Western and Chinese carmakers in China: a new paradigm II. SAIC and Dongfeng are the big losers in the Chinese automobile industry
- As a direct consequence of the decline of non-Chinese carmakers in China (apart from Toyota and Tesla), the Chinese carmakers in JV which produce the western branded models and which are impacted by the evolving demand of the Chinese customers are seeing their production volume dropping, sometimes in significant proportions.
§ Thus, SAIC, which assembles Volkswagen and some models from the GM group (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, Baojun, Wuling), went from 7 million vehicles produced in 2018 to 5 million in 2023. The Chinese brands of SAIC, such as MG , Roewe or Maxus could not offset the huge losses due to the decline of GM and Volkswagen (3 million units in total).
§ Dongfeng (DFM) was the second biggest loser these recent years, its production volume falling from 3.7 million in 2017 to 2.2 million units, due to declining sales of Kia, Nissan, Honda, Peugeot and Citroën produced in JV.
§ BAIC has seen its production volume plunged by 1.1 million since 2016.
§ Changan remains stable over the entire period.
§ FAW saw its volume increase slightly over the period, benefiting from the increasing sales of Toyota which partly offset the decline of the Volkswagen models it assembles.
- These five large Chinese groups therefore experience diverse situations but they are all threatened today by independent Chinese carmakers, notably BYD and Geely, who have made significant progress in recent years and are approaching their production volume. BYD has exceeded the mark of 3 million vehicles produced in 2023 and Geely has exceeded the 2.7 million units, thus taking the lead over Changan, Dongfeng or BAIC.