BAIC New Energy's September Sales Down 77.57%

Automotive Author: Qasim Khan Editor: Luke Sheehan Oct 15, 2020 09:30 AM (GMT+8)

Although the new energy vehicle market is on the road to recovery, BAIC has been unable to take advantage of the uptick.

Image credit: EqualOcean

Recently, BAIC released the latest sales data of its subsidiary, Beijing New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. In September, BAIC New Energy sold only 2,245 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 77.57% compared to last year's 10,009. The cumulative sales volume from January to September was 21,086, a year-on-year decrease of 78.57%, compared to 98,382 for the same period in 2019. 

With sales going down, production began to decline gradually as well. According to data, BAIC New Energy produced only 221 vehicles in September, compared with 3420 vehicles in the same period last year. Cumulative production from January to September was 9,877 vehicles, compared to last year’s 9,877, down 56.59%. Judging from the production and sales data of BAIC Blue Valley this year, it has been declining for 9 consecutive months, and the output has almost stopped in the past two months. 

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, the electric vehicle market showed a strong growth trend in September, with 32,500 A00-class sales, increasing its share to 32%. Among them, SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 24386 vehicles, BYD 19048 cars, and Tesla China 11329 vehicles, ranking the top three in the NEV field.

Previously, according to official explanations, factors such as industry competition, limited core high-quality parts resources and the epidemic have had a substantial negative impact on BAIC New Energy's product structure adjustment, customer structure adjustment and marketing.

Affected by the epidemic, BAIC New Energy, which has always relied on the B-end market, witnessed huge hurdles. While sales have plummeted, government subsidies have also fallen. The financial report shows that in the first half of this year, the government subsidy included in the current profit and loss was CNY 69.326 million. In contrast, the number of subsidies in the same period last year was as high as CNY 207 million. This caused BASIC's revenue to fall by nearly 70%, while its net profit fell by more than 28 times.