AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/11 Report--

On May 11, the China Automobile Association released the latest production and sales figures. In April this year, car production and sales reached 2.102 million and 2.07 million respectively, an increase of 2.3 per cent and 4.4 per cent respectively over the same period last year. It is worth mentioning that April is the first month to achieve sales growth in China since 2020, and it is also the first growth in China's auto market in 21 months.

However, despite the surprising performance in April, sales in February and March were so low that production and sales in the first four months of this year were not satisfactory. According to the data, the cumulative production and sales of cars from January to April completed 5.596 million and 5.761 million respectively, down 33.4% and 31.1% from the same period last year.

There is still a big decline in production and sales in the passenger car market.

In April, passenger car sales fell 2.6 per cent from a year earlier to 1.536 million, while cumulative passenger car sales fell 35.3 per cent to 4.433 million in the previous April. Among the types of passenger cars, only the SUV model achieved sales growth, while the decline in production and sales of the other three types of models narrowed significantly. Specifically, cars fell 6.2 per cent to 743000, MPV fell 36.0 per cent to 61000, SUV grew 7.3 per cent to 686000 and sales of crossover passenger cars fell 11.5 per cent to 36000.

New energy vehicles have not stopped falling.

In April this year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 80000 and 72000 respectively, down 22.1% and 26.5% from the same period last year. Of this total, sales of pure electric vehicles were 51000, down 28.6% from the same period last year, and plug-in hybrid vehicles were 20000, down 20.7% from the same period last year.

From January to April this year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were both 205000, down 44.8 per cent and 43.4 per cent respectively compared with the same period last year. The China Automobile Association says sales of new energy vehicles are likely to be between 10 and 1.2 million this year. It is worth mentioning that due to the strength of Tesla in China, the industry data of the China Automobile Association also added Tesla's sales to it for the first time. However, the China Automobile Association did not release the specific data of Tesla China, and the CAA also chose to delete the data after releasing the data on the same day.

The share of independent brands hit a six-year low.

Chinese brand passenger car sales fell 9.4 per cent to 532000 in April, accounting for 34.6 per cent of the passenger car market share, down 2.6 per cent from a year earlier and the lowest monthly level since July 2014. sales of China's own-brand passenger cars fell 39.2 per cent to 1.689 million in the previous April, accounting for 38.1 per cent of the passenger car market share, down 2.5 per cent from a year earlier.

However, the low share of Chinese brand passenger cars is only a short-term situation, with the improvement of the domestic situation, the development of Chinese brand passenger cars will continue to strengthen.

Among the major national brands, the share of Korean, American and legal brands has declined significantly, of which the domestic share of legal brands has dropped to 3%. In contrast, Germany and Japan, in contrast, achieved growth, with a market share of 24.8% and 22.8%, respectively.

The spread of overseas epidemic situation has added uncertainty to the domestic auto market.

Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Automobile Association, said that although the situation of epidemic prevention and control in China has improved, the spread of the epidemic abroad has not been effectively curbed, export-dependent enterprises are even more difficult, and overseas factories have stopped production. it will also increase the risk of the supply of some spare parts in the domestic automobile industry.

The China Automobile Association predicts that under the premise of effective control of the epidemic in China, the Chinese market is expected to decline by 15% in 2020. But if the overseas epidemic continues to spread, the car market could fall by 25% for the whole year.

Overall, the epidemic has led to substantial damage to the domestic industry and a decline in consumer income, which in turn affects automobile consumption. At the same time, the overseas epidemic will continue to affect the orientation of the car market, increasing the supply risk for parts manufacturers. Although half of the car companies have achieved sales growth in April, there is still no large-scale retaliatory consumption in the automobile market, and the recovery in sales of some car companies is only due to the release of suppressed demand. however, it is far from enough to rely on consumers' spontaneous consumption. at present, the government and relevant departments are still not in place to stimulate the car market, and the development of the car market is facing greater uncertainty.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat