Category: Sales Target

China Electric eMobility eV Li Auto Li Xiang Sales Target

Li Auto says confident it will outsell German luxury brands in China in 2024

Post author By Phate Zhang/CnEVPost
Post date June 14, 2023

Li Auto CEO looks down on local peers, arguing that their sales are so low that they don't deserve to be taken seriously.

Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI), the buzzy Chinese car-making startup, has set an ambitious goal -- to outsell German luxury brands in 2024.

"With the delivery of the all-electric model and next year's Li L6, we are confident that we will surpass BBA in our total sales in 2024," the company said on Weibo yesterday while sharing insurance registration figures for last week.

"BBA" in China refers to German luxury brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, and Li Auto appears to be aiming to outsell one of those three brands in China next year, though it didn't specify.

For reference, BMW Brilliance, BMW's joint venture in China, had retail sales of 653,976 units in 2022, essentially unchanged from 651,236 units in 2021 and ranked 14th in the China Passenger Car Association's (CPCA) top 15 sales ranking.

BYD and FAW-Volkswagen are the top two in the ranking, with 1,804,624 and 1,779,077 units sold in 2022, respectively. Mercedes-Benz and Audi did not make the list.

From January to May this year, BMW Brilliance's retail sales were 274,763 units, up 9.1 percent from 251,880 units in the same period last year, placing it at No. 9 in the CPCA's latest top 10 sales ranking. Mercedes-Benz and Audi are still not on the list.

Li Auto yesterday shared vehicle insurance registration figures showing it sold 8,400 vehicles in the week of June 5 to June 11, bringing the cumulative sales so far this month to 11,900.

As of June 11, Li Auto had sold more SUVs than any of the "BBA" brands in China this month with just three SUVs, it said.

All of Li Auto's models currently on sale are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), essentially plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), including the five-seat Li L7 and the six-seat Li L9 and Li L8.

The company is expected to launch its first all-electric model by the end of the year, which will be an MPV (multi-purpose vehicle, or van) powered by the latest Qilin Battery from Chinese power cell giant CATL.

On September 22, 2022, in a warm-up for the Li L8's launch in a few days, Li Auto said it will also launch the Li L6, a midsize five-seat SUV priced within RMB 300,000 yuan ($41,850).

As it eats into the German luxury carmaker's market, Li Auto is continuing to learn from the strengths of these established luxury brands.

"In the offensive ground game, the role models are of course the BBA, which are the best sellers in the market priced at RMB 300,000 and up. we learned from them how to open 4S stores, how to choose locations, and reduce customer acquisition costs to 1/5 of stores located in malls," Li Auto founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang said on Weibo yesterday.

Li Auto also learned from these German luxury car companies how to operate in Shanghai, which does not offer free NEV license plates for EREVs, and boosted the company's sales in Shanghai to a peak in 2022 in one month's time, he said.

Before this year, Shanghai offered free license plates to consumers who bought NEVs, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as well as PHEVs.

Starting this year, only consumers who purchase BEVs will receive free license plates in Shanghai, while PHEVs, including EREVs, will not be eligible for the benefit.

In Li Auto's view, its only competitors are German luxury car companies, and local brands are not worth mentioning.

After the company shared its insurance figures for last week yesterday, it was accused by a Weibo user of the move as a continued attack on its local peers.

In response to the Weibo user, Li said that the sales of these local peers are so low that they are not worth mentioning, and that its core focus has always been on the market where BBA is located.

Li used the Chinese saying "three watermelons and two dates (仨瓜俩枣)" to describe the sales of its local counterparts, implying that they were too far behind Li Auto.

Li Auto's two main peers, NIO (NYSE: NIO) and XPeng (NYSE: XPEV), both registered around 1,500 units of insurance last week, with 2,800 and 2,200 units from June 1 to June 11, respectively.

It is worth noting that both NIO and XPeng currently offer only BEVs, a fast-growing but currently small market in China.

In January-May, China's passenger vehicle retail sales were 7.63 million units, with NEVs contributing 2.42 million units, or 31.7 percent, according to the CPCA's figures.

BEVs sold 1.64 million units from January to May, contributing 21.5 percent of all passenger car sales.

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CPCA rankings: Top-selling automakers in China in May

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Tags BYD, CATL, Li Auto, NIO, XPeng

Changan China Electric eMobility eV Industry News Sales Target Shenlan Tesla

Changan’s NEV brand Shenlan aims for 200,000 sales this year

Post author By Phate Zhang/CnEVPost
Post date April 21, 2023

Shenlan's goals for 2023 include selling 200,000 vehicles and making both the SL03 and S7 hot sellers, the brand's CEO said.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Shenlan, Changan Automobile's new energy vehicle (NEV) brand, aims to sell 200,000 vehicles this year, becoming the latest to reveal aggressive plans.

Shenlan's goals for 2023 include selling 200,000 vehicles and making both the SL03 and S7 hot-sellers, the brand's CEO Deng Chenghao said in an interview with Auto Home, according to the text of the interview released yesterday.

The Shenlan brand, which was officially launched by Changan on April 13 last year, unveiled the Shenlan SL03 electric sedan on July 25, another strong competitor to the Tesla Model 3.

