Thursday, May 25, 2017

China April 2017 (Updated)

BAIC EC180 dashboard

BAIC EC180 leads rise of Microcars

The Chinese market had more than 32.000 new EV's zooming the streets last month, a 49% increase over the same month last year, with the EV market share up to 1.2%, as the year proceeds and sales expand, expect the market share to rise above last year result (1.45%), maybe reaching North of 2%.

This is a highly protected market, where 93% of sales belong to domestic brands. Of the 7% left for foreign brands, 6% belong to Tesla, with the remaining 1% divided by all other auto makers.

If BAIC won the once again the winner on the models ranking in April, thanks to its EC180 golden boy, this time the monthly manufacturers title went to BYD, with over 6.000 units registered, which means the last year winner is back on its feet and ready to chase Beijing Auto in the race for the Best Selling manufacturer. 

Here’s April Top 5 Best Selling models individual performance:


Image result for BAIC EC180 price
#1 - BAIC EC180: Winning the Best Seller status for the third month in a row, this model is making a revolution on the Chinese EV market, as this is probably the first (Only?) little city EV that private buyers should be proud to have, with decent specs (eg, 20 kWh battery) and interiors/equipment for a somewhat low price (152.000 Yuan, or $22.000), the 4.352 units sold last month were a new record for the tiny EV and confirms it as the strongest candidate for this year Best Seller trophy, which would be a first for BAIC and the first time since 2013 that a BYD didn’t won the trophy.


Image result for zhidou d2
#2 – Zhidou D2 EV: If the EC180 can be considered “cute”, the bare-basics city vehicle doesn’t inspire anyone. Nevertheless, they continue to be sold in large quantities (3.709 units in April), possibly due to a combination of bargain-basement prices and big fleet deals. This vehicle is sold as a Quadricycle (Think Renault Twizy class) in some European countries, with the following specs: 12 kWh battery, 120 kms range, 90 kms max.speed, all this for some 16.000€.


Image result for Kandi K17
#3 – Kandi EV: A major player a while back, from 2016 Q3 to 2017 Q1 Kandi  management restricted production of EVs(1), so one would think it would see its life as an EV maker terminated. Apparently not, as the 2.586 units delivered in April were its best result in 10 months.


Image result for 2017 geely emgrand ev
#3 – Geely Emgrand EV: The first true car in the ranking, by delivering 2.586 units in April, this compact sedan (Think Toyota Corolla) is set to become one of the Best Sellers of the Year. Main specs: 253 kms range, 95 hp, 250.000 Yuan (36.500$).


Image result for 2017 BYD e5
#5 – BYD e5: The current BYD best seller is the low key e5 sedan, that delivered a record 2.512 units last month. A favorite among taxi companies, along with its e6 older brother, the plain-Jane looking e5 actually has a lot going for it, spec-wise: 305 kms range from a 48 kWh battery and a healthy 218 hp, all for 230.000 Yuan (33.400$). A wolf in sheep’s clothing, isn’t it?


Image result for 2017 JAC i ev 5
JAC i EV 5

Year-to-Date Ranking – Geely and BYD reach the podium

Below the top two positions there was a lot to talk about, with the Geely Emgrand EV and BYD e5 jumping to the podium, followed by the Kandi EV, now in Fifth Place, confirming the renewed success of tiny EV’s here.

A reference for the JAC iEV5, jumping into the Top 20 at #13, thanks to a record 1.670 deliveries in April. Was it a one time thing or will it be something to go on in the future?

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, BAIC (19%, down 4%) is seeing its leadership under threat, now followed by a recovering BYD (16%), with Zhidou now in third Place, with 10% share.


Pl
China
April
YTD
%
1
BAIC EC180
4.352
11.481
12
2
Zhidou D2 EV
3.709
9.508
10
3
Geely Emgrand EV
2.586
4.489
5
3
BYD e5
2.512
4.489
5
5
6
7
8
Kandi K17 EV
BYD Tang
JMC E100
BAIC EU260
2.586
1.534
1.222
475
4.485
4.340
4.181
3.996
5
5
5
4
9
SAIC Roewe eRX5
580
3.797
4
10
Zotye E200
1.129
3.295
4
11
Tesla Model X e)
500
3.264
4
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

BYD Qin EV300
JAC iEV 5
SAIC Roewe e550
JMC E200
BAIC EX200
Tesla Model S e)
Chery eQ
BYD e6
Changan Benni EV
Others
639
1.670
111
603
580
200
1.049
821
609
4.884
2.685
2.677
2.449
2.297
2.277
2.235
2.169
2.080
2.017
14.557
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2

TOTAL Market
32.351
92.768
100

(1) - According to an information of an insider source: "From 2016 Q3 to 2017 Q1 Kandi management restricted production of EVs.  This was unrelated to the subsidy investigation and directly related to the delay by the PRC in reimbursing PRC mandated subsidies to all EV manufacturers, that those manufacturers had previously advanced to buyers.  The PRC owed subsidies from July 2015 onward.  Since Kandi only manufactures EVs all of its revenue has a subsidy component.  Kandi was effectively lending the PRC government about $7,000 with every EV it sold.  This resulted in a dangerous cash flow situation".

