure electric products such as Seagull. In the domestic small car market in May, Seagull's market position was a cliff-like lead, ranking second and third, with monthly sales of just over 10,000 units.
A-class market: BYD has a transcendent position
The competitive pattern of the domestic A-class car market has been basically reshaped, and the general trend of joint ventures has been successfully reversed, gradually forming a new pattern in which BYD's products lead the market segment with independent new energy models, and traditional joint venture sedans can only be exchanged for price.
There are three sedan products with sales of more than 30,000 in May, all of which are BYD's models, and in addition to the small sedan Seagull, the monthly sales of Qin PLUS and Destroyer 05 are also more than 30,000 units.
Qin PLUS has actually been selling well for many years, although there have been short-term sales fluctuations during this period, but through continuous product renewal and price reduction, Qin PLUS car series has always been able to quickly clear the market haze and become the leader of the domestic sedan market again.
The Destroyer 05 can be regarded as a new face in the sedan sales list. As the first sedan model of BYD Ocean Network, the time for the launch of the destroyer 05 is actually not short, but it has not successfully replicated the rapid popularity of the Qin PLUS car market, even after the launch of the champion version model in 2023, the monthly sales of the destroyer 05 are only hovering around 10,000 units. The real change occurred in February this year, after the launch of the glory version of the model, the starting price of the destroyer 05 series was directly lowered to less than 80,000 yuan, and the sales data quickly doubled, in March, the monthly sales of the destroyer 05 have exceeded 28,000 units, and the monthly sales of 4 and 5 months have been directly raised to more than 32,000 units, becoming BYD's new pillar products in the sedan market.
Image source: BYD
Aion S is another independent new energy product that entered the top 20 sedan sales list in May, although it returned to the list again, but the monthly sales of Aion S in May were less than 15,000 units, which is still a drop in the bucket for the revival of the Aion brand. At present, GAC Aion in the operating market and the private market of the two core markets, can be said to be a full line of defeat, Aion S and Aion Y two leading models have suffered a market downturn, how to revitalize the market in the future? It's a big problem that is looming.
Emgrand and Yidong, which are independent in the traditional family car market, "senior" models, although it is difficult to explode, but through continuous product renewal and price adjustment, the market performance has been stable, and often can be among the best-selling lists in the sedan market, in May this year, both cars have delivered more than 15,000 monthly sales.
In the joint venture A-class car market, "Liangyi" is still the "leader", and both Sylphy and Lavida delivered monthly sales of more than 20,000 units in May. Just looking at the sales data is not bad, but to really convert these batch sales data into terminal sales, the price is not small, and the price of both cars in the terminal market is already a "fracture price". The situation is similar to that of Suteng, if you want to continue to maintain a certain market share, you must show enough market sincerity. At present, for a number of joint venture sedan cars, the sincerity that can be expressed seems to be the only thing left to continue to explore the market.
B-grade market: sound the horn of "melee".
At present, in the domestic B-segment car market, independent new energy vehicles and traditional joint venture brands continue to wrestle. At a time when the two have not really distinguished from each other, more and more luxury car brands can no longer keep the so-called brand tonality, and have opened the floodgates of their B-class cars to reduce prices, stepped into the mass market range, and began to squeeze the market space of traditional joint venture cars together with independent new energy vehicles.
Tesla Model 3 is still the sales champion in the domestic B-class car market, with 27,000 cars sold in March, but for the Tesla brand, under the siege of China's new energy brands, the current market pressure on it is not much smaller than that of many joint venture brands. And this pressure is not only manifested in the domestic market, but also on the global stage, Tesla continues to be trapped. Data shows that in the first quarter of this year, Tesla has experienced delivery difficulties, down 20% month-on-month and 8.5% year-on-year.