The brand unveiled its first SUV, the Shenlan S7, a similar model to the Tesla Model Y crossover, on March 5, with pricing information yet to be announced.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Shenlan began deliveries of the SL03 in late August 2022 and has accumulated nearly 50,000 deliveries through the end of March this year, including 8,568 units in March.

Deng did not disclose how Shenlan will meet its goal of selling 200,000 vehicles this year, and the brand offered up to 42,000 yuan ($6,090) in purchase discounts during last month's price war in the Chinese auto industry. The offer was valid from March 10 to March 31 and was limited to 10,000 units.

The price war was a short-term behavior, automakers ultimately need to compete with product competitiveness, technology, brand, channels, and service capabilities, Deng said in the interview.

"I think the whole industry will be sustainable only if there is a value war," he said.

Deng believes that the current trend of electrification in China's auto industry is very clear, and that the penetration rate of electric vehicles (EVs) will exceed 50 percent in the next three years, with EVs becoming absolutely mainstream.

As the primary adopters of EVs shift from tastemakers to the average consumer, the product definition, research and development of vehicles will need to be able to address consumer anxiety and meet demand, he said.

Consumer anxiety is not about the amount of infrastructure or the range of EVs, but about the time it takes to replenish energy, according to Deng.

There is still a long way to go in terms of technology to get charging times from 0.5-1 hour to 5-10 minutes, he said, adding that this anxiety will be there for another 5-10 years.

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NIO keeps goal of doubling sales this year despite price war causing greater challenges

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Tags Tesla

China Electric eMobility eV Nio Sales Target William Li

NIO keeps goal of doubling sales this year despite price war causing greater challenges

Post author By Phate Zhang/CnEVPost
Post date April 18, 2023

NIO maintains its previously mentioned goal of doubling sales, despite greater challenges to meet the goal, said William Li.

NIO keeps goal of doubling sales this year despite price war causing greater challenges-CnEVPost

(William Li (left), founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, and Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of the company, participate in a media group interview. Photo taken by CnEVPost.)

NIO (NYSE: NIO) is confident it will see sales double this year, despite a rare price war that disrupted the Chinese auto industry in the first quarter.

NIO maintains its previously mentioned goal of doubling sales, though the challenge to meet that goal is greater, William Li, the electric vehicle (EV) maker's founder, chairman and CEO, said in an interview in response to questions from CnEVPost.

The price war has had a big impact on the auto industry, and NIO will not follow suit. Instead, it adjusted the benefits offered to consumers, which can be seen as a price increase, Li mentioned in the group interview on April 17 on the eve of the Shanghai auto show.

What NIO really cares about is creating value for users, not simply lowering prices, Li said, adding that companies that start price wars usually don't get the results they want because it leads to damage to the interests of existing vehicle owners and won't win the future.

In the short term, NIO will face some pressure as a result, he said.

NIO delivered a total of 122,486 vehicles in 2022, up 34 percent from 91,429 in 2021. The doubling of sales means that NIO is expected to deliver about 240,000 vehicles this year.

Li said in a March 1 analyst call following NIO's fourth-quarter earnings announcement that the company is aiming to see sales double this year compared to last year.

"Our team is very confident in that," Li said at the time.

In a March 22 interview with Bloomberg TV, NIO CFO Steven Feng said the company is very confident it will meet its sales target in 2023.

NIO delivered 31,041 vehicles in the first quarter, which means it needs to deliver more than 23,000 vehicles each month on average for the rest of the year to meet its full-year goal.

NIO keeps goal of doubling sales this year despite price war causing greater challenges-CnEVPost

At the time Li mentioned the target on March 1, only a handful of NEV makers had cut prices in China.

However, some internal combustion engine automakers then began offering steep discounts, and a wave of price cuts quickly swept through the industry.

Rather than boosting vehicle sales significantly, the rare price war has led to increased consumer's wait-and-see sentiment.

On March 22, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) called for the hype about this round of price cuts in China's auto industry to cool down as soon as possible, so that the industry can return to normal operation and ensure healthy and stable development throughout the year.

In March, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China were 543,000 units, up a modest 21.9 percent year-on-year and 23.6 percent from February, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on April 10.

This is lower than the CPCA's preliminary figure of 549,000 units released on April 6, and lower than the 560,000 units it had forecast in its March 25 report.

The price cuts by some NEV companies may have triggered a wait-and-see mood among consumers, the CPCA said at the time.

For the overall passenger car market, retail sales in March were 1.587 million units, up 0.3 percent from a year earlier and up 14.3 percent from February. In the January-March period, retail sales in China's auto industry were 4.261 million units, down 13.4 percent from a year earlier.

Li also said in the interview that the decline in Chinese auto sales in the first quarter reflected a strong consumer wait-and-see sentiment.

He also mentioned that the company maintained its target of achieving profitability for its core NIO brand in the fourth quarter of this year, excluding investment in innovative businesses.

Lithium prices are falling faster than expected, and NIO's costs will fall as future deliveries rise, Li said.

