AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/03 Report--

China's imported car market is undergoing drastic changes. In 2023, the decline in imported car sales continues, and it is still down from the low point of the past decade. According to the data of the Federation of passengers, the domestic high-end market is in good demand from January to November 2023, but the import of passenger cars is only 719000, down 12% from the same period last year. Among them, car imports in November were 82800 units, an increase of 21% over the same period last year.

The Federation said that car imports have gradually picked up recently, hitting a new high for this year in November. Although the domestic luxury car market is generally good, China's imported car imports have continued to decline at an average annual rate of about 10 per cent from 1.24 million in 2017 to only 885000 in 2022.

From January to November 2023, the top three countries in import volume were Germany, Japan and the United States, with import sales of 217400 vehicles, 189000 vehicles and 104000 vehicles respectively, but all declined by 9%, 22% and 19% respectively from the same period last year. In contrast, imported cars in South Korea increased by 264% compared with the same period last year, which is the country with the highest year-on-year growth rate in the chart.

Generally speaking, Germany, Japan and the United States still performed better in the first 11 months of this year, but the performance was weaker than that in the same period last year, especially in Japan.

From January to November 2023, the top five imported brands of luxury cars are BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus Porsche and Audi. Among them, BMW rose 23 per cent year-on-year to 168300 vehicles, Mercedes-Benz rose 14 per cent to 161200 vehicles, and the overall performance of the two car companies was relatively stable. Audi in the BBA camp also grew 37 per cent year-on-year to 55900 vehicles.

Lexus, by contrast, has seen a decline in sales of 158400 vehicles in the first 11 months of this year, down 6 per cent from a year earlier. For the decline of the Lexus brand, industry insiders believe: "although Lexus is also in the transition to electrification, it has not been widely recognized by the market." In addition, Porsche also fell 13% year-on-year to 73300 vehicles.

The Federation pointed out in its report that at present, the growth of imported cars mainly depends on the growth of luxury cars, with a substantial increase in the proportion of luxury cars, the overall strong performance of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Land Rover, and the weak performance of Lexus and Volvo. While the joint venture brand imported cars shrank rapidly, Toyota and Volkswagen, Subaru and other brands shrank sharply. In the first 11 months of this year, Toyota sold 26900 imported cars, Volkswagen 11400 and Subaru 6495, according to data.

Generally speaking, China's imported car market has also undergone very obvious changes this year. The Federation said in its report that at present, the sales performance of imported cars is slightly worse, which is weaker than the trend of the domestic luxury car market. Data show that China's imported car sales reached 1.24 million in 2017, but have continued to decline since then. Imported car sales in 2021 were 940000, down 6% from the same period last year; 2022 was 2022, down 10% from the same period last year; and 820000 in the first November of this year, an increase of 7% compared with the same period last year. The Federation pointed out that this is due to the promotion of a low base, and retail sales of imported cars are stronger this year.

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