Car manufacturers post disappointing Q1 figures

Of the 13 carmakers that have released their first-quarter results, 11 reported poor performance, the Beijing News reported.

Among them, SAIC Motor, GAC Motor, Changan, Dongfeng Motor, all saw disappointing figures in revenue and net profit, with Changan's net profit dropping more than 250 percent in the first quarter.

The only two car manufacturers to record positive results were BYD and Foton Motor.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, total vehicle sales in first quarter stood at 6.37 million units, a decline of 11.32 percent compared with last year.

SAIC Motor, China's largest carmaker by sales volume, reported a 15 percent drop in first-quarter net profit on April 29. Net profit for the January-March was 8.25 billion yuan, compared to 9.71 billion yuan a year earlier. Meanwhile, SAIC Motor generated a total revenue of 200.2 billion yuan, down 16.18 percent year-on-year.

It is the first time that SAIC Motor has seen a fall in Q1 profit in almost a decade. Industry insider attributed this to a vehicle sales decline.

During the first quarter, SAIC Motor sold about 1.53 million vehicles, down 15.88 percent from a year earlier. SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC GM both saw lackluster sales and SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile experienced the biggest decline of 25.4 percent year-on-year.

Guangzhou Automobile Group also experienced decline both in revenue and net profit. Data showed that during the first quarter, GAC Group's operating revenue fell 25.74 percent to 14.26 billion yuan, and its net profit attributed to shareholders reached 2.78 billion yuan, down 28.4 percent year-on-year.

Changan's net profit attributed to shareholders slumped 250.62 percent in the first quarter, resulting in a net loss of over 2 billion yuan. It was the third straight quarter that the Chongqing-based carmaker saw a fall in its net profit.

Meanwhile, BAIC Motor, JAC and Jiangling Motors all reported lower first-quarter net profit even as revenue increase.

BAIC Motor's operating revenue rose 14.86 percent to 46.75 billion yuan, however, its net profit reached 3.55 billion yuan, down 14.58 percent compared with 4.07 billion yuan a year ago.

Jiangling Motors reported revenue of 6.51 billion yuan in the first quarter, up 0.39 percent from a year earlier. Its net profit attributed to shareholders reached 25 million yuan, diving 83.62 percent compared with a year ago.

Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co Ltd, better known as JAC Motors, reported operating revenue of 14.63 billion yuan in the first three months, up 13.76 percent year-on-year. However, the net profit attributed to shareholders fell 69.13 percent to 65 million yuan.

By contrast, BYD, China's leading new energy vehicle manufacturer, reported a year-on-year 632 percent increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2019 on the back of boom in the new energy vehicle sales.

BYD said it made a net profit of 749.7 million yuan in the January-March period. Revenue grew 22.5 percent year on year to 30.3 billion yuan. The company also said it is expecting a net profit of 1.45 billion yuan to 1.65 billion yuan in the first half of the year, an annual increase of 202.7 to 244.4 percent.

Foton Motor's business revenue in the first quarter rose 50.27 percent year-on-year to over 14 billion yuan. Its net profit attributed to shareholders reached 80 million yuan.