On December 1, 2021, the 2021 edition of the "China Pickup Truck Industry Development Report" and the China Pickup Truck Blue Book, edited by the Independent Automobile Branch of the China European Economic and Technical Cooperation Association and the Independent Automobile Network, and published by Beijing Institute of Technology Press, were officially published and distributed. The autonomous automobile network will publish the important chapters of the book one after another, in order to let more people understand, recognize, and be familiar with pickup trucks, so that pickup trucks will become popular in China!
Overview of the development of the automotive industry in 2020
(1) Automobile production and sales scale
Following 2019, the production and sales of China's automotive industry declined again in 2020, with cumulative sales of 25.311 million vehicles in the whole year, down 1.9% year-on-year. Among them, in 2020, the production and sales of passenger cars reached 19.994 million units and 20.178 million units, down 6.5% and 6% year-on-year, respectively, and the decline rate was narrowed by 2.7 and 3.6 percentage points respectively over the previous year; the proportion of passenger car production and sales in automobile production and sales reached 79.3% and 79.7%, respectively, which was 3.7 and 3.5 percentage points lower than the proportion of production and sales in the previous year. From the perspective of the production and sales of the four types of passenger cars: the production and sales of sedans fell by 10% and 9.9% year-on-year, respectively; the production and sales of SUVs increased by 0.1% and 0.7% year-on-year, respectively, and the annual production and sales of SUVs exceeded those of cars for the first time; the production and sales of MPVs fell by 26.8% and 23.8% year-on-year, respectively; and the production and sales of crossover passenger cars fell by 1.7% and 2.9% respectively year-on-year. In 2020, driven by factors such as the elimination of China III Automobile, the tightening of super-regulation and infrastructure investment, the annual production and sales of commercial vehicles showed a substantial increase. In 2020, the production and sales of commercial vehicles reached 5.231 million units and 5.133 million units, respectively, exceeding 5 million units for the first time, a record high, commercial vehicle production and sales increased by 20.0% and 18.7% year-on-year, production growth increased by 18.1 percentage points over the previous year, and sales growth achieved from negative to positive.
In terms of production and sales by model, trucks are the main models supporting the growth of commercial vehicles, with truck production and sales of 4.778 million units and 4.685 million units, up 22.9% and 21.7% year-on-year, respectively; and bus production and sales were 453,000 units and 448,000 units, down 4.2% and 5.6% year-on-year, respectively. Over the years of the cultivation of the entire industrial chain of new energy vehicles, all aspects have gradually matured, rich and diversified new energy vehicle products continue to meet market demand, the use of the environment is also gradually optimized and improved, under these measures, new energy vehicles are more and more recognized by consumers.
In 2020, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 1.366 million units and 1.367 million units, respectively, an increase of 7.5% and 10.9% year-on-year, respectively, and the growth rate changed from negative to positive. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles reached 1.105 million units and 1.115 million units, up 5.4% and 11.6% year-on-year, respectively; the production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles reached 260,000 units and 251,000 units, up 18.5% and 8.4% year-on-year, respectively; and the production and sales of fuel cell vehicles were 0.1 million units, down 57.5% and 56.8% year-on-year, respectively.
(2) Auto retail sales
In 2020, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the whole society were 39.1 trillion yuan, down 3.9% from the previous year, of which the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles were 35.2 trillion yuan, down 4.1%.
In 2020, China's auto retail sales reached 3.9 trillion yuan, which remained stable compared with the same period last year, lower than the growth rate of total retail sales of social consumer goods, accounting for 9.9% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods in the country, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous year.
(3) Import and export of automobile commodities
Vehicle exports
In 2020, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, China's automobile exports declined slightly in 2020. The total export of the whole year was 994,900 units, down 2.85% year-on-year. Passenger car exports were 759,000 units, up 4.7% year-on-year, of which sedan exports were 190,000 units, down 29.5% year-on-year, SUVs were exported 531,000 units, up 29.7% year-on-year, MPV exports were 12,000 units, down 33.9% year-on-year, crossover passenger car exports were 25,000 units, down 4.0% year-on-year; commercial vehicle exports turned from positive to negative, with cumulative exports of 235,000 units, down 21.3% year-on-year, of which truck exports were 162,000 units, down 12.1% year-on-year. The export of passenger cars was 40,000 units, down 35.2% year-on-year; the export of new energy vehicles was 68,000 units, an increase of 83.0% year-on-year, of which 43,000 pure electric vehicles were exported, an increase of 95% year-on-year, and the export of plug-in hybrid vehicles was 25,000 units, an increase of 78% year-on-year.
From the perspective of export regions, Iran has been an important market for Chinese brand exports for many years, and it is also the largest overseas market for independent brands such as Chery and Jianghuai. Many car companies such as Benten, Brilliance, BYD, Changan, Chery, Dongfeng, Geely, Haima, Haval, Jachuai, Lifan, MG and Zotye have relied on local enterprises for localization production and sales. In 2018, China exported more than 100,000 vehicles in Iran, in 2019 due to US sanctions on Iran, and in 2020, due to the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, there were basically no exports.
In 2020, the top ten companies in terms of automobile export volume were SAIC, Chery, Dongfeng, BAIC, Chang'an, Great Wall, Geely, Jianghuai, Heavy Duty Truck and Jinlong, exporting 285,000 units, 96,000 units, 86,000 units, 80,000 units, 68,000 units, 65,000 vehicles, 58,000 units, 45,000 units, 40,000 units and 25,000 vehicles, respectively, and the cumulative sales of the top ten were 848,000 units, accounting for 82.8% of the total exports, of which SAIC was thriving, accounting for 27.8% of exports. Although the volume of Geely, Great Wall, Jinlong, GAC and Shaanxi Automobile is not large, the growth rate is very fast, and Chery, Jianghuai, FAW, Brilliance, BYD, and Yutong have declined.