[car home Industry] See you in car home E Week to learn about the major events in the auto industry this week. This week, most car companies released sales data for 2023, and Toyota once again became the world’s number one with sales of 11.3 million vehicles. Under the high light, Toyota is caught in a fraud scandal; In the past year, BYD continued to maintain a high growth trend and its financial performance was quite optimistic; Dongfeng’s high-end brands Lantu and Warriors have also accelerated the pace of overseas layout … What other hot news are there this week? Let’s take a look.
●Global sales of 11.3 million Toyota cars ranked first in the world for four consecutive years.
●Volvo Cars plans to stop providing financing to Polar Star, and its share price rose by 26%.
●Frequent fraud scandals, Toyota President bowed and apologized.
●Year-on-year surge, BYD’s estimated net profit in 2023 is 29-31 billion yuan.
●Three flagship new cars Tengshi announced 2024 new product planning
●Chery responded to the rumor of "disagreement with Huawei", and both parties are making every effort to promote the delivery of Zhijie S7.
●Dongfeng accelerated to the sea, and Lantu and Warrior "entered" the Spanish and Portuguese markets.
●Nissan plans to independently produce lithium iron phosphate batteries to reduce the price of electric vehicles.
Global sales of 11.3 million Toyota cars ranked first in the world for four consecutive years.
Recently, Toyota Motor Corporation announced that in 2023, the Group’s global sales (including its subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino Motor) reached 11.3 million units, setting a new record, with a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. From the data point of view, even though Toyota’s transformation in the field of new energy is slow and the layout of pure electric products is slow, relying on the fuel and mixed market and the word-of-mouth accumulated over the years, it still ranks first in the world and ranks first in the world for four consecutive years.
It is worth mentioning that although Volkswagen Group ranked second, its cumulative delivery volume increased by 12% year-on-year in 2023, reaching 9.24 million vehicles. The growth momentum is still stronger than that of Toyota, thanks to its strong growth in the field of new energy.
Domestically, in 2023, FAW Toyota’s annual retail sales data was 800,018 units, up 4.1% year-on-year; GAC Toyota’s annual sales volume was 901,025 units, down 5.47% year-on-year; Lexus, a high-end brand, sold 181,400 units in China in the whole year, almost the same as in 2022 (183,900 units), and its sales declined for three consecutive years. According to the sales data, the sales volume in China market only accounts for 16.7% of Toyota’s global sales, less than 20%.
Volvo Cars plans to stop providing financing to Polar Star, and its share price rose by 26%.
After announcing that it would stop providing funds to its subsidiary Polestar Automotive, Volvo Car’s share price rose by more than 26% on February 1st. According to the data of London Stock Exchange (LSEG), Volvo announced that it may transfer the management right of Polar Star to its major shareholder, namely China Geely Holding Company, which holds 78.65% of the shares of Polar Star.
Volvo pointed out in its 2023 performance report that Polar Star "is entering the next exciting stage by strengthening business plans and cost actions", but Geely Holding will focus on developing Volvo cars and concentrate resources accordingly.
"Therefore, we are evaluating the shareholding ratio of Volvo Cars in Polar Star and seeking the possibility of adjustment, including distributing shares to shareholders of Volvo Cars. This may lead Geely Swedish Holdings to become an important new shareholder. "
Jim Rowan, CEO of Volvo Car Company, said that this is a "natural evolution" of the relationship between the two automakers. According to LSEG data, Volvo Cars currently holds about 44% of the company’s shares after acquiring Polar Star in 2015.
Frequent fraud scandals, Toyota President bowed and apologized.
Recently, according to foreign media reports, Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan, bowed and apologized for a series of recent scandals of Toyota’s subsidiaries at a press conference held in Nagoya.
The day before, four engines produced by Toyota Automatic Loom Company, a subsidiary of Toyota Group, were exposed to "falsification of exhaust emission test data", among which three automotive diesel engines were adopted by 10 models of Toyota. On the same day, Toyota Motor decided to stop the shipment of related diesel vehicles. President of Toyota Motor Corporation Sato Tsuneji bowed and apologized at a press conference held in Tokyo, saying that he would "deeply reflect".
According to Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, since last year, at least eight engines produced by Toyota Automatic Loom Company have been exposed to exhaust emissions testing fraud. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has instructed it to stop shipping, and today (30th) inspected the company’s factory in Binan City, Aichi Prefecture. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said that it would investigate its violations and the degree of malignancy in order to impose corresponding penalties.
In recent years, Japanese manufacturing quality scandals have emerged one after another, involving automobiles, steel, chemicals and many other fields. Take Toyota Motor as an example. Since the year before last, its subsidiary Hino Motor and its wholly-owned subsidiary Dafa Industrial Co., Ltd. have also been exposed to irregularities in product testing, which has once again had a negative impact on Toyota’s brand image.
Year-on-year surge, BYD’s estimated net profit in 2023 is 29-31 billion yuan.
A few days ago, BYD announced its 2023 annual performance forecast. It is estimated that the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in 2023 will be 29 billion to 31 billion yuan, up 74.46% to 86.49% year-on-year.
In 2023, BYD sold 3,024,417 vehicles and 3,012,906 passenger cars, up 61.8% year-on-year. Among them, 341,043 vehicles were sold in December, and 340,178 passenger cars were sold, up 45.0% year-on-year.
