Author: Erchai

In October this year, the market share of domestic brands broke through 50% for the first time. Many people thought it might be a flash in the pan. However, after the announcement of domestic passenger car sales in November, it still slapped many people in the face.

The retail sales of domestic brands reached 870,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 5%, and the market share continued to exceed half, reaching 53.4%. Even if German, Japanese, and American brands, as well as Korean and French cars, are all added together, they cannot even take half of the Chinese market. This is also a milestone achievement that domestic brands have finally achieved after so many years.

Joint venture enters dark times, Japanese brands are struggling

This subtitle is not an exaggeration. Compared with the market share of 53.4% of domestic brands in November, German brands only have 18.9%, Japanese brands only have 15.3%, and American brands only have 9.6%. The worst-hit Japanese brands have lost 6.9% of their market share compared with the same period last year. Among the top ten car sales rankings, only Volkswagen is on the list for German brands, and their sales have fallen nearly 30% year-on-year. The sales of SAIC-GM and SAIC-GM Wuling have also plummeted. Fortunately, Tesla has held up their face.

As for the worst-hit Japanese brands, there is only one Guangqi Toyota left among the top ten car sales rankings, and neither Honda nor Nissan can be found in the top 15.

Meanwhile, the momentum and sales growth of domestic brands are all very rapid. BYD, Geely, and Changan rank first, second, and fourth respectively, and their market share is even higher than that of the entire Japanese and American brands combined. However, the second-tier domestic brands such as Great Wall, Chery, and GAC will need to step up, especially Great Wall, which was once thriving. Currently, besides Haval H6, only Tank 300 is able to hold up their face. No one can be left behind on the road to common prosperity.

BYD is still number one with a lead of 100,000 vehicles

These days, it is really hard to avoid talking about BYD’s sales. They are indeed too strong. In November, BYD’s sales reached 217,600 vehicles, with more than 90,000 more than the second-ranked Geely, and even exceeding the total sales of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen.

The sales of mainstream car models have basically exceeded 10,000 units, and BYD has occupied 3 models in the top 10 of the overall sedan and SUV sales rankings. The Song series sold 64,100 units, the Han series sold 31,700 units, the Yuan series sold 29,400 units, the Qin series sold 28,300 units, and the Tang series sold 20,000 units; in the latest Ocean series, the Hippo sold 15,300 units, the Dolphin sold 26,000 units, and the destroyer 05 sold 6032 units.

The rapid increase in the market share of domestic brands is largely due to BYD.

One out of every three new cars is a new energy vehicle

For us who are fans of fuel vehicles, watching the decline of internal combustion engines is like watching the back of C. Ronaldo’s departure when Portugal was eliminated by Morocco 1:0 in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, which is bittersweet. All people will eventually grow old, but there are always young people. The rise of new energy vehicles is the general trend, but I didn’t expect the trend to be so fast.

In November, the national sales of new energy vehicles reached 598,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 58%, accounting for 36% of the total sales of 1.648 million units in November. In other words, for every three new cars sold in the country, one is a new energy vehicle. Of course, this data also includes plug-in hybrid models from BYD and other brands, but the trend of popularizing new energy vehicles is indeed gradually growing.

Looking at the sales chart of compact sedans in November, four out of the top five models are new energy vehicles, and the same goes for SUVs. Models like Corolla, Sagitar, and Bora, which used to be popular compact sedans, as well as Tiguan, Changan CS75, and Fengguang 580, which were popular compact SUVs, have fallen behind.

Unpopular niche cars are also thriving

With the vigorous promotion of new energy, many unpopular niche models that were not highly regarded in the past showed surprisingly good sales performance in November.

For example, the Zeekr 001, which was once a bona fide internet celebrity car, is highly attractive with a great appearance, powerful engine, good handling, and a strong sense of luxury. However, with a price of over 300,000 RMB and negative feedback on the car machine and moonroof at the time, its sales were only a few thousand per month.

But in November, Zeekr 001’s sales once again exceeded 10,000 units, reaching 11,000, and even made it onto the SUV sales chart for November (Zeekr 001 is officially positioned as a medium-to-large-sized hunting car, and the China Passenger Car Association places it in the SUV category, which is interesting).

If we compare it with sedans, it sells even better than traditional high-end intermediate fuel-burning cars like the BMW 3 series and the Audi A4L.

Zeekr 001 is not alone. I also noticed a new face on the sales chart, the Changan Shenlan SL03. This car has only been on the market for a little over four months, but its November sales have reached 6,344 units. For a new model from a new brand, this is a very good performance. At least for now, it sells better than traditional intermediate fuel-burning cars like the Toyota Camry, Hongqi H5, and Cadillac CT5.

Besides, this car is not cheap, with the 1.5L extended-range version priced at nearly 200,000 RMB and the long-endurance pure electric version costing 200,000+ RMB.

Many people say that a large part of the sales of some popular new energy vehicles comes from ride-hailing procurement. This is indeed the case, such as BYD’s Han EV (four out of five ride-hailing cars in many cities are Han EV), GAC Aion’s AION S, AION Y, etc. However, the proportion of these cars purchased by individual users is also gradually increasing. Otherwise, it would be difficult for models like the AION Y and NETA V to enter the top ten of the sales chart every month solely through ride-hailing procurement.

It is worth commemorating that domestic brands not only have their own place in the market but also have a great deal of discourse power. It is a memorable thing that the market share has steadily exceeded half. For supporters of conventional cars, we must also accept such an overtaking on the curve. Most of the credit is indeed due to new energy vehicles. In the future, we will witness more domestically produced new energy vehicles creating more top-ranking performance.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.