Written by Luoji
Tesla's entry into China, BYD's surging stock price, the rise of NIO, and Huawei's entrance mark the key events of the new energy boom in China. Fast forward to April 2024, with Xiaomi entering the market and delivering a large batch of vehicles, the new energy market has entered a new phase.
With 7,058 vehicles delivered in the first month, Xiaomi set a new record for new energy startups. While this scale may not be significant in the overall market, Xiaomi's deep impact on the overall market far exceeds the market share of these 7,000 vehicles.
The lineup of new energy sales rankings in April hasn't seen major changes, but we all know that a new round of reshuffling has begun.
With 7,058 vehicles, what does it mean for a pure electric sedan starting at over 200,000 RMB? If we consider the Jike 001 as a sedan, the best previous monthly record was 7,774 units (risk retention volume), NIO ET5 peaked at 6,836 units, and Xiaopeng P7 at 6,486 units. Ranked below the leading Model 3, Xiaomi's SU7 has entered the top tier in the new energy pure electric field.
In terms of specific sales composition, Xiaomi SU7's three configurations have a significant price difference. Regardless of the entry-level version priced at 215,900 RMB, the mid-range at 245,900 RMB, or the top-end version at 299,900 RMB, they all achieved volume sales. The top-end version had the highest proportion, but did not exceed half. Although the two-wheel-drive version has shortcomings in the electric platform, intelligent driving, and power performance, it still attracted many customers to make a purchase.
In other words, with a single model, SU7 effectively covers the 200,000-300,000 RMB price range, whereas a brand like Jike requires two models, 001 and 007, to achieve the same. The fact that each configuration has buyers is a key reason for Xiaomi SU7 breaking 7,000 deliveries in the first month.
So, has Xiaomi's rise seriously impacted other new energy brands? Not necessarily.
Lei Jun, stop it, outside is all Geely, this was a widely circulated joke before the launch of Xiaomi SU7. After the price was announced, the popularity of SU7 soared. Geely, especially the Jike brand, which overlaps significantly with Xiaomi in positioning, became one of the main objects of ridicule (among others).
In Xiaomi's strong April debut, Jike's sales not only did not drop, but instead reached a new high of 16,000 vehicles delivered in a single month, a 24% increase from the previous month and a 99% increase year-on-year. Unfortunately, Jike did not disclose the specific sales figures of the models. Whether the individual sales of 001 or 007 can surpass Xiaomi SU7 remains to be seen.
Prior to this, the highest monthly sales volume for the Jike brand was 12,000 units. In April, deliveries exceeded 16,000 units, indicating that the 001 and 007 models likely exceeded 14,000 units (Jike X and 009 have lower sales volumes). Considering their direct competition with Xiaomi SU7, the situation of both direct competitors seeing a significant increase in sales may seem counterintuitive.
At least at this stage, the ripple effect generated by Xiaomi SU7's breakthrough is unavoidable. Many people who were not previously interested in electric vehicles and were unfamiliar with brands like Jike are now inevitably being compared, leading to a natural conversion in sales.
Of course, this is just speculation. Jike's recent price cuts and redesign of the 001, as well as the strong product performance of the 007, are the basis for the sales growth. But what can be affirmed is that Xiaomi's entry may not necessarily be a bad thing for other brands in the same price range.
In April, NIO delivered 15,620 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 134.6% and a month-on-month increase of 31.6%. According to NIO's official description, it ranked first in the high-end pure electric market in April and the ET7 has delivered nearly 30,000 units, making it the top-selling pure electric sedan in China priced above 400,000 RMB.
Without details, one might think that NIO is doing very well based on the above information, but the actual situation is far from optimistic as described by the official data.
Since the second-generation ES6 began delivery and the ET5 introduced a touring version, NIO saw a surge in sales starting in July last year, with deliveries exceeding 18,000 units for three consecutive months. With the stimulation of overall price adjustments, the market was expecting NIO to follow in the footsteps of Xpeng and achieve monthly sales exceeding 20,000 units.
However, this trend came to a sudden halt in the fourth quarter of last year, with monthly sales dropping to around 15,000 units. This year, sales fell back to around 10,000 units and the 15,620 deliveries in April were just back at the level of six months ago. And for a long time, it is unlikely that NIO will be able to break through the 20,000-unit mark again.