Model 3, image source: Tesla
Yes, when we talked about Tesla in the past, we heard more about the difficulty of production capacity, and the productivity could not keep up with the number of orders, but the current situation has been reversed, and Tesla also has cars in stock. According to foreign media reports, as the outside world's expectations for Tesla's deliveries continue to decline, it is expected that in the second quarter, Tesla will experience another difficult quarter.
BYD's seal model, is another into the top 20 new energy B-class car sales of sedans, a total of 12,800 seals were sold in May, for BYD's mainstream products, such monthly sales data can only be regarded as decent, but for the entire Chinese brand, the market performance of the seal is already the ceiling performance of Chinese brands in the B-class car market.
The leading models in the traditional joint venture B-class car market: Camry, Accord and Passat, also handed over more than 10,000 monthly sales in May, but the current market price system of the three cars has been blown up, especially the Japanese cars Camry and Accord, which have been known for their high value retention rate, are currently in the terminal market with a discount of 40,000 yuan and can continue to talk about the market, and the myth of the value preservation of Japanese second-hand cars can be said to collapse instantly.
Let's take a look at the B-segment cars under the luxury brand, the current market trend is also the main price system, and the overall loss. The terminal discount of Audi A4L has been pulled to more than 100,000 yuan, and what Mercedes-Benz C-class and BMW 3 Series can give are all historical-low prices, and what is ultimately maintained is only that the share is no longer losing rapidly. At present, it seems that BBA's exaggerated preferential margin is barely maintaining its share, but the loss of brand image is also obvious. When the joke of "if you don't work hard, you can only open a BBA" really becomes the inherent impression of consumers, it will be a heavy blow to these luxury brands.
C-level market: autonomy can hold up half the sky
In May, there are a total of 4 C-class cars that entered the top 20 sedan sales list, two of which are independent new energy vehicles.
The BYD Han series was the best-selling C-segment sedan in May, and the only C-segment sedan with monthly sales exceeding 20,000 units. After the launch of the Han Glory version of the model, BYD successfully won the absolute "right to speak" in the domestic C-class car market, with a starting price of less than 170,000, the positioning of the C-class car, coupled with BYD's current strong brand appeal, the position of the Han series in the market segment, it should be difficult for a product to surpass in a short period of time.
In February this year, the product was replaced with ZEEKR 001, and it also joined the ranks of "involution", not only the price dropped significantly, but the configuration was also upgraded, and the cost performance ushered in a comprehensive upgrade, and the impact on the market was immediate, and the orders and deliveries were rising in the storm. Last year, the monthly sales of ZEEKR 001 did not exceed 10,000, but after the product renewal at the end of February this year, the monthly sales of ZEEKR 001 began to soar, and the monthly sales of 4 and 5 months were more than 10,000 units.
Image source: ZEEKR Automotive
In addition to Hanhe Zeekrypton 001, there are also a number of independent new energy C-class cars, which have also been very popular recently. For example, Xiaomi SU7, in May, it handed over a monthly sales volume of nearly 9000 units, and with the gradual completion of the ramp-up of production capacity, Xiaomi SU7 completed the goal of monthly sales of more than 10,000 units, which is basically no difficulty. Qiyuan A07 and Zhijie S7 also performed well, with monthly sales of more than 5,000 units.
Under the market impact of independent high-end new energy cars, traditional luxury car brands are facing increasing competitive pressure in the high-end market, and have to choose between stabilizing market share and ensuring profits. At present, the first-tier luxury car brands represented by BBA have begun to exchange price for volume on a large scale, and maintain the stability of market share by sacrificing profit margins. In the C-class car market in May, the Audi A6L and Mercedes-Benz E-class continued to maintain monthly sales of more than 10,000 units, while the BMW 5 Series lagged slightly behind, with monthly sales of more than 8,000 units. The share is temporarily preserved, but for BBA, after passively and deeply participating in the price war, how to maintain the attributes of the luxury car brand is a big problem. Will BBA's price war in the domestic market continue to be fought? It is worth paying attention to the follow-up.