AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/09 Report--

On March 9, the Federation of passengers released retail data on the passenger car market in February. Data show that the national passenger car market retailed 252000 units in February 2020, down 78.5% from the same period last year. Among them, the wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars were 11000, down 77.7% from the same period last year.

In view of the reasons for the decline in sales, the Federation said that due to the sudden novel coronavirus epidemic, dealers across the country have basically closed their stores and completely stopped their sales and service operations since the Spring Festival holiday. As a result, retail sales in most dealerships were basically zero in the first three weeks of February.

From the point of view of the car companies that have announced their sales, they have declined to varying degrees. Among them, SAIC sold 47365 vehicles in February, down 86.95% from a year earlier; GAC GROUP sold 19347 vehicles in February, down 81.08% from a year earlier; BYD sold 5501 vehicles in February, down 79.5% from a year earlier; BAIC New Energy sold 1002 vehicles in February, down 65% from a year earlier; Geely sold 21168 vehicles in February, down 75% from a year earlier.

Retail sales fell 96 per cent year-on-year in the first week of February, 89 per cent year-on-year in the second week, 83 per cent in the third week and 63 per cent in the fourth week, according to previously released data from the Federation. Judging from the data, weekly sales have shown signs of picking up.

For the future, the Federation said that according to the development of the epidemic, the downturn in the car market in February exceeded expectations, the car market recovered slowly from March to April, and is expected to return to normal after May. With the gradual release of the backlog of consumption pressure of the epidemic, the recovery of production and marketing will gradually appear. However, if there is no strong stimulus at the national level, retail sales are expected to decline by 8% year-on-year in 2020. It is 9 percentage points lower than the forecast of 1% increase in 20 years at the end of 1919.

In addition, due to the new pneumonia epidemic, the Geneva Motor Show originally scheduled for March 3 has been cancelled, and the Beijing Motor Show has also been postponed. The cancellation of the Geneva auto show shows that the current situation in the overseas market is also not optimistic, and although China has postponed the Beijing auto show, by that time the epidemic has been basically brought under control, and the new car marketing activities of auto companies have been carried out. The cancellation of the Geneva auto show also highlights the importance of the Beijing auto show, which also has a certain boost to China's auto sales.

The impact of the epidemic on the automobile industry is continuous, in view of the severity of the current automobile market, various localities have also launched corresponding policies to rescue the market. The Guangzhou municipal government issued a new energy car purchase policy on March 3. From March to the end of December 2020, consumers will give a comprehensive subsidy of 10, 000 yuan per car for the purchase of new energy vehicles. Consumers who replace or scrap used cars will receive a subsidy of 3000 yuan for new cars of the "National 6" standard. On March 6, Guangzhou will introduce more policies to stimulate car consumption; Hunan Province has also proposed to encourage car-free families to buy their first household new energy vehicles. Car companies and dealers are also encouraged to organize "cars to the countryside" promotion activities in the province to speed up the prosperity of the used car market. If these new measures can be implemented in March, then March car sales will be a good boost to car consumption.

With regard to the introduction of policies to promote automobile consumption, the Federation said that to promote automobile consumption, it is necessary to stimulate the first buyers of new cars. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Federation of passengers, said that in order to stabilize traditional mainstream consumption such as cars, targeted policies are needed to stimulate the consumption of first-buyer groups, which is also an important reason why the purchase tax cuts in 15 years and 2009 are particularly effective.

As the saying goes, "there are no eggs under the nest." the impact of this epidemic on the automobile market is comparable to that of the war. Whether they are car companies that have not yet returned to work or have resumed work, because of the relevance of the automobile industry chain, as the upstream, middle and lower reaches of the automobile industry, no one can escape from this "war plague." At present, China has made great progress in the fight against epidemic, but the impact on the industry is still far-reaching. The upstream, middle and lower reaches of the automobile industry still need to support each other, so that China's automobile industry can achieve a higher possibility of growth in a severe period.

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