Transcription
This data from China. It's a little bit shocking. Some people will be uh but hurt about the data. They will be but hurt. So, let's preface this with what's actually going on in China. Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, the four major German luxury car brands in China. Well, they've historically made most of their profits from China, which is a shock to most people, but it's actually true. But they posted steep delivery declines in the first half of this year.
In fact, Audi's China sales dropped 10% year-over-year to below 288,000 in the first 6 months, according to numbers the brand reported on the 28th of July. The decline can be attributed among other factors to the ongoing highly intense competitive situation in the markets at Audi as their profits crashed over the last 3 months. China sales at Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW have suffered more severe contraction than Audi this year. Porsche said China deliveries fell by 28% in the first 6 months of the year, 28% after falling similar numbers last year. Without releasing numbers for the second quarter, Porsche's local sales plunged 42%. So, Porsche's sales over the last 3 months in China just fell by 42%. They sold only 9,471 cars in the last 3 months. The last three months. That's only 3,000 cars a month. Mercedes-Benz said on July 9 that second quarter deliveries fell by just under 20% to 140,000 in China with the volume for the first 6 months falling 14%. But the last 3 months down by about 20%. Combined sales of its BMW and Mini brands in China fell 14% to 162,000 with the year-to- date number sliding by 16% for BMW. For context, Porsche's sales in 2024 fell by 28%.
Sales numbers from China have just emerged within the last four or 5 hours and the results are quite shocking. This is BD's first real proper massive challenge they're facing. Sales have fallen by 10%. And they have not increased at all on last year which is a very very shocking result. Other companies down 40%, other companies up 279%. Here are the sales numbers from China for the first 7 months of this year, but more particularly for the month of July where everything, and I mean everything, is in flux.
Hello, my friends. Welcome to the channel. I'm Sam Evans. You're watching the Electric Viking. Great to have you with us. These numbers are very very interesting because all of a sudden things are appearing to be turning on their head. This is not not at all what analysts expected. Suddenly we have this we have all this you could say spotlight on China. You could say spotlight on some interesting sales practices. And all of a sudden numbers have changed drastically. And I wonder if that's related. I'm curious to know what you guys think. All of this PR we've been seeing in China lately. There's a clearly a battle between BYD and the rest of the automotive industry. There are loggerheads. There's been some um very heated and vocal uh arguments between them even even in a a public meeting recently between CEOs of car companies. And the sales numbers are showing you that this market is just absolutely red-hot.
First of all, let's just have a quick overview for you guys. Quick overview here of the winners and losers in July and then we'll have a look a bit more of the details. Zika group. Zika has merged with link and co. So link and co and Zika were just I believe bought out by Jile. So they won't be a public company anymore. could be a good thing for them. Their sales increased to 44,000 in July. Zika brand sales were 16,977. So 17,000 sales for the Zika brand, which is an 8.4% year-on-year increase and a 1.6% increase from June. Bed sales um is surprising their sales have dropped to the same pretty much the same level as last year. So, Build's meteoric rise has suddenly come to a halt. In fact, their sales are down 10% versus last month, which is unusual. Generally, in China, sales continue to grow, except for February. From the start of the year, sales generally continue to increase a little bit until the end of the year where they kind of go crazy. Neo sales were 21,000. That includes the Envo brand. So, that's growth of 2.5% yearonear, which is probably not not what NEO were hoping for considering the massive R&D that these guys spend and the amount of money that they're uh churning through every quarter. Let's be honest, people say I'm a hater for saying that, but it's it's just facts, right? Facts are eventually if you're losing a billion dollars a quarter, um you might not be around eventually. Leo, they delivered 30,000 cars, a fall sudden collapse of 40% yearonear. In the first 7 months of the year, Leo has delivered 235,000 cars, which is down 2.2% yearonear. I'm a big fan of Leo Auto. I love the new electric SUV. They just delivered the i8. I think it's phenomenal car. So, I think hopefully Leo bounced back. Leap motor. Leap Motor. They have a joint venture with Stalantis. And a lot of people think that Leap Motor are a true dark horse in Europe, that they're providing cars, the best value electric cars in Europe. Not sure if that's true, but that's what some analysts believe. Elite Motor delivered 50,130 cars in July, which was huge growth for them. Xiaomi, record number of sales for Xiaomi. They delivered more than 30,000 vehicles in July. That's a a monthly delivery record. Of course, they're now selling the new U7. So, that's obviously helped. Xping, they delivered 36,717 cars in July, which was growth of well, for the first seven months of the year, they have grown by 270%. Versus last year, they're currently the fastest growing car company in the world. Though, that's a quick overview of those numbers.
Now, breaking it down, let's have a quick look at each car company. We'll try and spend about 1 minute on each of them. I'll give you my thoughts where I think they're all going. I think um I think Zeke Zeke's deliveries have kind of stalled a little bit in China, but I expect that as they begin selling the 7X and the 007 GT, uh other cars globally, I think Zika really is it's kind of a Volvo brand, like a sister brand to Volvo really, but I think a little bit more premium and I think they have better looking cars and there's a lot of buzz right now around the 7X. So even those eco sales haven't really grown this year versus last year. I think internationally outside of China, we're going to see some definitely some increases in pretty significant increase in sales over the next probably 5 months of this year.
