The following statistical analysis comes from the China Automobile Dealers Association
In 2021, due to the superposition of multiple factors such as repeated epidemics, frequent extreme weather and natural disasters, reduced consumption expectations, and surges in global supply chain risks, the automotive market is facing a complex and severe situation.
However, the second-hand car market has become a new bright spot in the automotive market under many challenges and pressures. According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association.
From January to December 2021, a total of 17.5851 million used cars were traded, an increase of 22.62% year-on-year, and the transaction amount was 1,131.692 billion yuan, an increase of 27.32% year-on-year.
From the perspective of the law of second-hand car consumption, the demand for car purchases has increased near the end of the year, and December is generally the highest point of second-hand car transactions throughout the year. In December 2021, a total of 1.6182 million used cars were traded nationwide, with a transaction volume of 4.83% month-on-month and a year-on-year decrease of 5.25%, with a transaction amount of 116.186 billion yuan.
This month, mainly due to the continuous impact of the sporadic epidemic, the overall passenger flow of the market has decreased compared with the same period, and some regions have advocated policies such as the local New Year and the increase in bad weather, resulting in poor cross-regional circulation.
Passenger car situation: Basic passenger cars traded a total of 970,000 units, an increase of 4.64% month-on-month, down 6.59% year-on-year; SUVs traded a total of 200,000 units, an increase of 8.61% month-on-month, an increase of 16.33% year-on-year; MPV traded a total of 88,400 units, an increase of 2.81% month-on-month, down 10.25% year-on-year; crossover passenger cars traded a total of 36,800 units, an increase of 3.04% month-on-month, down 2.67% year-on-year.
Commercial vehicle situation: 115,900 passenger cars, an increase of 3.79% month-on-month, down 15.63% year-on-year; 126,000 trucks, an increase of 3.99% month-on-month, down 16.51%.
Judging from the monthly trading trend this year, the overall trend is a volatile upward trend. Since the fourth quarter, due to the impact of the sporadic epidemic and the high base of the same period last year, there has been continuous negative growth year-on-year, and December is still the peak of the annual transaction, but the month-on-year growth is a continuous narrowing trend.
In December 2021, the transaction volume of the six major regions of the country increased to varying degrees month-on-month. Among them, North China saw the most obvious growth, up 9.63 percentage points month-on-month, with used car trading volume of 206,100 units; followed by Northeast China, which increased by 8.08% month-on-month, with a total of 96,200 units; Southwest China, which increased by 7.39% month-on-month, with a total of 241,900 units; and the three regions of Central South, East China and Northwest China increased by 3.77%, 2.64% and 2.33% respectively, with 486,300 units, 524,300 units and 63,500 units traded, respectively.
The proportion of second-hand car transfers in December was 27.87%, an increase of 0.79 percentage points from the previous month and a decrease of 1.01 percentage points from the same period last year, unchanged from July last year.
In 2021, a total of 17.5851 million used cars were traded nationwide, an increase of 22.62% year-on-year. Among them, basic passenger cars traded a total of 10.5911 million units, an increase of 23.34% year-on-year; SUVs traded a total of 1.9763 million units, an increase of 44.18%; 1.0086 million MPV units, an increase of 21.24% year-on-year; cross-type passenger cars traded a total of 402,300 units, an increase of 18.59%; passenger cars 1.3203 million units, an increase of 7.02% year-on-year; and 1.4538 million trucks, an increase of 9.63% year-on-year. In 2021, each model has different degrees of growth compared with 2020, of which SUV models have the most obvious growth, with a growth rate of more than 40%.
Transaction volume accounted for 22.5% in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of 8.5% over the same period last year and an increase of 0.68% compared to the same period in 2021. The second quarter accounted for 25.47% of the full year, an increase of 0.99% over the same period last year and an increase of 1.3% compared to the same period in 2019. In the third quarter, it accounted for 25.78%. This is a decrease of 2.57% over the same period last year and an increase of 0.82% compared to the same period in 2019. In the fourth quarter, it accounted for 26.26%, a decrease of 6.93% from the same period last year and a decrease of 2.8% compared to the same period in 2019.
Overall, the first quarter of 2021 was affected by factors such as the Spring Festival holiday and the smallest proportion of transaction volume. Second-hand transactions in the second and third quarters were relatively stable, and the proportion was basically flat. In the fourth quarter, due to unfavorable factors such as the spread of the epidemic, the proportion of second-hand car trading volume fell significantly compared with the previous two years, but it was still the high point of the whole year.
From the perspective of vehicle age structure, in 2021, models with an age of less than 3 years traded a total of 4.148 million vehicles, and the transaction volume increased by 17.3% compared with the same period, accounting for 23.59% of the total transaction volume.
A total of 6.3559 million vehicles were traded in the 3-6 years of vehicle age, accounting for 36.14% of the total transaction volume, accounting for 1.62 percentage points lower than the same period last year.
The proportion of models aged 7-10 years decreased by 0.16 percentage points compared with last year, accounting for 24.06% of the total transaction volume, with a total of 4.2308 million units traded.
With the growth of ownership, the source of used cars with long car age has also increased year by year, and the proportion of models aged more than 10 years in 2021 has increased by 2.11 percentage points compared with the same period last year, and a total of 2.8505 million vehicles have been traded, and the transaction volume has increased by 29.1% year-on-year.
In 2022, the automobile market will enter the peak period of increase and replacement, and the revitalization of the second-hand car stock is the key to activating the entire automobile market, on the one hand, the replacement of second-hand cars will boost the upgrading of automobile consumption, especially luxury cars and new energy vehicles are the main driving forces for the growth of the automobile market in 2021.
On the other hand, the replacement and circulation of second-hand cars promotes the transformation of vehicles in first- and second-tier cities into third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities in economically underdeveloped areas, which can promote the deepening of automobile consumption into the rural market and enhance the overall vitality of the local economy. Therefore, revitalizing the stock of used cars can truly drive the incremental market of automobiles.
Overall, China's second-hand car market has ushered in major benefits, since the promulgation of the "Announcement on Clarifying Several Value-added Tax and Other Issues Concerning the Collection and Management of Used Car Distribution and Other Issues" on March 31, 2020, the relevant government authorities have successively issued the "Guidelines for Promoting Automobile Consumption in the Business Field" and "Notice on Promoting the Registration of Used Car Transactions Across Provinces to Facilitate The Purchase of Used Cars in Different Places" and other policies.
In 2021, the full implementation of the "inter-provincial communication office" of second-hand cars will focus on solving the problems of inconvenient second-hand car transactions and long transfer cycles from the institutional aspect, and the successive introduction of many policies will surely promote China's second-hand car market to enter a new stage of development.