On April 11, the passenger car Federation released the production and sales data of passenger car market in March this year. According to the data, the retail sales of China’s passenger car market reached 1.579 million in March, a year-on-year decrease of 10.5%; From January to March, a total of 4.915 million vehicles were retailed, a year-on-year decrease of 4.5% and a year-on-year decrease of 230000 vehicles. The overall trend was lower than expected.
In its report, the Federation of passengers pointed out that the covid-19 epidemic spread all over the country in March, and all localities continue to resolutely adopt the social clearance strategy. Dealers in Jilin, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangdong, Hebei and other places have been affected in entering stores and transactions. Changes in local management measures have a certain impact on logistics efficiency, and retail losses are large.
In terms of production, China’s passenger car production fell 0.3% year-on-year and increased by 22% month on month in March. Cui Dongshu said that the car production base was low in the first quarter of last year due to the lack of core. Therefore, from the overall data, the production performance in the first quarter of this year was good, but the actual production pressure was huge, especially the car production in Changchun, Shanghai and other places suffered serious losses.
In terms of structure, the output of joint venture brands and luxury brands decreased significantly year-on-year in March, with the ranges of 10% and 31% respectively. Independent brands are out of the independent market, and the output increased by 23% year-on-year.
In the new round of epidemic, the strength of independent brands is not only reflected in the output. In March this year, retail sales of China’s independent brands achieved year-on-year and month on month growth. According to the data of the passenger Association, in March, the retail sales volume of independent brands was 750000, an increase of 17% year-on-year and 37% month on month. According to different statistical caliber, Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited(000625) topped the Chinese champion in batch sales in March, and Byd Company Limited(002594) entered the top three in retail sales for the first time.
uncertainty of automobile production, sales and inventory in april
Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the passenger Federation, pointed out that the main reason for the sharp decline in the production of luxury cars in March was that Audi and BMW factories were located in Changchun and Shenyang, and production was suspended due to the impact of the epidemic; Mercedes Benz cut production because of global supply chain problems. According to the data of the passenger Federation, the output of Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi in March was 44000, 31000 and 28000, which was significantly lower than the normal monthly level. According to the statistics of the passenger Federation, the production of passenger cars in the whole industry decreased by about 20% from March to early April.
New energy vehicle companies have also significantly reduced production. For example, Tesla produced 55000 vehicles in March and about 70000 vehicles in normal months last year. However, the retail of new energy vehicles has not been greatly affected at present. In March, new energy vehicles still maintained a significant growth trend. In March, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 445000, a year-on-year increase of 137.6% and a month on month increase of 63.1%. The retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China reached 28.2% in March, 17.6 percentage points higher than the penetration rate of 10.6% in March 2021 and 6.4 percentage points higher than the 21.8% in February this year.
From the perspective of specific manufacturers, there are 13 enterprises with wholesale sales of new energy vehicles exceeding 10000 vehicles, an increase of 2 over the same period last year, including Byd Company Limited(002594) , Tesla China, SAIC GM Wuling, Chery and GAC AIAN.
The association said that in the new energy vehicle market, affected by the price rise, the orders were hot before the price rise, and the overall orders were sufficient. Moreover, the price rise of electric vehicles in 2022 is relatively rational, and consumers’ acceptance is also high. In terms of the impact of the epidemic, although there are still local sporadic cases of the epidemic in China, especially in mega cities dominated by new energy such as Shenzhen and Shanghai, the relatively mild epidemic prevention measures in most areas at that time had no significant impact on Residents’ travel and car purchase consumption.
At present, the factory Publicity Department of some auto enterprises has stopped production, including FAW Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen, Tesla, etc. On April 9, Weilai automobile also announced that since March, due to the epidemic, the company’s supply chain partners in Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places have stopped production one after another, which has not been restored yet. Affected by this, Weilai vehicle production has been suspended.
The report of the passenger Federation pointed out that the production and marketing faced uncertainty in April. According to the statistics of Jilin Province and the national passenger car production and sales Bureau in April, the production and sales of passenger cars in Jilin Province and Shanghai accounted for about 11% of the national passenger car production and sales Bureau.
“The biggest risk is that Shanghai and Changchun are the headquarters of China’s two largest automobile groups ( Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) and FAW Group) Generally speaking, core parts enterprises will be distributed in the headquarters. Therefore, the reduction and shutdown of core parts enterprises in Shanghai and other regions due to the epidemic will also lead to the radiation impact of the industry. Enterprises in Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang also need the supply of core parts enterprises in Shanghai. If the impact of the epidemic continues, it may have an uncertain impact on more enterprises across the country. ” Cui Dongshu told reporters.
independent brands bucked the trend
The passenger Association said that the epidemic spread all over the country in March, and the entry and transaction of dealers in Jilin, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangdong, Hebei and other places were affected. The epidemic prevention and control measures also had a certain impact on the logistics efficiency, with large retail losses.
The output of luxury brands dominated by BBA (Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi) decreased by 31% year-on-year in March, and the production of joint venture brands decreased by 10% year-on-year. But in contrast, independent brands have stepped out of the independent market, and the output has increased by 23% year-on-year.
In the new round of epidemic, the strength of independent brands is not only reflected in the output. In March this year, retail sales of China’s independent brands achieved year-on-year and month on month growth. According to the data of the passenger Association, in March, the retail sales volume of independent brands was 750000, an increase of 17% year-on-year and 37% month on month.
In this case, the market share of China’s independent brands has also further increased. In March, the retail share of independent brands in China was 48.2%, with a year-on-year increase of 11.5 percentage points; From January to March, the cumulative share was 48%, with a year-on-year increase of 9.7 percentage points.
The manufacturers’ retail sales ranking in March was also significantly shuffled compared with that in February. Among the top ten manufacturers, independent brands occupy four seats, among which Chang’an, Byd Company Limited(002594) , Geely occupy three of the top four, and Great Wall ranks seventh.
Among the top ten manufacturers in terms of sales volume, only four still showed year-on-year growth in retail sales in March. Among them, except GAC Toyota, the other three are all self owned brands, of which Byd Company Limited(002594) retail sales exceeded 100000 vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 161.4%, Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited(000625) was the second with a year-on-year increase of 17.2%, and Geely motor increased by 3.8%.
On the contrary, the retail sales of FAW Volkswagen and SAIC GM fell by more than 40% year-on-year, and the retail sales of SAIC Volkswagen and Dongfeng Nissan fell by more than 30% year-on-year. SAIC Volkswagen fell to No. 6 from No. 3 in February this year, SAIC GM fell to No. 9 from No. 4, and Dongfeng Nissan fell to No. 10 from No. 6. In addition, FAW Toyota and Dongfeng Honda both lost the list in March.