Now what about BYD? Well, interestingly by you got me I've been very very highly criticized for my take on BD's plug-in hybrid sales and on the plug-in hybrids themselves. I do think that their uh previous generation technology, it's not bad, don't get me wrong. I just don't think it's up there with the best hybrid technology in China currently. It was good when it was revealed, you know, 18 months ago. Uh it's sort of falling behind a bit now. And I think that's being reflected in sales. Yeah. The company sold 344,300 vehicles in July, which was up 0.5% basically flat. same numbers as June of last year, but down by 10% from June of this year. So, Body ceased production and sales of internal combustion cars in March a few years ago, but the truth is their plug-in hybrid sales were growing fast, but they're not actually anymore. In fact, they're actually declining. And I I think that's reflective of plug-in hybrid sales in China. E-Rev sales are growing incredibly quickly, growing by what, 300% this year. Plug-in hybrid sales, not so much. Body's commercial vehicle sales have been good, but they um they were up 106% yearonear, but down 34% from last month. I don't know if this um recent stuff, all the news outles have affected sales or not, but it does appear they might have. EVs. Body sold 177,890 EVs, which was up 36.8% year on year. So, Build's electric car sales are growing. Um, but they fell 14% from June. But anyway, Body's EV sales, you could still say that's growth, really, couldn't you? 37% growth versus last year. Same thing you can't say for plug-in hybrid sales, which continue to fall month after month after month. Bid sold 163,000 plug-in hybrids in July, which was down 23% yearonear and down 4.5% from June. This marks the fourth consecutive month of decline in Bid's plug-in hybrid sales as well as the fourth consecutive month of sales below EV sales. You can see here the market is turning towards electric cars and e-revs. I'd say e-rev sales are growing very quickly because a lot of e-revs have a lot more range than a lot of plug-in hybrids. The average range you're looking at might be between 70 to 120 km of range. A lot of e-revs now we're seeing 200 plus km 400 plus km of range. So it's a different value proposition and - generally the perception is they're an EV with a small generator motor. That's the perception in China. That's what some of the Chinese engineers have told me in person and that's they believe that's the case. So, you're buying an electric car that's, you know, got a small generative motor and ultimately that means it's it potentially going to be a better vehicle potentially. But regardless of whatever that may be, plug-in hybrid sales clearly are falling for BYD. Clearly, there's a demand problem with their plug-in hybrids. And considering how many plug-in hybrids B have launched, it's not like they're not, you can't really say, oh, it's Tesla sales, they're falling because they don't have any models. New models. I mean, B brings out a new model every 2 weeks. And a lot of them are plug-in hybrids. A lot of them are huge numbers. Body sells more plug-in hybrids than EVs now. More models. So, this is not about the number of models they have. This is about demand for the actual technology itself, I think.
Now, what do you guys think? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below. Now, I should put a caveat on this. There's still really good sales numbers for BD. Really good. But I think it's very clear over the past couple of months there has been a slowdown in deliveries for bill. So there's a lot of pressure on dealerships right now to sell the cars and that's been part of the reason why we've seen massive discounting particularly in China.
Neo all right Neo sales I think you can say are kind of uh unpredictable. I mean, looking at Neo's sales chart here, it kind of it's kind of all over the place, isn't it? I mean, last month, you can say sales were were pretty good. NEO delivered what would be actually some of their best months of the year in, as you can see here in June, by far their best month of the year. But if you look back last year, look at like May all the way to November, very consistent sales, very similar to every month, right? This year, it's up and down. really kind of all over the place. And ultimately, the truth is that July was not a good month for Neo. Neo, it is a fact, does spend a lot of money on R&D and they're just not selling enough cars to justify the investments they're making. In my opinion, the OO sales 21,000 including the Envo sales, including the new Firefly as well were, well, they were there were 2.5% increase from 20,500 from the same month last year, but a 16% decrease from June of this year. So, 16% decrease from last month. And they have a lot of models as well. They're not shy on models. They have plenty of new models coming all the time. The Neo main brand though is in trouble. It's a fact. Neo's actual main brand sold 12,675 cars in July, which was a 38% decrease year on year and a 13% increase decrease from June. So, a 38% decrease. And they are good cars, but they are a little bit more expensive than their rivals. And let's be honest, you can't say, you can't really say the market isn't there. It is there. The market is there. Look at Xiaomi's numbers. Like Xiaomi is a clear rival. They just sold more than 30,000 cars. They're a new car company. They really only have one model. Just started selling a new model. Um, so there is the demand. They're just Neo isn't getting it for whatever reason.
