AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/25 Report--

On August 25, the passenger Association announced the import and sales of Chinese cars in July. According to data from the Federation of passengers, the domestic high-end market is in good demand from January to July 2023, but the import of passenger cars is only 400000, down 22% from the same period last year. Among them, the number of car imports in July was 66000, down 6% from the same period last year and up 5% from the previous month. Data show that imported car imports fell more sharply than expected in the first five months of this year, but imports rebounded from June to July.

By country, from January to July 2023, the top three countries in import volume were Germany, Japan and the United States, with import sales of 136000, 93700 and 66800 vehicles respectively, but all declined by 11%, 38% and 26% respectively over the same period last year. In contrast, imported Korean cars increased by 448% year-on-year, the highest year-on-year growth rate in the chart, while Mexican imported cars increased by 50% year-on-year. Overall, imported cars performed relatively well in South Korea and Mexico in the first seven months of this year, while imported cars in Germany, Japan and the United States performed weaker than in the same period last year, while some European imported cars performed differently compared with the same period last year.

In terms of brands, from January to July 2023, the top three imported brands are still Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus, with Mercedes-Benz growing 27% year-on-year to 107700 vehicles and BMW growing 49% to 106200 vehicles. The overall performance of the two car companies is relatively stable. In addition, Audi, Land Rover, Volvo, Volkswagen, Genisse and other imported brands also achieved year-on-year growth, of which Genisse increased the most significantly, up 106% from the same period last year. At the 2023 Chengdu Auto Show, the G90 and G90 administrative extended versions of the Genisys G90 were officially launched, with a total of three new models with a price range of 69.88-1.1588 million yuan. According to the plan, all the new models of Genisse will be pure electric models by 2025, and 100% zero emissions will be achieved by 2030.

By contrast, Lexus, which has had the strongest performance in previous years, has suffered a severe recent decline. In the first seven months of this year, Lexus sales fell 19 per cent year-on-year to 86500 vehicles, making it the only brand in the top three on the chart to decline, according to the data. For comparison, Lexus sold 183971 vehicles in the same period in 2022, a relatively strong performance (156750 for Mercedes-Benz and 152841 for BMW). Industry insiders believe: "although Lexus is also in the transition to electrification, it has not been widely recognized by the market."

In addition, Porsche and Lincoln also saw year-on-year declines, with Porsche falling 7 per cent to 49400 and Lincoln down 18 per cent to 13800 in the first seven months of this year. On the other hand, the Toyota brand remains at the level of the same period last year.

In terms of specific models, from January to July 2023, the highest-selling model was the BMW X5, with cumulative sales of 54600 vehicles. Although the BMW X5 has been made in China for a year, according to the data, the import volume of the car still increased by 107% compared with the same period last year. At the 2023 Chengdu Auto Show, the mid-term revamped domestic BMW X5 came on the market, with a total of six new models priced between 615000 and 800000 yuan. The new car is mainly aimed at the appearance upgrade, the power is still equipped with 2.0T and 3.0T engine, but the power has been upgraded compared to the cash.

Lexus es ranked second, with cumulative sales of 48600 vehicles in the first seven months of this year, but down 11 per cent from a year earlier; in addition, Lexus RX fell 57 per cent year-on-year to 12600 and Mercedes-Benz GLE fell 18 per cent to 25600. By contrast, the Mercedes-Benz GLB, which ranked third in sales, showed a significant increase, surging 323% year-on-year to 41500 vehicles, the highest increase on the chart. In addition, Audi Q7, Guardian, Lexus NX, Audi A5, BMW 2-Series and Mercedes-Benz G also increased by 50% or more, of which Audi Q7 increased by 125% to 9703 vehicles compared with the same period last year, second only to Mercedes-Benz GLBs and BMW X5.

At present, the growth of domestic imported cars still depends on the growth of luxury cars. According to the data, the proportion of luxury cars has risen from 79.8% in 2019 to 91.8% in 2023. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger Association, pointed out that the trend of Chinese traditional luxury cars in 2023 is relatively weak, but the import and sales of the main German brands are better, among which the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLB are super strong. On the contrary, Japanese Lexus es, Lexus RX and other import sales performance is poor, while Porsche trend is weak.

Generally speaking, since 2023, China's imported car market has undergone very obvious changes. Data show that China's imported car sales reached 1.24 million in 2017, but have continued to decline since then, with sales falling to 880000 in 2022, an average annual decline of 10 per cent. The downward trend of imported car sales continues after 2023, which is still lower than the low point of the past decade. The industry believes that the continuous decline in imported car sales is related to the current changes in the car market, electric transformation has changed the demand for fuel vehicles, as electric vehicles gradually erode the market share of fuel vehicles, the demand for imported fuel vehicles has also declined significantly.

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