Why BAIC self-independent brands disappear in car market?

Latest data shows that BAIC self-independent brands only sell one car in February, declining 98.98% year-to-year. It seems that BAIC self-independent brands are beginning to fade out the domestic car market.

BAIC Motor has three independent brands including SAAB, Beijing Brand and Weiwang. Beijing Brand targets at Outdoor SUV, while Weiwang is mainly positioned at cross passenger vehicles. Only high-level SAAB mainly produces cars.

Cars were the driving force for the sales volume of SAAB at the early period of being launched into market, with sales of D70 exceeding 10,000 units in the 7 months after its launch in May, 2013.

BAIC self-independent brands sold 300,000 units in 2014, with car sales reaching 123,800 units and accounting for 41.3%. D50 and D20 sold 42,600 units and 74,200 units respectively, while high-end D70 only sold 3,533 units in 2014. The car sales encountered a large decline of 25.52% to 92,200 units in 2015, when the SUV sales increased 3.79 times to 33,900 units.

At this time, BAIC quickly turned its efforts to SUV products, consecutively launching 4 SUV models in 2016. The car sales decreased 88.24% to 10,800 units, compared with the increasing SUV sales of 241,500 units. BAIC Motor continues to narrow car shares and increase SUV proportion to lift profits.

It’s learned that BAIC self-independent brands will focus on Energy and SUV strategy in the near future, but car market will not be totally abandoned. D50 will also welcome its facelift model this year to meet the increasing demands in second and third tier markets.