Dongfeng Motor Group's sales volume collapsed across the board

Dongfeng Motor recently released production and sales data, saying that from January to May, Dongfeng Motor sold 1.5396 million vehicles, including 1.296 million passenger cars and 243,600 commercial vehicles, up 21.91% year-on-year. In May, Dongfeng Motor sold 295,200 vehicles in a single month.

From January to May, Dongfeng's self-owned brand car sales reached 593,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 7.34%, of which self-owned passenger car sales reached 352,600 units and self-owned commercial vehicle sales reached 240,400 units, a year-on-year increase of 22.57%. From January to May, Dongfeng's new energy vehicle sales reached 10,700 units, a year-on-year increase of 35.53%.

The carefully arranged data creates a state of "good sales performance". However, it is not difficult to find that the word "growth" is used after the commercial vehicle data, while the passenger car sales data does not mention the increase or decrease. In addition, for an automobile group with more than a dozen subsidiaries, such general data cannot reflect the operating conditions of its brands.

Taking Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co., Ltd. as an example, the express report only shows that its sales volume from January to May was 126,500 vehicles. The monthly sales volume in May can only be known by subtracting the cumulative sales volume from January to April from this number. According to the latest April sales data on Dongfeng Group's official website, the cumulative sales volume of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co., Ltd. from January to April was 102,500 vehicles. After calculation, it was concluded that its monthly sales volume in May was 24,000 vehicles.

Public data shows that Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile sold 47,300 vehicles in May last year, down 49.3% year-on-year, almost halved. From January to May, its cumulative sales were 126,500 vehicles, as mentioned in the express report. In the same period last year, the number was 244,700 vehicles; in the same period of the year before, it was 308,400 vehicles. It can be seen that Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile is entering a trough.

The recent large-scale personnel reshuffle at Dongfeng Group has involved Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile, indicating that the group has also recognized the latter's crisis. In April this year, An Tiecheng, who was transferred from FAW to Dongfeng, went to Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile for inspection as soon as he arrived at the company. This was interpreted by the outside world as a sign that An Tiecheng would replace Liu Weidong in charge of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile. It is unknown whether An Tiecheng, who has rich sales experience at FAW-Volkswagen, can turn the tide.

As for Dongfeng's own brands, Dongfeng Fengshen sold a total of 56,653 new cars from January to May this year, while last year's sales were 150,000. In the first five months of this year, only 37.8% of last year's sales were achieved. It is not easy to achieve this year's sales of 200,000 vehicles. Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle's official website even used the small-scale market segment "No. 1 in Hubei's automotive industry SUV" to describe the sales performance of AX7, which has only accumulated 22,788 units this year. The AX3 and AX5 are even worse, with a total of 9,053 and 8,209 units.

In contrast, Dongfeng Fengguang's cumulative sales in the first four months reached 97,811 units, of which the SUV model Fengguang 580 sold a total of 64,955 units, ranking 7th in its segment, which is still "fengguang". However, the other two MPVs 330 and 370 have little presence. It can be said that Dongfeng Fengguang is supported by Fengguang 580, which accounts for 66.41% of the brand's sales share.

The Dongfeng Fengxing brand, which belongs to Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor, is regarded as the "mainstay" of Liuzhou Motor. Similarly, this "pillar" is not so solid. Its sales in the first four months of this year were 25,009, 18,369, 22,268 and 11,016 respectively, showing a sharp downward trend overall. Among them, the Jingyi series, which once led to the "rise" of Dongfeng Fengxing, has been hit hard. Jingyi X5, X3, and S50 sold 18,027, 12,776, and 5,797 units respectively in the first four months, ranking after 50 in their respective market segments.

Dongfeng's self-owned brands, which were once highly expected, have all performed poorly. Dongfeng has long looked up to Geely, Changan, Trumpchi, and SAIC, which have sold more than 300,000 vehicles in the first five months.

In addition, the performance of other joint venture brands under Dongfeng Group is also mixed. Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Honda performed well, Dongfeng Yueda Kia continued to slump, Dongfeng Infiniti and Dongfeng Renault still had a small base, and Dongfeng Yulon's sales were better than nothing. Even Dongfeng Honda, which had excellent overall data, actually only had 3 of the 9 models on sale that made a substantial contribution.

Dongfeng Yueda Kia has also replaced its vice president since Su Nanyong returned at the beginning of the year. The frequent personnel changes are due to the company's urgent mentality to curb the decline. In the first five months, the company's cumulative sales volume was 110,300 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 53.6%. The company's annual sales target for this year is 700,000 vehicles, but only more than 1/7 of it has been achieved in the first five months. This goal may not be achieved by Su Nanyong, the meritorious coach who once led the company from annual sales of 100,000 vehicles to 640,000 vehicles.

The new KX7, which was launched this year, is targeting the 7-seat SUV market, which should be a hot market, but the sales of 609 units in April may surprise everyone. It is not difficult to imagine that under the conditions of the Sino-Korean political environment and the decline in the product strength of Korean cars, the entry-level small car Huanchi, the upcoming facelifted K4, the new generation of Furuidi, the crossover version of K2 K2 Cross, the hybrid version of K5 K5 PHEV and the pure electric car Huaqi 300E will not have a surprising performance.

Dongfeng Infiniti's sales in the first five months totaled 110,300 units. The performance of its two domestically produced cars has gradually widened. On the one hand, the Q50L can still squeeze into the top 20 of the B-class sedan market with an average monthly sales of 1,500 units. On the other hand, the QX50 has gradually declined, with an average monthly sales of 600 units, ranking only 130th in the SUV field.

Since Lu Yi replaced Dai Lei as the head of Dongfeng Infiniti in early 2016, the brand has experienced a one-year team running-in period and has entered a steady growth state this year. However, objectively speaking, Infiniti is still a relatively new niche brand in the Chinese market. Its unique design and brand proposition are destined to be understood by only sentimental consumers.

Looking at the overall performance of Dongfeng Group, in fact, only Dongfeng Honda and Dongfeng Nissan are playing the role of blood transfusion for the group in terms of passenger vehicles. Among the independent brands consisting of commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles basically carry the sales responsibility, but commercial vehicle sales are not the mainstream indicator reflecting the strength of an auto company.

In fact, although Dongfeng Group seems to have carried out drastic reforms recently and made personnel adjustments to its joint ventures and independent segments, this is not a sufficient condition for improving its performance. Sensitivity to product and market changes may be the reason.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.