AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/03 Report--

According to data released by the Federation of passengers on Feb. 8, retail sales in the passenger car market in January 2024 were 2.035 million, up 57.4% from a year earlier and down 13.9% from a month earlier. The Federation said that an important factor in the 57.4% year-on-year growth was the difference in pre-festival consumption time brought about by the Spring Festival. There was an overdraft of some sales in December, affecting sales in January. in addition, due to the rebound in the prices of some models and the reduction of local consumption vouchers and other activities, it was not conducive to the volume trend in January.

According to the ranking of retail sales, the top 10 car companies in January were BYD, Changan Automobile, Geely Motor, FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC-Volkswagen, Chery Motor, Dongfeng Honda, Guangzhou Auto Toyota, FAW Toyota and brilliance BMW.

Among them, BYD remains the top passenger car seller in China, leading a group of independent joint venture brands with sales of 207000 vehicles in January, up 48.0% from a year earlier. From the list, compared with other independent brands, BYD is on the list, but the growth rate has slowed down compared with the same period last year. In the list, Changan Automobile ranked second in the list, with sales of 189000 vehicles, an increase of 61.8% over the same period last year, with a market share of 9.3%, second only to BYD's 10.2%. In addition, Geely and Chery ranked third and sixth on the list, with sales of 187000 and 107000 respectively, up 115.9% and 160.2% respectively from a year earlier.

Among the joint venture brands, German brands FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen entered the top five, ranking fourth and fifth respectively, with FAW-Volkswagen up 45.4% to 162000 vehicles and SAIC-Volkswagen up 42.7% to 115000 vehicles.

It is worth mentioning that brilliance BMW also made it into the top 10 in January. As a first-tier luxury brand, brilliance BMW has fallen out of the top 10 many times before and has not been on the list for a long time in January. Brilliance BMW sold 69000 vehicles in January, up 21.3% from a year earlier, ranking last on the list, according to retail data.

For BMW, China is its most important single market. In the context of electrified transformation, electrification is a sharp weapon for BMW to achieve growth. In the past 2023, BMW has launched five all-electric models in China, including the BMW iX, BMW i4, BMW iX3, BMW i3 and BMW i7, covering almost all car consumer segments. In addition, in addition to brilliance BMW, BMW Group also has another joint venture in the Chinese market, Beam Automobile Co., Ltd., which was established in December 2019. Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. and BMW (Holland) Holdings each own 50% of the joint venture company, of which BMW (Holland) Holdings is the actual controller. At present, the first volume production car, the MINI COOPER, has been declared by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and is expected to go on sale this year, but it remains to be seen whether the car can boost BMW's car sales in China.

Finally, let's take a look at the Japanese brands in the joint venture. In January, three Japanese car companies entered the top 10, namely Dongfeng Honda, Guangzhou Auto Toyota and FAW Toyota. Among them, Dongfeng Honda's retail sales in January were 76000, up 217.1% from the same period last year, the highest year-on-year increase among the 10 car companies on the list; Guangzhou Auto Toyota increased 17.6% year-on-year to 72000 vehicles; FAW Toyota increased 59.4% to 70000 vehicles. Guangzhou Auto Honda and Dongfeng Nissan are not in the top 10.

According to Nissan Chinese officials, Nissan sold 65553 vehicles (including Infiniti imported models) in January, up 37.95 per cent from a year earlier, including passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. Of these, Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan, Qichen and Infiniti brands) sold 62132 vehicles, accounting for the vast majority of total sales.

From the perspective of the list of car companies, the ten car companies on the list in January all achieved year-on-year growth. Among them, the top three car companies are all from their own brands. Self-brand retail sales in January were 1.12 million vehicles, up 77 per cent from a year earlier, down 10 per cent from a month earlier, with a market share of 55.1 per cent, up 5.9 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Federation. With the increase in the market share of domestic car companies such as BYD, Changan, Geely and Chery, the market share of independent brands has further expanded, with the market share of BYD, Changan and Geely, the top three on the list in January, reaching 28.7%.

In January, the retail share of mainstream joint venture brands was 670000 vehicles, up 43% from the same period last year, down 15% from the previous month. Among them, the retail share of German brands was 19.2%, down 3.8% from the same period last year, while that of Japanese brands was 16.7%, unchanged from the same period last year. The retail share of American brands was 6.5%, down 1.3% from the same period last year.

Generally speaking, in January 2024, the manufacturers' sales performance is still relatively good is the independent brand. The joint venture said there was a significant difference in month-on-month trends between joint ventures and independent car companies. The reason is that joint venture car companies in the car market generally sprint strongly in December, while independent car companies are relatively stable in December. As a result, retail sales of fuel vehicles formed by joint ventures in the auto market fell 15% in January from the previous month, while retail sales of fuel vehicles in independent car companies increased by 23% from the previous month.

"Automotive Industry concern" believes that the "frustration" of the joint venture brand is more related to its lack of prominence in the new energy sector. In the face of the current "reshuffle" of the global automobile industry, joint venture brands urgently need to make more changes to help them regain their vitality.

As for the outlook for the passenger car market in 2024, the Federation said that 2024 is a key year for new energy car companies to gain a foothold, and the competition is destined to be very fierce. For the short-term February, the Federation said: "there are 18 working days in February this year, two days less than the 20 working days in February 2023. Due to the influence of weak 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 marketing time in February this year is very short, and it is expected that February car market sales will be at an absolute trough of the year."

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat