AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/10 Report--

Recently, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "GAC GROUP") released production and marketing KuaiBao in March. Data show that GAC GROUP's production and sales in March 2022 were 227600 and 227500 respectively, an increase of 24.4% and 30.7% respectively over the same period last year. In addition, GAC GROUP's cumulative production and sales volume in the first quarter were 598100 and 608200 respectively, up 25.0% and 22.5% respectively over the same period last year.

From a brand point of view, "Liangtian" is still GAC GROUP's sales pillar. According to the data, Guangzhou Auto Toyota's sales rose 41.00 per cent to 97000 vehicles in March from a year earlier, and cumulative sales in the first quarter rose 23.44 per cent to 247000 vehicles. According to Guangzhou Auto Toyota, Sena sold 6319 vehicles in March and 15738 in the first quarter; Hanlanda 7622, 25418 in the first quarter; Camry 27211, 68904 in the first quarter; Wellanda 14344, 37928 in the first quarter; Fenglanda 7, 138 in the first quarter, 12, 318 in the first quarter; and the Leiling family, 2, 032, 49, 899 in the first quarter.

Guangzhou Auto Honda slightly underperformed Guangzhou Auto Toyota, with sales up 21.46 per cent year-on-year to 76800 vehicles in March and 16.75 per cent to 212400 vehicles in the first quarter. Recently, two major events have happened in Guangzhou Auto Honda. On March 28th, Guangzhou Auto Honda officially launched its new electric brand e:NP, and announced its Chinese name "Ji Pang". At the same time, the first model of the brand, the Jinpai 1, was unveiled simultaneously, while the new car e:NP1, the compact pure electric SUV, which was officially unveiled by Guangzhou Auto Honda at the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show, will go on sale in the first half of this year. On April 8, Guangzhou Automobile Honda announced in a notice on its website that Guangzhou Automobile Honda will no longer produce and sell existing products of Guangzhou Automobile Acura brand from 2023, and relevant channels of Guangzhou Automobile Honda will continue to provide honorable services to GAC Acura owners and always protect the rights and interests of car owners. It also means that Acura, a high-end Honda brand, will officially withdraw from the Chinese market from 2023.

If GAC Toyota and GAC Honda are the sales support of the group, then GAC Mitsubishi and GAC Fick are seriously dragging their feet. According to the data, GAC-Mitsubishi sales fell 66.64 per cent in March from a year earlier to 2002 vehicles, and cumulative sales in the first quarter fell 34.47 per cent to 9439 vehicles. According to the official website of GAC-Mitsubishi, there are currently seven models on sale under the brand, including pure electric SUV Artuco, Olander, Xinjin Hyun, Yige and three original imported cars. Artuco is the first pure electric SUV of GAC-Mitsubishi, which officially went on sale on March 23rd. The price range is 19.98-229800 yuan. The new car adopts a design similar to GAC's EAN AION V model. But at the same time added Mitsubishi family design style, comprehensive mileage 520km. In terms of volume, the highest-selling model of GAC-Mitsubishi is the Outlander, which achieved domestic sales in 2016, when a medium-term modification of the third-generation model was introduced. From a time point of view, this generation of models have been sold in China for seven years, although the relevant documents show that the new generation of Orlander will be put into production, but the news of the new car launch has not yet been confirmed. As for Artuco, from all aspects of performance, it is not bright in the field of compact pure electricity SUV, the price is very difficult for domestic consumers to see Mitsubishi's sincerity.

Compared with GAC-Mitsubishi, GAC Fick's performance is amazing, its March production and sales of only one vehicle, a year-on-year drop of 99.96% and 99.97% respectively. Although the current market is affected by the epidemic and the supply of spare parts, it is still difficult to understand why there is only one vehicle in production and sales. GAC GROUP and Stellantis Group did not explain why.

Data show that Guangzhou Auto Fick was established on March 9, 2010. it was jointly invested by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. and Fiat Group Automobile Co., Ltd. at 50:50. The company's headquarters is located in Changsha Economic Development District, Hunan Province. at present, it has two major vehicle production bases, Changsha factory and Guangzhou factory, with an overall design capacity of 328000 vehicles. On September 8, 2021, Stellantis Group issued a statement saying that after discussion between Stellantis Group and GAC GROUP's shareholders, GAC Fick's plant in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province will be closed and the company will focus on its production in Changsha in order to improve the plant's capacity utilization, further reduce enterprise operation and maintenance costs, improve the management efficiency of the joint venture company, and effectively enhance the comprehensive competitiveness and profitability of the enterprise. According to the official website, Guangzhou Auto Fick currently has five models on sale, including the Compass, Commander, Free Light, Liberty Man and Commander PHEV. Among them, the Compass is the sales pillar of the Jeep brand, with sales of 11796 vehicles in 2021, accounting for more than 50% of the total sales.

In terms of independent brands, GAC's Aian sales rose 189.70 per cent to 20317 vehicles in March from a year earlier, while GAC MOTOR's sales rose 15.08 per cent to 30091 vehicles. In 2021, GAC Ean launched three new products: AION Y, AION S Plus and AION V Plus. In January this year, the new model AION LX PLUS was officially launched, equipped with "sponge silicon anode battery". At present, GAC Ean product matrix has covered small cars, compact cars, medium-sized SUV and other market segments.

GAC GROUP released its annual report on March 31, showing that total revenue in 2021 was 75.68 billion yuan, an increase of 19.82 percent over the same period last year, while net profit returned to its mother was 7.335 billion yuan, up 22.95 percent from the same period last year. It is worth noting that this is GAC GROUP's first positive profit growth since 2018. Previously, after climbing to a peak of 10.903 billion yuan in 2018, GAC GROUP's net profit declined continuously from 2019 to 2020, to 6.618 billion yuan and 5.966 billion yuan respectively.

In terms of capacity utilization, the capacity utilization rates of Guangzhou Automobile Honda and Guangzhou Automobile Toyota in 2021 reached 102.22% and 120.08% respectively, far exceeding the capacity load capacity. In contrast, GAC-Mitsubishi and GAC-Fick performed poorly, of which the capacity utilization rate of GAC-Fick was only 4.97%. Not only the capacity utilization rate was low, but also the decline in sales was in a state of loss, so the follow-up development was very worrying.

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