AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/10 Report--

It is an indisputable fact that the sales volume of Chinese car companies declined collectively in the first quarter, and the main reason is that the concentrated suspension of production and sales led to a low sales volume in February, even though some car companies resumed production in factories and marketing operations of dealers in mid-February, but due to the continuing impact of the epidemic, it is difficult to stimulate consumers' enthusiasm for buying cars in a short period of time. Although terminal retail sales rebounded to March, there are still big obstacles. Judging from the sales data of BYD, Great Wall, Geely, BAIC New Energy and Jiangling Motor, sales picked up in March compared with February, but sales in the first quarter decreased significantly compared with the same period last year.

On April 8, BYD announced the latest production and sales of KuaiBao. Data show that cumulative sales from January to March 2020 were 61273, down 47.89% from a year earlier, of which new energy vehicle sales fell 69.67% year-on-year to 22192, and fuel vehicle sales fell 11.99% to 39081. Sales in March 2020 were 30599, down 34.65 per cent from a year earlier, with new energy vehicle sales down 59.52 per cent to 12256 and fuel vehicle sales down 9.51 per cent to 18343.

BAIC New Energy, which makes a living with new energy vehicles, released its latest production and sales figures on the 9th. Its March sales fell 66.13% year-on-year to 5992 vehicles, and its cumulative sales from January to March fell 64.10% to 9000 vehicles.

Both BYD and BAIC Langu are committed to the development of new energy vehicles, but to a large extent rely on state subsidies, so since the decline of new energy subsidies last year, the sales of new energy vehicles in BYD and BAIC Langu began to decline, and there is still no room for improvement until March this year. It is worth mentioning that at the end of March, the State Council proposed to extend the policy of purchasing subsidies and exemption from purchase tax for new energy vehicles for two years, which is a good opportunity for car companies based on the development of new energy vehicles. Therefore, BYD and BAIC Langu are expected to achieve growth in sales of new energy vehicles after the auto market recovers.

Geely Motor and Great Wall Motor are the two largest independent car companies in China. In terms of specific sales, Geely's sales fell 41 per cent in March from a year earlier to 73021, and its cumulative sales from January to March fell 44 per cent to 206000, while Great Wall's sales fell 41.75 per cent to 60048 and 47.04 per cent to 150300 from January to March.

As of March, Geely had achieved 15 per cent of its 1.41 million sales target and Great Wall 14.7 per cent of its 1.02 million sales target. The COVID-19 epidemic has brought a lot of uncertainty to the market, and Geely's annual sales target of 1.41 million vehicles will also face greater challenges, but an Conghui, president of Geely Holdings, said that it will not adjust its sales target of 1.41 million vehicles. Geely's long-term plans have not changed. Great Wall Motors, on the other hand, was hit by the epidemic and the car market, lowering its sales target for 2020 to 1.02 million vehicles from 1.11 million, and net profit from 4.7 billion yuan to 4.05 billion yuan, becoming the first car company to adjust due to the impact of the epidemic.

According to data from the Federation of passengers, retail sales in the national passenger car market reached 1.045 million units in March 2020, down 40.4 percent from the same period last year. Retail sales in the national passenger car market totaled 3.014 million from January to March, down 40.8 per cent from the same period last year.

Affected by the epidemic, the production and sales volume of the major car companies in the first quarter of this year were at an all-time low, but compared with February, the car market rebounded significantly in March, showing a trend of slowly climbing from the trough as a whole. Cui Dongshu said that promoting automobile consumption needs a package of solutions across the country, and it is necessary to ensure that the effects of policies to stabilize consumption and the economy are brought into full play.

The epidemic has led to a delay in consumer demand for car purchases, but only in the short term. With the improvement of the epidemic, consumers' enthusiasm for buying cars will also be enhanced. In addition, automobile stimulus policies at the national and local government levels are also being introduced to stabilize the market while creating conditions for the release of automobile consumer demand.

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