【April 2022 Automobile Sales Express】Affected by the repeated epidemics in many places, the production and sales of the domestic passenger car market fell sharply in April. According to the data released by the Association of Passenger Vehicles on May 10, the domestic narrow passenger car market production in April 2022 was only 969,000 units, down 41.1% year-on-year and 46.8% month-on-month; the retail sales of the narrow passenger car market in April were 1.042 million units, down 35.5% year-on-year and 34.0% month-on-month, and both the year-on-year and month-on-month declines were the largest declines in the same period of the month.
In terms of retail sales in the passenger car market, retail sales in the narrow passenger car market were 1.042 million units in April, down 35.5% from 1.616 million units in the same period last year, and down 34.0% month-on-month from 1.579 million units in the previous month.
Among them, the retail sales of the sedan market in April were 527,000 units, down 32.1% year-on-year and 31.1% month-on-month; the retail sales of the MPV market were 55,000 units, down 40.1% year-on-year and 23.1% month-on-month; and the retail sales of the SUV market were 460,000 units, down 385,000 units year-on-year, down 38.0% month-on-month.
From January to April 2022, the narrow passenger car market sold 5.957 million units in retail sales, down 11.9% year-on-year. Among them, the cumulative sales volume of the sedan market was 2.895 million units, down 11.6% year-on-year; the cumulative retail sales of the MPV market were 295,000 units, down 22.1% year-on-year; and the retail sales of the SUV market were 2.768 million units, down 11.0% year-on-year.
In terms of wholesale sales, due to the impact on passenger car production and the insufficient supply of passenger cars, the wholesale sales of the narrow passenger car market in April were only 946,000 units, down 43.0% year-on-year and down 47.8% month-on-month, and wholesale sales were almost waist-low.
Among them, the wholesale sales of cars were 464,000 units, down 39.2% year-on-year and 46.8% month-on-month; the wholesale sales of MPVs were only 41,000 units, down 53.3% year-on-year and 44.3% month-on-month; the wholesale sales of 442,000 units in the SUV market, down 45.5% year-on-year and 49.2% month-on-month.
From January to April 2022, the narrow passenger car market sold 6.386 million units, down 4.5% year-on-year. Among them, the cumulative sales volume of the sedan market was 3.048 million units, down 3.2% year-on-year; the cumulative sales of the MPV market were 249,000 units, down 21.2% year-on-year; and the wholesale sales of the SUV market were 3.089 million units, down 4.0% year-on-year.
In April, the production and sales of the new energy vehicle market also fell sharply month-on-month, but due to the low base of the same period last year, it still maintained a large growth rate year-on-year. According to the data, the retail sales of new energy passenger cars in April 2022 were 282,000 units, up 78.4% from 158,000 units in the same period last year. However, compared with 445,000 units in the previous month, it was down 36.5% month-on-month. Although new energy vehicle sales fell in April, the retail market penetration reached 27.1%, an increase of 5 percentage points from the first quarter. Among them, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in independent brands reached 54.4%, and more than half of consumers who purchased independent brands would choose new energy vehicles; the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury vehicles was 5.5%; while the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in mainstream joint venture brands was only 3.7%.
From January to April 2022, the cumulative retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles were 1.352 million units, an increase of 128.4% year-on-year.
Retail sales of self-owned brands in April were 480,000 units, down 19% year-on-year and 37% month-on-month, and their share of the domestic retail market was 46.4%, an increase of 9.6 percentage points year-on-year. From January to April 2022, the cumulative market share of independent brands was 46%, an increase of 8.3 percentage points over the same period last year. The increase in the market share of independent brands is mainly due to the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market.
Mainstream joint venture brands sold 450,000 units in April, down 42% year-on-year and 24% month-on-month. Among them, the market share of Japanese brands was 24.5%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.5 percentage points; the market share of German brands was 19.4%, a year-on-year decrease of 5.2 percentage points; and the market share of American brands was 6.4%, narrowing by 3.1 percentage points year-on-year.
Luxury brand sales fell sharply year-on-year, with retail sales of luxury cars in April 120,000 units, down 54% year-on-year and down 50% month-on-month. The sharp decline in luxury car sales is mainly due to the restriction of changes in the epidemic prevention and control situation in the main sales area, and production and sales have been greatly affected.
In terms of sales of automobile manufacturers, among the top ten car companies in April, except for BYD Automobile, the sales of other car companies were not as good as in the same period last year, and the sales of six car companies fell by more than 40% year-on-year. BYD's retail sales of 105,000 vehicles won the monthly sales championship, and sales soared by 138.4% year-on-year.
FAW-Volkswagen, GAC Toyota, Dongfeng Nissan, Geely Automobile, Changan Automobile, Dongfeng Honda, SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM and Dongfeng Honda ranked second to tenth respectively. Among them, GAC Toyota's retail sales of 64,000 units, down only 7.3% year-on-year, is the smallest decline in the top ten car sales companies except BYD. (Source/Multiplying Association)