Practitioners expect Q2 sales to be gloomy as the supply chain crunches
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the top 10 carmakers sold 5.6 million units in Q1, accounting for 86% of total sales.
BYD led the sales growth, which stopped making internal combustion engine cars in March. It sold 290,000 vehicles, up 180% YoY; over 98% of BYD's sales came from the NEVs.
GAC Group made 608,000 units of sales, increasing 22.5% YoY. Its NEV brand GAC Aion contributed 45,000 units.
Chery Auto grew its Q1 result by 11.5% YoY to 230,000, of which NEV sales make up 23%, elevating 213% YoY.
SAIC Motor disclosed its Q1 performance of 1.22 million cars, up 6.8% YoY. Volkswagen is the best sub-brand which rolled out several new products to spur demand.
Dongfeng Motor delivered 848,000 cars, rising 2.3% YoY, and the NEV sales expanded by 264% YoY.
Changan Auto raised its Q1 sales by 1.6% to 651,500 units.
FAW, BAIC, Geely and Great Wall Motor saw declined car sales in Q1.
BAIC Group claimed that the restrictions during the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and the imbalanced supply chain negatively affected its performance, which delivered 369,000 cars, down by 25.6% YoY.
FAW Group sold 608,000 units in the first quarter, down 22.6% YoY. Affected by the outbreak of pandemic, FAW Group was forced to suspend production at its five major plants in Changchun, with an estimated loss of nearly 50,000 units.
Geely Auto made 320,000 vehicles of sales in Q1, down 2.3% from last year's same period. The number of NEV sold in the first quarter was 27,000 units only.
Great Wall Motor delivered 283,500 vehicles, declining 16.3% YoY. Due to supply chain issues, GWM announced delivery delays and stopped receiving orders on its several sub-brands.