It is worth mentioning that on December 22, 2023, BYD announced that it would build a new energy vehicle production base in Segde, Hungary, which will be built in stages and is expected to create thousands of jobs for the local area.
BYD said that in 2023, the new energy vehicle industry continued to maintain a high-speed growth trend, and the company’s new energy vehicle sales reached a record high, further consolidating the leading position of new energy vehicle sales in the world. Despite the fiercer competition in the industry, the company has greatly improved its profitability and demonstrated its strong resilience by virtue of the continuous improvement of brand power, the rapid growth of overseas sales, the continuous expansion of scale advantages and the strong cost control ability of the industrial chain.
Three flagship new cars Tengshi announced 2024 new product planning
On February 1, 2024, during Tengshi Automobile User Communication Day, Zhao Changjiang, general manager and chief co-founder of Tengshi Automobile, said that Tengshi Automobile will surpass evolution in brand, product, technology and service in 2024. According to Tengshi’s previously announced product plan, Tengshi Automobile will launch eight new products within three years from 2023.
In 2023, Tengshi sold 127,840 vehicles and gained 150,000+users. As the flagship model of Tengshi Automobile, Tengshi D9 became the fastest new energy luxury model to deliver the 100,000th production car in 2023, and successfully won the annual MPV sales title in the whole market. Up to now, Tengshi Direct Store has exceeded 370, covering over 135 cities. This year, Tengshi’s service outlets will continue to expand; User activities will also be more diverse. Tengshi Automobile will challenge the sales target of 200,000 vehicles in 2024, especially in the high-end MPV market segment, and Tengshi Automobile hopes to gain a market share of 20%-30%.
This year, Tengshi D9 and N7 will be fully upgraded intellectually, and Tengshi will also launch three flagship models, including the dual flagship sedan (for Porsche Panamera and Maibakh S-Class) to be launched in the first half of 2024, and the brand-new SUV Tengshi N9 to be released at the end of 2024.
Chery responded to the rumor of "disagreement with Huawei", and both parties are making every effort to promote the delivery of Zhijie S7.
In response to the recent public opinion about (|), Chery spokesperson Jin Yibo recently responded that "the online rumors are not true, the cooperation between the two sides is smooth, and the resignation of executives is not due to cooperation projects."
Previously, a screenshot of a suspected internal chat record of Chery was circulated on the Internet. In this screenshot, a netizen who is suspected of being a Chery employee revealed that "(Huawei) is not willing to open the most basic software brush version, which leads to the inability to let the workers on the assembly line brush the software, which leads to the delay of delivery." "The leader who has been working hard to promote cooperation with Huawei has directly resigned."
Some media reports said, "The executive is Han Biwen, deputy general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. and general manager of the manufacturing division, who is responsible for docking with Huawei. Due to Huawei’s uncoordinated delivery, Zhijie S7 was delayed in a large area, and he was under great pressure."
In this regard, Jin Yibo said, "In order to provide users with the best products and services, Chery and Huawei are making every effort to promote the production and delivery of Zhijie S7, have invested more resources, and will continue to deepen cooperation and continue to bring consumers smart travel products with excellent driving experience and leading intelligence level."
Dongfeng accelerated to the sea, and Lantu and Warrior "entered" the Spanish and Portuguese markets.
Dongfeng Import and Export Corporation signed a cooperation agreement with Salvador Caetano Group, the largest automobile group in Iberia Peninsula, and jointly announced that Dongfeng’s brand electric vehicles such as Lantu and Warrior will land in Spain and Portugal one after another this year.
According to the release arrangement, in 2024, Dongfeng Lantu will release its brand in Spain and Portugal, listing two products, Lantu FREE and Lantu Dreamer. Among them, Dongfeng Lantu will land in Spain in the first half of 2024, and open the first Lantu space in Spain in Madrid, and start the delivery of new cars in the second quarter; In the second half of 2024, Lantu plans to release its brand in Portugal.
Sergio Ribeiro, president of Caetano, said that the electrification rate in Spain and Portugal is still at a low level, and the new energy vehicle market has broad prospects. He chose to introduce Dongfeng’s new energy brands into Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) because of their high quality products. He expressed the hope that this cooperation will be the beginning to help all products of Dongfeng enter more countries.
Nissan plans to independently produce lithium iron phosphate batteries to reduce the price of electric vehicles.
According to foreign media reports, Japanese automaker Nissan plans to produce Ferrous lithium phosphate (LFP) batteries to reduce the price of electric vehicles. The cost of lithium iron phosphate battery is 20% to 30% lower than that of nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) ternary lithium battery due to the lower price of the materials used. This move will allow Nissan to compete directly with BYD, the world’s leading manufacturer of LFP batteries.
Last November, Nissan’s passenger car sales were surpassed by BYD, a China automobile manufacturer, so the company made a plan to regain market share.
Japanese media reported that Nissan plans to start using lower-priced LFP batteries in electric vehicles, and Nissan electric vehicles equipped with LFP batteries will be sold in emerging markets as early as 2026. Although the cost of LFP battery is at most 30% lower than that of NCM ternary lithium battery, this kind of battery also has its own shortcomings, that is, the energy density is low, and the cruising range of LFP is about 20% to 30% less than that of NCM battery.
Nissan expects that the new battery will be used in its electric vehicles as early as 2026. At present, the company is looking for partners to promote this technology and may introduce technology from outside the company. (Text/car home Zhang Lingxiao)
