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

Honda China released its latest sales figures on June 6, showing that Honda's terminal car sales in China in May 2022 were 89083, down 30.8% from a year earlier, with Guangzhou Auto Honda down 15.6% to 52643 and Dongfeng Honda down 45.1% to 36440. In addition, Honda sold 538085 vehicles in China from January to May in 2022, down 19.5 per cent from a year earlier, with Guangzhou Honda down 8.6 per cent to 280429 and Dongfeng Honda down 28.7 per cent to 257656. From May 1 to 22, retail sales in the national passenger car market were 780000, down 16% from a year earlier and up 34% from a month earlier, according to data from the Federation of passengers. Judging from the data, Honda China obviously outperformed the market, although the year-on-year decline shrank significantly, but the month-on-month decline increased abnormally. For comparison, Honda's China terminal car sales in April 2022 were 95216, down 36.3% from a year earlier, including 42936 for Guangzhou Auto Honda and 52280 for Dongfeng Honda.

In May, the epidemic in some domestic cities has not been effectively contained, such as the upgrading of prevention and control policies in Beijing and other places, resulting in transportation delays affecting the delivery of new cars by dealers. At the same time, due to factors such as rising oil prices, supply of spare parts, higher prices of new energy and traditional energy vehicles, consumers are expected to reduce prices, while demand for cars in a risk aversion mentality will be delayed, while terminal demand will weaken, further curbing the recovery of the car market.

According to previous reports from the auto industry, a number of new power car companies bottomed out and rebounded back to the 10,000-vehicle class in May, with ideal car sales of 11496, Najia 11009, Xiaopeng 10125, and zero-running cars 10069. Only the number of Lulai cars is less than 10,000, with 7024. In addition, as the first car company in the world to stop producing fuel cars, BYD sold 114183 new energy passenger vehicles in May, up 152.8 per cent from a year earlier. Judging from the data, the sales of the four new power enterprises, ideal, Nezha, Xiaopeng and Zero run, have all exceeded 10,000, and BYD's new energy vehicles continue to be in short supply, which forms a huge contrast with the performance of the passenger car market.

Throughout the domestic mainstream joint venture car companies, German brands are more active in electric transformation. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Volkswagen have launched a number of pure electric and plug-in hybrid models, and the lineup of new energy products is beginning to take shape. Japanese brands, by contrast, have been slow to move, such as Honda, which has expanded its range of new energy products in China and launched the Guangzhou Automobile Honda e:NP1 and Dongfeng Honda e:NS1, but it is clear that traditional fuel cars have no advantage in the new energy track, and the two new electric vehicles have no bright spots in terms of power, battery life and intelligence, and no relevant data have been released since the pre-sale and listing.

For now, Honda still relies on fuel cars. At the end of May, the ZR-V of Guangzhou Automobile Honda was officially unveiled. As the domestic version of the American version of HR-V, the new car is positioned as a compact SUV, located between Lianzhi and Haoying; as for Dongfeng Honda, it announced the declaration information of a new generation of CR-V, which is expected to be officially introduced to the market this year.

Although new energy vehicles continue to be popular, it is still difficult to promote the development of the passenger car market because of their small size. At present, the peak of this round of epidemic in China has gradually passed, and key enterprises in Shanghai, Jilin and other places have also resumed work and production in an orderly manner under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other relevant departments, and gradually meet the normal supply and demand of the industrial chain. However, consumers are expected to cut prices due to factors such as rising oil prices, the supply of spare parts, and higher prices for new and traditional energy vehicles, while demand for cars with risk aversion will be delayed. The weakening of terminal demand has further curbed the recovery of the car market. Of course, as the epidemic moderates, it is expected to return to pre-epidemic levels by June or July, but it is also difficult to make up for market losses from March to May.

However, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the announcement on reducing the purchase tax on some passenger vehicles on May 31 (hereinafter referred to as the "announcement"). In order to promote automobile consumption and support the development of the automobile industry, the purchase tax will be halved for passenger cars whose purchase date is from June 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, with a bicycle price (excluding value-added tax) of no more than 300000 yuan and an engine displacement of less than 2.0L. Fu Yuwu, honorary director of the Chinese Society of Automotive Engineering, said: "in the first half of this year, China's automobile industry was affected by the superposition of supply chain problems, epidemic problems and other factors, and the market performance was poor. There is an urgent need to boost confidence and stimulate consumption in the second half of the year. Halving the purchase fee will play a positive role in promoting market recovery. "

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