Under the influence of the epidemic, Chinese car enterprises collectively suffered a “Waterloo”.
On April 27, the Federation of passenger cars disclosed the retail data of Chinese passenger cars in the third week. The average daily retail volume of Chinese passenger cars in that week was 29600, a year-on-year decrease of 46%. Previously, the Federation of passengers had predicted that with the resumption of work and production of the industry, the auto retail volume would gradually pick up in the third and fourth weeks, but in fact, the decline in the third week did not narrow, but further expanded.
The Association believes that the impact of this round of epidemic situation is seriously higher than expected, the mentality of consumers to avoid risks and stay still is very serious, the passenger flow loss of dealers is huge, and the entry and transaction of dealers in Jilin, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangdong, Hebei and other places are affected.
According to the automobile insurance data disclosed by a Chinese media recently, as of April 17, only Byd Company Limited(002594) maintained a significant year-on-year growth among the 15 major automobile companies, while the other 14 automobile enterprises collapsed, generally falling by more than 50% year-on-year. The insurance volume of four joint venture automobile enterprises, FAW Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC GM and Dongfeng Nissan, fell by more than 60% year-on-year. The insurance volume of independent brand leaders “two long and one lucky” (Chang’an, great wall and Geely) also fell by half year-on-year.
It is worth noting that although the insurance volume of Byd Company Limited(002594) increased by 89% year-on-year, it fell significantly compared with the previous months. The reason why Byd Company Limited(002594) can become the only positive growth enterprise is that it has entered a strong cycle of products and technology since last year, and the demand of terminals has always exceeded the supply. A large number of undelivered orders have been accumulated before March, and the new orders every month exceed the delivery of that month. In addition, the Byd Company Limited(002594) vertically integrated supply chain mode makes it less affected at the production end.
“There are problems on both sides of supply and demand.” Sun Shaojun, founder of auto sales service platform “auto fans”, told the first financial reporter that the platform has been monitoring the changes in the number of customers entering stores of major brand dealers during the epidemic. Since the end of February this year, the downward trend of dealer entry has initially appeared. With the spread of the epidemic and the upgrading of control measures in relevant cities, the number of car consumers entering stores continued to decline. The decline in store entry is especially in the hardest hit areas of the epidemic, with the hardest hit areas as the center and radiating outward. Recently, the number of terminal stores in many non static management areas has also decreased by more than 50%.
According to a document of the China Automobile Industry Association, since 2022, due to the shortage of chips in China, the rapid rise of key raw materials of power batteries and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, especially the outbreak of the epidemic in many places across the country, suppliers and main engine plants have been forced to stop production. Some important automobile production base areas have taken sealing and control measures, and the production and operation of automobile enterprises have encountered severe challenges.
Although Shanghai, Jilin and other places are gradually promoting the resumption of work and production, and the relevant logistics and transportation are gradually recovering, sun Shaojun believes that it will take a long time for the car sales to return to the pre epidemic level. “The epidemic has led to an increase in consumers’ expectations of uncertainty in the future. The first thing they have to cut off is the consumption of commodities such as cars.”
Some auto companies and industry experts interviewed also held a pessimistic attitude towards auto consumption in May this year. An auto company executive believes that with the continuous downturn in sales, there will be a new round of industry reshuffle this year.
