On April 1st, several new energy car companies announced their sales performance in March 2024. Most companies have rebounded from the sales slump in February due to the holidays, achieving varying degrees of year-on-year growth, which basically conforms to seasonal trends. In terms of new forces in car manufacturing, NIO delivered nearly 29,000 new cars in March, a year-on-year increase of 39.2% and a month-on-month increase of 30.1%; from January to March, NIO delivered a total of over 80,000 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 52.9%.
Author: Sun Lei It is worth mentioning that Li Xiang, Chairman and CEO of Ideal Car, announced in an internal letter on March 2 that Ideal Car has been overly focused on sales volume and will lower its sales expectations. On the same day, Ideal Car announced that the expected delivery volume of new cars in the first quarter of 2024 is 76,000 to 78,000 units. In the end, Ideal Car achieved the adjusted sales expectations. In March, Leap Motor delivered approximately 14,600 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 136.0% and a month-on-month increase of 121.9%; from January to March, Leap Motor delivered a total of 33,400 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 217.9%. It is reported that Leap Motor plans to achieve a sales target of 250,000 to 300,000 vehicles for the entire year of 2024. At the 2024 Beijing Auto Show opening in April, Leap Motor will debut a new model. Following Leap Motor is NIO, which delivered about 11,900 new cars in March, a year-on-year increase of 14.3% and a month-on-month increase of 46%; from January to March, NIO delivered over 30,000 new cars. NIO stated that the transition to the 2024 model has been basically completed, and new cars have arrived at the store. In April, NIO’s smart cabin and intelligent driving will undergo major upgrades. Data released by XPeng Motors shows that in March, XPeng delivered a total of 9,026 new cars, a month-on-month increase of 99% and a year-on-year increase of 29%. Among them, the XPeng X9 delivered 3,946 units, with nearly 8,000 units delivered in the first three months since its launch; from January to March, XPeng Motors delivered a total of 21,800 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 20%. “In March, the XNGP urban intelligent driving monthly active user penetration rate reached 82%, and the scale of open routes for unlimited XNGP to experienced users continues to expand, while the full open route is also continuously increasing.” XPeng Motors stated. As for other new brands, the March production and sales report released by Siles showed that in the first quarter of 2024, Siles’ new energy vehicles sold a total of approximately 94,800 units, a year-on-year increase of 374.77%. In March, WENJIE delivered approximately 31,700 new cars. Specifically, the sales of WENJIE’s new M7 continue to grow steadily, with nearly 25,000 new cars delivered in a single month and a total of over 120,000 units delivered since its launch; WENJIE M9 delivered 6,243 new cars in a single month.
In addition, Hongmeng Intelligent Travel’s another brand, ZhiJie, has new actions. On March 30, Huawei’s Executive Director, CEO of Terminal Business, and Chairman of Intelligent Car Solutions BU, Yu Chengdong, announced that a large number of new ZhiJie S7s have left the production line and are now being delivered on a large scale. However, Hongmeng Intelligent Travel did not disclose the performance of the ZhiJie series models in March. As for GAC Aion, in March, its global sales exceeded 32,000 units, achieving a significant increase month-on-month; from January to March, its global cumulative sales were about 73,600 units. It is understood that GAC Aion will release a new technology strategy on April 12, involving power battery aspects. Furthermore, Jidex announced that in March, the company delivered over 13,000 new cars, a 95% year-on-year increase and a 73% month-on-month increase; from January to March, Jidex delivered a total of about 33,000 new cars, a 117% year-on-year increase. On April 1, the Jidex 007 rear-wheel drive enhanced version was launched. Looking at the data released by most car companies, year-on-year and month-on-month growth has become the key words in the sales performance of new energy vehicle companies in March. Previously, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released sales forecasts stating that in March, the domestic narrow passenger car market’s retail sales were about 1.65 million units, with a year-on-year growth rate of 3.7%, basically following seasonal trends. Among them, the domestic new energy vehicle sales are expected to reach 750,000 units, with a year-on-year growth rate of about 37.1%, a month-on-month increase of 93.2%, and a penetration rate of 45.5%.
The China Passenger Car Association believes that with the sharp drop in prices of new energy vehicles after the Spring Festival, a large number of potential customers have been converted into actual sales. In early March, the sales of new energy vehicles increased rapidly, providing strong support for the overall March car market, with the penetration rate expected to reach a historical high for the month. “Although a new round of price wars has increased consumer attention and research shows an increase in customer traffic to stores, the number of effective customers is insufficient, leading to poor order conversion. Consumers are holding onto their money and waiting to make purchases. At the same time, the anticipation of the implementation of the policy for trading in old cars for new ones has further intensified the wait-and-see sentiment, resulting in weak growth in the March car market,” the China Passenger Car Association stated. It is worth mentioning that companies such as Wajie, Xiaopeng Motors, NIO, Chery, and FAW-Volkswagen announced on April 1st that they will either reduce prices for some models or offer subsidy incentives for certain models in order to seek further sales growth.