On the previous mention of "fraud", the same source explains:  "(In 2016) over 80 companies were implicated as having infringements, and that was about 90% of all NEV manufacturers.  This included BYD and all the other major manufacturers including Kandi  No serious penalties resulted from these infringements which were largely due to ambiguities in the subsidies law.  There was no suggestion of fraud by the PRC government. 

In Kandi's case the problem was due to its 2013/14 models being designed for quick battery exchange with 2 in the car and 2 in the charging rack.  This was a PRC government approved system, that they called Kandi Mode.  In 2016 subsidy inspectors determined it was not compatible with current subsidy law that required all batteries to be in the car and battery ID #s to match the records at the date of sale.  The problem was fixed to the satisfaction of inspectors in March 2016 but that left Kandi in the list of companies with infringements.  Since the fix was achieved in 2016 the PRC determined that the 2013/14 models qualified for subsidies at the 2016 rate."



9 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 25, 2017

    BYD cheapest EV is their lead selling one which ahould be a statment to them...
    I cant help but think BYD is trying to be something they are not a luxury and perforamce auto maker which drives up the cost of their vehicles and decreases sales...
    Normal joes dont care about 0 to 60 times...
    I also think BYD is wasting valuable engineering and resource time making ICE, plugin hybrid and BEV versions of all their models when the Chinese market has clearly told auto makers that they dont want plug in hybrids with their buying choices...
    It would be nice if BYD had a small and large battery option I  their BEVs for customers who are clearly opting for the cheaper and smaller range BEVa of their competiors...
    Now that BYD is getting competion from every angle they can no longer win by being the only game in town...
    I think BYD is awsome as a whole but I do think they have missed the mark and will probably take a back burner to other entries in the BEV market with out changing their product and prices...

    ReplyDelete
  2. yep kandi is not dead! the issue of the fraud investigation is over. government was misunderstanding kandi's jv battery exchange method which had two batteries which caused confusion. problem is resolved. li shufu was tightly involved in the matter and it worked out with a fine. kandis'4 models are now all registerd by the MIIT ready for subsidy receival. already has picked up 83 million dollars owed for 2015 and more coming in the amount of 58 million so kandi is ready to do business as normal. this matter had greatly hurt kandi do to the subsidies being halted but they made I thru with cash on hand. hoping to see more from them as I am a shareholder invested. also june new factory on the island of hainian to open and a new hi tech car to be revealed. thanks for the coverage!!! jose :)

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  3. hi jose, question on kandi numbers. some are questioning if they are kandi's numbers saying that maybe its a mistake and belong to geely. any way you can confirm positive about this that they belong to kandi. greatly appreciate you notes at the bottom explain what happened man. yeah kandi went thru hell and is back. please help with this if you can confirm. thankyou jose!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. According to what i know, Kandi has a participation of Geely, but does not belong on 100% to it.

      So is safe to say that Kandi is a separate brand, but is debatable saying that Kandi belongs to the growing Geely Group, as to my knowledge, Geely does not have a controlling stake on Kandi.

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    2. hi jose kandi has a JV with geely holdings they are 50/50 partners but they don't make any geely brand cars only kandi brands. the emgrand has the same number as the kandi k17 so that is why people are questioning the numbers. are they correct jose so I can take this back to the boards? thank you bud

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    3. 2586 for both the emgrand by geely and then 2586 for kandi I think that is why they think its a mix up.

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  4. also jose forgot to mention geely auto sold kandi jv to li shifu which now belongs to geely holdings. so kandi jv has nothing to do with geely auto no more

    ReplyDelete
  5. José. I didn't where to put this: http://www.td.gov.hk/filemanager/en/content_4854/table41e.pdf
    But, as you can see, Tesla blew up the scale in March for deliveries in Hong-Kong (with the end of taxes rebates the rest of the year will be a pain to follow, surely). For entire Q1, I calculate 1233 Model S and 2464 Model X!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks!

      I witnessed this Tesla craze when i was in HK a few weeks ago, i had never seen so many Teslas per square meter.

      Delete