AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/04 Report--

As soon as February arrived, more than 10 car companies were the first to release sales reports for the month. The simplest guess for this situation is that most car companies have achieved growth this month in order to achieve publicity through the excellent performance of their brands. But the car companies that grew in January did not perform better.

According to the statistics of key enterprises, sales in the automobile industry are expected to complete about 2.54 million vehicles in January, up 31.9 percent from the same period last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Specifically, passenger vehicle sales are expected to complete 2.07 million units, up 28.4% from the same period last year, while commercial vehicle sales are expected to complete 480000 units, up 50.1% from the same period last year. It means that the passenger car market with year-on-year growth of less than 28.4% will underperform the market.

The China Automobile Association believes that the domestic car market in January this year is still lower than expected, according to the consumption index, the automobile consumption index in January 2021 was 27.6, down sharply from the previous month. In January this year, consumers' actual willingness to buy declined.

The China Automobile Association pointed out that due to the impact of the epidemic this year, the pace of consumers buying cars has slowed down. With the resurgence of the epidemic, various localities have stepped up epidemic prevention efforts to encourage consumers not to return to their hometown for the Lunar New year, causing consumers to go out less, causing retail sales to weaken in January. In addition, the influencing factors also include that due to the prevention and control of the epidemic, the trend of returning home to buy cars has not occurred, and the intensity of market concessions has been adjusted.

It is worth noting that this situation will continue into February, as the epidemic situation has escalated since January, the fluctuation of the epidemic will reduce residents' consumer confidence and willingness to spend, and the consumer demand for cars will also decrease in February.

As for the reasons why not many car companies achieved a "good start" in January, the HKIFA analyzed that the performance of most domestic enterprises has improved since the second half of 2020, and the year-end bonus has established the desire to buy cars before the Spring Festival. as well as the improvement of national consumer confidence and the recovery of purchases. In addition, there are three fewer working days in January 2020 than in 2021, superimposed by the low base affected by the 2020 epidemic, so there has been a surge in sales this year, which will be more pronounced in February.

Judging from the data of car companies that have disclosed sales reports, there is basically an increase in performance. Specifically, there are car companies with strong performance and those whose performance is slightly lower than that of the market, among which luxury brands benefit from the continued purchase in the high-end market, which generally doubles the growth rate.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary general of the China Automobile Association, analyzed that the main reason is that the trend of brand upgrading in the passenger car market in the future will not change, making the middle and high-end varieties become the dominant market demand in the future.

However, there are also strong Japanese brands that did not have a clear advantage in January this year. In January this year, the most powerful market was the new energy market, such as the car companies of the new power all doubled.

The high growth of brands such as Dragon Motors in January came from a low base in the same period last year. At the same time, affected by their respective strategies and product updates, joint ventures such as Changan Ford, Buick, Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen once slipped to the edge of the market, but with the strategic adjustment and the launch of new models, as well as the implementation of relevant business policies, these car companies returned to the center of the market in January.

In the past, the traditional strong demand for cars returning to their hometown before the Spring Festival, coupled with obvious signs of market recovery, have boosted the domestic car market. However, recently, the control of the epidemic situation in many parts of the country has been strengthened again, and the tide of returning home for the Spring Festival has been curbed. And the problem of automobile chip supply caused by the serious overseas epidemic is becoming more and more prominent, which brings some risks to the market.

Some people in the industry once said: "celebrating the Spring Festival on the spot" means that it is very difficult to form a large-scale wave of returning home, and it is also very difficult to stimulate the consumption of people who return to their hometown to buy cars. From this point of view, the overall performance of the car market in January is hardly optimistic. "

However, in the long run, the market will continue to be bullish this year. The China Automobile Association has predicted that 2020 will be the peak year for China's auto market. Car sales in 2021 are expected to exceed 26 million, an increase of 4% over the same period last year, and a significant year-on-year increase is expected in the first quarter of this year.

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