AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)06/11 Report--

The situation of automobile production and sales improved in May 2020, with a year-on-year growth rate significantly higher than that of the previous month. According to the latest data released by the China Automobile Association, China's automobile production and sales reached 2.187 million and 2.194 million respectively in May, up 18.2% and 14.5% respectively over the same period last year.

However, although the growth rate expanded in May, sales in February and March were so low that production and sales from January to May of this year were not satisfactory. According to the data, the cumulative production and sales of cars in China from January to May were 7.787 million and 7.957 million respectively, down 24.1% and 22.6% from the same period last year, but the rate of decline narrowed by 9.3% and 8.5% compared with January-April.

The passenger car market began to rebound.

Passenger car sales rose 7.0 per cent in May from a year earlier to 1.674 million, while passenger car sales fell 27.4 per cent to 6.109 million from January to May.

In fact, China's car sales ended 21 consecutive months of decline in April, but mainly due to the increase in commercial vehicle sales, passenger vehicles still showed a 2.6% decline. In May, passenger car sales finally returned to proportional growth.

In the context of the warming of the passenger car market, its sales layout has also changed. There has been a sharp increase in sales of luxury brands, while joint venture and proprietary brands are slightly weak.

Among the three major categories of passenger cars, sales of SUV models increased, while the decline of cars and MPV narrowed sharply. Among them, SUV performed brightly, achieving a positive growth of 7.3% in April. Sales continued to grow in May, and SUV sales were on a par with cars as of that month.

New energy vehicles have declined for 11 consecutive months

In May, sales of new energy vehicles were 82000, down 23.5% from a year earlier. In terms of vehicle segments, although the decline in sales of plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles has narrowed, the decline is still higher than the industry level, with pure electric vehicle sales falling 25.9 per cent to 57000 and plug-in hybrids down 19.1 per cent to 17000.

It is worth mentioning that the above figures do not include Tesla's sales. Domestic Tesla sold 11095 vehicles in May, up 205 per cent from the previous month, according to the Federation of passengers. Under the strong squeeze of domestic Tesla, the next survival pressure of domestic new energy vehicle brands will be greater.

Sales of new energy vehicles fell 38.7 per cent to 289000 in the first five months of this year. The China Automobile Association said at a press conference that there will be no explosive growth in the new energy vehicle market this year, and manufacturers are currently in the process of understanding and adapting policies, adjusting products and adapting to consumer demand through scale and other means.

The share of China's own brands falls below the red line again.

Sales of Chinese brand passenger cars rose 0.4 per cent to 571000 in May, accounting for 34.1 per cent of the passenger car market share, down 2.2 per cent from a year earlier, a six-year low. In the previous month, sales of China's own-brand passenger cars fell 32.5 per cent to 2.264 million, accounting for 37.1 per cent of the passenger car market share, down 2.8 per cent from a year earlier and falling below the 40 per cent red line again.

Since 2018, China's auto market has declined for two consecutive years, and the knockout stage of the auto market has accelerated, including Haima Automobile, Zhongtai Automobile, Lifan Automobile and many other car companies continue to be on the edge of the market. In 2020, due to the downturn in the car market and the spread of the epidemic, overall sales declined. Although the sales of most car companies returned to the level of the same period last year in May, the reshuffle of the automobile industry continued due to the interference of the epidemic.

The situation of the domestic car market is good, but there is still uncertainty.

The China Automobile Association pointed out that the growth in production and sales in May was due to the continued improvement in the domestic fight against the epidemic, and there were also some favorable factors to promote sales in the auto market in June, such as the Chongqing Auto Show and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area Auto Show. With the pull of a series of favorable policies of the national and local governments, consumer confidence has been enhanced, and the pent-up demand of some consumers has also been released faster.

However, although the domestic epidemic prevention and control situation is improving, the domestic macroeconomic recovery still needs a process. With the uncertainty of the international epidemic, overseas market demand has not yet recovered, export-dependent enterprises are still not out of the predicament, which will lead to a lag in the recovery process of domestic consumer demand. Therefore, the industry should focus on the recovery process of the domestic market and the impact of changes in the situation of overseas epidemic prevention and control on the domestic automobile industry.

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