AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/26 Report--

On July 26, the Federation of passengers announced China's automobile import sales in the first half of 2024. Data show that car imports in the first half of 2024 were 332000, down 4% from the same period last year and showing negative growth for three consecutive years.

By country, the top three countries in import volume in the first half of this year were Japan, Germany and the United States, with import sales of 99800, 87300 and 56700 respectively, of which Germany fell 25 per cent year-on-year, while Japan and the US increased by 34 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. In addition, Hungary, which entered the top 10, also increased by 89% compared with the same period last year, while other countries showed varying degrees of decline. Sales in Slovakia and South Korea also showed double-digit declines of 28% and 11% respectively. Overall, imported cars performed relatively well in Japan, Germany and the United States in the first half of this year, but there was a significant decline in Germany compared with the same period last year.

In terms of brands, the top three import brands in the first half of this year were BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, with sales of 91900, 84800 and 67400 respectively, up 1 per cent and 20 per cent respectively from a year earlier. In terms of the year-on-year growth rate in the first half of the year, Lexus increased particularly significantly and was the brand with the highest year-on-year growth on the list. It should be noted that before this, Lexus also showed a significant decline, as a reference, Lexus fell by 7%, 16% and 2% respectively from 2021 to 2023. Industry insiders believe: "although Lexus is also in the transition to electrification, it has not been widely recognized by the market."

A few days ago, the media reported that under the premise of building an independent factory in China, Lexus will take the lead in the production of a new hybrid version of the UX and a new pure electric model, which will be sold in China as well as in overseas markets such as Japan. However, at that time, Toyota China and Lexus China responded to reporters about the news that they would be the first to produce two new energy products in China. "rumors, no comment." Prior to this, it was rumored that Toyota was in talks with Shanghai authorities about the possibility of building a wholly-owned factory.

Back on the list, BMW was the only brand in the BBA camp to achieve micro-growth, up 1 per cent year-on-year, while Mercedes-Benz and Audi fell 28 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. In addition to the above brands, Porsche's cumulative sales in the first half of this year were 26600, down 39 per cent from a year earlier, while Land Rover, Lincoln, Volvo and Maybach also declined to varying degrees, down 4 per cent, 7 per cent, 13 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

Compared with luxury brands, the sales performance of ultra-luxury brands was even worse in the first half of the year, including Bentley, Maserati, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and McLaren. McLaren plunged 92%; Maserati and Aston Martin also fell 70% and 50% respectively from a year earlier.

Generally speaking, in the first half of the year, domestic imported cars were mainly supported by the demand for luxury cars, while the overall trend of ultra-luxury was weak. In addition, imported cars of joint venture brands are shrinking rapidly, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Subaru and other brands.

With the continuous strength of China's automobile industry, the rapid rise of domestic cars, while the electric transformation has also changed the market demand for fuel vehicles, resulting in earth-shaking changes have taken place in China's imported car market in recent years. According to the data, the cumulative import volume of cars in 2014 was 1.43 million, and since then, sales began to decline, including 1.24 million in 2017 and only 800000 in 2023, down 10% from the same period last year, while the decline in imported car sales has continued since 2024.

On the contrary, China's car export sales are continuing to grow. Figures show that China exported 2.248 million cars in the first half of 2024, up 34 per cent from a year earlier. According to data compiled by third-party media, the top 10 car brands in China in export volume in the first half of 2024 were Chery, Mingjue, BYD, Geely, Tesla, Harvard, Changan, Baojun, Jetta and Yueda Kia.

Among them, the Chery brand continues to rank first on the list with sales of 420400 vehicles, with Ruihu 7, Ruihu 5X, Oomengda and Ruihu 8 all among the top 10 export models, with the largest number of models on the list.

Mingjue and BYD ranked second and third respectively, with sales of 230900 and 203200 respectively, of which Mingjue ZS ranked fifth with sales of 63100 vehicles Geely Motor and Tesla both entered the top five, with sales of 182400 and 148300 respectively. Among them, Model 3 and Model Y both entered the top 10 export models. Model 3 ranked second with 91400 export vehicles, while Model Y ranked ninth with 49200.

In addition, Harvard, Chang'an, Baojun, Jetway and Yueda Kia also entered the top 10, with export volumes of 146100, 140600, 80500, 73100 and 71100 respectively. In addition to the top 10 of the list, Jianghuai Automobile, GAC MOTOR, SAIC GM Wuling, Tank, and Changan Lincoln ranked 11th to 15th respectively, while Xingtu, Dongfeng Honda, Guangzhou Automobile Honda, Dongfeng Fashion, and Nawei Automobile entered the 16th to 20th places.

Overall, the domestic automobile export volume has increased rapidly in the past two years, and the export of China's own brands has become more and more advantageous. With the increasingly fierce competition in the domestic market, more and more Chinese car companies, including Great Wall, BYD, Changan, SAIC and Chery, have begun to invest and build factories in overseas markets. People in the industry believe that in the future, more car companies will join the ranks of going out to sea, and more domestic cars will go to the world.

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