As of April 17, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate had fallen to RMB 187,500 per ton in China, and the average price of industrial-grade lithium carbonate fell to RMB 140,000 per ton, according to data from Mysteel.

NIO keeps goal of doubling sales this year despite price war causing greater challenges-CnEVPost

NIO ET5 ranks 7th in top-selling premium sedan list in China with 6,437 Mar sales

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BYD China Electric eMobility eV Sales Target

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year

Post author By Phate Zhang/CnEVPost
Post date March 30, 2023

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year and strive to reach 3.6 million, said Wang Chuanfu, its chairman and president. | BYDDY.US | BYD HK

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year and will strive to reach 3.6 million, said Wang Chuanfu, the company's chairman and president.

BYD announced its 2022 annual report on March 28 and held an investor conference on March 29, where Wang revealed the target, according to a report by local media outlet Yicai today.

For the 3.6 million unit sales target BYD is striving to reach, 2.8 million will be in China and 800,000 in overseas markets, the report said, citing an insider at the company.

BYD sold 1,868,543 vehicles in 2022, including 1,863,494 NEVs. The company discontinued production and sales of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March 2022.

The company sold 50,021 NEVs overseas from July to December 2022. It first announced overseas NEV sales figures in July 2022.

If it can achieve its sales target of reaching 2.8 million units in China, BYD will surpass the Chinese market record of 2.16 million sales held by FAW-Volkswagen, Yicai's report noted.

If it can reach 3.6 million units in global sales, BYD will be among the top 10 car companies in global auto sales this year.

BYD aims to become the largest automaker in China by the end of this year, Wang said.

BYD's retail sales of 316,417 units in January-February were the highest among all car companies in China, with an 11.8 percent share, according to a list released earlier this month by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Wang expects China's NEV sales to be 8.5 million to 9 million units in 2023, with penetration rates of up to 40 to 45 percent, and possibly exceeding 50 percent in some months.

This means that sales for all cars will be about 20 million units in China this year, with traditional fuel vehicles selling around 11 million units, a further reduction of about 4 million units from 2022.

In China's first-tier, second-tier and third-tier cities, consumers are already barely considering fuel vehicles when buying cars, Wang said.

BYD has pricing power in the price range of 100,000 yuan ($14,540) to 200,000 yuan, but the company wants to keep things steady, he said.

BYD doesn't want to make it hard for others and make it impossible for others to survive, Wang said.

He believes that ADAS algorithms and high-level assisted driving have been deified by people under the influence of capital, and that the market will slowly return to rationality.

Wang believes that the Chinese car market is highly competitive, while competition in overseas markets is not sufficient, and Chinese automakers will find no or few rivals when they go abroad.

Products that are competitive in China will still be competitive in overseas markets with a 20 percent price increase, he said.

In expanding overseas markets, a good strategy in the short term is to focus on countries without local car brands, rather than the United States, South Korea, Germany, Japan, France and other auto powerhouses, Wang said.

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BYD expects its Q1 NEV sales to grow over 80% YoY, aims to be largest automaker in China by year-end

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Tags BYD

BYD China Electric eMobility eV Sales Target

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year

Post author By Phate Zhang/CnEVPost
Post date March 30, 2023

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year and strive to reach 3.6 million, said Wang Chuanfu, its chairman and president. | BYDDY.US | BYD HK

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year and will strive to reach 3.6 million, said Wang Chuanfu, the company's chairman and president.

BYD announced its 2022 annual report on March 28 and held an investor conference on March 29, where Wang revealed the target, according to a report by local media outlet Yicai today.

For the 3.6 million unit sales target BYD is striving to reach, 2.8 million will be in China and 800,000 in overseas markets, the report said, citing an insider at the company.

BYD sold 1,868,543 vehicles in 2022, including 1,863,494 NEVs. The company discontinued production and sales of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March 2022.

The company sold 50,021 NEVs overseas from July to December 2022. It first announced overseas NEV sales figures in July 2022.

If it can achieve its sales target of reaching 2.8 million units in China, BYD will surpass the Chinese market record of 2.16 million sales held by FAW-Volkswagen, Yicai's report noted.

If it can reach 3.6 million units in global sales, BYD will be among the top 10 car companies in global auto sales this year.

BYD aims to become the largest automaker in China by the end of this year, Wang said.

Wang expects China's NEV sales to be 8.5 million to 9 million units in 2023, with penetration rates of up to 40 to 45 percent, and possibly exceeding 50 percent in some months.

In China's first-tier, second-tier and third-tier cities, consumers are already barely considering fuel vehicles when buying cars, Wang said.

BYD has pricing power in the price range of 100,000 yuan ($14,540) to 200,000 yuan, but the company wants to keep things steady, he said.

BYD doesn't want to make it hard for others and make it impossible for others to survive, Wang said.

He believes that ADAS algorithms and high-level assisted driving have been deified by people under the influence of capital, and that the market will slowly return to rationality.

Wang believes that the Chinese car market is highly competitive, while competition in overseas markets is not sufficient, and Chinese automakers will find no or few rivals when they go abroad.

Products that are competitive in China will still be competitive in overseas markets with a 20 percent price increase, he said.

($1= RMB 6.8768)