Economic Observation Network reporter Zhou JuAfter the car market "price war" baptism, the first half of this year auto listed companies will hand over what kind of "report card"? With the-share listed car companies have released the first half of the performance forecast, the answer is initially revealed.

A reporter from the Economic Observer Network counted the 15 listed car companies that have issued performance forecasts, including 7 companies with passenger car business and 8 commercial vehicle companies (Jiangling Motors has both passenger car business and commercial vehicle business, but Commercial vehicle sales account for a relatively high proportion, so it is classified as commercial vehicles).

Of the 15 listed car companies, 10 are expected to make profits and 5 are expected to make losses. In terms of classification, only 3 of the 7 passenger car companies have achieved profits, namely BYD, Great Wall Automobile and Jianghuai Automobile, and the remaining four have made losses. The overall performance of commercial vehicles is relatively better, showing a collective recovery trend. Among the 8 car companies, only Ankai Bus has a pre-loss performance and the rest has achieved profitability.

　　BYD"outshine others"

Among the listed car companies, BYD is the only one with a profit of more than 10 billion yuan in the first half of the year. According to its performance forecast, the profit in the first half of the year is expected to 105 to 11.7 billion billion yuan, an increase of 192.05 to 225.43 percent over the same period last year. Great Wall Motors, which ranks second in profitability among passenger cars, has a profit of only 11.5-1.55 billion yuan, which is about 1/10 of BYD's. Among the 15 listed car companies currently counted, BYD's profits are even higher than the sum of the remaining 14.

As for the reasons for the rapid growth of performance, BYD said in the announcement that it was mainly due to the strong growth of sales volume and the continuous increase of market share. Data show that BYD sold 1.2556 million vehicles in the first half of this year, up 94.25 per cent from a year earlier. In fact, since last year's announcement of a complete shift to new energy vehicles, BYD's sales have continued to soar, surpassing Tesla to become the world's new energy vehicle sales champion, and the momentum remains unabated in the first half of this year.

In terms of gross margin, BYD's gross margin in 2022 was 16.6 per cent, compared with 25.6 per cent for Tesla, according to previous data. According to Tesla's financial report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 released on July 20, although Tesla's delivery and revenue increased, the price war reduced Tesla's gross profit margin to 18.2, the lowest level in nearly three years. In this way, what kind of gross profit margin BYD will achieve in the first half of the year will be announced after the official release of its financial report.

Great Wall Motor maintained its profitability in the first half of this year, but its profit margin fell sharply. According to the performance forecast, Great Wall Motor's net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first half of 2023 is 1.15 billion yuan to 1.55 billion yuan, which is expected to decrease by 72.32 to 79.47 percent year-on-year.

Regarding the main reasons for the substantial changes in performance, Great Wall Motors explained that this was mainly due to the company's deepening of the transformation to new energy and intelligence, product structure adjustment, based on the launch of new products in 2023, increased investment in brand and channel construction, and at the same time insisted on New energy and intelligent research and development investment, as well as reduced exchange rate gains.

In fact, Great Wall Motor's performance has continued to be poor this year. Data show that in the first quarter of this year, Great Wall Motor's net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 0.174 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 89.34; after deducting non-recurring gains and losses, the net loss reached 0.217 billion yuan.

In terms of sales, Great Wall Motor sold a total of 519200 new cars in the first half of the year, basically the same as the same period last year, only 32.45 per cent of its annual sales target, and 93200 new energy models, an increase of 46.60 per cent over the same period last year. According to the previous plan, Great Wall's goal this year is to sell no less than 1.6 million vehicles, of which the sales of new energy vehicles account for 40%, that is, about 600000 vehicles, and the net profit is not less than 6 billion yuan. At present, the Great Wall Motor to complete the target of considerable pressure.

