China's vehicle outputs and sales in September amounted to 2,356,200 units and 2,394,100 units respectively, evidently dropping 11.71% and 11.55% compared with the performances a year ago, according to the data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
Gasgoo hereby summarized the sales data released by corresponding automakers. Five out of 10 Chinese automakers on the table suffered year-on-year (YoY) sales drop in September. The sales leader SAIC Motor encountered its first YoY decrease in monthly sales so far this year. Besides, Dongfeng Motor Group, Changan Automobile, Great Wall Motor and JAC Motors were all affected by the overall negative auto sales climate.
SAIC Motor
SAIC Motor reported a YoY drop of 8.2% in sales with 610,734 vehicles delivered in September. For the first nine months, the automaker delivered 5,146,556 vehicles in total, a YoY increase of 6.7%.
The top 3 subsidiaries by September sales were SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling. The sales of all three subsidiaries were less than that of the same month a year ago. However, this was not a unique phenomenon for the top 3, in fact, except SAIC Motor PV and SAIC-CP, the other subsidiaries' sales in September all came across YoY decline.
Thanks to the popularity of the Roewe and the MG, SAIC Motor PV's monthly sales kept rising with 52,006 units handed over in September despite the overall decline trend. The deliveries of the MG-branded cars soared 64% over a year ago to 20,205 last month and aggregated nearly 180,000 units for the first nine months.
Dongfeng Motor Group
Dongfeng Motor Group Company Limited (Dongfeng Motor Group) reported a YoY drop of 14.65% in sales with 271,134 vehicles delivered in September. For the first three quarters, the group's year-to-date (YTD) sales fell 3.47% from a year ago to 2,194,320 units.
Dongfeng Motor Company Limited (DFL) gained a YoY increase of 8.09% with 1,084,898 units handed over from January to September. Apart from Dongfeng Infiniti, the other units under DFL all achieved positive YoY growth in YTD sales. Although Dongfeng Venucia's sales in September slumped 31.09% from the previous year, its Jan-to-Sept sales still represented a YoY growth of 3.42% thanks to the favorable performances in the previous months. Besides, Zhengzhou Nissan had double-digit YoY growth in both September sales and YTD sales.
Three major joint ventures, namely, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Renault and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile (DPCA), all suffered YoY decline in terms of cumulative sales this year. Dongfeng Honda's sales in September climbed 4.52% from a year earlier. However, two Sino-French joint ventures, Dongfen Renault and DPCA saw their September sales plunge up to 61.44% and 56.23% from the previous year.
GAC Group
GAC Group posted a YoY growth of 5.84% in sales with 198,034 vehicles delivered in September, the automaker reported recently. From January to September, the group delivered 1,558,105 vehicles in total, achieving a YoY increase of 6.24%.
As to the performances of subsidiaries, apart from GAC Honda and GAC Toyota, the other subsidiaries all suffered YoY decline in September sales. However, as to YTD sales, most firms attained positive growth except GAC FCA and Honda Automobile (China) Co.,Ltd.
GAC Motor saw its sales fall 6.0% from a year earlier to 43,427 units last month, while climbed 4.88% over a year ago to 394,592 units for the first nine months. GAC Honda gained a YoY increase of 3.8% with 69,660 vehicles handed over in September. Besides, GAC Toyota's deliveries in September soared 48.4% over the year-ago period to 60,808 units, completing 72.7% of the updated sales goal.
Changan Automobile
Changan Automobile reported on October 9 a YoY sales drop of 32.4% with a total of 177,284 vehicles delivered in September, while the sales were 32.1% more than that of the previous month. For the first nine months, the automaker saw its cumulative sales fall 19.9% YoY to 1,647,616 units.
The sales of Changan-branded vehicles recorded the best performance in the third quarter to 121,333 units, jumping 36% month on month (MoM), while still less than the performance of the same period last year. Among that, Changan-branded PVs (passenger vehicle) had sales of 80,188 units last month, a remarkable MoM growth of 50%.
From January to September, Changan Ford delivered 308,597 vehicles in total with a YoY decrease of 46%. It is reported that Ford Motor has faced losses in markets of South America, Middle East, Europe and Asia Pacific, thus plans to lay off employees around global market. In addition, Changan Mazda saw its sales in September shrink 19.3% over the year-ago period to 15,546 units. For the first three quarters, the joint venture's sales totaled 128,494 units, declining 6% YoY.
