Recently, the Association announced its November 2021 Retail Sales Express. The data shows that MPV sales in November were 84,000 units, down 24.8% year-on-year and 3.7% month-on-month; cumulative sales were 982,000 units, up 3.1% year-on-year. During the same period, sales of cars and SUVs were 892,000 units and 841,000 units, respectively, and MPV sales were only one-tenth of that of cars and SUVs.
Today, cars and SUVs have carved up 95% of the market, and MPVs account for only a pitiful 5%. So admit it, who buys MPV for family cars?!
Annual sales are less than half of what they were at their peak
In 2016, China's MPV cumulative sales of 2.467 million vehicles, an increase of 25.8% year-on-year, "Shenche" Wuling Hongguang with a result of 650,000 units to dominate, won the annual sales champion, can be described as a laughing pride, the second place is its own good brother Baojun 730, sales of 370,000 vehicles. Just when everyone thought that MPV was about to explode, the sales of MPVs declined all the way in the next 4 years, and by 2020, the cumulative sales of MPVs for the whole year were only 1.09 million, not even half of 2016.
Once upon a time, low-end MPV was the output bit of sales. In the November 2016 MPV sales list, 13 of the top 15 are low-end MPV, but in November 2021, there are only 6 models left, although Wuling Hongguang is still at the top of the list, but sales have plummeted from 68,025 to the current 16,353 vehicles, no longer see the trend of the world.
The vast majority of buyers of low-end MPVs are self-employed, they are all over the wholesale market in the north and south of the river, they are the "vans" in the population, and they are a good helper to get rich, but with the increase of vehicles, safety hazards also follow - buses as trucks, overloads, black cars, etc. Emerge in an endless stream, and then the Ministry of Transportation ordered strict investigation and rectification of vans, and low-end MPVs ushered in a "cold winter".
The shrinkage of the micro-surface is a heavy blow to China's MPV sales.
MPV, commercial is king
Why has the Buick GL8 been able to stand for years? Because it takes the route of public and business reception, it relies on the orders of large customers, plays with bulk procurement, and there are very few real individual customers.
Buick GL8 is very aware of its market positioning, over the years the layout of its commercial sales channels mature and stable, which is the competitors do not have the advantage, now GAC Trumpchi M8 can emerge in the high-end MPV market, to a large extent, it has made a breakthrough in the procurement of large customers.
A new MPV is listed, and many people like to compare it with GL8, comparing the design, configuration, space, power, control, etc. inside and out. As everyone knows, these are not the focus at all. Whether a mid-to-high-end MPV can be achieved depends on whether its business channels are hard enough.
Micro-surfaces are commercial, and mid-to-high-end MPV is also commercial. Even Alpha, at the top of China's MPV food chain, is a "nanny car" for businesses – rich and celebrities.
Therefore, whether it is the "small bread" shuttled in the wholesale market or the "nanny car" received in the business occasion, they all reflect that in China, most of the MPV is purchased by large customers from beginning to end, and retail households are just piggyback business.
Why are MPV unpopular in the home market?
(1) The money is only enough to buy a car, will you still buy an MPV?
Whether to buy a commodity, in the final analysis, is still a matter of money, and money is naturally what you want to buy.
Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has developed rapidly, and the people's lives have been greatly improved, but it is still necessary to admit that we are a developing country with a population of 1.4 billion, and we have just completed the "comprehensive poverty alleviation" in 2021.
According to the 2020 data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the average per capita income of residents in the country in 2020 is 32189 yuan (of which the per capita disposable income of urban residents is 43834 yuan and the per capita disposable income of rural residents is 17131 yuan), and the median per capita income of residents in the country is 27540 yuan. That is to say, buying a commodity such as a car, the vast majority of people still need to be cautious.
There have been new MPV vehicles with less than 200,000 in the market aimed at the household market, but sales have never been able to go up, and some have even stopped production. Consumers who budget at this price point are expecting a new car because it's likely to be the first car in their home.
At this price point, there are few options for MPVs, and due to size limitations, they are spatially inseparable from cars and SUVs of the same class, and the texture is the same. On the contrary, there are too many excellent cars and SUVs at this price point, and it is difficult for consumers not to focus on more mature and reputable cars and SUVs.
In addition, the problem of face is also one aspect. MPV has long given people the impression of a commercial vehicle, which is easy to give people the illusion of "being a driver" and "driving a company car", and the inherent impression weakens everyone's willingness to choose MPV.
(2) Is 7 seats really needed so much?
The population growth rate is an important constraint point for the MPV car market. According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2021 released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's birth rate fell below 1%, a new low since 1978. When the two-child policy came out, many people thought that the MPV market was about to break out, who knew that now everyone's fertility willingness is not high, and the fertility rate has fallen off a cliff. The target consumer group is gone, who does the MPV want to sell?
At the same time, changes in China's nuclear home architecture have also indirectly affected the sales of household MPVs. In the past, China was a large family structure, the whole family lived together or nearby, but with the development of the economy and the increase in the rate of urbanization, the original large family has become a collection of small families, and there are not many opportunities to really use 7 seats.
Under the premise that no one is born or only one, the sedan is completely enough, and there is no longer a more practical SUV. Everyone says that the third row of the 7-seat SUV is not occupied by people, but how many 7-seaters can be used? You can do it in an emergency. The scene where everyone uses the most cars is commuting to work, the probability of empty cars is very high, whether it is MPV or not does not matter. Usually people are not aligned, but also the whole MPV?
(3) When everyone is together, do you have time to go out?
In 2019, data from the China Bureau of Statistics showed that the average weekly working hours of employed personnel in enterprises nationwide in March was 46.0 hours, equivalent to 2272 hours of annual working hours, and according to the five days of work a week, the average Chinese had to work 9.2 hours a day.
Previously, the OECD counted that the highest working hours among its member countries are Mexico, with an average of 2257 hours per year, 8.7 hours a day, and China is even higher than Mexico, so the working hours of Chinese are in the world, if not the first, it is also the forefront. "996" and "social animals" are really not in vain. China even has less time to rest, so why go out and play? The advantages of MPV are further diluted.
Editor said: To put it bluntly, MPV is the problem of money. Rich people can have more children, but also have the strength to buy more cars, as the second and third cars of the family, MPV is indeed a good choice, buying MPV is more like consumption diversification rather than necessities. People with a certain wealth, when buying a car, pay more attention to the sense of grade, the commercial market is not to say more, so the high-end MPV can also be sold, and many newly launched MPV - Kustu, Jiahua, Xena, aimed at this market. But to say that they can go more, the author does not think necessarily. Before China's income level and population growth rate have not increased significantly, household MPV is still a small market, and commercial MPV is king.