Jianghuai Automobile turned losses into profits in the first half of the year, and its net profit in the first half of the year is expected to be about 0.15 billion yuan, an increase of about 0.86 billion yuan over the same period last year. However, it is worth noting that in the first half of the year, JAC received a government subsidy of about 0.485 billion yuan. If the government subsidy is excluded, JAC's main business will face losses. Jianghuai Automobile's sales increased in the first half of the year. The cumulative sales volume in the first half of the year was 278800, an increase of 18.53 percent year-on-year, of which 89200 vehicles were exported, an increase of 82.98 percent year-on-year, and nearly 6000 new energy vehicles were exported, an increase of 139 percent year-on-year.

　　Selis and BAIC Blue Valleysustained loss

Among the seven passenger car companies, four suffered losses in the first half of the year, namely BAIC Blue Valley, Selis, Zotye Automobile and Haima Automobile. Among them, BAIC Blue Valley has the largest loss.

According to the performance forecast released by BAIC Blue Valley, the net profit in the first half of the year is expected to be -2.1 billion yuan to -1.8 billion yuan, and the net profit after deduction is -2.65 billion yuan to -2.35 billion yuan. Compared with the same period last year, to achieve a certain degree of loss reduction. According to the data, BAIC Blue Valley's net profit in the first half of 2022 was -2.1812 billion yuan, with non-net profit of -2.2038 billion yuan.

BAIC Blue Valley explained that there were three main reasons for the company's pre-loss in the first half of the year. First of all, the competition in the new energy vehicle market has further intensified, and prices have continued to decline, squeezing profit margins; second, the company's products are still in a period of continuous climbing, with insufficient scale effects, and product costs continue to be under pressure; third, the company is responding to market competition, Improve product and brand competitiveness, and continue to invest in technology research and development and brand channel construction, which has an impact on company performance.

BAIC Blue Valley's car brands include Polar Fox and BEIJING. In terms of sales, BAIC Blue Valley sold 35000 vehicles in the first half of the year, compared with 17000 vehicles in the same period last year, an increase of 106.88 per cent over the same period last year. From the sales point of view, BAIC Blue Valley has a weak sense of existence in the new energy vehicle market, and the sales volume of the polar fox car, which is expected to be built with great efforts, is only 8791 in the first half of the year.

In the past few years, with the withdrawal of new energy vehicle subsidies and intensified market competition, BAIC's new energy sales continued to shrink, and the new brand Polar Fox was still in the investment stage, and BAIC Blue Valley continued to be at a loss. Data show that BAIC Blue Valley lost 6.482 billion yuan and 5.244 billion yuan and 5.465 billion yuan in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively, with a cumulative loss of more than 17 billion yuan in three years.

Selis is another "big loss maker" among listed car companies ". According to its performance forecast, the net profit in the first half of the year is expected to be -1.39 billion yuan to -1.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year loss of 20%-28%, and a loss of 1.727 billion yuan in the same period last year.

Similar to BAIC Blue Valley, Selis points the reason for the loss to the "price war" and high investment in research and development. "The promotion of the automobile industry in the first quarter led to the wait-and-see mood of users. The expectation of users that the M5 smart driving version will be released in the second quarter has a certain impact on the sales of existing models. Therefore, the company's sales in the first half of the year did not meet the expectations. At the same time, the company maintained high R & D investment in the core technology field of new energy vehicles, and continued to introduce R & D and technical talents, and R & D expenses increased compared with the same period last year. "Sylis said.

Selis lost $2.308 billion, $2.793 billion and $4.296 billion in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively, with a cumulative loss of $9.397 billion in three years. In addition to the losses in the first half of this year, the accumulated losses have exceeded 10 billion yuan.

Selis said that with the launch of the M5 smart driving version and other new models, as well as the increase in overseas sales, the company's sales and profitability are expected to improve in the second half of the year.

In addition, Zotye and Haima were also at a loss in the first half of the year. Among them, Zhongtai Automobile's net profit loss in the first half of the year was 0.2 billion yuan to 0.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 27.89-an increase of 8.16. Haima Auto expects net profit loss of 50 million -75 million yuan. At present, Zotye and Haima are marginalized in the market, sales are very small, of which Zotye Automobile has undergone bankruptcy reorganization in the resumption of production stage, while Haima Automobile sales in the first half of the year only 17200 units.