Geely
Geely announced a YoY growth of 14% in sales with 124,429 vehicles delivered (including the Lynk & Co brand) in September. Among that, 10,468 units were NEVs and electrified vehicles. For the first nine months, the automaker's deliveries totaled 1,136,858 units, surging 37% YoY and completing 72% of the 1.58 million-unit sales goal.
The Geely Boyue still remained its leadership among the automaker's SUV products. Its sales totaled 198,801 units during the previous three quarters, up by 2.1% YoY. The Geely Emgrand GS urban crossover SUV saw its sales drop 4.4% YoY to 13,388 units in September, while surged 25.3% YoY for the first nine months.
The Lynk & Co brand boasted a new high sales volume of 14,875 units last month, up by 8.8% compared with the August. The sales of the Lynk & Co 01 and 02 were 9,309 units and 5,566 units respectively. For the first three quarters, the brand's YTD sales amounted to 87,101 units in total.
Great Wall Motor
Great Wall Motor reported a YoY drop of 15.01% in sales with 86,723 vehicles delivered in September. For the first nine months, the automaker saw its YTD sales fall 4.09% from a year earlier to 676,668 units with 58.33% of sales target (1.16 million units) completed so far.
Last month, its SUV deliveries totaled 72,206 units, jumping 35.98% MoM, while declining 19.56% YoY. The Haval SUV brand delivered 61,610 vehicles with an MoM leap of 43.53%. The sales of the hottest seller Haval H6 jumped to 35,499 units from 26,697 units in August, while compared with the same period a year ago, it still faced a decrease of 21.39%.
In addition, WEY sales reached 10,596 units, maintaining the growing momentum from the 10,174 units in August. The WEY VV6 intelligent SUV, hitting the market in late August, had a sales volume of 3,002 units last month, thus somewhat counteracted the MoM decline from the VV7 and VV5. The WEY P8 plug-in hybrid SUV, with 415 units sold in September, remained steady in monthly sales.
Chery Holding
Chery Holding posted a remarkable YoY growth of 28.1% in sales with a total of 66,736 vehicles delivered in September, achieving positive increase for 7 consecutive months.
Last month, the group had an export volume of 7,735 vehicles and saw its NEV sales skyrocket 249.1% from a year ago to 10,033 units.
For the first nine months, Chery Holding witnessed its cumulative deliveries jump 15.4% over a year earlier to 528,811 units, among which 98,513 vehicles were exported to overseas markets, a YoY jump of 23.1%, and 59,679 units were NEVs with an amazing YoY growth of 233.9%.
BYD
BYD said its sales reached 47,913 units in September and totaled 351,571 units for the first nine months. Its PV sales jumped 38% year on year (YoY) to 45,029 units among which 25,019 units were new energy PVs, a remarkable YoY jump of 121%.
The sales of BYD's new energy PVs rose from 18,203 units in July to 25,019 units in September. For the first three quarters, the automaker saw its NEV sales aggregate 143,418 units, accounting for 40.79% of the total YTD sales.
With regard to the sales in September of each model, the sales of the all-new BYD Tang SUV amounted to 10,435 units and orders for the model has by far exceeded 35,000 units. The sales of the BYD Song MAX MPV reached 10,009 units, outnumbering 10,000 units for 11 consecutive months. The all-new BYD Song compact SUV and the Yuan EV360 SUV had sales of 6,303 units and 5,008 units respectively. Additionally, the deliveries of the BYD Qin and Qin pro totaled 6,076 units.
JAC Motors
JAC Motor's September vehicle sales dropped 16.14% YoY to 34,717 units, reaching a new low within the past three months. Its SUV sales were only 5,815 units, a sharp YoY decrease of 43.20%.
The automaker's cumulative sales from January to September chalked up 361,559 units with a YoY decline of 5.53%. To be specific, the sales of SUVs and MPVs amounted to 73,030 units and 45,808 units, shrinking 19.34% and 4.2% respectively compared with a year ago. Many CV segments came across evident YoY drop as well. The sales of the medium-duty trucks and heavy-duty trucks presented YoY fall of 31.21% and 18.51%.
A total of 37,767 all-electric passenger vehicles were delivered for the first nine months for JAC Motors, showing a YoY leap of 115.87%. As EV startup NIO's contract manufacturer, the Hefei-based automaker has initiated the production of NIO's first model the ES8, which has already been delivered to consumers. The SOL E20X all-electric passenger vehicle jointly developed by JAC Motors and Volkswagen rolled off the production line in April.
