Over the past 5 years, the number of new force list entries has increased fourfold.
Looking back at 2019, the new force sales list only had the "Four Musketeers"—NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, and WM Motor. At that time, these four brands had just crossed the threshold of 10,000 vehicle deliveries per year. The following year, the list expanded to six, with the addition of Leiming and NIO, as each brand began to strive for monthly sales of 10,000 units.
In recent years, the boundary between traditional automotive manufacturers' new energy brands and cross-industry car builders has become increasingly blurred. New energy brands with distinct electrification and intelligence characteristics and a relatively short establishment time can all be categorized under the new force camp. To date, the new force has grown to nearly 20 (incomplete statistics), which has also made the competition for sales among brands more intense.
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Now, it has become a norm for "new force" brands to break the 10,000 monthly sales mark. By August of this year, the monthly sales competition among the top new forces has escalated to the 20,000-30,000 unit level. In addition, traditional new energy brands such as Geely Galaxy, Arcfox, and IM Motors have also shown strong development momentum.
Eleven brands have surpassed 10,000 units, with Li Auto leading the pack.
Gasgoo compiled sales data for 17 new force brands in August, showing an overall upward trend, with 11 of them having joined the "10,000-unit club."
Undoubtedly, Li Auto continues to lead, being the only brand among the new forces in August to break the 40,000-unit mark, reaching 48,000 units. This is the third consecutive month that Li Auto has maintained such a high level, recovering from the low point at the beginning of the year.
At the start of the year, due to product decision-making errors and the impact of the Spring Festival holiday sales淡季, Li Auto's sales took a brief hit. From February to April, Li Auto's sales fell back to under 30,000 units for three consecutive months, being overtaken by the AITO series. Later, through timely strategy adjustments and the launch of the L6 model targeting the market under 300,000 yuan, Li Auto turned the situation around.
The L6 model received over 40,000 orders just 18 days after its launch. After a large batch of deliveries in May, the car helped Li Auto's sales to increase by 10,000 units month-on-month, rising back to 35,000 units. Currently, the monthly sales of Li Auto L6 are stable at around 20,000 units, accounting for 40% of Li Auto's total volume.
Following closely is the HarmonyOS Smart Driving Alliance. As one of Li Auto's strongest competitors, HarmonyOS Smart Driving achieved sales of 34,000 units in August, with the AITO series contributing 90%. Although sales have slightly declined compared to the previous two months, industry insiders believe this may be related to the high-temperature holiday at the AITO factory and a slowdown in delivery progress. Moreover, with the mass delivery of the new AITO M7 Pro, HarmonyOS Smart Driving is expected to challenge higher sales figures in the coming months.Another brand, Zero Run, has emerged as a dark horse. With a strategy of "high specification, low price," Zero Run set a new monthly sales record of 30,000 units in August, more than doubling its year-on-year growth. This achievement has propelled Zero Run to the third position in new force sales, demonstrating a strong upward momentum. Zero Run's success has proven the effectiveness of its market strategy, rapidly expanding its influence in the mainstream market under 200,000 yuan.
NIO has steadily increased its sales by adjusting its strategy. Since May, NIO's monthly sales have stabilized at over 20,000 units, which is closely related to its adjusted battery leasing plan prices. From January to August this year, NIO delivered a total of 128,000 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 35.77%. Entering September, with the first model L60 of the second brand Ledao hitting the market, NIO is expected to further enhance its market share.
Leda President Ai Tiecheng revealed that the orders for Ledao L60 have "exceeded expectations by 2-3 times." Gai Shi Automobile Research Institute predicts that the Ledao brand's sales this year are expected to reach over 16,000 units.
However, not all brands have performed brightly in this round of competition. After Huawei's entry, Xiaopeng's advantage in the field of intelligence has been gradually weakened. This year, Xiaopeng's sales increase has not been significant, with a cumulative sales volume of 77,000 units in the first seven months, widening the gap with NIO, Li Auto, and others.
This situation is expected to change after the launch of the first model M03 of Xiaopeng's second brand MONA. Xiaopeng M03 received over 30,000 orders within 48 hours of its launch and has now started nationwide delivery.
Nezha, on the other hand, faces challenges in the fiercely competitive 100,000-200,000 yuan market, with sales in a double-digit decline trend in the first eight months. The future development of Nezha largely depends on the market response to its new products and the adjustment of its brand strategy.
The tremendous energy of Huawei's "Ecosystem Alliance"
Among the new forces, if Li Auto was the most dazzling star last year, then this year is undoubtedly Huawei's Hongmeng Smart Driving. Hongmeng Smart Driving has not only achieved the "monthly sales of 40,000 units" target proposed by Yu Chengdong but also achieved a cumulative sales volume of 270,000 units in the first eight months of this year, second only to Li Auto, highlighting its strong market performance.
In this ecosystem alliance, Seres is undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary. In August, Seres' sales increased nearly fivefold year-on-year, reaching 36,181 units, with the Hongmeng series, in cooperation with Huawei, contributing more than 80% of the share.
Especially the stable delivery of Hongmeng M7 and M9, and the impressive performance of M9 with monthly sales of over 10,000 units in the 500,000 yuan market, not only helped the Hongmeng series achieve profitability but also turned Seres from loss to profit. In the first half of 2024, Seres' net profit soared to 1.62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.2 times.Such success has also prompted Seres to further upgrade its cooperation with Huawei by taking a stake in Huawei's vehicle business unit (BU). Cinda Securities believes that this move will help Seres reach the level of leading companies in design, R&D, quality, and operations.