　　Commercial Vehicle Collective Warming

Compared with the loss of more than half of passenger cars, the overall performance of commercial vehicles is better. Among the 8 listed commercial vehicle companies, 7 have achieved profitability and achieved profit growth. Only the Ankai bus family suffered a profit loss.

Among them, Foton Motor's profit and growth rate are in the forefront of the same industry, and its net profit is expected to be about 0.58 billion yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of about 166 per cent over the same period last year. Foton Motor said that the main reason for the pre-increase in performance in the first half of the year was the increase in the company's commercial vehicle sales, the further optimization of the business structure, and the substantial increase in profits; at the same time, the profits of ZF Foton, Fukang Post-processing and other joint ventures increased year-on-year. In the first half of this year, Foton Motor sold 303900 units, an increase of 21.5 per cent over the same period last year, while sales of more profitable large and medium-sized customers increased by 19 per cent over the same period last year.

FAW Jiefang and Sinotruk also achieved substantial profit growth. Among them, FAW Jiefang expects a net profit of 0.38 billion -0.42 billion yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of 123.33-146.84 percent over the same period last year, while Sinotruk expects a net profit of 0.465 billion -0.529 billion yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of 45-65 percent over the same period last year.

Both companies attributed the growth to the recovery of the domestic economy and the commercial vehicle market. "Benefiting from the recovery of the domestic economy and commercial vehicle market, the company focused on the balanced development of various market segments. Medium and heavy trucks and light trucks showed a growth trend. Overseas exports hit a new high in the same period, and net profit increased year-on-year. "FAW Liberation said in its earnings forecast.

"The performance growth mainly benefited from the steady improvement of the domestic macro-economy and the improvement of overseas market demand. The heavy truck industry recovered significantly and the profitability improved significantly. "Sinotruk said in its earnings forecast.

Data show that FAW Jiefang's cumulative sales in the first half of the year were 131500 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 31.32 percent. Among them, the sales of medium and heavy trucks were 112300 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of about 31.75 percent. Sinotruk sold 127800 vehicles, up 44% year-on-year.

In the bus industry, Yutong Bus, Jinlong Automobile and Zhongtong Bus all achieved profit growth. Among them, Yutong Bus is expected to make a net profit of 0.38 billion yuan to 0.56 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Compared with the same period last year, it will turn losses into profits. Jinlong Motor expects a net profit of about 47 million yuan in the first half of the year, which is about -0.22 billion yuan compared with the same period last year. Zhongtong Bus expects net profit of 40 million -52 million yuan in the first half of the year, with net profit up 82%-137 year on year.

The main reason behind the pre-increase in the performance of listed bus companies is the recovery of domestic bus market demand. Yutong Bus said that with the changes in the macro environment, national travel demand, especially travel demand, has increased, domestic tourist passenger transport and other market demand has recovered, the company's domestic bus sales have increased, and overseas market demand has recovered.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales of commercial vehicles in the first half of the year were 1.967 million and 1.971 million respectively, an increase of 16.9 and 15.8 respectively. Among the main varieties of commercial vehicles, compared with the same period last year, the production and sales of passenger cars and trucks showed double-digit growth, of which the growth rate of passenger car production and sales was higher than that of trucks.

However, Ankai Bus is still losing money in the first half of the year, with an expected net profit loss of 60 million -70 million yuan. However, thanks to the recovery of bus demand, Ankai bus has achieved a loss reduction compared with the same period last year.

Jiangling Motors, which also owns commercial vehicle and passenger car businesses, expects a net profit of about 0.729 billion billion yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of 61.23 percent over the same period last year. Jiangling Motors said that the increase in net profit in the first half of the year was mainly due to the increase in gross profit brought about by the increase in sales and the decline in raw material costs, as well as the increase in profit and loss of minority shareholders.

At present, Jiangling Motor's commercial vehicles account for a relatively high proportion. Data show that Jiangling Motors sold 146000 complete vehicles in the first half of the year, an increase of 7.64 percent over the same period last year, of which only 54000 were SUVs, accounting for 37 percent. The rest were commercial vehicles, including 33000 light buses, 32000 trucks, and 27000 pickup trucks.