[Aika Auto Industry News Original]
A few days ago, the Association announced production and sales in the passenger car market in December and 2021. In December, retail sales in the passenger car market were 2.141 million units, down 7.7% year-on-year. Sales of sedans were 1.049 million units, SUV models were 959,000 units, and MPV units were 97,000 units. Specifically, luxury brand sales fell by 3% in December, and luxury car sales were particularly stable at the end of the year, laying a solid foundation for the opening of 2022. Independent brand retail sales of 930,000 vehicles, an increase of 4% year-on-year, independent brand head enterprises performed very strongly, in the new energy market to obtain a significant increase. In terms of joint venture brands, mainstream joint venture brands fell by 19% year-on-year, the retail share of Japanese brands was 22.2%, the market share of The United States was 9%, the share of French brands increased by 0.3 percentage points, and the supply of German brands was gradually improving.
In 2021, retail sales in the passenger car market were 20.486 million units, up 4.5% year-on-year. Specifically, the cumulative sales volume of cars was 9.846 million units, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year, the sales volume of SUVs in the market was 9.221 million units, an increase of 3% year-on-year, and the sales volume of the MPV market was 1.079 million units, down 1% year-on-year. The reason for the dilution of growth rate is mainly due to the high retail sales base in July-December 2020. In 2021, retail sales increased by 860,000 units year-on-year, and traditional fuel vehicles decreased by 1.02 million units year-on-year by 6%.
In terms of new energy models, the new energy market sold 475,000 units in December, an increase of 128.8% year-on-year. In 2021, retail sales in the new energy market were 2.989 million units, an increase of 169.1% compared to the same period last year (1.111 million units). It is worth noting that new energy vehicles contributed 9 percentage points to the year-on-year growth rate of passenger cars. The trend of new energy vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles forms a strong differentiation characteristic, realizes the partial substitution effect of new energy vehicles on the fuel vehicle market, proves the change in consumer demand through the user's market-oriented choice, and accelerates the pace of transformation to new energy in the automobile market.
In terms of exports, in December, the passenger car exports (including vehicles and CKDs) of 170,000 units, an increase of 63% year-on-year, and new energy vehicles accounted for 15% of the total exports. In December, the export of independent brands reached 150,000 units, an increase of 77% year-on-year, and the export of joint ventures and luxury brands was 20,000 units, an increase of 26% year-on-year.
In terms of inventory, according to the statistics of the Federation of Multipliers, the first three quarters of this year experienced a special cycle from destocking to approaching safety inventory, and the inventory of manufacturers in the fourth quarter was rapidly replenished. At the end of December, the inventory of manufacturers increased by 100,000 vehicles month-on-month, and the channel inventory increased by 90,000 vehicles month-on-month; December of the calendar year is an important node for building inventory, and the inventory in December this year is well established, laying the foundation for the year-end sales sprint.
From January to December 2021, the inventory of manufacturers decreased by 130,000 vehicles, which was larger than the inventory reduction in January and December of previous years, forming a strong destocking feature for four consecutive years. The channel inventory in January-December 2021 decreased by 560,000 units, and the shortage pressure of 200,000 vehicles destocked was still huge compared with the same period in 2020.
The new energy subsidy policy in 2022 is a huge positive
According to the newly released policy, the current purchase subsidy technical indicator system framework and threshold requirements will remain unchanged in 2022, and the subsidy scale will not be locked from the upper limit of the original expected subsidy scale of 2 million vehicles, and the subsidy will be realized throughout 2022. With the doubling of the scale of the new energy industry chain and the improvement of cost reduction capabilities, it is expected that the increase in new energy vehicles at the end of 2022 will be very strong.
Since the subsidy standard remains unchanged, and the battery and vehicle integration technology is improving, it is mainly the policy that promotes the substantial growth of the new energy vehicle industry, reflecting the policy's strong support for low-carbon industries and promoting the transformation of the traditional fuel vehicle industry. In the field of commercial vehicles, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the announcement declaration and industrial chain improvement of the main manufacturers investing in the replacement of electric models began, and the direction of industrial changes is worth paying attention to.
Originally expected to sell 4.8 million new energy passenger cars in 2022, it should now be adjusted to more than 5.5 million units, and the penetration rate of new energy passenger cars will reach about 25%. New energy vehicles are expected to exceed 6 million, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is about 22%.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, China's new energy passenger car sales of 1.3 million, with the domestic consumers' recognition of the new energy market significantly improved, the strength of policy subsidies is stable, will inevitably promote the total sales of China's new energy vehicles in 2022 soared, continue to maintain the world's more than 50% share of the super leading position.
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