Now, Lee Auto clearly not going so well here. They did just launch a brand new car which I think is phenomenal, but I don't know if the market's going to like it. It's a bit odd looking. Looks a bit like an MPV. People are sort of moving away from that style. I personally would be more than happy to own one. I think it's a great car. But anyway, clearly Leo Auto is undergoing some demand issues right now, delivering 30,000 vehicles in July, which was down by 40% yearonear and down 15% month over month. meaning we're seeing consecutive month well two months in a row of year-on-year declines in monthly deliveries bringing year-to- date deliveries below the same period last year. Leo Auto is no longer growing. Uh and for them that is very stressful. That would be right now a big challenge for them. As of the end of July, Leo Auto had delivered a total of 1.37 million cars since they began. And that's um that's a lot of cars. Now hopefully this new six seat electric SUV uh starting at $44,000 deliveries begin on the 20th of August. Hopefully that helps them bounce back. It could. I'm not sure. But interestingly interestingly Leo 95% of their sales are plug-in hybrids. Yeah. And their sales are going dropping as well. So, is this a a a some sort of funny kind of coincidence that Lee Auto and Bill's sales are falling, plug-in hybrid sales in particular, or is this reflective of the market in general?
Well, interestingly, Leap Motor sales continue to rise significantly, and they don't sell plug-in hybrids. Well, not yet anyway. I mean, Leap Motor, they're just an EV company, and look at their sales. Very similar to Xpank. I mean, look at these numbers from Leap Motor. 50,000 vehicle deliveries. That's a monthly increase of 127% year onyear. Massive, massive growth. And so far this year, Leap Motor has delivered 271,800 cars, which was up. They're actually the second fastest growing car company in the world, growth of 149.9%. Second fastest in the world to only one other car company, as I mentioned before, which is Xpang. Le Motor aims to sell 500 to 600,000 vehicles in 2025 and it's very clearly on track to do that. Very likely it'll get to 600,000 by the end of this year. Tremendous success story apparently. Now I I didn't quite get it right before. Le Motor does sell um a couple of E-Revs. They don't make up the majority of their sales, but I should point out they do sell a few E-Revs and EVs. That's all they do. no plug-in hybrids and their sales, as you can see, continued to grow. Big success story. In fact, if you think about it, 50,000 vehicle deliveries in the month of July, they could be on track to sell potentially 90 to 100,000 in December of this year, making them become a big a bigname car company. Um, we don't have their cars in Australia. We should they should be on sale here.
Now, I've already mentioned Shiaoang sales in a separate video, but their sales, they're actually the fastest growing car company this year. And I'll just move on finally to Xiaomi. Xiaomi delivered more than 30,000 cars in July. I don't like the fact that Xiaomi, we don't know their sales numbers. We don't know what they are, and we can never fully accurately report on them. All we get from Xiaomi is approximate numbers. I think that Xiaomi needs to follow the rest of the market. This it looks like they're hiding something, but they're not. They're not hiding anything, but it looks like they are by not actually disclosing their numbers. Xiaomi just says they delivered over 30,000 cars in July, which to me, if I'm an investor, I'm looking at that going, why why do you continually not tell us the numbers? You just say over this or over that. But these are really regardless very good numbers from Xiaomi. And Xiaomi most certainly doesn't have a demand problem. I believe they pre-sold more than 300,000 of the new Sue7, which is a very good car for the price. It's not a car I personally have any desire to own. I just don't like cars that are not practical. I mean, it's the biggest car I believe you can buy in China that doesn't have a lot of interior space. Yeah, you can buy sedans. I'm not talking about sedans, but in terms of SUVs, it's really all style. It is a very cool looking car, but I think it's got a small boot. It's got not a lot of interior space. looks cool, looks like a Ferrari, but it's also a bit of impractical car being more of a design, a design showcase. And clearly customers don't care about me. What I'm saying, practicality is not on the first thing on their minds. I'm looking at Leo's EV. I'm looking at my car and I'm thinking practicality for me is so important. But clearly people in China don't see it that way. And they're like, "Well, this thing looks freaking awesome. We want to get one of these." And the U7 had 200,000 firm orders within the first 3 minutes of going on sale and more than 240,000 locked in orders within 18 hours. So the question here will be simply how fast can they make the cars? How fast can they deliver orders? Because people will cancel their orders if it takes more than a year to get delivery. Right? If they can't deliver 30,000 of just the Sue7 alone per month, there's no doubt people will cancel. They won't sit around waiting for a car for 12 months because remember within that 12 months, other manufacturers are going to bring out new cars that are going to be awesome and people going to see those. They're going, "Why am I waiting for so long? This is really annoying. I'm going to buy something else." So that's the question here. Can Xiaomi deliver these cars quickly? We don't know yet. We really don't know.
Those are the sales numbers for China. Those are the winners and losers. There's obviously a lot in flux right now. I think most of it is success. Some of it's clearly struggle. But all these car companies are battling each other. And they're battling legacy automakers. Legacy automakers like Toyota and Nissen that are selling electric cars at a loss. They are selling EVs so cheap in order to try and claw back market share to hold on to market share. And I don't know why no one is mentioning this. It's extremely important to mention margins in the automotive industry have never been lower. Right? General Motors is losing money. Ford, their margins are minuscule. Volkswagen's margins are minuscule. Audi's margins, Porsche's margins, all of them are minuscule. This is why because of these this competition, because electric cars are being sold at such affordable prices. And the challenge here is this. How long can you survive under these conditions? How long can you continue to fight in this blood bath? What are your thoughts? Let me know. Bye-bye. [Music]