However, the good news is that Xiaomi's listing did not lead to a further decline for NIO. Instead, it achieved a significant month-on-month growth. Xpeng, which briefly surpassed NIO in the fourth quarter of last year, has failed to make any progress. Deliveries in April did not surpass 10,000 units. In the highly competitive market environment, NIO has maintained sufficient resilience.
With 15,005 vehicles delivered in April, Lynk & Co's sales performance may not look impressive. After all, the brand's sales volume had exceeded 18,000 units at the end of last year. Now, with the introduction of the new models C10 and C11, Lynk & Co has not surpassed its sales record, which may not be inspiring.
However, in the sales figure announcement this time, Lynk & Co emphasized an important information - the total deliveries of C10 and C11 exceeded 10,000, indicating that the pillar of Lynk & Co's sales — T03 — has further reduced its proportion in Lynk & Co's sales. Looking solely at mid to high-end models priced above 100,000 RMB, Lynk & Co has steadily reached a monthly sales volume of over 10,000 units, essentially shedding its previous low-end image.
After the transformation of the sales structure, Lynk & Co's new growth period is just beginning. C10 represents Lynk & Co's definitive positioning as a parity ideal dad car with ample space, high configuration, and low price. The product attributes are more distinct compared to Lynk & Co's previous labeling of high cost performance and high internal focus as its sole attributes.
If C10 is the affordable version of Lynk & Co's L6, then the C16 unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show for pre-sale is the affordable version of Lynk & Co's L8. On the day of pre-sale, orders for this model surpassed ten thousand units. Considering its scarcity as a 6-seat SUV priced under 200,000 RMB, this model will likely help Lynk & Co achieve a higher sales volume. By 2025, Lynk & Co may have a monthly sales volume of over 20,000 units.
Lastly, let's talk about the two longtime rivals XPENG and Lixiang.
As mentioned earlier, after the launch of Xiaomi SU7, brands like Jike and NIO, which are also positioned as pure electric vehicles, have not been significantly affected. So, who actually suffered? While it can't be simplistically attributed to the launch of Xiaomi, it is true that the benchmark brands Lixiang and XPENG both experienced a decline last month.
Firstly, Lixiang narrowly surpassed XPENG in April, wi th a slight advantage of less than 700 units, reclaiming the top spot in new energy brand deliveries in China. However, looking at the numbers, Lixiang's April delivery volume was only 25,787 units, almost flat compared to the same period last year, and a decrease of 11% from March. XPENG's situation was even worse, with a 20.9% month-on-month drop in delivery volume to 25,086 units in April.
It's normal for brand sales to fluctuate each month, but in a generally growing April for each brand, Lixiang and XPENG, the two main rivals, both experienced declines. This indicates that their market shares were affected by other brands, and the role played by Xiaomi in this scenario is worth pondering.
However, it's worth noting that the re-listing of the S7 under the Hongmeng Zhixing system, a subsidiary of XPENG, finally achieved a breakthrough in sales in April, with a delivery volume of 4,546 units. Taking this into account, the total delivery volume of the Hongmeng Zhixing system in April was actually 29,632 units, indicating that the advantage still lies with Huawei in the competition between Huawei and Lixiang.
In fact, the decline in XPENG's April sales can be attributed to the M7 model. This model, which sold over 30,000 units in January and nearly 25,000 units in March, delivered just over 10,000 units in April. On the other hand, the delivery volume of XPENG's M9 surged from over 6,000 units in March to 13,391 units in April, surpassing the domestically-produced BMW X5 and becoming the sales champion in the 500,000 RMB price range. This means that even if Lixiang's MEGA can achieve an initial monthly sales of around 10,000 units, it is still difficult to achieve the goal of being the champion in the 500,000 RMB and above full-category vehicles.
As for the Lixiang brand, the specific sales data for the models are currently unknown, but the new model L6 has already absorbed many orders for L7 and L8 models. The April downturn is largely due to the fact that the L6 has not yet ramped up production. As deliveries are completed, Lixiang's overall sales volume will quickly rebound. However, it's uncertain whether the total sales volume of the L6/7/8/9 and MEGA models can reach the previous peak of over 40,000 units.
This article is from the WeChat public account: autocarweekly (ID: autocarweekly)