Another member of the HarmonyOS Smart Driving alliance, Arcfox, has also turned a corner with Huawei's support. Since June, Arcfox's sales have seen a significant increase, with monthly sales jumping from 8,000 units to 10,000 units. According to industry insiders, the sales growth in June and July was mainly related to increased terminal discounts on products. The sales of Arcfox breaking the 10,000-unit mark in August is greatly associated with the launch and delivery of the Huawei-cooperated Enjoy S9. Reports indicate that the Enjoy S9 sold 3,000 units in that month.
Huawei's influence extends far beyond this, as its vehicle BU business (HI model and component model) is also thriving. The Qian Kun Smart Driving solution launched in April this year has attracted the favor of 10 brands from 7 major automakers, extending its reach from members of the HarmonyOS Smart Driving alliance to brands such as Dongfeng Might, Lan Tu, Changan Deep Blue, AITO, and GAC Trumpchi.
Empowered by Huawei, several brands have achieved sales breakthroughs.
Taking Changan's AITO and Deep Blue as examples, AITO, as one of the first brands to equip with Huawei's Qian Kun ADS 3.0 high-level intelligent driving system, has stabilized its monthly sales at around 4,000 units. Deep Blue, on the other hand, has enhanced its intelligence competitiveness in the market under 200,000 yuan with the S07 equipped with the Qian Kun ADS basic version.
More excitingly, Deep Blue's upcoming models L07 and S05 will also integrate Huawei elements (Qian Kun ADS basic version, Huawei million-pixel light and shadow headlights, etc.), which is expected to further drive sales growth. In August, Deep Blue's sales have already exceeded 20,000 units. According to Li Pan, the brand director of Deep Blue, the sales target for December is to exceed 40,000 units.
However, the development of the Zhi Jie brand, a collaboration between Huawei and Chery, is currently facing challenges. Yu Chengdong frankly admitted that the issue lies in marketing and brand building. But Minsheng Securities believes that with the improvement of Zhi Jie S7 delivery and the launch of the new model R7, it is expected to drive new demand and improve the current situation.
Looking ahead to this year, Gai Shi Automobile Research Institute predicts that the sales volume of HarmonyOS Smart Driving is expected to reach 530,000 units.
Traditional New Forces' Defense Battle
After two to three years of development, a batch of traditional new energy brands have emerged like mushrooms after rain, with brands such as Ji Krypton, Galaxy, Teng Shi, Zhi Ji, Lan Tu, and Deep Blue showing strong development momentum, injecting new vitality into this increasingly crowded track.Geely Group's transformation journey is particularly eye-catching. Its Zeekr brand, since the launch of its first model in 2022, has become one of the representatives of the self-brand's transition to high-end electrification with a steady performance of about 10,000 vehicles per month. After March this year, Zeekr has stabilized its monthly sales at over 15,000 units, reaching 18,000 units in August. Industry analysis suggests that Zeekr's success stems from its clear brand differentiation, precise audience positioning, and appropriate marketing strategies, coupled with the high aesthetic design of the products, which has penetrated the young demographic that appreciates sporty handling, leading to a steady increase in sales.
Meanwhile, Geely Galaxy targets the home market of 100,000-200,000 yuan, quickly establishing a foothold in the market with the strong backing of Geely Group, leading plug-in hybrid technology advantages, and equally impressive styling design. In August, Geely Galaxy's sales climbed to 27,000 units, and the cumulative sales for the first eight months have broken through the 120,000-unit milestone, showing strong growth potential.
Changan Automobile has also reaped benefits in the new energy transition. Its Deep Blue and Qiyuan brands are steadily expanding their share in the mainstream market. In particular, Deep Blue, through strategic cooperation with Huawei, has enhanced its product strength in the field of intelligence, boosting August sales to 20,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 37%.
Qiyuan, with a product matrix that fully covers plug-in hybrid, range-extender, and pure electric technology routes, has achieved a market breakthrough just one year after its launch. In August, its sales reached 13,000 units, and the annual cumulative sales are about to break through the 100,000-unit mark.
In the high-end new energy market, AITO has also made a breakthrough, with August sales reaching 3,700 units, a year-on-year increase of 88%. However, compared to brands like Geely's Zeekr and NIO, AITO still has a significant gap. In the future, AITO plans to leverage Huawei's technology to launch a range-extender model, which is expected to further expand its sales scale.
BYD's multi-brand strategy in the mid-to-high-end market is also showing initial results. The Denza brand, with its D9 plug-in hybrid version, holds a significant share in the 300,000-yuan class MPV market. Despite the impact of the Buick GL8 plug-in hybrid version, D9's sales fell back to 10,000 units in August, but the foundation remains solid. The Song Pro, on the other hand, is selling more than 4,000 units per month in the rugged off-road SUV market. Although these brands do not match the sales scale of the Dynasty and Ocean series, they play an important role in enhancing brand image and per-unit gross profit.
SAIC Group and Dongfeng Group's electrified high-end transformation is finally showing signs of improvement.
The two brands, IM Motors and Voyah, have both broken through 6,000 units in monthly sales in the past three months, achieving rapid growth. In particular, IM Motors saw a year-on-year increase of 2.4 times in August. The key to the growth of these two brands lies in reasonable pricing, rich configurations, and distinctive product positioning. In addition, IM Motors' outstanding design has attracted much attention, while Voyah meets the needs of different age groups with its extensive product coverage.
Looking back at the new force market landscape five years ago, the changes today are earth-shattering. The "new force" brands incubated by traditional car companies have grown into an indispensable "backbone force" in the market. As the "Golden September and Silver October" car-buying season approaches, whether the new force brands can seize the opportunity to join the "30,000 Club" in monthly sales is undoubtedly a focus of industry attention.
Sales of some new energy brands from January to August:
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